 Okay everyone, sorry about the small delay there, we're ready to get started. Our next speaker is Raffaella, who will be telling us, who will be talking about from its mind to its me, the concept of how branding has evolved over the last 50,000 years. Raffaella started out in the WordPress community two years ago and WordPress Torino. Today she's here with us in London and to talk about the most important thing to be aware of when working on a brand. Thank you Raffaella. You're welcome. Hi. Oh, you're seeing all my slides backwards. That's a great start. I can't find my mouse here. So don't close your eyes. Just close your eyes, close your eyes. It's like seeing, you know, who killed everyone in the movies. Okay, hello. Hello London. So yeah, I'm a bit nervous, but it's okay. I'll get over it soon. First, I have a question for you. How many people here are younger than 35? Okay. What? And how many are from other countries? No, I mean, you're here just for work camp. That's kind of the point. I'm just trying to establish more or less, you know, what kind of an audience I have. How many developers? How many designers? How many marketers? Lovely. Great. Well, hello brands. You know we are all brands today, right? You know that. So my name is Raffaella Isidori. This is what I do. I don't do all those things together, but I actually do them and often get paid for doing them. And these are my, the three logos I go by that represent me in different areas. And today I want to talk to you. I want to try and get three main points across from you. The first is what is a brand and what is not a brand? How the meaning of what we define branding has evolved. And I'm going to give you my recipe for branding. For branding for people that don't have big advertising agencies on their payroll and have to get to it by themselves. So let's get going. I know. That's the feeling, right? So for how many people a brand and a logo are synonyms? Raise your hands if you call, you see something and you call it a logo, you call it a brand and you have no real clue as to what's what. Okay. So a brand is not a logo. And a logo is not a brand. So I'm going to show you what I mean. What is this? Nike, right? And that's Nike, right? The empowering message, the attitude, the inspiration, the mission, the vision. This is Nike's mission. This is Nike's logo and this is Nike's brand. Okay. I have another more fitting example for you. If you know what it is, raise your hand, but don't say it out loud. No? Nobody? Nobody? Okay. Well, it's a logo. Well, maybe if I show you, if I show you, it works better. Okay. So it's a logo, right? But it's not a brand. This is the brand. Okay. This is the logo and this represents something. A logo, it's an icon. It's a symbol. It's a graphic, bi-dimensional representation of something that it's much, much deeper. And the brand is all the emotions and the feelings and the intangibles that we associate with that logo and that go way beyond the logo. To borrow from Ann Handley, who borrowed from Z Frank, the brand is the emotional aftertaste that comes after an experience with a product or a service or a company or a person or an entity. So the logo is two-dimensional. The brand is multi-dimensional. Every single one of these marks is something that will trigger a reaction from us, an emotional reaction. It can be good. It can be bad. If it's bad, it's bad for the brand. But for us, it's not necessarily good or bad. It's an emotion. And the effectiveness of the brand is in triggering the opportune and the proper emotions. So, but branding as a practice is very ancient, as the title of my talk said. And let's see how it evolved. The first practice of branding dates back to 50,000 years ago. In the Lascaux Caves in France, the paintings showed cattle with markings. So we believe that our early ancestors marked their cattle with tar or paint to distinguish them from the other peoples. So all properties considered pressure were branded with the markings of the owner. Some also not very nice. Slaves were branded. Sometimes modern slaves are branded. So I actually, I'll, sorry. Okay. So by 2000 BC, to 3000 BC, branding evolved to something more permanent. And that was burning through burning marks. We have funeral, we have Egyptian funeral documents and monuments that depict that. And in fact, the term branding comes from Old Norse brand, which means to burn. The second practice for burning, the second need that branding resolved was to establish a product's origin. So along with transferring information as to who and where something was made, about four, no, about a couple of thousand years ago, the practice of makers was to put symbols and markings that sort of certified that they made that product and that they also would, some would identify what material was made with, what, where it was made. And this practice was very common everywhere. China, India, Greece, Mesopotamia, some of the Chinese markings date back more than 5000 years. And in the branding principle closer to what we consider today, archaeologists have identified about a thousand pottery marks from the first three centuries of the ancient Roman Empire. And these are factory