Design Research in Month 6 utilized the city of Wake Forest to define and build a city brand project from the ground up. City Branding was a problem-solving project that needed a facelift due to historic issues that once plagued the region. To increase revenue with a new city re-brand there needed to be a new market to approach. While researching the historic district and roots of Wake Forest, North Carolina, there were hundreds of years of decimated Native Americans and slave plantations that plagued the region. At first, Wake Forest seemed like a quiet and peaceful town. However, a story of mass genocide and forced labor almost collapsed the project. Instead of abandoning the city brand project that seemed to be a massive design problem, more research was conducted on both secondary and primary methods creating differentiation between competing areas within the place brand project called North Main Street. Each phase of the project required students to synthesize their findings and provide cross referencing ideas and different points of views. Questions as to, “Why design research matters” and understanding different research methods helped to formulate new ideas to take the city and turn it into a culturally non-biased aware campaign.
No longer would Wake Forest College get the credit for building a beautiful street named N. Main Street. The credit would go to the Native Americans and Black slaves who used their lives to build the University and city. By creating a design research plan and formulating imagery from nearby cities a new vision was portrayed that eventually would become a brand informative video. Empathy mapping would be the only route that could take a city of despair and remodel it with a new campaign built on social equality and awareness, not architecture.
Using a comparative analysis chart helped to list the qualities of the location and two locations that were in direct competition to the chosen city. The chart was effective in listing qualities of the areas and allowing us to find the zig and the zag. “The key to unlocking the Zag within N. Main Street was to use “Generative learning” The ability to learn how to do new things. “Most of all,” said Gerstner, “it requires that the organization do something different, value something more than it has in the past, acquire skills it doesn’t have.” (Neumeier)
“Brand is a term closely linked to a product or place’s image and reputation in that it “captures the idea of reputation observed, reputation valued and reputation managed” (Anholt, 2010, p. 20).
PLACE BRANDING N. MAIN ST.
DESCRIPTION
Research was conducted on both secondary research, primary research and creating differentiation between competing areas within a place brand project called N. Main Street. Each phase of the project required findings that provided cross referencing ideas and different points of views. The combined information helped to define the scope of the N. Main Street project by specifying why design matters. Understanding different research methods was also done to pull out the place brand awareness in the surrounding neighborhoods and intermediate street. Other factors that were covered were tools for research, creating a design research plan, synthesizing and presenting findings as well as the research to inform design decisions.
CASE GOAL
The main goal was to research and discover facts about N. Main St. and the surrounding competition in order to create a competitive analysis that would help to define and grow the neighborhood. Building brand equity into a place was much more than a logo. Developing a strong and dynamic brand creates a solid foundation for your company, but the success of that brand over the long term depends on your brand equity. (Keller) In order to build a successful brand equity campaign, you must dive into the consumers feelings in regard to your place brand or product. The following pyramid of questions from Keller’s brand equity model is another highlight that helped the project to gain incite into the rebuild.
SOFTWARE AND TECHNICAL USE
Shot with DJI Mavic Pro 2, Canon 6d, Canon 7D, MX Ronin. Edited with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere.
BRAND EQUITY - BRAND ANALYSIS - EMPATHY MAPPING
DESCRIPTION
To find the brand equity in N. Main Street it was vital to understand the difference between negative and positive, weak and strong brand qualities in a brand. Outlining the six-stage brand development model was key in separating the locations brand equity. “The six-stage brand development model is used to help assess whether your brand has the necessary characteristics, and measure its equity:”
ABOUT CASE
- Recognizability
- Memorability
- Favorability
- Distinctiveness
- Preferability
- Satisfaction
SOFTWARE AND TECHNICAL USE
Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
“For place branding to be successful, it needs to be understood as a strategic, holistic concept which goes beyond creating logos, slogans and marketing. Robert Govers and Frank Go (in their 2009 book) put it as follows: The following examples were used in my video to help find the ‘genius loci’ in my project, the spirit of the place.”
