Along with “storytelling” and “authenticity” the word “community” gets tossed around a lot these days by brands and marketers alike. While all three of these terms, and the sentiments they carry, are often used as empty platitudes or attractive phrases to sprinkle in an ‘About Us’ page, in their best uses they come from a place of sincerity and real consumer ramifications. In a 2021 study from ebbo, ‘community’ was the second highest factor that contributed to customer loyalty after product quality. But what does community mean for a brand? How can it be grown and nurtured? What does it look like? To answer these questions I want to take a look at three different brands each instilling community with their consumers in vastly different ways. Some take place in online chat rooms, others in secret shopping opportunities, and some through in-person engagement. No matter how they approach it, each of these brands takes what people love about their products and their mission and create a space for that to flourish. read more at: https://www.jschmid.com/blog/creating-community/

When Debbie’s crisp and pickle sandwiches weren’t getting much love, she and her sons turned to Canva to give their small business a fresh look. Then, with a new logo, menus that stood out, and social posts people actually noticed, Debbie & Sons quickly went from pickle to prosperity. This charming story sits at the heart of our latest UK brand campaign, proving that good design can take ideas from ordinary to extraordinary. Launching our ‘Really, Really Good Design’ campaign is taking creativity beyond the screen and into everyday life – from a limited-edition sandwich collaboration to bold billboard takeovers – to celebrate the transformative power of design. Our new campaign takes a playful spin on a serious truth: great design can be the difference between a good idea and a thriving business. Britain is full of brilliant ideas, but many struggle to bring them to life visually. In a world where first impressions matter more than ever, good design has shifted from luxury to necessity. It’s the difference between a presentation that gets polite nods and one that gets genuine excitement, or a social post that gets scrolled past versus one that stops thumbs in their tracks.

Ahead of an expected global conversion to more advanced barcodes in the next couple years, Amazon is collaborating with additional packaging partners to highlight the benefits of serialization. Wisconsin-based Menasha Packaging announced its partnership on anti-counterfeiting program Amazon Transparency in September, and company leaders shared more at Pack Expo in Las Vegas. Amazon Transparency dates back to 2017. For participating single products or multipacks, Amazon assigns unique 2D alphanumeric codes to each unit sold as a way to combat counterfeits. Other benefits for sellers may include getting a higher listing on Amazon, bumping down unauthenticated products. This can be especially useful to emerging brands working to build credibility, Menasha noted.