Remember when they trusted us?

Brands represent companies. Brands represent us. We trust brands to represent our values and portray our collective psyche.

However, what about when future has encountered itself in a moment of existential self awareness and has got more than a little bit freaked out? Look around warily and retreat to safer times perhaps.

When were we last safe? Ah, the good old times. You remember, back when we knew what was what and who was who. Back when artificial intelligence wasn't about to drive away with our cars or put us out of our jobs.

For a brand to be perceived as relevant, they must appear in line with how their customer base want them to appear. To speak to you like an old friend turning up with that hug just when you need it most.

There have been a few high profile brands taking the reverse branding step recently.

Channel 4

Having tested different waters with sub-brands and channel offerings, Channel 4 wanted a clearer, more cohesive brand so opted to bring everything together under the All 4 umbrella.

Co-Op

With a few small tweaks included, Co-op have taken things back to 1968.

I remember waiting for my dad in a special queue that was for collecting 'stamps' in the Co-op after paying for the shopping. I was too young to know what these stamps were for but old enough to understand that they weren't stamps like the ones that were for posting letters. They were little stickers on a strip torn off from a roll. Each was dusky Co-op blue and had a clear white Co-op logo. I was fascinated by their uniformity and knew that they were important. I even helped to stick some of them into a book.

In all honesty, I didn't even realise that I had any kind of connection to the brand until I walked past an A-board outside a Co-Op shop a week or so ago. Stopping my train of thought in it's tracks,  I contemplated this white logo shining strongly out from it's dusky blue background. The Co-op. Proud, stoic and, incredibly, back.

NatWest

1968 seems to be just about far enough back for NatWest too. They have unveiled their 2016 logo which is essentially the 1968 logo with more carefully considered lighting.

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**I wrote this article back in 2016 and have just found it in my drafts**

The Case of the Branded Pencils

Over the Christmas break at a relative's house, I spent a bit of time looking through some pencils stored in a small worn suitcase. Some of them were quite intriguing and lead me to do a little research.

No 480 ROYAL SOVEREIGN "CHINAGRAPH" Made in Great Britain

Royal Sovereign are the original and leading marker pencil for marking on glass, china, acetate, film and polished surfaces. These pencils are a grease/wax writing tool made from hardened coloured wax used for making marks on non-porous surfaces. They are able to write on  photographic contact sheets and are ideal for marking audio and film tape.

Other surfaces include theatrical lighting gels, construction materials and wet surfaces.

The writing substance is a non-toxic, opaque wax like a wax crayon.

A.W. FABER "Castell" Polychromos Made in Bavaria

The well known pencil brand Faber-Castell first produced these Polychromos pencils in 1908. They are waterproof and smudge resistant.

Originally, the company Faber were known to make pencils in the Nuremberg region back in 1660. The founder Kasper Faber, a cabinet maker from the nearby Stein, was so successful in his work for other employers that he created a reputation robust enough to support setting up his own business.

Kasper's son Anton Wilhelm Faber inherited the business and subsequently passed to his son Georg Leonhard. The company floundered under Georg, particularly with their products struggling to compete against the fine Cumberland graphite being used in some high quality English pencils.

To steady the business, Georg's sons Lothar and Johann set up business in London and Paris. After Georg passed away in 1939, Lothar took over the main business at the young age of 22. Very business minded, Lothar set his goal "to rise  to the highest position by making the best that can be made anywhere in the world".

Lothar was the first family member to understand branding in the modern sense and snsured his high quality products were both well presented and always stamped with "A.W. FABER".

Faber, the brand was first registered in the USA in 1870 and remains to date, the oldest surviving brand name.

Family heiress to the company Baroness Ottilie von Faber married Count Alexander zu Castell-Rudhausen in 1898. Lothar von Faber's will showed how forward thinking he was when it came to his carefully built brand. He stipulated that should an heiress to the company marry, then she was required to keep her own name, Faber, rather than automatically take on that of her husband as was traditional. This historical quirk required royal approval as it was so unusual. Lothar's wish was granted and the couple became Count and Countess von Faber-Castell thus creating the brand name we are familiar with today.

"Castell" pencils were produced followed by the Polychromos range of coloured pencils available in 60 hues. 

ROWNEY VICTORIA

These are a standard make of coloured  pencils likely to have been manufactured in 1950s to 1970s.

