Some times your brand starts to feel stagnate, tired and predictable. While the standard of a good brand is consistency. Constancy of experience and presentation help your brand maintain its message with out confusing and diluting your brand image. But every now and than it can be good to shake your brand up a bit. Even the most conservative brands can benefit from a little brand shake up and in most parts they will probably benefit the most.

No ones personal brand is more consistent and organic than the mellow Hawaiian singer, song writer, and film maker Jack Johnson. Jack Johnson’s brand is so organic that it comes with a USDA stamp right on it. Johnson’s smooth, mellow, laid back style is as even keeled as the sound of his acoustic guitar.

Johnson’s brand is very strong and his consistency of presentation is very high. Concertgoers and album buyers know exactly what to expect from Johnson and he always delivers right on point. Because of this his brand has flourished despite the waning market for musicians. But with all of this mellow predictability Johnson has been criticized for being to dependable and not exciting enough.

The solution Johnson has always been great at using his temperate persona in juxtaposition to other more flamboyant characters or diverse images. Johnson is very savvy at utilizing unique video content that plays perfectly with his mellow style. He paints his basic character against a colorful wall of creativity to create dynamic experiences.

Some perfect examples are Johnson’s video for Taylor Featuring comedian Ben Stiller. Stiller’s neurotic and fast paced character was perfectly infused with Johnson’s to create a memorable and exciting moment that was refreshing for Johnson’s brand.

In Johnson’s Sitting, Waiting, Wishing video he pitted him self as a static character immersed in a chaotic setting where the world was going backwards as he went forwards steadily just strumming his guitar as things burst into flames, food fly’s at him and he is thrown around the room. This creative video was the perfect way to spice up a predictable brand with out deviating from the essence of the brands message. You have the character or brand behaving predictably in an unpredictable environment.

Jack Johnson latest juxtaposed interactive branding effort will be sure to draw some excitement. In Johnson new interactive marketing campaign he pits him self against the rebel-rousing comedian Andy Samberg in the Andy Samberg vs. Jack Johnson “At or With Me” Teaser. The campaign is complete with a landing page pitting the two characters against each other and the whole thing is integrated with a Facebook ”like” function allowing users to vote on who they think will be victorious in the brawl.

This campaign works because of how unexpected it is. No one would ever expect the mellow Johnson to engage in a brawl so by pairing him with a comedian know for stirring things up think Samberg and Justin Timberlakes SNL skit “dick in a box” and you get a brand experience that is sure to infuse some excitement into even the most predictable brand.

This technique works with out diluting or degrading the brand because the application of juxtaposition is so unexpected that it is immediately recognized as humor, but it is not so predictable that viewers will over look the message in the “snow blind” way that static brand messages often are.

So if your brand feels to static and tired now might be the right time to use a little brand juxtaposition to breath some fresh air into your brand.

Tags: Brand Juxtaposition, Jack Johnson.

Google partnered up with the music group Arcade Fire and Director Chris Milk to develop a fun new look at the music video and interactive web content. This video is a very creative concept and it makes novel use of HTML5 and Google maps street view application as you the viewer is transported into the music video as you interact and run through your home town.

At first when you load the site you might be confused by all of the windows that quickly queue in the lower right corner causing your initial reaction to think you are getting hit by spam pop ups. However the site utilizes HTML5 embedded video to guide the user through the interactive experience that also includes very user friendly drawing board and post card creation interface.

Check out the video it is very exciting and hopeful an indicator of fresh new creative interactive media sites to come. You will need a Google Chrome Browser to view the video given that the HTML5 video is only embedded properly on this browser type and it does not feature cross browser capabilities.

It will be interesting to see HTML5 as it pushes to replace flash and with Google jumping on the HTML5 wagon along with Apple whose ipad and ipod devices do not support flash we should see more development utilizing HTML5 over flash.

Tags: HTML5, Music Video.

Google the powerhouse of intenet search has slipped slightly in market share since the launch of Microsoft Corp.’s rejuvenated Internet search engine Bing.

Microsoft has been heavily marketing Bing in hopes of reviving their search engine. Based on recent search volume reports from Hitwise, Microsoft’s efforts have been meet with moderate success helping to increase Bing’s share of the U.S. search market to 9.5% in August from 8% in the prior month, as Google and Yahoo saw their respective search volume shares weaken.

If we look at charts of search market share before Microsoft unveiled Bing in May we can see that Google was controlling a dominant portion of searches accounting for nearly 73% of all searches. Since the launch of Bing, Google has fallen slightly to 70.46% as of September.

Yahoo has remained fairly steady while the small player ask.com has seen its market share cut in half, they now account for a slim 2.5% of searches.

For small businesses and search marketers this is just a small reminder to not ignore smaller search engines Bing and Yahoo in your search optimization efforts.

Bing and Yahoo both have loyal followings so it is important for site owners and marketers to not ignore theses search engines. Make sure Yahoo and Bing index your site if it is not be sure to submit your site to the search feature as well as the local listing center. A favorable ranking on theses sites can still deliver steady targeted traffic

If Bing the “Decision Engine” campaign takes off we could see continual growth in search volume performed on this search engine. Bing’s search algorithm is not as good as Google’s in my opinion when it comes to providing relevant results but I am sure they are continually improving this issue and with their cool new UI they cold see growth as consumers give Bing a try. Keep your eye on the horizon as Yahoo and Bing push for a modest level of parity in the market place.

