Slides from my talk at SouthWiRED, 10/7/14. Thanks to Dominic from Alternative Tentacles for the use of their logo.

1. UX: The New Brand Leaders
Brand = Experience
Andrew Heaton | Revinity

2. Hi, I’m Andrew
I’m a Designer.

3. Big Design, Small Screen
I Also Write
Conceptual Design for Mobile Devices
(Usually far slower than I want).
Andrew Heaton
Purposely Irregular
Zen, Punk Rock and Ruthlessness in Experience Design
Andrew Heaton

4. Tweet and Take Photos
@tigerstripe | #SouthWiRED14

5. hashgr.am/SouthWiRED14
for all Conference photos.

6. Some Quick Rules about UX

7. Rule Number One:
There's no f#$%ing rules, dude.
Photo by unknown, but it’s not by me.

8. Rule Number Two:
Draw everything 3 times before
you go near a computer.
Describe it out loud
at least twice.
Photo by Julien Mundry

9. Brand = Experience

10. For real, that’s it.

11. Since that’s truth,
Why aren’t UX peeps involved in Brand?

12. Why Do I Care About Brand?

13. My concept of brand came from this.
Photo by unknown, but it’s not by me.

14. Once I found a label I could trust,
I sought them out.

15. Occasionally, there was a bad LP, but the
Experience was more important
than the Product.

16. The Brand Primer

17. Brand [n]
The name, term, design, symbol, or
any other feature that identifies
one seller's product distinct from
those of other sellers.
- American Marketing Association Dictionary

18. Where’d All This “Brand”
Stuff Come From?

19. Blame this Dude

20. Over 100 years ago, J. Walter
Thompson started an agency to brand
products and service for money.

21. Over 100 years ago, J. Walter
Thompson started an agency to brand
products and service for money.
It’s mostly been downhill since.

22. Some Quick Definitions
(UX-ized for your convenience)
Brand Equity
The amount of prestige a brand represents. Also
accounts for logo marks, visuals or other collateral.
Brand Value
Consumer perception (positive or negative) of a brand
in a competitive market.
Brand Promise
What a consumer believes a brand stands for in terms
of trust and quality.

23. Some Quick Definitions
Even easier to remember
Brand Equity
What is owned
Brand Value
What can be spent
Brand Promise
What is borrowed

24. Who Owns the Brand

25. In most agency settings, it’s the job
of the Brand Strategist or Brand
Planner to maintain, protect and extend
the brands they represent.

26. What the heck is a Brand Planner?

27. Like Pit Bulls or Carnies
Everyone says they
know one who’s
“Not So Bad”

28. They say ridiculous things...
"the F, derived from a square, symbolizes concreteness and
solidity; the C, derived from a circle, representing wheels and
movement, symbolizes harmony and continuity; and finally,
the A, derived from a triangle, indicates energy and a
perennial state of evolution."

29. ... and create horrible charts...

30. ... that oddly may become very useful.
CoverageOne Brand Identity
The Product
No Hassle
Use Anywhere
Covers Everything
Outside the System
"The Rebel"
Emotion
Confident
Assured
Trusted
"I don't have to worry"
On My Side
Professional
Stable
Accessible
Trustworthy
Value
The Smart Choice
Worth the Cost
Protecting your Investment

31. Your To-Do List
Find the brand pillars or bubble chart for
the brands you’re working on.
Check for gaps in what they say and the
work you are currently doing.

32. How is Brand Measured?

33. Usually not very well.

34. Typically extensively, but rarely
comprehensively.

35. A common example of brand testing will be to
poll a few hundred people a week on key
advertising terms, but overall on
General Awareness
Familiarity
Consideration
Intent to Purchase

36. I’ve found very little is being done to test
brand digital experiences.

37. What is tested?
Advertising frequency, click throughs, etc.
Usually with a definitive conversion
metric.
Messaging effectiveness using existing
measures from other testing.

38. No one I found, out of several major
brands, was testing their sites or mobile
apps for brand measures.

39. Your To-Do List
Find who does brand measurement at
your office and find a way to wiggle in.
Find your metrics team and add in some
amount of brand measurement.
(even especially if it’s for selfish reasons).

40. The Time is Right for UX
to be the New Brand Leads.

41. The Olde World:
Brand > Advertising > Product

42. This is the Modern World
Brand > Digital >Product (?)
^Advertising

43. Intangible (Digital) is the new tangible.
The old intangible (Advertising) has
returned to ephemera.

44. Ephemera does not mean SnapChat.

45. Ephemera used to mean items not
meant to be saved, but now means the
churn of things that will rarely last.
“...the rattling of a stick
in a swill bucket”

46. It’s 2014,
what is the primary function of advertising?
To drive people to a digital experience.

47. THIS IS ALREADY TRUE:
As UX Peeps we are already deep into
protecting and enhancing
Brand Equity, Brand Value
and Brand Promise

48. Your To-Do List
Examine the other ads and collateral that
are going out for direction.
Review the sites and apps you’re working
on and be fair in your assessment of
brand voice.

49. What does Brand UX Look Like?

50. Mother of crap, I don’t know.

51. I know it doesn’t look like this...
House Ad 1 House Ad 2 House Ad 3

52. There is no such thing as a
“Digital Brand Hit”
Anyone that uses that phrase deserves
a punch in the lungs.

53. Brand bullshit is meant to get someone
to say “Yes!”
Once they say it, advertising becomes
useless as it only repeats the same
message again and again.

54. ...But it could be much better than this.

55. Let’s look at this ugly thing again
CoverageOne Brand Identity
The Product
No Hassle
Use Anywhere
Covers Everything
Outside the System
"The Rebel"
Emotion
Confident
Assured
Trusted
"I don't have to worry"
On My Side
Professional
Stable
Accessible
Trustworthy
Value
The Smart Choice
Worth the Cost
Protecting your Investment

56. How do we balance brand with
usefulness? with proven functions?
with accepted standards of navigation?

57. In 2004 I tried Brand UX on the
Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge sites.
The things I did differently that year are
the things I see on every auto site today.

58. Your To-Do List
Start mapping new features,
improvements and changes to voice,
visuals and tone to match your Brand
more closely.

59. Stage a Coup, Lead the Team

60. UX usually doesn’t lead the creative
process, but it should.
It’s the highest form of design.

61. What we do encompasses visual
design, copywriting, strategy and
technology.
There’s no reason a path forward
is not as brand lead.

62. What about developers?
You need them around, but they can
kill a brand.

63. Your To-Do List
Decide if you’re the person to take this
on, it’s not easy biz.
Find peeps on your team that can help.
They’re likely outside of your main group.

64. Don’t even get me started on Social.

65. Wrap it up, Heaton.
What the heck have you been talking about?

66. Branding is inherent in our work already.
Digital experiences are the truest
emotional touchpoint of a brand.
Most agencies are not set up to accept this.
We need to toughen up and take this on.

67. At the very least starting today:
• Find the brand pillars
•Map at least one feature/aspect of project to a brand
tenet
• Talk to your measurement teams about ways to measure
for brand or get involved in existing measurement
• Decide if you're the one to lead a larger team by using
Brand UX

68. Thanks.
Andrew Heaton | Revinity
www.revinity.com | @tigerstripe