 

 

 

Milward Dressmarker

I believe this is a pencil for marking up fabric for pattern cutting or alterations in much the same way as tradition tailors chalk would have been used.

787 EAGLE COLOURCRAFT Made in England

 The Eagle Pencil Company is a long established American brand who opened an office in the City of London in October 1894 followed by a factory in Tottenham in 1906.

Eagle joined other pencil companies in the manufacture of WAR DRAWING pencils during the period surrounding World War II. Severe rationing was in place impacting not only on civilian lives but also restricting the use of material for maufacture. The war drawing pencils were of the most basic design and remained unpainted. I notice that the lead circumference is much smaller compared to other pencils in the collection.

L & C HARDTMUTH Ltd "Mephisto", "Studio" & "Pedigree" COPYING PENCILS

L & C Hardtmuth is one of the world's oldest manufacturers and suppliers of pencils and remains the second largest pencil company in Europe. The company is now known as Koh-I-Nor Hardtmuth.

Originally founded in Vienna by the Austrian Joseph Hardtmuth, the factory was moved by Joseph's sons Karl and Ludwig in 1948 to the Czech Republic. The company became state owned.

As many of the pencils in this collection have COPY or COPYING on them in some form or another, I looked into this type of pencil and found this very informative paper by Liz Dube.

WOW 2013 - Camellia and the Rabbit

I love tea. I love theatre. I love seeing the world as a merrygoround of sensory and metaphorical delights. I think Rachel Snider secretly created this performance just for me!

I'd happily see Camellia and the Rabbit performed again and again. It is the story of a young woman's path through life by turns naïve and enlightened. Decisions and choices made perfectly based on whims and fancy and just what felt right at the time.

A beautiful piece of theatre.

WOW2013 - Caught in the Net

After seeing Maggie Aderin-Pocock present 'The Thinking Woman's Guide to the Universe' I changed what I was planning to see and instead headed over to Caught in the Net. I'm glad that I did.

Maggie was joined by Cate Bellingham, Dr Emily Grossman and Marieme Jamme.

I think the fact that so few people turned up to this session, already scheduled for a small side room, was indicative of the subject of the discussion. Why are there so few women in science and technology.

Initially, I would have assumed that there was simply a lack of interest but after listening to what was discussed I can see that a lack of female interest in these subjects might be learned behaviour.

Emily revealed that for every man asked to be on visual media as a science/technology expert the BBC is compelled to ask six women before they greceive an acceptance. I was actually quite shocked at this statistic. Why would a woman turn down the chance to share knowledge she is fully qualified to speak about?

Making science, maths and technology relavent to the lives of women is key to gaining their interest. Marieme doesn't understand this culture of scientific disinterest in many women. She revealed that in Africa, science is considered a sexy subject regardless of gender. They can see the link between technological development and the development of their nations. who wouldn't want to be involved in making life better for their community?

Despite this, women in Europe seems to have a pre-loaded perception that science and technology is boring. While in the US males appear wary of women who show expertise in these e subjects.

If the endless enthusiasm of Maggie Aderin-Pocock is anything to go by, these subjects are anything but boring. She says that girls should have an unprejudiced right to choose to study these subjects at school. I remember going to a school open day with my parents and them asking the techology teacher about my options for taking his subject. He wasn't exactly encouraging and I wonder how much this had to do with my being a small, shy girl. I don't want to tar all men with the same brush though. This man was in the minority and there were other male teachers who were more than happy to share their knowledge with me and were extremely passionate about their subjects.

Emily, who has worked in both science and as a performer, believes that scientific discovery is one of the most creative things you can do. There are so many scientific and mathematical methods relavent to the creative arts. I am totally with her in this opinion. I think that science and art are very closely linked in the way that you have to perceive and interact with the subjects.

Referring to the argument that female disinterest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects is a learned behaviour, the ladies point out that gender specific toys could have a lot to answer for. Non gender specific toys is something that is close to the hearts of @Lettoysbetoys and @pinkstinks who are at a loss over why girls must be presented with a pink version of everything.

As a pink disliked myself, I have long been baffled by this trend. It'sIt's like the toy companies believe that girls can only see in pink and will fail to interact with things in other colours. Sadly, there must be significant past sales data to lead them to believe this. Strange seeing as pink used to be the colour for boy babies.

