Interactive Brand Platforms

Ji Lee is a New York based designer and the current Creative Director of Google Creative Lab. His experience in advertising has not limited his work to strictly corporate projects. His work at Google is accompanied with personal project. According to him, the "golden section" between professional and personal project is what makes his experience as a designer "awesome". He was responsible of the "Bubble Project", where he started attaching plain comic style talk bubbles on billboards and advertisements all over New York City, inviting the public to write whatever they thought in them. It was like a bridge of communication between the corporate style of the ads, and everyday people in the city. The reaction was immediate, allowing the project to become global. According to the project's manifesto, the bubble stickers aim at "transforming the annoying corporate monologues to open public dialogues." Facebook and other social networking websites helped to make this whole "guerilla" concept more widespread.

The bubble project became an international brand and some of its characteristics could be used in conventional branding. Once more the simple reactions of the public releases the real need for humor and interaction with whatever is being communicated in the streets of our cities.

Another interactive example is demonstrated by Google. Google Maps recently launched a customization service within "My Favorite Places" where famous celebrities share their city preferences. There is an option as well that allows famous celebrities to configure anyone's iGoogle homepage according to their own templates.

So, a brand that allows communication and open conversation with the public, attracts the consumers' attention. A brand platform that allows people to participate (in the creation of movements or even products), makes the actual brand truly powerful. It is the designers' job to investigate and incorporate the public's everyday communication and participation needs into successful brand platforms. The result will not be short-term profit, a long-term loyalty to a consumer friendly superbrand.