I ran a brand consultancy for well over 20 years and as a team, we created literally thousands of logos and quite a few brands that you would know. The logo is one element of the branding, but it’s one that is easy to spend a fortune on without getting something you are totally happy with.
Design is a completely subjective thing and one person’s great is another person’s awful. So, only you can decide whether you like a logo or not. The great thing about this Artificial Intelligence design tool which is called LogoJoy is that you can create as many versions of a logo as you like, without having to pay. I have given LogoJoy a full review over here complete with plenty of examples of it in action.
Here’s a film to show you how to do it for yourself. You can honestly create a great logo in under ten minutes.
So that’s it. It’s dead simple and anyone can use this to create a great logo. With the artificial intelligence behind the system, it genuinely learns what you like and the more you use it, the more close it gets to something you’ll love straight away.
One thing I do mention in the film is the difference between pop songs and album tracks. When you have created a few options I would always advise you print them out and stick them on the wall. Don’t make an immediate decision. The one to choose is the one that grows on you and that isn’t always the one you love immediately.
As I work with some great theme parks, I am a member of the Themed Entertainment Association. One of the benefits of membership is their organisation of visits to some of the best the world has to offer, to see what they do and how they do it. And I have just come back from Puy du Fou, and can safely say that it is, without doubt, the best theme park in the world.
It’s a total one of a kind and without any of the conventional rides you associate with other theme parks. It draws in the local community, trains all its own staff through its academy, creates everything internally (even the shoes and costumes) and delivers spectacular, emotive and beautiful shows that you have to see to believe.
It’s been created by Phillippe de Villiers, the father of Nicolas de Villiers who runs it today (and who showed us around). The control Nicolas still exercises is phenomenal. It’s not like any other brand. If anything it’s a little like Google in the way they controlled their growth in the early years but this has lasted for 35 years already. He even interviews the shortlisted kids for the academy and watches every Cinescenie to be able to feed back to the managers where they could do the show even better. The level of detail they manage is unbelievable and even the back stage areas are immaculate.
We had a totally jam packed 48 hours and got to see behind the scenes of nearly every show. Here’s a summary of the best of them.
The Vikings
The first show I saw there and an amazing introduction to life at Puy du Fou. It’s filled with eagles, horned beasts, vikings and marauders, all backed up with huge explosions, gigantic flames and boats magically appearing from stage left and under the water, with the performers disappearing with it. Animals everywhere and a large cast. It’s an amazing start and an even bigger ending.
The Viking show at Puy du Fou before it all goes mental
Cattle and vikings everywhere at Puy du Fou
The Viking Castle that gets stormed and a huge eagle popping into visit at Puy du Fou
A viking ship arrives as part of the viking show at Puy du Fou
huge explosions at the Viking show at Puy du Fou
And even bigger explosions at the Puy du Fou Viking show
And then another huge viking ship emerges from the water at Puy du Fou
The boat that emerged from the water disappears again under the water at Puy du Fou
The Knights of the Round Table
It’s a story of Excalibur with Merlin, mermaids, sword fights in the water, horses walking out of the huge hidden caverns underwater and probably the simplest of the whole lot we saw. It’s great fun, has the best safety warning I have ever seen (hilarious) and I saw it twice.
The Knights of the round table show beginning at Puy du Fou
Merlin appears at the top of a castle at Puy du Fou in the Knights of the round table show
The knights take to the boat in the show at Puy du Fou
And then this happens. All the water disappears and mad things happen at Puy du Fou
It gets bigger and bigger as the water drains away at Puy du Fou
And then the round table is revealed at Puy du Fou
Before a horse emerges from under the water which is unusual at Puy du Fou
The Secret of the Lance
This is a huge show that just keeps on growing. Spectacular horse riding, massive sword fights and jousting and flames everywhere. Then a disappearing castle, another HUGE castle that moves and rotates and amazing sounds and effects everywhere. There are things going on all over the place and we were lucky enough to get to see behind the scenes here. It was sooooo good, that a few times during the show I felt myself becoming a bit emotional.
