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Pfizer International, the global leader in the pharmaceutical sector, recently unveiled a newly created logo that updates its trademark’s graphic elements. The launch began with a little film in which they explained the rationale using beautiful sentences they carefully crafted using language care, conveying their viewpoint on their organization and its overall entity (its position in the audience’s mentality).

And why should a huge, globally recognized institution renew its logo, we could wonder?

The answer will be given from all angles and by both specialists and non-specialists, and it will unavoidably be that the global brands are keeping up with and modernizing the development of their brands in order to confirm the presence of the brand in the market, its significance, and to remind consumers of its area of expertise, mission, and purpose.

But if we ask, “Why now? , yes now! by drawing your attention to the fact that, between the end of 2020 and the beginning of this year, we have witnessed widespread government and international organization approval of the Pfizer vaccine against the well-known and dangerous epidemic known as COVID 19, which has “filled the world and people with concerns”!

In order to answer the question “why now?” from a specialist communication perspective, we must first examine the information the company has provided on its website and social media platforms. Then, we will ensure that the visual change in the logo and other visual elements is to reinforce a fundamental philosophy behind a strategic goal that they intended to share with the world at this specific time. Here I’ll attempt to justify (at least for myself) the little modification to the logo while praising how cleverly the optics were connected to the messages they sought to send to us. What did their campaign for this development contain? I will express their argument and provide you a clear, concise explanation in the lines that follow.

“After more than 170 years of treating diseases, we have reached a new age, a period when we focus intensely on research and dedication to patients,” they say in the brand’s introductory video. Our new brand identity is a symbol that communicates our mission to improve patient lives whilst healing humanity from disease.

Notice how the two blue arcs move in the video; these arcs used to create the “oval pill” symbol in the previous logo. They arranged them to create a coding for the DNA chromosome’s shape, which they said in the texts is based on the core principles, passion, and objective of their institution, which is to progress science and benefit humanity.

Here is displayed the main message intended to be conveyed to the company’s philosophy and strategy, namely that they are a company that cares more about development and research through scientific laboratories and in-depth studies than they care about being a drug manufacturing company concerned with profitability, trade, and selling commercial drugs.

They refer to all of us as Corona infected, potential infected, or Corona worried. We are frightened of receiving the vaccine and the concept behind it. They send us messages assuring us that your vaccine is in safe hands. It took years of research, development, and testing to create your vaccine. He shackled her and put it on her. It is not a universal treatment provided by governments to the people.

While we are optimistic, or even compelled, it is not for me to take it. It is a fantastic drug that was discovered in the research labs of this enormous institution, which shows clearly that it is cautious about the planet and also us. It automatically moves to something superior to profitability, monopoly commercial benefit, and non-military dominance in its mental position!

Let’s read what Albert Bourla, the company’s chairman and CEO, said, basically restating what was mentioned in the opening segment of the video: “After 171 years, a new era has begun, one that is heavily focused on research and its commitment to patients’ wellbeing. Pfizer is no longer involved in the field of disease treatment only!” While highlighting the company’s leadership, the Deputy CEO and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer said: “Our new identity represents the authenticity of Pfizer’s history and exhibits the creative spirit and attention on the reality that science and research are the cornerstone of work in Pfizer.”

We first looked at the development of their logo since 1849 , which underwent six modifications with this new one, and how they relied on the blue color, which psychologically and scientifically confirms confidence and transparency. As for their exhibition of the details of identity, its technicalities, and the causality of their choices for visual details (which I personally considered minor but indicative), Credibility was added when they took a brand-new degree with gradations from it and declared, “Blue, but new.”

Additionally, they described the font they chose in the brand name and the reasons they decided to use it as a universal font that can correctly write all Latin characters. They stated that it is a serious, sharp-angled font that reflects their personality because they take their position seriously.

They employed a realistic image collection of real people in positions, ages, and bodies that indicated they were the ones in need of medical attention, along with medical teams and cadres who dealt with them with kindness and professionalism that was obvious from their body language and facial expressions.

In order to express and consecrate their new identity, they also used digital graphics that maintain the interlocking arc shapes that directly refer to the DNA chromosome they adopted to express their new identity

Back to causation finally! From a specialized perspective, I can see that they were successful in both the timing of the launch and the proposal itself. Additionally, I can see that the motivation behind offering this development was very justified in an effort to relieve public concerns about the vaccine they released to the market and the rushed adoption of it by governments over other vaccines that were available. Did the message reach you? Are you persuaded by their argument? The only thing I want for each of us is to be free of the burden of this nightmare.