There has been recent data to suggest that there are 693,000 scientists in the UK. A mere 13% of these are women. Huge thanks goes to this 13% for sticking to their interests and hopefully inspiring new generations of females to do the same. something Science Grrl (@science_grrl) is keen to promote. If you have a daughter or young female relative/friend why not point them towards Science Grrl? They might just find their next best thing ever!

The twitter hashtag created for this session was #WOWSTEM2013

WOW2013 - Funny Women

Concious that some of the WOW subjects had the potential to be fairly intense, I'd decided to head over to the funny women workshop run by pro female comedy set up Funny Women.

Set up by Lynne Parker, Funny Women strives to give a platform to comediennes and ladies who might not otherwise feel they have the confidence to try stand up comedy for themselves.

The special guest was Lynn Ruth Miller, who in later life has embraced comedy, cabaret and storytelling. I had the honour of speaking to her after the workshop.

Lynn did a short stand up routine, or at least sat down on a very tall stool. The mixture of scathing wit and her New York accent made for a fine combination. I sincerely hope I'm as bright and active as Lynn should I be lucky enough to reach her age.

The workshop involved us talking to each other in pairs and using the materials for short presentations. Then individuals were invited to do a short and unprepared routine by describing themselves but though the eyes of their own mothers. A mixture of gaining confidence in public speaking and showing that even just describing everyday events can be made into amusing stories.

WOW 2013 - Shyness in networking

Sat waiting for Julia Hobsbawm to begin her session, I saw immediately the difference between those attending the session and Julia herself. Those drawn to a talk entitled 'Shyness in networking: How to love something you distrust' were just that; shy and distrustful. Ladies shuffled to their seats choosing those around the edges first and often leaving a spare seat between them and their nearest neighbour.

I was attending any of these conference talks alone. I felt conspicuous anyway so I figured I had nothing to lose by choosing a seat right in the middle but even I didn't stride to the front row, instead going for a fairly safe 3rd row back.

Julia Hobsbawm, Media Woman of the Year 2012, had arrived looking cool, calm and impeccably dressed. Taking a chair centre stage, she began to do a little work with the air of someone who was completely unwatched. Looking up, straight into my wide eyed gaze, Julia gave me a proper rabbit in the headlights moment.

A lady sat next to me and I looked over, giving her the signal that it was OK to chat. She was working for a London based NGO and like me was attending the talk to unlock the ultimate secrets of networking. I think we'd set ourselves up for a bit of a reality check though. The big secret? There isn't really a secret. it's all there in the real world. We just have to open our eyes and see it for ourselves.

Apparently 90% of people are shy of networking. Wonder if that statistic would vary between communities with different cultural levels of social integration? We were advised to learn to overcome this shyness by not being so intimidated by the implied level of intimacy. Living up to 'labels' can inhibit us whether these are labels presented by our peer group or self imposed.

To network successfully you need to have a genuine interest in thebnpeople you're looking to meet and have some ability to read a room. I assume that reading a room means a level of social awareness that stops you from interrupting and disrupting an existing positive interaction between others and allows you so spot opportunities for your own interactions.

Relationships follow the same trajectory as networking. They are a business relationship often born from the same tyuoe of random interaction that crystallises into a lasting friendship. This could be why one of the worst laces to network is a conference as it is a forced interaction on an often shallow level.

Recommended reading: Weak Tie Theory by Michael Granovetter

To be a good networker, you have to know who you are. By knowing who you are you can connect with people working outwards from your position. Much in the way that paths lead to trees which can lead you to birds.

Julia, to my surprise, almost completely slated social media as a waste of time. In our current social media obsessed culture we are driven by our own stats; how many twitter followers, how many Facebook friends, but these are often very weak ties. I'm not sure if I agree that social media creates barriers but I understand that being face to face for networking proves that you're making time for networking . Social media, Julia concedes is useful for information gathering and renewing existing connection.

Networking must be include within your allocated business or working time. Time management is crucial to cresting a strong work/life balance. Roughly speaking a rule of thirds should be used to divide your time. Only one third to be allocated to work, one third for sleeping and eating, with the remaining third given over to your realistic existence and wellbeing. Believing that you can run your life without speciffucalky giving yourself time to do the laundry, make those dentist appointments of just take 5 for yourself is a sure fire path to burn out.

Bearing this in mind, a savvy business person wants to maximise the efficiency of their networking time.

Make sure you are walking into a room worth walking into.