lamps that were found, and that as you can see, they all show the brand, the maker's brand. In the late Middle Ages, guilds began to want to distinguish their products and properties. So paper makers and printing houses used watermarks, and stonemason and queries developed an elaborate system to identify where the stones came from. And in the Renaissance, artists like Michelangelo started substituting the symbols they would put on their arts with their names. And by doing so, they started to establish what we now refer to as authorship and saying, I made that. Okay, with the advent of the, in the Industrial Revolution, the production of mass products became common. And mass products had to be identified and had to be distinguished from other mass products that were the same. So the first thing the companies did was, again, without iron, burned their names and labels on the crates that carried the product. And soon after, they started branding the single products. These are some examples of packaging design from the late 1800s, early 1900s, and it's actually the birth of packaging design and of the modern concept of branding. Also, by the end of the 1800s, companies had started investing money in creating their brands and demanded that their rights legally be protected. And in 1875, the Trademark Registration Act did just that. It also did something else. It actually turned the brand into a company asset, a property that the company could also sell that had monetary value. With so many new brands, the need was to differentiate and to, you know, convince the people that mine is better than yours. And that was done through advertising. Advertising was a relatively new and little practice practice. But this, sir, this James Walter Thompson, had a very, very good idea as to how important it could get. And his agency was the first one to establish a creative department to design content for its clients. He went further. He wrote two books, the Thompson Red and Blue books of advertising, in which he explained to clients and potential clients the opportunities that advertising had for their sales and their businesses. And it introduced also the concept of trademark advertising, which is what we today call branding. So in the 20s and 40s, the advertising, which of course requires being run through, being broadcast through media, was broadcasted on magazine, newspapers, I'm sorry, and radio. And then came television. And television was a huge game changer. If this is going to start, I don't know, I'm going to try to see if it goes. And the audio isn't on as well. America runs on bull of a time. Okay, this was the first ever aired commercial. It was 1941. By 1952, the ad revenue surpassed that of magazine and radio sales combined. In less than, not less, but in a little over 10 years, television just totally became the advertising medium, hashering in what it's known and referred to in the business as the golden agent of advertising or the madman area. So in the 50s and in the 60s, advertising evolved. It went from a unique selling proposition of the 50s, where the product was the main protagonist. There's, hey, hello, I'm here. I exist by me. Two later in the 60s, a need for something more differentiating. And something that it's called, that called to our emotion. So products were no longer just advertising, hey, I exist, but they were advertising a feeling, an emotion, a reason to buy that was deeper than the need. In the 70s, television sets were common. Everyone had them. And consumers became very brand conscious. By the 80s, brands were status symbols. And to win, it was easy. Just have a good commercial, spend a lot of money, just bombarding people, and it worked. So while products strive to diversify themselves, people started also questioning this whole media thing. So media theory became a subject of study, and people began looking at it a bit more critically, like Marshall McLuhan. From the brand side, in the 80s and the 90s, companies started to stop pushing the product advertising, and started pushing the company behind the product, trying to establish a relationship to the consumer from the house, sharing identity, vision, and values. So just like television was a game changer, internet was a total revolution. And by the end of 1990s, internet was available in most developed countries pretty widely. And in over two decades, through these guys, our way of communicating and interreacting has completely changed. In terms of branding, this has two major implications. The first one is that there's nowhere to hide for companies. Information is out there, people are watching, people are recording, people are calling out. People today have a direct line of communication with companies. Brands need to stay alert. Scandals means loss of equity. Blunders are bigger because everyone's watching, and you may recall, I don't know, an American airline dragging someone out of the airplane, or many other. It's, everything needs to be watched and cared for, very, with a lot of attention. And news travels in real time. You can't count on something that, well maybe they're not going to find out. The second thing is that we are all brands