PINK is for girls
This is what I thought when I was in the third grade. For a brief period in junior high, hot pink was all the rage, and I was in with both feet. Today, I love pink. I’m actually wearing a pale shade of it as I write this post. I enjoy wearing a variety of vibrant colors. Being colorful is bold, and also has an influence on arousal and memory. That’s besides the point however. For those of you who think pink is for girls, I’m okay with that, but we may disagree on just what that means. Let’s begin with the psychology of color. Whenever you begin thinking about a brand and a logo, color is top of mind. We often associate blue with business – think IBM and Microsoft. Red and yellow is owned by the fast food trade. Red is known for being bold, and purple is regal and inspires confidence. The problem with this, however, is that the psychology of color is a trailing indicator of what a color has meant over a preceding period of time. It does not represent the evolving perspective toward color or, in the case of pink, what it means to be a woman. Our idea of womanhood has changed. I know mine has changed since the third grade. Society’s view and portrayal of women has changed. As a father of two young women, I embrace the nature of women as strong and independent. We have seen an evolution in how brands approach women. An obvious example would be the Dove campaign. However, I am thinking of a couple more nuanced examples. These recent ad campaigns are a fitting indication of how society and, as a result, advertising is taking note of femininity’s new identity: Take the #LikeAGirl campaign from Always that recasts how young girls perceive their own physical capabilities. Or, another favorite of mine is ballerina Misty Copeland for Under Armour, definitely redefining your notion of strength and femininity. When we began working on the branding for MKTNG, we discussed with our creative team that we wanted our logo to reflect professionalism, but we also wanted it to exude innovation and fresh ideas. We were excited when they presented us with two color concepts with bold and fresh colors. The most appealing to us was the bright pink that we ended up choosing for the logo you see today. We were enamored with the color and the energy it brought to our logo. Sometimes a symbol changes or evolves. Pink represents femininity still, sure, but the symbol of femininity itself is evolving. Pink is fresh, it exudes love and passion. It is also growing to mean strength and innovation. The notion that pink = women = delicate is no longer the prevailing impression. Rather, it’s refreshing, modern, and confident. In many cases, femininity now represents strength. We hope that daring to use it in our branding conveys that we’re not afraid to make an impression, and that we’re confident that we’ll make an impression on our target market, brands that wish to make a unique impressions, as opposed to appealing to everyone. When representing yourself, in business or otherwise, we believe it’s important to be at once authentic and confident. Whatever that means for your particular brand, we encourage you to strive to meet that intersection, and have the courage to challenge convention.
Just What You Need
There’s something to be said for saying only what needs to be said. When we started MKTNG we knew the world didn’t need another typical agency that can ‘do it all’… we decided to focus on just what’s needed. A part of launching a new company is building on, or taking away from, existing business models. In our case we were bound and determined to strip away as much as possible, and to focus on a workplace culture that is as rewarding as it is productive. This thought leads us to a couple of questions. What is necessary and what is wasteful? What contributes to an organization’s culture and what dampens morale and creativity? Personally, I have long felt that the California Milk Advisory Board has it right, ”good milk comes from happy cows”*. In fact, I think that this pertains to each of us in our respective workplaces. Over the past decade major employers have begun to alter the work environment of employees to maximize employee satisfaction, hence the communal open office and work-from-home benefits that have proliferated. For us, we keep our focus on that “good marketing comes from happy marketers”. We believe; There is something about a finished product that shines when it has been imbued with the passion and ethos of its creators. There is something about the finished product when it reflects the culture on the inside. There is something about the finished products origin story that gives it integrity. ORIGINS MATTER In Sacramento we believe in this wholeheartedly, when it comes to our food, origins matter. We are surrounded by much of the world’s best food. Where our food is grown matters and how it is produced has a significant impact on the taste. So much so, we even concern ourselves with the quality of life of the farmers and their communities. This is the essence of the “Farm to Fork” movement. It differentiates Sacramento from anywhere else in our nation because it truly matters where our food comes from, the soil it is borne in, the water and nutrients it is fed, who grew it and how it arrived on our table. OUR ROOTS GO DEEP When I started MKTNG, I felt as though the roots of our company matters. The ecosystem surrounding our productivity and creativity seeps into our final product. Sacramento is a fertile environment rich with innovators, hackers, makers, designers, coders, ideators and more. New ideas are encouraged and risks rewarded. Birthing a company in this environment makes a difference. We have stripped away what we don’t need. We partner with people who get us, and who we can do something for in return – reciprocity is an important value in a professional community. At /MKTNG we produce things unlike any other agency. We believe that how we work keeps us more than competitive. We believe that how we work produces better results. We have discarded what was unnecessary for a modern agency and we have adapted the tools and workflow of a digital start-up. We have adopted a flat management structure to become more flexible. Our infrastructure is our people and creativity is our intellectual property. We are agile and adaptable, we are lean. This frees our team to focus on results and solutions that matter. JUST WHAT YOU NEED *At no time during the reading of this post should any MKTNG employees or partners be compared to cows.