Enter the room and find someone like you or someone you would want to talk to. If no one present matches these criteria, you are in the wrong room. Don't spend more time there than you have to, you are only wasting your time and that of the other people there.

A good tip is to aim for curated gatherings. Have something to say. However small, have something that you know well and can talk about with ease. Doesn't mean you have to talk about this one thing and this one thing only but it will give you a comfortable start to any conversation. An interaction which can then lean on to other mutually interesting subjects.

If you genuinely want change, you can make it happen. Specific interest groups can limit your network. An artist who only goes to art groups will only ever meet other artists. An artist who goes to an event for small businesses has the potential to meet people from many walks of life but who are on a similar business trajectory.

On a final note, don't be that salesman at the party. Knowledge networking is not about transactional results. And remember to be interested. The biggest conversation killer is disinterest. That's where you'll come unstuck.

Julia Hobsbawn can be found on twitter or pop over to her website.

WOW 2013 - Individuals can change the world

Every issue needs a spokesperson. Yes, it does help if they are already a well known public figure or they hold a position of established power but sometimes when circumstance dictates, a single everyday person can be thrust into a position of leadership.

To change the world you need a good reason, the belief that you can make a difference and the resolve to stick with that belief even when the going gets tough.

Speaking within the session entitled International Activism, Sarah Brown began by stating that "politics is personal". She believes that "if women are not safe" from harassment of all kinds then they will be restricted in their efforts to "fulfil their potential".  We should be equipping girls with the skills and confidence to take the opportunities that come their way. I fully believe that this statement works over and above gender but we were at a conference about women and certainly in other cultures girls do not have the same access to, and freedom within, education as we have in the UK.

Sarah Brown

Sarah continued by pointing out that education allows people to understand their own health and well-being.  This was very much reflected by the ladies of SEWA in the earlier session on economy. Access to education can be the gateway to learning about water, sanitation, common preventable disease and resource management. Once these issues are being addressed, a community's standard of living is likely to improve vastly; they will gain greater independence and become sustainable in the long term.

Next up, Baroness Valerie Amos who believes that social media has allowed women to connect with each other to share and discuss issues that their location, circumstance or culture may have otherwise prevented. Valerie has experienced the stories of countless women through her work with the UN and says she often feels helpless when their circumstance are presented to her.

Particularly hard to listen to was the story of a woman who was trying to come to terms with the fact she had physically sold her daughter. The woman had felt this was the only option available to her to shield her daughter from the abuse she was likely to receive without the security of male protection.

Gordon Brown followed, speaking passionately about the need to address equality in educational rights. I'd only ever seen Gordon speak on television about political issues when he was Prime Minister. I have to say that after seeing him speak at WOW, I have a much greater respect for him.

Gordon Brown

He spoke about the need for true gender equality, acknowledged his wife, Sarah as his friend and mentor before admitting that for real change to happen, "men must change". He conveyed his belief that men and boys must both be taught and ultimately realise that women are of equal importance to them. Not a threat to their position but an equal and balancing one.

Ziauddin Yousafzai

Finally Ziauddin Yousafzai took to the lectern to speak of a girl's right to an education. If you are not sure who he is, then apart from a peace campaigner, he's the father of Malala, whose story you can read about via the link at the end of this post.

"Some cultures have fathers in search of a son... they do not celebrate birthdays of daughters."

Ziauddin quoted the old saying that behind every great man is a woman but said that he believes women need to take a step forward and stand side by side with men. Ziauddin lives by his own words too. "I honour my daughter as a personal and as an individual. My wife is not my property and I honour and trust her." Ziauddin added that a men's world is troublesome and full of wars suggesting that giving more 'space' to women would bring about a more prosperous and peaceful world. Men command and control. Women are more about collaboration and inclusion.

Ziaddin finished with his words for the future. Honour. Trust. Educate.

If you'd like to see the full session, you can! The Southbank Centre kindly filmed it.

Sarah Brown is patron of the White Ribbon Alliance, founder of PiggyBankKids, Chair of Global Business Coalition for Education and tweets from @SarahBrownUK.

Valerie Amos is UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and tweets from @ValerieAmos.

Gordon Brown is former Prime Minster of the UK and for more on his latest projects visit his website.

Ziauddin Yousafzai is an education activist and peace campaigner from Pakistan whose daughter was shot for wanting the right to an education. You can learn her story here or follow the campaign using twitter hash tag #iamMalala