Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr may be dominating Internet Week news, but close on its heels is the newly announced merger between Seamless and GrubHub—two food delivery companies that target the same audience with a seemingly indistinguishable value proposition.

Two weeks ago, we evaluated the two brands and their ability to use creative expression to differentiate where they cannot through functionality alone in our post Subway Standoff: Using Brand Voice to Stand Out, One Train Car Ad at a Time.

GrubHub is the burly, unexpected, anything-for-a-laugh comedian. Seamless is the refined older sibling who knows everything about you, but refrains from judgment. It comes down to a matter of taste—literally (the restaurants you’re connected to) and figuratively (the brands’ personality and marketing style).

Today, the companies announced their intent to merge, bringing together their technological capabilities, and broadening their restaurant access and domestic and international presence. The merger would also enable the two companies to trounce up-and-comers like Delivery.com and Eat24.

From a business perspective, the decision makes perfect sense, and consumers who toggle between the two will rejoice in the new simplicity, and, ahem, seamlessness.

But it poses an interesting question—what will happen to these two, well-formed brands? Will they veer in one direction over another, try to bring them together (SeamlessHub, anyone?) or create a new brand entirely?

In our last post, we argued that by tapping into the desires and trends of its target audience, Seamless has created a more compelling expression—one that may ultimately connect users to the brand beyond the moments they spend using the service.

However, both brands are successful, and part of what makes them so is their commitment to a central idea, weaving it through their name, visual identity, and voice and messaging. If, in coming together, they try to be everything to all people, the new, consolidated brand might lose it’s way, failing to be something special to anyone.

This is only just beginning to unfurl. We’ll be watching, observing, and sharing our thoughts, but we want to hear from you, too. What do you think should happen? Should one brand remain strong, or will a hybrid identity emerge?

Comment below and tweet to us at @Interbrand with #Seamless #GrubHub #IWNY.

Darcy Newell is a Consultant in Verbal Identity for Interbrand New York.

If you’ve visited New York City recently, you may have enjoyed the latest batch of clever subway advertisements. You may have also noticed a competition heating up between food delivery providers Seamless and GrubHub. The brands use the same real estate, target the same audience (digitally savvy consumers that love brands that make their lives easier) and tout a seemingly indistinguishable value proposition.

It’s in the creative expression of their brand messaging and voice that they differentiate, showing who they are and what they do for customers. But who will win?

GrubHub delights in the shock and awe, pairing busy scenes of cartoonish, debaucherous figures with casual, flippant headlines. GrubHub’s key message is functional, we’ll feed you the food you love. Often, though, the brand’s heavy-handed use of farce obscures that message.

One ad, for example, shows a scuba diver following a fish. The scuba diver says “sushi!”; the fish says, “S#!t,” an unusually transparent grawlix. Another shows a hotdog presenting flowers to a bun. The bun thinks, “Hope he brought condiments, too.” The headline pushes it over the edge: “You’ll want to do it again and again.” In these scenes, actual information about GrubHub is often buried in the chaos, suggesting the ads’ intent is to make consumers laugh first and share the message second.

Seamless, on the other hand, takes a subtler approach with its wit, adopting a conversational, but polished voice, making it an equally hip choice. It’s in messaging that the brand truly shines.

Seamless connects communications to a human emotion or desire, which are often semi-subversive, such as the desire to be anti-social: “You joined a ‘meetup’ for people who loathe calling restaurants.” Playing on a digital trend, like checking in on Foursquare: “Your delivery guy’s 246th check-in ousted you as ‘Mayor’ of your own apartment.” The brand emphasizes that it understands and accepts customers, giving permission for them to stay just the way they are—and keep ordering takeout, of course.

Both try to establish common ground through the use of humor. Where GrubHub is making a joke, Seamless shows that they are in on it, keying into their customers’ sense of humor, but also their lives, frustrations and desires. In this sense, the brand lives up to its name: giving customers motivation and information then getting out of the way.

Darcy Newell is a Consultant in Verbal Identity for Interbrand New York.

Implementation Planning and Defining the Brand Management Framework

So you’ve got a clearly defined brand strategy, spot-on messaging and a shiny new visual identity system. Now you have to put it all to work.

Launching and evolving brands is no small task, but it’s the seemingly minute details that are increasingly important in a world where brands reach ever deeper into new media territories. The more a client knows about the nitty-gritty of the brand landscape at the beginning of the process, the better they’ll be as they embark on launch day and beyond.
   
Partnering with our clients from the onset can make all the difference. When we take the time to integrate our respective teams and really do our homework, making the right choices is a much easier task. We want to walk in our clients’ shoes, and understand their world so we can work with them most  effectively throughout the planning process. When we get in the trenches, all sorts of opportunity for productivity improvements and cost efficiencies begin to open up. Information is truly the key. Examining everything from process workflows and systems to teams, functions, budgets and spends is paramount. In addition to being clear on what’s at play – and being able to identify where improvements are required – the plan will begin coming together at the beginning of the process, as opposed to scrambling to deal with implementation as an afterthought.