The start of the show at The secret of the lance at Puy du Fou
The Knights move in at the secret of the lance at Puy du Fou
The horsemen jump on and off at full speed as they fly by at Puy du Fou
The first castle starts to disappear at the secret of the lance at Puy du Fou
And then the big castle in the background starts movimg towards you at Puy du Fou
And then the castle rotates to reveal the main houe behind at Puy du Fou
Big explosions at the secret of the lance at Puy du Fou
The end of the secret of the lance show with the bird baloon behind
Behind the castle wall at the secret of the lance at Puy du Fou
Triumph’s Sign
This is a huge great roman spectacular played out in a purpose built amphitheatre that seats over 7,000 people. Again, it starts off quite small and then just grows and grows. The cast is huge and varied and whilst the story is their own version of history, it’s still truly amazing. Just look at the pictures.
The Roman show (Triumph’s Sign) begins in front of 7,000 people at Puy du Fou
At the start of the roman show at Puy du Fou, they parade in with ducks, emu’s, camels and pigs. As you do at Puy du Fou
The gladiators getting ready to put some bloke to the sword at the Roman Show at Puy du Fou
Caesar gives a thumbs down to the prisoners at the roman show at Puy du Fou
And a load of prisoners are told they have to fight the gladiators as part of the roman show at Puy du Fou
The chariots line up for the race at Puy du Fou in the huge roman amphitheatre
And they don’t hold back, moving at amazing speed around the track at Puy du Fou
Some lions come in and look menacing at Puy du Fou
With one lion tamer looking like bait at Puy du Fou
The Lions of Puy du Fou
A leopard wanders in around the edge of the amphitheatre at Puy du Fou
Richelieu’s Musketeer
I saw this one twice too. It’s the only inside show and simply massive. Perhaps a little hard to follow in french, but I found it far more enjoyable to just watch the show and ignore the story. It’s breathtaking but you aren’t allowed to take photos, so this is a sneaky one of the set, just as the flamenco dancers start going crazy. It’s quite reminiscent of Riverdance with horses and water and swords and explosions and…..
Puy du Fou has a huge indoor show called Richelieu’s Musketeer with a massive stage and even bigger cast.
The Phantom Birds’ Dance
Now this was a real highlight. Again I saw it twice from two different seating positions. The first time from down in the pit gave a great view, but the second time, right at the back at the sides gave you far closer access to the birds. The show itself is incredible with beautiful, haunting music and a cast of over 170 birds. If you are going to sit at the very back, it’s probably best to shuffle forwards just a little so you don’t get pooped on by a vulture, like I did. There is simply noting like this anywhere in the world. It is totally breathtaking.
The bird handlers are incredible as are the trained birds at Puy du Fou
A gigantic eagle flies overhead with the baloon even higher that it as released from
You don’t see this everyday, but a lady levitates and is surrounded by over 170 giant birds at Puy du Fou
An eagle on the head is everyday at Puy du Fou
And owls staring you out as part of the bird show at Puy du Fou
A rather large vulture comes way too close to me at Puy du Fou and pooped down my back
It’s not everyday you see a microlight with trained geese following, but you do at Puy du Fou
and a young guest looks eye to eye with a bird in training at Puy du Fou
The baloon close up which houses the vultures and many more at Puy du Fou
The Organs of Fire
This was the first night show I saw and can only be described as breathtaking (I’ve used that a lot haven’t i!). It starts with a lone violinist emerging, her dress lighting up and her floating around the lake playing music until she meets the pianist, who does the same. The orchestras appear, huge fountains emerge and an even bigger organ suddenly appears to add to the music and the gigantic party. I thought it was the biggest show I’d ever seen, but I hadn’t seen Cinescenie at this point!
The first night show, amazing to see but hard to photograph at Puy du Fou
The Organs of fire at Puy du Fou
Massive fountains and huge brilliant music at the Organs of Fire at Puy du Fou
The Cinescenie
Now this show breaks record after record. It’s the largest permanent show in the world with a nightly cast of 1,500, all of whom are volunteers. None of them get paid. There are 3,400 of them trained to play their roles and it’s held 28 time per year in front of a crowd of 14,000. For the volunteers, it’s a huge social and cinematic event and they train all year. It’s so popular that there are over 1,000 on the waiting list to volunteer and you can’t buy tickets for the event for another year. I won’t say too much about it but it is simply massive, incredible and beautiful (and hard to photograph). I have again, never seen anything like this. It started at 10.45 pm and went on until well after 12.15, so it’s a good long show too. It’s worth it for the fireworks alone.
