Every company has manufacturing standards. Brand standards are just as important.

A furniture manufacturer I know insists on using a certain type of screw and a certain type of wood when producing his furniture. I remember asking him once if cheaper screws and different wood would increase his margins. His response — “Sure, but it would catch up with me.”

“People trust our brand because of our reputation for quality,” he said. “As soon as I start compromising the quality, my customers will start looking for a furniture maker who doesn’t.”

From my point of view, blog posts are something of a challenge to a person who has spent his career working to communicate focused ideas through the power of a simple shape, a swash of color, an implied line or a single sentence. Attached are a few of my favorite picks of modern communication that say a lot without using too many words (or any words at all). You’ll notice they are all from countries outside of the United States—maybe we are a little preoccupied covering all our talking points on social media these days than actually focusing on a message that pulls people in and connects with them on an emotional level.

Headline: Catchy Stories, Lápisraro Comunicação, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

An agency’s dedication to accuracy should be just as important as its dedication to stunning design.

At least, that’s a firm belief here at HP, and I am strong advocate for it, especially since I come from a newspaper background.

Here’s a story to illustrate my point. A fellow photo journalist once told me that you could have a Pulitzer Prize winning photo. It could be the most beautiful photo in the world, BUT if the subject’s name was misspelled in the caption or some other piece of information was wrong, it would no longer be a Pulitzer Prize winning photo.

As is tradition, we’ve designed and produced an ideabook to say thanks to our clients, vendors and friends. This year’s 2012 ideabook is the fourth installment, and we’ve brought back one of our most popular formats, a 6” x 9” spiral bound book with a “notes” section, “doodles” area and “next steps” rail.

I don’t drop into #brandchat nearly as often as I’d like, but when I do, I always walk away with fresh perspectives on branding.  The discussions force me to examine what I believe about marketing, branding, and positioning.  Today, after talking about BP’s woes and brand damage control with the gulf oil spill, I walked away thinking about how in branding, perception is reality.  No matter what the circumstance is, no matter what the truth may be, what consumers believe often trumps what is actual.  A brand’s position is based on their placement in the consumer’s mind. It doesn’t mater what your brand does, what matters is what customers think your brand does.

I participated in a lively and interesting #brandchat session on Twitter today. Today’s discussion was especially engaging because we looked at case studies of brands that “do it right” and brands that are struggling. We also discussed keys to saving a brand that’s in a “downward spiral”.

Toyota (unsurprisingly) cropped up throughout the discussion and for many reasons. What was surprising is that instead of a bashing of Toyota’s falling brand, there was more talk of expectations of Toyota bouncing back.