 
Our approach to brand management is based on a framework of tools, systems, education, collaboration, inspiration, motivation, support, and finally measurement and tracking. A successfully managed brand is the sum of all these parts performing in concert. The ultimate goal is to align organizations for successful growth and a strong and consistent brand presence. Partnering with our clients to put this framework into place gets results. So let’s roll up our sleeves and dig in.

More frequently I am hearing the term digital being used by clients and colleagues as if it’s a miracle new way for brands to engage with consumers. This idea seems to be born from the idea that using digital is easier than traditional ways of communication and can directly target a brand’s core audience.

While some of this is undoubtedly true, the relationship clients are talking about at its core has nothing to do with digital, but social. Digital, just like print and motion, is just another way for a brand to communicate – what a brand actually says is just as crucial as the medium they use to distribute that message…
 
One of the great aspects of the social revolution is the immediacy brands can gain through real world feedback and more direct consumer dialogue. But this two-way relationship also means brands now are quickly unmasked if they don’t live up to their values.
 
The recent closure of the News of the World is an interesting example of this, where previously a brand could use a considerable marketing budget to drown out any negative voices, now people can take to Twitter and Facebook to dismantle all the hard work and equity a brand has built up in a matter of hours.

 
The socialization of digital media now means brands have to be more conscious of their actions rather than using the medium just to push their message out, it’s more about conversation than dictation.
 
Brands now need to consider the message they push out into the realm of online media. This can be dissected and discussed and they may not like what comes back in the other direction.

Three ways to embrace social media

Be honest.
Thanks to the trinity of Google, Facebook, and Twitter, consumers can quickly find out information and discuss it among their friends and followers – if a brand isn’t being truthful they will quickly be found out.
 
Be open.
Embrace what your consumers say good or bad, and respond. If a brand is open with consumers you can build a more meaningful relationship with your core audience.
 
Be interesting.
There is so much traffic now being thrown at consumers online you have to be interesting to make things stick, if you want consumers to click that "like" button give them a reason. Reward them with additional content or benefits, not just more sales messaging.

Unsubscribe, unsubscribe, unsubscribe
One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to clean out my cluttered inbox.

And, in choosing to terminate that one point of connection in the customer relationship I’ve established with many brands, I couldn’t help but notice how brand voice and messaging can work to retain those relationships — or, at the very least, to leave a positive and lasting impression of the brand in the mind of the consumer.

Acknowledging human needs
“We want to stay in touch, but only in ways that you find helpful,” Amazon assures you when you ask to unsubscribe from its informational emails.

Virgin takes it a step further. “So many emails. So little time,” its Unsubscribe page reads. “We realize you are a VIP and your email inbox is quite full. If you’d like to stop receiving Elevate email updates and promotions from Virgin America, just enter and confirm your email address below.”

Showing that you understand your consumer, and speaking to those consumer concerns in a warm manner, is a great way to remind people what your brand stands for — even as one of your means of connection is being terminated.

Offering more choices
Customization is key to maintaining any e-marketing relationship, but how you talk about it is just as important.

“Want to pick your email frequency?” Sephora asks eagerly. “Want to hear about local offers? Or would your rather unsubscribe?” Its helpful, conversational tone demonstrates the brand’s desire to give you exactly what you’re looking for.

Barneys takes a playful tack, giving customers the following choices:
•    I love you but you're calling me too much!
•    I love you but you're calling me too much (two to four emails per week)
•    Please stalk me! (receive all emails)
•    I love you but I don't want your emails anymore!

By drawing parallels between the consumer relationship and that of a more amorous variety, Barneys makes the reader smile — while reminding them why they may have signed up for emails from Barneys in the first place.

Giving second chances
“Wait, wait, come back!” Smart brands know we’re not going to come chasing after them, at least not without good reason. So when you’ve already got someone on the line, give them a reason to stay there.

G by Guess, a brand that sends me both emails and texts, extends their friendly, young voice to their Unsubscribe page. “Hey, where ya goin’?” the brand asks, providing a short list of benefits of the site, such as “new trend emails, contest info, special events and way more! Sure you want to unsubscribe?”

What’s especially interesting is that G by Guess texts could not be more devoid of personality: “Spend $75 and get $25 off your entire G by Guess purchase.” Their unsubscribe text message was similarly uninspired, and I had to text STOP to them several times before they actually stopped sending me texts.

That’s one of the dangers of outsourcing this type of work to an agency without a specific verbal strategy for your brand: You lose a significant opportunity to grow the relationship.

Ending on a high note
A lot of brands sent me “We’re sorry to see you go” messages, such as Fandango and FansEdge. But I really noticed the ones who made an effort to end the relationship with an air of optimism.

An elegant goodbye from Godiva: “You’ve been unsubscribed from our email list. Best wishes.”

A graceful message from Sephora: “Beauty-full things come to those who wait. Please allow 10 business days for change to your email subscription to take effect.”

Brand it to land it
The upshot is, saying the right thing in just the right way is crucial — but never quite so crucial as when a customer is choosing to stop receiving communication on behalf of your brand. It’s a chance to repair that relationship and possibly even extend it, one that cannot be ignored.