Simple and cheerful posters from a charitable project, to put it mildly, civilized and engrossing humanity, carried out by a non-profit organization called Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC), which is an administratively and operationally independent charitable organization, sponsored by the significant international company McDonald’s, which is widespread and offers renowned fast food.

The non-profit RMHC organizes and funds initiatives that enhance the wellbeing and living standard of kids. McDonald’s, the organization’s main firm, sponsors it and contributes to its humanitarian endeavors. In order to appeal to children, the group named itself Ronald McDonald’s after the clown, “the character describing the brand. The organization is primarily supported by donations from individuals and organizations throughout the world.

In English, the posters state that “Strong family support makes a major positive difference for children when they fall sick,” which gives them a visual and unbiased message of inspiration. And it will be obvious to us how clever a marketing project it is if we connect the information on the posters with the undertaking upon which the organization is based. And how clever it is for a large corporation like McDonald’s to support such a nonprofit and such initiatives to position itself as a business that has marketing through sponsorship and social responsibility on a global scale.

Now you may ask, what is this charitable project? The project involves more than 375 standard residences dispersed across different nations. These homes provide free hosting to families of children with chronic diseases, who are worn out by the great responsibility and high cost of caring for their children. They give the parents in these houses a reasonable place to live close to the hospitals so they can have a restful night’s sleep, good food, and lodging without having to worry about taking care of their kids at the hospital! Even recuperating youngsters are welcome to reside in these model homes with their parents.

You will find a great deal of information containing all the human values possible on the project page of the website! And they added answers to well-known questions (which is a very desirable method of definition and marketing).

https://rmhc.org/our-core-programs/ronald-mcdonald-house-programs

Promoting social responsibility, especially those that incorporate universal human feelings and interests, has a good impact on the public at large.

The public, customers and society all value marketing. McDonald’s has merged all of this in “one,” especially for a group of individuals in society. Children and the families that care for them are the most vulnerable.

I hope that similar marketing features will be available in the Arab world and our neighboring nations, and that the idea of marketing will not just be constrained to free social networking sites and advertising!

Choosing a branding firm can be a nightmare. Ask branding agencies for quotes and you will get prices ranging anywhere from $1,000 to $50,000 and up, and sometimes this includes only the design. On Craigslist a designer might offer a logo design for less than $300, or even $50. And there’s even a website where you can crowdsource the design of your logo for free before you choose to pay.

All these options can lead you to wonder, Do you really get better work the more you pay? How do these various services differ? How much should you spend on your business?

It all comes down to what different freelancers and agencies mean by “branding,” and what your ultimate business goal is with the branding project.

Branding encompasses three different elements. First, there is the visual brand that aesthetically represents what you’re all about: the design of your logo, website, and materials. Then there is the messaging that communicates what you do and why you’re different, which includes all of the copy and your tagline. Finally, there is the positioning of your brand, which bleeds into your business plan and structure.

When a firm offers “branding,” however, it may be referring to only one or two aspects. To decide which one your business needs, you must take into account where you are in the evolution of your business, assess your current challenges and goals, and determine the best partner to address them.

Visual Brand Designers

When a designer says they’ll design your brand, they really mean your logo, website, and identity materials. It would be more accurate to say they are designing your visual brand. They often will want you to provide your own messaging and copy, and they will completely rely on you in terms of positioning and strategy.

This is the person you use when you are first starting out if you don’t have a lot to invest. It gives you something to get your business out there, to start selling and testing your services in the market. Once you’ve had some experience with clients, a strategic brand agency can craft that into something that will take you to the next level.

You can find people who will do your entire brand on Craigslist/UpWork/Elance for $1,000 to $3,000, and it’s even possible to catch a great designer for even less if you get them at the right moment—like right out of school. But these are unicorns, not the norm, and you will always end up paying more in other ways. When my partner and designer, Steve, first left school, his management skills were nonexistent. A rising design star may be incredibly talented creatively, but likely hasn’t yet mastered the art of managing projects and clients. This usually means a lot more of their time and your time is spent on the project. Also, they are generally not thinking about messaging and business strategy. They may make something that looks great, even brilliant, but if your messaging is generic and your business strategy is weak, a gorgeous visual brand is not going to help you much in the long run.

