The original look.

The revised look.

In what seems like a lifetime ago, I was given the nickname “Captain Digital.” Back when I began blogging, I put everything under this blog’s banner. Eventually, I realized it would be better (for any number of reasons) to refocus this blog to cover just marketing, advertising, and design, and relocate all my political and pop culture posts to another blog, and thus, www.captaindigital.net was born.

When I first created a visual look and feel for Captain Digital, I wanted to evoke a 1940’s style cartoon look. While that worked well as far as the original goal, the reality was that working with the color halftone pattern was a major pain. Nice idea – not worth the extra effort to pull off the look of a Ben Day pattern. Add to that a desire to remake Captain Digital’s image into something just a wee bit more modern and hip, and you have a need for a image refresh. Problem was, I really didn’t have time to work on it. I tried an intermediate step of using a modernized cartoon version of the original, but there were some things I wanted to fix – in particular, I felt like losing the helmet would be a good idea. So As of today, we’ve got a new version of Captain Digital. The old/original drawings will be retired, as I can get to it.

As you can see, the character’s costume has remained fairly consistent. I made things a little more consistent as far as the colors go, but the biggest change is getting rid of the helmet (and replacing it with a headset), and the addition of a little facial hair (which is more consistent with what I really look like (would that I could trade bodies with Captain Digital – he’s in MUCH better shape than I am).

When you get a chance, click on over to the CD blog and check out the new look and feel. I’m hoping that it will reinforce the content with a more consistent visual style.

Synergy.

Think about it. If you’re in print, online, and direct mail, what could make each work better? Synergy. If you’re doing a combination of billboards, P.O.S., and radio, what could make your campaign stronger? Synergy. In fact, if you’re not applying synergy to your marketing, you’re wasting a lot of money, and getting far less in the “bang for your buck” department than you should be. 

So what is “synergy” anyway, and how do you use it? That, campers, is the $64,000 question. 

Synergy, to me, is when the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Synergy is what happens when various elements of your marketing efforts work in harmony, mutually amplifying each other. For instance, when your billboards drive traffic to your website, which offers coupons for your brick ‘n mortar store, that’s synergy. 

Synergy also applies to a commonality in look, feel, and tone. You might be surprised, but there are huge numbers of companies out there that pay no attention to this kind of branding consistency. They use things like canned advertising packages from third-party groups, and pay no attention to the idea that their brand has value, and a consistent look and feel makes brands stronger. 

Synergy is also part of a marketing attitude. If you aren’t already looking at your entire advertising, marketing and P.R. efforts with an overarching plan, start now. Avoid the rush. Everything you do marketing-wise needs to work in harmony, or you are hurting – not helping – your brand. Synergy. It’s the “new black.” Believe it.