now. This means I'm going to run through, because I'm a little behind, through social media today we all have access to potentially global exposure, which is great, except we also have access to being bullied or molested or pecton or judged, and that is not that great. And that is also something that before was a VIP problem, right? I mean, no one, I didn't have to worry about paparazzi chasing me. Today some do. But anyway, so today we can all get to a new kind of popularity, and you know, you guessed it, we're talking about influencers. Like Chiara Ferragni, who's 32 million total reach, and estimated net worth in 2016 was of $12 million, started from a blog. Grumpy Cat, one, a favorite of mine, who has 68 million people following him. Her, actually, I'm sorry, she's a girl. Or another girl, Lili Singh, 247 million followers. She's a YouTuber, and she does comedy, not that funny, but I guess I'm the short part of the 247 million, but anyway, you know, more than followers I have. So branding has evolved. Ownership, origin and quality, identification, differentiation, a company asset, a status symbol, a reputation. Today, your brand is your cap promise to your client. And that is true if you're Nike, and if you are Rafael Lezidori, and if you are the pizza maker at the corner, people expect you to live up to whatever your promise is. To put it with Jeff Bezos, your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room. And it's actually really, really pertinent and correct. So, okay, so big brands have big agencies and big money, and they can do all this stuff. What about us? Should we, should you work on and build your personal brand or your image? Yes. Yes, the answer is yes. And this is what I do for my clients, but with everyone can do it for herself. The first rule, mind you, these are all before the logo, okay? The logo comes at point eight, if I recall correctly. So this is what you have to do before you even think of wanting a logo. The first thing you have to do is know yourself. Know yourself means what is it that you do? What is it the value that you provide? The second thing you know is who's your client? Who's your customers? What value do you provide to them? The third thing you know is where you swim, which pond you swim in. What's your market? Who's your competition, which is point four? How are you different from your competition? What can you provide better or differently? Or if there's too many of you with, you know, pitching for the same clients, maybe there's a new little niche that you can find for yourself. You need to have a clear vision of where you're heading. And if you don't have one, you need to get one. And since we are in the world of internet and of instant news, you need to have values. And you have to stand by your values. People are going to call you up on that. You need to have a plan. You need to have a strategy. You need to, you know, start with, if this were a trip, you would have to have planned it out on Google Maps. You know, I'm going there and then from there I'm going there and then from there I'm going there because my objective is that one. Now, you can give your brand an image. And you can convey your brand personality through graphic design. This is where you get to like do the logo stuff. Okay. And the key here is consistency. You have to use an appropriate tone of voice and an appropriate type of language to talk to your target, which was point two. And you need to care for your communication, how you communicate, where you communicate, in which way you communicate. And of course the attitude that you have with your clients makes up, you know, whether or not they're going to leave you one star and say sucks or five stars and say this was a wonderful experience. And the key here is service. It's your face. Don't skimp. It doesn't mean you have to have a huge budget. It means that whatever budget you have, you have to use it wisely. And then like everything that has value, you need to work hard. And you need to stay consistent and stay there even if it hurts. Check often. If you're going astray, just refocus. Lastly, it's not mandatory, but it's a good thing to be mindful, be present. You are within context. Be aware of your context. If your brand is a personal brand, steps one through seven apply just the same. Rules nine and 11, nine to 11 apply just the same. You are your brand. So it should have your personality. And I had to stick her in here because I adore her. Okay? That's car, the B. So it has to be opportunity curbed, but it has to be you. If you're all crazy and creative, don't have a gray image. And if you are a nerd, be a nerd. Be proud of being a nerd. It's okay. A brand. And that's the key point. It's an organic, living, breathing being. You have to bring it to life. You have to care for it. You have to nurture it. You have to love it and care for it like it's your baby. And when you step on a poo, which we all do very often, own it, learn it, apologize, fix it if you can, and learn from it. It's okay. Your public today is going to appreciate you more if you screw up and you make up and you say, sorry, I'm human. I screwed up. Then if you try to seem the perfection that no one is. Thank you. For those of you who want at Workamp Europe, I'm going to be having a workshop on the practical parts of branding. And this is me. If you want to get in touch. And for those of you who want the slides, you can core code it. And I am a minute and 30 second early. Absolutely. If you have questions, by all means. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Great talk. Really interesting point, especially about ESP. You mentioned that it's kind of taking the place over a USP. Does that apply to just the products or the brand entirely now? How does that work? Historically, that's the shift that happened in the 60s. Today, it's sort of the basics. Today, everything is emotional selling. Today, we also got really good also understanding dynamics, how people react and how people most often react irrationally or behave irrationally. So it applies to everything. It applies to any type of communication. So it's no questions. What? I covered it all. So how about I ask you questions? Feedback. What can I do better except rehearsing, but it's my second thought and my second talk in my life. So I'm doing okay. It'd be quite interesting to see more case studies that are more smaller. The big ones, they're big 2270 million hits and users. They're great, but maybe drop it down to the level. Yeah. Well, if you're in Belgrade in the workshop, it's easier. In 30 minutes, it was really hard to try and give you a little bit of how we got here and also a little bit of what can you do? Because I felt that the second part, that what you can do is more of value, but the history part is more of understanding how we got here. Also because how we got here kind of gives you the hints of the dynamics and of the mechanics of how we create a brand and we nourish a brand. I was actually going to say, sorry, I've got my hand up there. I was actually going to say the history of it was very valuable, how you get to a brand because that's where everybody suffers either from a personal brand perspective and the company. We all say we want our logo bigger. How many people in this room have heard that? And it's difficult to explain to clients directly to say it's not about the logo. It's about your presentation of who you are, why you are, and what you are and how you're going to improve other people's lives. And that's about the brand. That's what Amazon tell us all the time. That's what Nike tell us all the time. So we can learn from the bigger brands, but on the comment that we just had there, I was at a Facebook do and they were telling us how Facebook is really successful for advertising and they showed us the Olympics. They showed us McDonald's and they showed us the Hilton Group. And one of the things about all these kind of presentations, like you say you're going to do it in your WordPress Serbia, in WordCamp Serbia, which I'll see as well, but we do really need to focus on the SME rather than the big brands. Yes, we can learn from what the big brands have done, but one of the things I'd like presenters to focus on is how is it going to affect us, the little guys. So congratulations on the presentation, but it's a good point that SMEs are actually left behind in this. We can use the big guys as examples, but how do we put that into our own businesses? Yeah, no, you are absolutely right about that. The strategy, at least that's my approach. The strategy, it's the same, whether you're Nike or whether you're Raffaella. Because the principles are the same. Obviously, Raffaella does not have Nike's budget and does not have the resources, does not have the same opportunities. So each client has to and we as consultants to those clients should help them optimize whatever resources they have. If you have the budget to go on television and have Superbowl commercials, good. We're not going to diss that, but my clients don't and I don't know how many people's clients here do Superbowl commercials. So yes, so social media, content marketing, having a blog, writing quality content, making sure you're out there, making sure you're providing value, that's really the core. That's really how you move today, then if you can do advertising better. Perfect. We have time for one more question. So we're going to have one more then we're going to wrap it up. It's not really a question. Oh God, I can't use these. It's just a bit of feedback on your thing. It's just for lots of people take photos. I write things that I'm interested in. So for your talks, if you could put your details on for longer at the end, because you kind of went through that. So no, no, no, but that was just a few to talk. Yeah. No, I just, I privileged the QR code because through that, just taking a picture of that, you would get access all the information because that's the link to the slides and it contains everything. But I'm a Luddite. So you know, there's Luddite. I'm a Luddite. Thank you. It was, it was excellent. No, no, no. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Raffiella, for taking the time to talk to us about this. It was a really interesting, beautiful presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Final round. It's short. I get a prize.