Earlier this year I spoke at a MicroCreditNH event on the topic of brand strategy…. At the event, I met Mr. Craig D. Claus … a local home designer / architect…. Craig is the owner/operator of Parsons Hill Design…. This past Saturday, I ran into Craig again at the MicroCreditNH Entrepreneurial Exchange Day, and he let me know that the information he acquired at the last event motivated him to sit down with his wife and re-think his entire brand strategy.

Although they were not able to embrace one of the 12 archetypical emotions that we espouse, they were able to envision a new brand based on the concept of “Santa Claus”…. His question was, is it archetypical ENOUGH … at least for his target audience?… Our answer was a quick and hearty YES, YES, YES!… Call him what you want; Santa Claus, St. Nick, Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, Father Frost, Joulupukki, Père Noël, Sabdiklos, Sancte Claus, Sinter Klaas — the list goes on and on…. No matter where you live or what you call him, every society has a gift-giving, philanthropic, man of mystery, loved by millions…. Santa is indeed an archetypical idea…. Powerful and strikes at those emotional heart-strings!
So, what did Craig come up with?… Well, with a last name of “Claus” he had always avoided this kind of idea like the plague…. Now he embraces it fully…. Here’s the skinny;

• Parsons Hill Design will be transformed into “Reindeer Design”
• Their new logo is a cute reindeer graphic (very christmas cookie like in appearance)…. The logo type is a round serif font like you’d find in a classic Holiday greeting card.
• Their new tagline is “What’s on your wishlist?”

Despite the fact that Craig has decided to NOT take me up on my recommendation to grow a thick white beard (wink, wink), we all think his new approach to business is going to differentiate his services like he’s never seen…. Bravo Craig!!

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Brand-tastic. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.