And inside one of the five cast villages for the huge Cinescenie production at Puy du Fou
We were even given wine by the incredibly happy volunteer staff behind the scenes at Cinescenie Puy du Fou
The back of the Chateau at Cinescenie before it wnt dark at Puy du Fou
And the Chateau is lit up at the fabulous Cinescenie show at Puy du Fou
it’s when you see the cast appear you realise the scale of the Cinescenie show at Puy du Fou
A huge village is lit up from nowhere in Cinescenie at Puy du Fou
The biggest cast of any permanent show anywhere in the world at Puy du Fou
Even more of the fireworks at Cinescenie and the 1,500 performers in the foreground
Holograms appear over the lake at Puy du Fou during Cinescenie
huge floats move past in Cinescenie at Puy du Fou
The castle is transformed by light at Cinescenie at Puy du Fou
Part of Cinescenie at Puy duFou
The fireworks at Cinescenie at Puy du Fou
More of the Cinescenie fireworks at Puy du Fou
The TEA Team
Being with the TEA gave us an all access pass to the whole site and the team that created it. It was a huge privilege and worth the membership in its own right. For only three days away it was completely exhausting, but to be able to get to see this place was worth it and i’ll be back to do it again.
A few relaxing drinks after with the TEA partyThe Land Train that takes you around the park
Are you watching Nottingham?
It does however make me sad when I see references to knights, castles and even Robin Hood himself that my home City of Nottingham, can’t even get an attraction out of the ground to recognise our most famous son. The French have delivered a genius show that would draw in millions of visitors if it was created here. Nottingham still hasn’t delivered a single thing. So, Nottingham, please take note. Puy du Fou turns over €74m and is very profitable, filling every hotel for miles around with it’s 1.9 million visitors per year. A little of this would go a long way.
Where we stayed
The accommodation offer is quite new, but growing fast. They may look like simple tents, but they house a fabulously well equipped four poster bedroom with wet room, two bunks for kids and even decent wifi.
The tented village at Puy du Fou which is a beautiful hotel room in disguise
Summary
If you have kids you have to come here. If you don’t come anyway. It’s amazing, awe inspiring and unique. It’s the best kept secret and the best theme park in the world. And it’s my new favourite.
I saw this video today by Gary Turk and shared it on Facebook on my personal account. Without any form of promotion, today it has been shared 40 times which is exceptional. If you watch the video it talks about real engagement.
Brand engagement is about more than just likes and shares on Facebook
As a brand and social media specialist who shows real brands how to treat their customers and behave online, it is a very, very timely reminder that real engagement is about far more than likes, shares and a few extra follows. You have to be brilliant offline to allow people to get you online.
Real engagement is about getting inside people’s heads. It’s about becoming part of their lives, so they can’t live without you. It’s about building proper relationships where you give things as well as just take them.
Real engagement is real life and that’s what Gary’s film shows us.
One of the most important elements of creating a brand is deciding who your audience is. Most of us think we know intuitively. And yet for me, really putting the work in here is often overlooked. The more you understand the needs, thoughts, desires and motivations of your REAL audience, the more fully you can wrap the brand around them. You create something they need before they realise they need it, rather than reacting to others.
So, in the last few weeks, Google have just admitted with Google Glass that they got this audience definition completely wrong at launch. It was aimed at techies and geeks. All of us have probably laughed at someone at a trade show talking to their glasses whilst recording everything they see?
So whilst there has been some celebration in it being scrapped as it has been unpopular with consumers for reasons of privacy invasion, its real use was in a professional environment.
With the need for medical staff to both protect themselves from litigation and bring in external help when they need it, Glass is perfect. It allows a paramedic at a scene to call upon external expertise in an instant. Who would laugh at that? And it also allows a doctor to record every part of a procedure and log it with a patient’s records, in case anything goes wrong, or more positively if anything unexpectedly goes right and they can refer back as to why.
So, good on Google for admitting their mistake and repositioning. It’s not often a product that was given such a big launch and failed is given a second chance. In the longer term, I can see this, or its derivative, becoming standard headwear for anyone who has to deal with the general public.
Vines aren’t just for fun they could be for education too
My colleague from Notts TV Hollie Brookes sent this over to me and whilst on the surface there are no real surprises – young people prefer Vines and dominate the user stats, it does start to show that there’s an indication of more significant changes ahead.
