Scott W. Hershey, senior partner

Q. HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE CORPORATE IDENTITY?

A. I describe corporate and product identity as a form of "Visual Indexing", a way of presenting to the viewer who you are and what products or services you offer, while giving them the impression that you are one cohesive and organized company. Too many times a business can look fragmented and unorganized by simply having too many theme lines and a different "look" for each brochure or product they create.

Q. ISN'T THERE A POSSIBILITY THAT HAVING EVERYTHING LOOK THE SAME COULD HAVE A REVERSE AFFECT?

A. I don't want everything to "look the same". I'll explain. There needs to be a common thread going between your materials: a theme line, a place for the logo, a general grid for which your graphics will fall and perhaps a color indexing system for your product line. All of these items, when used consistently across your product and corporate materials, will help form what I am calling "Visual Indexing". The viewer will subconsciously begin to feel you are one with your products.

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Q. WHAT IS COLOR INDEXING? A. That's part of the process of preparing the viewer for recall. Your sense of sight is one of your strongest senses. Think spring and you visualize green, think water you get blue, think chocolate you get brown. That's how we see and recall things. Think stop you visualize red. So by establishing a color code for your products or sales literature you will be appealing to the subconscious mind, and the viewer will navigate through your materials freely, without knowing why it's so easy. They will separate your products in their minds, just by color alone. Bottom line, more retention and recall with your products. Who can't benefit from that?

Q. IF THIS IS SO EFFECTIVE, WHY AREN'T MORE MARKETERS DOING IT?

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A. The sophisticated ones are. But, many companies don't have the experience needed to begin the process. That's where we come in. It's our job to communicate the value of "Visual Indexing" to our customers, to lead them in this direction and show them the benefits of "Corporate Identity". Also, this process takes time, and that relates to money. Some companies have not found the resources to invest in this process quite yet.

Say, can anyone out there remember the colors for McDonald's? Need I say more?

Scott W. Hershey is a senior partner and creative director with Hershey Philbin Associates, Inc.

shershey@hersheyphilbin.com