Archive for May, 2010

Happiness is being a grandparent

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

When my wife and I became a parent in our mid-twenties, nothing prepared us for the significant reality shifts post childbirth. Before children (BC) when on a whim, we decided to take a, two-day weekend road trip to taste wine and culinary delights to break the boredom of the everyday. We as a couple embodied the phrase we work for the weekends.

Weekends were our time to be free of all responsibilities, and speak and live the immortal words of the over worked, under paid employees of that prison of work, TGIF, thank God it’s Friday. The Friday evening ritual of casting off every vestige of the ordinary included our standard Friday night visit to a local eatery we were free to go so we went. I remember these days in a time long, long ago, but with hazy clarity.

Then it happen children, we became parents, what a joy to be sure, but the joy soon brought the reality of the responsibility of now being a couple after children (AC). The everyday and even the weekends were no longer ours to be free, but now the child is our concern, awake or asleep if you can sleep.

The weekend trips are a thing of the past for at least the foreseeable future. Even if we had the energy to enjoy a weekend trip, the logistics of such an endeavor means bring virtually the entire child’s bedroom and cloths with us leaving no room for the suitcases. So now, we are guardians of our dear son, and we began to understand what our parents experienced. Even in all this we that is my wife and I loved every minute of this new life (AC).

Parents at all stages of their training say two phrases that seem to be common among all parents of the baby, toddler, and the teenager. The first phrase uttered in the everyday frustration of your children helping you grow up, and in that training you say, will this ever end.

It is true that every parent loves their children because those very children not only grew up, but they helped their parents grow up. Therefore, it is with sadness that our children one by one leave the nest and then we utter the next phase, how this time slipped away so fast.

Why I love, begin a grandparent because grandparents can again do anything they want. Take a weekend trip just because they are free to go, and not chained to the everyday of raising children. Grandparents have the best of both world’s they can have the grand children over for the day or even sleep over. Grandparents know the grand children have live in wardens who concern and frustrate enough.

In closing, my wife and I loved raising our children. Now our children are men and women who have become our friends.

Our grand children remind us of the times of wonder and the discovery of small children. Which as parents we experienced these times, but we did not have the time to appreciate them. These are the times that make grandparents smile, and laugh and enjoy the wonder of the everyday, because grandparents are not overwhelmed with the concerns and frustrations of the everyday.

The message to parents in all stages of instruction is to smell and gaze the beautiful flowers of your children’s wonder and discovery. Even though it seems this time will never end, it will and when it is gone, it is gone. Even pictures do not reclaim the past; only memories of your children’s moments of wonder and discovery enrich your existence and make you ready to be a grandparent.

Doug Bryant

<br><a href=”http://www.decalfactory.com“>The Decal Factory – The best decals, signs, labels, posters, stickers and banners in the industry for business and hobby.</a> <br>Toll Free – (800) 369-5331

Posted in grandparents | 18 Comments »

Thank You for Your Comments and Why I Blog about this Subject

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

I want to thank all the contributors for their comments about my blogs. When a writer expresses their knowledge on a subject or in this case an industry, the writer hopes he connects with the reader. More to the point, this writer writes these blogs hoping to inform and educate  people about the printing industry.

The printing industry is one of top five industries in the world, as a whole, and all of us are influenced and impacted by this industry. The printing industry provides us access to news, information, and advertisements taking such forms as newspapers, magazines, posters, flyers, and yes decals.

I do understand that some of the printed mediums noted above are evolving into electronic forms of news and information outlets moving away from a physical newspaper or magazine. Nevertheless, to say printing is a dead industry would be an over-statement, because printing a physical product will always be with us into the near future.

Printing is very much a part of our daily lives, and the majority of us do not know the technology of the various printing processes available today. The question I need to answer should each consumer have an intimate knowledge of the printing processes that we purchase. No, I do not believe that is necessary, but as a consumer who purchases printed products for their businesses, however, it is important to have a thumbnail sketch of what process of printing to utilize, because the lowest prices should not be our only criteria of what product to purchase.

I highlight this idea of the need to have at least an armchair understanding of the benefits or disadvantages of different methods of printing. From my 33 years of experience of printing decals and labels, for industrial uses or promotional advertising of a company’s brand, I have seen many requests for products asking for the wrong printing method, for the intended use of the product.