Brand Message & Design

Luckily, plenty of agencies integrate design with messaging. You tell them what you your business is about and what you want to communicate, and they put it into words, make a tagline, and design an identity to match. This is probably the most common approach to this type of branding, and if you’ve got a solid business strategy, a brand agency that does the messaging and the design is a great match.

This is the agency you hire if you have a clear business model, own a solid positioning in the market (for example, if you are the go-to interior designer for boutique hotels), and are already profitable and looking to take your company to the next level. If you have a great foundation, a branding agency that has marketing savvy can enhance your brand’s existing positioning in the market.

A small agency that does both can cost anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000 and up. I know, I know: this is quite a range. So what’s the difference? It’s not an exact science, and if there was a definitive way to slice up these numbers I would share it with you. Price doesn’t always equal value, but unicorns are rare. Usually the price is determined by the size of the agency, the experience of the principals, and the business savvy of the owners. The best thing to do is find an agency that you vibe with and that seems to have enthusiasm for your company and its work.

Business Strategy Meets Messaging & Design

Finally, there are agencies that do all three.

This is the agency you hire when you have a lot of revenue—and therefore a budget—but not a lot of profit. This agency can help you strategize how to better position your business in the market to increase profit, and then build a brand message and design based on that positioning to catapult your business to market domination.

Fewer of these agencies exist because they need to understand business strategy, marketing and communications strategy, design strategy, and how to integrate it all together.

Given that it takes different experience and knowledge to grow a tech/e-commerce business, a mid-size consulting firm, a small service business, or a thought leader brand, it’s best to look for a branding agency that has a focused clientele. They may focus by industry, by business size, by the clients’ target market, or by a variety of factors, but if they have a focus, they are able to learn nuances of their clients’ businesses and consult on the business itself. It’s ironic that many branding firms fail to focus their niche of target clients, which means they often aren’t able to offer this service. It’s a rare agency that is adept at developing strategy for businesses of all kinds.

Another reason branding agencies don’t touch business strategy is that strategists are often the bearers of bad news, and many agencies don’t want to take on that responsibility. Essentially, you may think your strategy is solid, but if your business is not profitable and is just breaking even (meaning everyone is getting paid but the owners are not taking home an additional profit share every quarter on top of their salary), your brand needs a more strategic positioning in the market, and a more solid sales and business strategy, as a foundation for the new messaging and design. This can mean painful short-term pivots for the long-term health of the business. Without that, the shiny new brand may help you look nicer, but ultimately you’re not going to achieve the goal of having a highly profitable business. You might sign more clients, get more work, and need to hire more employees, but the profit at the end of the quarter or year stays the same and might even shrink.

Even when taking into account personal goals, social missions, and the like, making your ideal model highly profitable should be the end goal of any business.

Pricing for agencies that include business strategy range from $10,000 to $50,000 plus, but have no ceiling. A good way to identify these agencies is to look at their questions. Are they asking about your numbers? Are they asking about your pricing, your process, and your profitability? If they are, then they are making sure that your brand messaging is supported by a strategic and profitable business strategy.

Some of the biggest agencies do this and do it well, but the price tag usually starts at $30,000 just for the strategy, and when you throw in research, messaging, and visual design, the projects can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Smaller agencies usually don’t offer all three, given that committing to a certain size and niche business is difficult to stomach. But if you are looking for a branding firm and you struggle with profitability, I highly recommend interviewing agencies on this aspect of their process.

Finally, I suggest to everyone who wants to work on marketing and promoting their company to more properly evaluate their skills, workload, and marketing needs. Business owners must make sure that their company’s production and service capacities are at their highest possible levels and that they have seen at least some of what lies ahead of them, even from their own perspective and understanding of the market, rivals, and the likelihood that their products will survive the competition.

There are works of great perfection and generosity, and their competitive advantage is present in the market, but the efforts of those in charge of them were focused on production and production only, as the experiments showed us an utter failure, the marketing work was mighty in return for meager products or services, and vice versa.

Overthinking is one of the biggest causes of unhappiness. Overthinking can create problems that weren’t even there or may not even happen in the first place. Most of the issues or situations we conjure up in our mind are fear and worry based and do not aid us – although we think that by overthinking, we are helping or protecting ourselves somehow. What we are doing is robbing ourselves of this gift at this very moment.