ONLINESS STATEMENT
DESCRIPTION
ZAG: The Number-One Strategy of High-Performance Brands
“When everybody zigs, zag,” says Marty Neumeier in this fresh view of brand strategy. ZAG follows the ultra-clear “whiteboard overview” style of the author’s first book, THE BRAND GAP, but drills deeper into the question of how brands can harness the power of differentiation.- how to turn your brand’s “onliness” into a “true line” to drive synergy” (Neumeier)
My first attempt at the onliness statement was too in depth. Too broad. Narrow it down, follow the diagram that Neumeier displays as very simple, short and to the point. “The statement should convince a potential customer why your brand is the brand they should join or buy from. It should be crisp and concise in order to communicate your value swiftly. It needs to be able to be digested in seconds. Good value propositions position brands, products or services effectively helping them highlight a point of difference from their competition.”
DIFFERENTIATION BRAND AS A SYSTEM
ABOUT CASE
Differentiation is important for consumers so that everything is not branded the same as other competitors. Create differentiation between your product and the other guys and you will find innovative thinking that creates differentiation. What was different between N. Main St. place brand and the surrounding areas? Simply put, N. Main St. place brand came first. Finding the Zig and Zag was easy as the other two competitive communities were developed much later and did not hold the story. This main factor created an intriguing air of mysticism and fueled the beginning of a powerful story with a past! “N. Main Street” is superior than the surrounding areas because the history dates back hundreds of years and is authentic and original.
SOFTWARE AND TECHNICAL USE
Photography by: Doug White shot with Canon 6D
THE BRAND GAP, I showed that brand-building isn’t a series of isolated activities, but a complete system in which five disciplines—differentiation, collaboration, innovation, validation, and cultivation—combine to produce a sustainable competitive advantage. My intent with ZAG is to zoom in on differentiation to reveal the system within the system.
– Marty Neumeier –
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
DESCRIPTION
The comparative analysis chart helped to list the qualities of the location and two nearby locations that were in direct competition with each other. The chart was effective in listing qualities of the areas and allowing us to find the zig and the zag. “The key to unlocking the Zag within N. Main Street will be to use “Generative learning” is learning how to do new things. “Most of all,” said Gerstner, “it requires that the organization do something different, value something more than it has in the past, acquire skills it doesn’t have.” (Neumeier)
THE DESIGN PROBLEM WITH MAIN ST.
DESCRIPTION
A problem statement is important to a design thinking project, because it will guide you and your team in the right direction that will eventually tell a story. (Dam – Siang) “The problem statement provides a focus on the specific needs that you have uncovered.” In researching N. Main Street and the surrounding areas, facts were uncovered that told the story of the fist slaves to inhabit N. Main Street and the nearby plantation.
CASE LAUNCH
Article link Realizing the design issue and the need to create a NEW and POSITIVE outlook on the area, The story of Wake Forest and its origin came to fruition. Who really wants to focus on the past and deaths? Burying the past will only hurt N. Main Street and the surrounding areas, so the decision was made to shoot an informational brand cultural awareness video telling people of its historic history. Recently the center of Fayetteville’s marketplace was all over the news as protesters tried to burn down the infamous old market house. Fayetteville’s Market House (Part 1): Accounts of slave auctions under the arches (The Fayetteville Observer) It is important to create empathy within the project so that further incidences do not surface.
Two possible solutions would be to rename the location in honor of the labor that built it, this very act would add “Awareness” “Empathy” Secondly, provide an event or a rebrand proposition to give the land back to the Indians and black Americans.
REFERENCES:
NEUMEIER, M. (2021) The Enemies of Innovation
https://www.martyneumeier.com/the-enemies-of-innovation
Place Brand Observer (2021) Brands and Branding: Definition, Concepts, Theory
MindTools (2021) Keller’s Brand Equity Model
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/keller-brand-equity-model.htm
NEUMEIER, M. (2003) The Brand Gap
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:777bdcb4-93aa-4269-a23a-916fa4c7b897
DAM,R. SIANG, Y. (2020) Define and Frame Your Design Challenge by Creating Your Point Of View and Ask “How Might We”
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/define-and-frame-your-design-challenge-by-creating-your-point-of-view-and-ask-how-might-we
The Fayetteville Observer (2020) Fayetteville’s Market House (Part 1): Accounts of slave auctions under the arches
https://www.fayobserver.com/article/20160226/news/302269875
Wake Forest Historical Museum (2019) From Slavery to Freedom in Wake Forest
https://wakeforestmuseum.org/2016/02/02/from-slavery-to-freedom-in-wake-forest/