I will emphasize this idea with a question. Have you ever purchased a decal when a label would have sufficed and conversely, have you ever purchased a label, but found out you needed a decal?

During the 33 years, I have manufactured and sold decals and labels, many customers purchased products that did not fit the intended use of the product. Some said, I purchased this decal for my company and it faded to white in one month’s time. Upon examining the product they purchased they had bought a label intended for inside use not fit for sun light exposure. The sales person who sold this item did not explain this disadvantage. We as a company believe we have a fiduciary responsibility to educate our customers on the best product to use for the intended purpose of the product.  

The purchasing manager does not need to have the expertise I have on the subject of how a decals or labels are printed. However, my hope is that I can educate those who read my blog post that there are different uses for a decal vs. a label. This is why my blog post I do not give opinions, but my hope is to inform my readers by explaining how printing works, by pulling, back the curtain exposing the wizardry of the printing process.

Posted in Decals | 4 Comments »

Brand Loyalty

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

What is brand loyalty?

Brand loyalty is a quest that is pursued by all sellers of products.  A quest for brand loyalty is filled with many pitfalls and red herrings.  It is an arduous quest that is only matched once the pursuer of said goal is willing to forgo all conventional thinking and practices.

Wikipedia defines brand loyalty as -

Brand loyalty, in marketing, consists of a consumer’s commitment to repurchase or otherwise continue using the brand and can be demonstrated by repeated buying of a product or service or other positive behaviors such as word of mouth advocacy

Those of us that have pursued such goals knows this is the outcome of brand loyalty, however it does not describe the process in which one such goal is achieved..

Brand loyalty is an emotional response to certain environmental, circumstantial, and experiential factors.

Lets take a look at a couple of examples of this.

Heinz ketchup:  Everybody knows what a bottle of Heinz ketchup looks like.  Why?  When is the last time you saw a commercial for Heinz?  Do they blast all available media outlets with commercials about their products?  No.  They have been around so long that everybody knows who they are.  Also people buy Heinz because that is what their parents bought, and their parents, parents bought Heinz also.  Another factor to consider is that there are really only two brands of ketchup available in the U.S.  Heinz and Hunts.  So this type of brand loyalty is two fold: circumstantial, and experiential.  Circumstantial because there are only two brands of ketchup.  Experiential because most likely the buyers parents bought Heinz if they are buying Heinz.

Let’s look at another one.

Macintosh: This one is very interesting because Mac buyers buy because they are compelled to.  A number of factors affect this emotional response, perceived reliability, perceived superiority, and going against the flow.  Mac buyers will argue with anybody that tries to dis-credit Macintosh.  It is almost like a religion, a Mac religion, and the only prerequisite you need is the idea that a Mac is far superior to any PC.  This type of brand loyalty falls under experiential.  This is experiential because of the good experiences the buyer has had with a Mac whether these experiences are perceived or not.

Now the question becomes:  How did these brands achieve this brand loyalty?  It really is simple: Brand recognition.  I was not alive when Heinz first started making ketchup; however I am sure there were many marketing campaigns to get their prospective buyers to just try their product.  Also they did something extremely important; they never changed their label on the bottle.  Have you seen how many different bottles of Heinz ketchup there are?  Even though there are so many different bottles of ketchup the label always looks the same.  They built a brand by being consistent with their labeling.

Mac has had a rocky life if Heinz was the steady grower then Mac is its antithesis.  Mac even got bailed out by none other than Microsoft at one point.  Only in the last decade or so have they started to come into their own.  Why?  Because instead of going head to head with Microsoft (which would be a losing battle) they went in a completely different direction.  They started to make their own way in the electronics world we live in.  Phones, MP3 players, all in one computers, and just recently ipads.  More importantly is that their labeling has been in a constant state of flux.  Now you see why I said they were the antithesis of Heinz.  However if you look closer at their brand you will see something that has not changed.  The apple shape of their logo.  Yes it has been different colors, different shapes, and in different locations, but it has been the apple at all times.  So they too have stuck to their brand.

I think we are starting to see a pattern here.  Basically if you build your brand with the same look and provide examples to your customers why they should choose you with an emotional response then you too will build brand loyalty for your company.

In what ways would you keep your logo consistent while changing your direction to attract new generations of potential buyers?

Posted in Branding | 35 Comments »