Here are 4 Ways to Stop Overthinking:
Once we get started, it’s hard to stop overthinking.

1. Stop and focus on the positive things going on right now.
We have become a society that allows overthinking and negative thinking to prevail. By simply shifting your focus to what makes you happy or what you’re thankful for, you can start to retrain your mind to think more positively. Remember: It only takes one brick at a time to build a home…

Consequently, you will start to feel more peaceful and stop overthinking since you no longer put so much emphasis on the negativity you perceive within yourself and elsewhere.

Remember, energy flows where attention goes – you can stop overthinking by creating awareness behind your thoughts.

2. Repeat peaceful words to yourself throughout your day.
Pay attention to your brain at this very moment…what kinds of thoughts do you observe?

Most likely, you will notice that most of your overthinking centers around what you have to do today, what someone said that made you angry, or even degrading thoughts about yourself. Please don’t feel bad, though; maintaining a consistent positive mindset isn’t always easy with so much negativity around us. However, you can counter the negative, stress-inducing thoughts with simple, peaceful words.

Anytime you feel a bout of anxiety coming on, introduce calming words into your awareness, such as the following. Tranquil. Calm. Peaceful. Serenity. Light. Love. Relaxing. Breeze. Beach. The last two words in the sequence describe scenery, which you can do if it makes you feel peaceful. Words carry a lot of meaning and power, so use them to your advantage whenever you feel stressed out.

3. Live in the here and now.
Forget about the errands you have to run tomorrow after work, the bills you have to pay next week, or the uncertainty of your future that you haven’t even gotten to yet. When you let thoughts like these ruminate, it can cause great dis-ease within the body and even lead to anxiety, depression, chronic stress, and other serious problems. Most anxiety is caused by living in a time other than the one we have right now, so bring yourself back to the present whenever you feel your thoughts taking you elsewhere.

By allowing yourself to flow from one moment to the next, just as you did as a child, you will recapture what it means to feel true peace.

4. Get out in nature to detract from overthinking.
Nature is the perfect way to quiet a busy mind. You could do this on the weekend or during your lunch break in a nearby park. If you’re stressed out, consider going on a vacation somewhere beautiful and away from everything.

Anything you can do to strengthen your bond with nature will greatly benefit your mind and help you remember that we create the most stress we feel in our mind and body. We originated in a place of pure harmony, and most of what we see around us is just a very persistent illusion. Remember that nature doesn’t struggle through life, and you don’t have to, either. Don’t get too caught up with the trivial matters of the material world because you won’t find peace in numbers or possessions.

Truthfully, peace resides within your heart already, but Mother Earth can help you remember this by providing solace from the strains of modern society.

The 4Ps of marketing, Product, Price, Promotion and Place, have been used by marketers around the world for decades. Because of changes in the environment, consumer behavior and business models, these classic principles are increasingly at odds with how business is done today

During the workshop ‘Business Model Innovation for Marketers’, I discussed the new marketing framework S.A.V.E., based on an HBR study, that can be used when designing new business models.

According to Eduaro Conrado, Chief Marketing Officer for Motorola and one of the authors of the HBR study, business owners should look to the S.A.V.E framework instead of the 4P’s marketing mix, as they craft and define their unique offering. The framework advises focusing on the Solution, Access, Value and Education of a product or service.

1. Focus on Solution instead of Product: Many organizations are moving their business model from product-oriented to service- and solution-oriented. Customers don’t care about the product, all they care about is solving their problems. What is the job you get done?
2. Focus on Access instead of Place: Many organizations are moving their business model from ownership to ‘access to’. Nowadays, many businesses operate around always-on, high speed Internet access. Place is irrelevant, it’s all about access. What do you give a customer at this precise moment that they want or need?
3. Focus on Value instead of Price: Customers have concerns about price, but only after their concerns about value. What is the value you create? When designing new business models your value proposition is key.
4. Focus on Education instead of Promotion: Businesses today can act as ‘entreproducers’, providing current and potential customers with information relevant to their interests to create a sense of familiarity and trust long before a purchase is even made.

The S.A.V.E. framework allows businesses to keep this mindset at the forefront of their operations, acting as the centerpiece for this new solution-selling strategy and can be useful in designing new business models for your organization.