Highlights:
A complex diagram project creates the basis for the product brand and the marketing approach
Our marketing projects often involve understanding complex technology in a complex business model. Once this is achieved we can then work on developing new approaches, whether that is in strategy development, the creation and implementation of marketing programs, or in the creative work itself.
Protexis, a client that we had been working for some time, asked us to develop a series of diagrams for their new “RED” capability. RED (the product name and acronym created from "retail electronic distribution") provides software publishers with ready access to the online software retail market, and provides online retailers with an easy way to add software titles to their catalogs and deliver them electronically. Until RED the delivery of software has lagged behind the technical capability of the web. Most software is still delivered in physical form. In addition to presenting the idea of RED in a visual form, we wanted to portray that RED is a logical, inevitable progression of electronic software distribution, that RED provides greater “reach” for software publishers into the marketplace, and that RED overcomes the deficiencies of existing software e-commerce delivery systems.
We approached the project with a series of questions: How do we simply show the progression of RED from existing delivery models? What depth of detail do we need in order to show how it works? Do we need both icons and explanations in order to communicate the idea? What paradigm will we use for RED itself? What is the RED brand? Is RED in fact a revolution, rather than an evolution?
Many of our questions related to the development of RED as a brand, even though that wasn't the client's brief. As we explored the approach, some of which can be seen in the graphics above, it quickly became apparent that a detailed “how it works” diagram would not help to communicate the benefits of RED. A simple comparison with the previous approach to software distribution would show how RED was different. We needed to depict RED as simply as possible and strengthen its visual presence; RED became a red block of color rather than a series of actions. It turns out that this was fundamental not only to the development of readily-understood diagrams, but also to the marketing of RED. We added texture to the red colored block and used it throughout the marketing programs – on the Protexis website, in trade show visuals, and in advertisements. This also worked well with our conclusion to promote RED as revolutionary rather than evolutionary.
In this case, development of explanatory diagrams drove the brand development for RED and the approach to marketing it.