There are a few key points in this for me.
1. It’s not just a great way for marketeers to target teens, it’s also indicative of their falling attention spans and that means we need to consider where else this impacts.
For example, does this imply that the education system needs to consider a move towards teaching through very short video clips?
2. Does it mean that there is a general move away from long copy text? I know from my own stats on here that if I write more than 200 words, the readership drops off very quickly.
3. But look at the opportunities it presents too. The big one for me, is the question as to whether Vines could become the new mnemonics as a potential way to teach? Could the looping, repetitive nature of Vines be a great way to reinforce simple messages?
This was a little talk that my good friend Simon Egan and myself delivered at Blooloop Live – the best Industry event for themed attractions across the world. Whilst there is a bit of messing about in it, there’s lots of sensible points hidden in there too.
A while ago I laughed at O2 for trying to get down wiv da kids and getting it horribly wrong. What they did was try to speak in the voice of their audience rather than in the voice of their brand .
Norton, on the other hand have stuck to their script and still intervened with one of their customers. This is a far cleverer way of handling it and shows a great choice of strategy for social media. Nice one Norton.
I have spent lots of time working on SEO strategies over the last few months. For years it was getting more and more complicated, but now it looks like it’s getting simpler again with the latest article by Matt Cutts of Google which puts an end to pretty much all external link building. So, how do you continue to rank your sites when Google have so much power and how do you try and force your way up the SERPS (search engine results pages)? The simple answer is that you don’t. What you have to do now is build a brilliant product or service, gather great reviews and then encourage social traffic through all of the main channels (including Google+). It’s a slow process, but the old saying ‘grow slow, grow strong’ is now 100% correct for SEO too.
Okay, cards on the table. Social Media is a waste of money. Wanking in public. Fake engagement. Corporate flim-flam to pretend you understand the wily ways of the youth market and does nothing to drive bottom line profits.
So, there. I’ve said it. It’s out. Now i’ll show you why I think it has some basis in truth.
It’s all to do with the ‘Halo Bitches’ who spoil it for everyone else.
So, why don’t I define what a ‘Halo Bitch’ is?
They are the ones who hang out with your brand in all or any of the social channels. Not because they actually care about your brand, but because they care about being seen hanging out with your brand. They have no intention of purchase, they want to glory in the halo of being seen to be aligned with what you do. They clutter your feeds, with the occasional gracious share amongst their peers to remind others which brands they want to be seen as associated with.
But as the brand owner we have to get over the fact that we have fewer likes and far fewer followers than Peer X or Brand Y, but the ones we do have actually buy from us. They are genuine customers and have a value that is infinitely higher than any Halo Bitch. ever will deliver.
So my challenge is to you to hunt out the Halo’s and kick them out. Give yourself more time to truly engage with those who deserve it and warrant your love and attention.
It’ll save a fortune in the long-run and be fun doing it to. Go on, I dare you.
A social media Like isn’t a love. It’s not even a dislike.
I’ve been thinking how much social media has evolved in its short life.
A like on Facebook for business has no value whatsoever. It doesn’t show any level of engagement, it just shows that people want to be seen liking your business as they believe it will make them look good to their own peer group, or they want to enter one of your competitions and this is your entry requirement. So, for example, if you run Vegetarian cooking classes for experts. Some of your followers will want to show how advanced their vegetarian cooking skills are and a ‘like’ positions them as this to their own audience.
In the same way none of us ever need to give to charity any more, we just need to share the tweets and articles of others who write about what they are doing for charity. The most cynical gain all of the charitable halo, without any of the hard work. It gives them the ability to show their peers how benevolent they are and never need to reach into their pockets.
So this is a the REAL battle for business. A like isn’t a friend. it’s an alignment. There must be a way of extracting value from this, but as a stand alone like, a favourite or even a share, it’s still only an indication of a position and not any form of buying signal.
I am convinced that today’s socially savvy have enough ‘friends‘. Whether they know them all or not is a different matter. So, as brand owners, we need to slowly allow them to get to know us and offer them the same courtesy in return. Don’t stick your social media tongue down their throat on a first encounter, but rather allow the relationship to grow and flourish and you’ll have a chance of becoming social lovers.
Try it, see what happens, but feel free to share this with your own audience and i’ll see how wise you really are.
Johnny Lyle's new brand thinking 