Tags: ask.com, Bing, Google, Search Market Share, Yahoo.

Today Google’s Gmail service was down for at least half an hour leaving thousands of Gmail users high and dry. The extended down time only effected a portion of Gmail users but quickly Twitter feeds were filled with chat about Google’s down time.

Perhaps we put to much faith in Google’s services. Most of Google’s services are web based so users interact with the program on Google’s servers via the internet, rather than running the program from your host computer. This forces Google to continually maintain their server uptimes so services are available to consumers and customers, interruption free.

Most popular hosting services, including Google, boast of reliability, advertising 99.9% server uptimes. At first look this sounds like a very high uptime and makes the hosting service appear very reliable but upon a quick analysis we find that there are 43,200 minutes in a 30-day month, so with 99.9 % up time we are left with roughly 43 minutes of server down time.

When you quantify this claim your server suddenly doesn’t seem as reliable.  We might not feel like 40 minutes is very long but when you are running a business and you rely solely on a web based application you can encounter problems if there is any unexpected server down time.

To help protect yourself and your business from errors and server down time in Google’s applications there are a few simple precautions you can implement that safe guard you against program malfunction and server problems.

My initial recommendation is to set up POP or IMAP forwarding to an email client like Outlook, Apple Mail, or Thunderbird. This will ensure that if the web application is down the POP/IMAP feed will be sent to your mail client. For example during Google’s most recent down time the POP/IMAP feed was still running.

Web based applications are not infallible and they are subject to downtimes. Google has many business tools that have become engrained with many business core functions and down time can result in problems. If you rely on these applications having a backup plan can save you and your organization from future embarrassment.

Tags: Google, Server Up Time, Web Applications.

Computers continue to get faster and more efficient and as broadband connections increase data transfer rates web applications continue to improve. However I have noticed that many PC users still are using old, outdated versions of Internet Explorer. In fact, a recent survey shows that roughly 20% of internet users are still using Internet Explorer Version 6 which was released in 2001. As a web design service, we are constantly designing sites and testing them across the entire spectrum of web browsers to ensure constant deliverability, navigation and presentation to all visitors, regardless of what internet browser they might be using.

My biggest qualm rises from the use of Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7. Neither browser is entirely compliant with open web standards. Internet Explorer is continually troublesome to design sites for. The browser is slow, cumbersome and filled with display errors. Despite this, design professionals continue to tolerate the browsers’ limitations and spend their time modifying site elements and creating workarounds to ensure consistent presentations on this format. Ultimately, these older browser versions limit the future of web design.

Here at Zella Design, standards based design is a primary focus and we will continue to provide consistent content across all browser platforms. But with so many great free web browsers on the internet, it’s probably time for you to get a worthwhile upgrade. Let’s all ditch the tired browsers of old and move towards web browsers that actually perform their intended task with a clean sophisticated look.

Here are our picks for the best 5 web browsers available for free on the windows platform:

Firefox 3.5 | Best all around

Firefox is a great choice for all around performance and flexibility. This browser has a very similar layout to Internet Explore making for a easy transition to a new browser. Firefox is a relativity stable and secure platform that has fast rendering and javascript support to enhance view-ability on modern web sites.  The great thing about this browser is that it has tons of add-ons that allow users to customize the browser to their preferences. Overall this is our top recommendation for a solid web browser that is easy on your system resources and easy on the eyes.
download Firefox

Google Chrome | Top pick for surfing

Once again, Google has provided a great user focused web application and with it a good looking interface. Google Chrome might take a bit of getting used to for many Internet Explorer users but the transition would be well worth it. This browser has a sleek, stripped down playful look that is very similar to Apple’s Safari browser. This browser has super fast rendering and is perfectly equipped to display modern javascript heavy web sites. The best features are the tab and visual features coupled with private browsing and a great crash recover system. After a crash Chrome will restore all of your open windows and tabs. This browser is a bit of a draw on your system resources so if you have a slower CPU consider alternative options.
download google chrome

Flock 2 (beta) | Top pick for social media

This web browser is based on the Mozilla Firefox browser so it has similar usability and looks. This browser has a smooth feel that is perfect for the internet junkie. This browser is designed as the perfect compliment to your heavy social media use. I have just started using Flock to manage many of our social media applications. Flock has built in support for Facebook, Twitter and Flicker. It also include RSS feeds, a blog editor and customizable side bars that are well suited for multitasking. This is not the best site to view web pages on but if you are social media crazy you just might have found match.
download Flock

Opera v10 | Best for older computers

Often dubbed the best browser that no one is using, Opera is a bit of a hidden gem. Despite this browsers lack of popularity it is a really great browser that is heavy on internet standards and compliance which makes it a great web site display browser. Opera is a very lean system that does not tax your computers resources so if you are running a older system this is your best bet for a browser that won’t bog down your CPU or crash your system.
download Opera

Internet Explorer 8 | Best Familiarity

If you don’t like change and have been using Internet Explorer for a decade now, upgrading to Internet Explorer 8 is a great idea. The new improved Internet Explorer is more compliance based than older IE versions and it has a sleeker interface to go along with it. The system has good privacy options and security but it lags behind other browsers in features, flexibility and dependability.
download Internet Explorer

Tags: Firefox, Flock, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera.