Brand Builder: Perfect Pixels

Perfect Pixels Media Group is a digital media branding agency focused on creating brand significance through design, messaging and user experience. With clients like All Recipes, ING, Microsoft, Trulia and Getty Images, these guys know their stuff. Everyone at Perfect Pixels is senior level (no newbies here) and they have a global reach with offices in Seattle, New York and Amsterdam.

I had a chance recently to chat with Jason Levine, Founder and Executive Director of Perfect Pixels. With a background in brand strategy, usability & heuristics analysis, and interface design, Jason is a digital branding rockstar. Prior to running his own show, Jason was a Creative Director within Virgin’s Travel group and Design Director for Classmates.com. Jason also spent several years in LA helping Siegel & Gale found their information design departments in San Francisco and New York before crossing the pond for London.

FYB: How has technology changed branding?
Jason: Digital branding used to mean having the right functionality, message and imagery for your brochure website. Now digital media has a lot more to do with accessibility- to a brand, to a product, to a person.

FYB: What about social media?
Jason: Social media has provided a level of access that is completely different than what’s happened in the past. There is now a necessity to integrate technology such as social media, but there needs to be strategy driving it or else users and viewers end up getting frustrated and confused.

FYB: So in addition to brand strategy, it’s wise to develop a digital media strategy?
Jason: Yes, adding technology simply because ‘everyone else is doing it’ doesn’t work.  You need to evaluate, develop and implement technology that adds value to your brand. Everyone wants in but they’re not willing to do the work. Developing a Facebook Connect app to gain access to customer profiles is a waste of money. Additionally, if you’ve only got 10 users, it can actually harm your brand. Developing a Facebook Connect app that provides value to your customers is strategic.

We’ve actually told clients not to give us their business as it’s not in their best interest to pursue digital media initiatives. If what you’re doing is not reinforcing your brand, it just makes you look worse.

FYB: What else might cause digital media branding initiatives to fail?
Jason: Many companies and agencies don’t consider how a business actually runs. They don’t consider customer profiles, lead generation, types of products or services and how customers come to acquire or use them.

FYB: What about when the CEO wants to to see the numbers?
Jason: The problem with brand marketing on the web is that people want ROI. They want to see clicks that lead to conversions. It’s incredibly hard to quantify. Everyone wants a million hits on YouTube. Anything less is somehow not acceptable. They immediately want high traffic and what they often get is a slow curve of overall acceptance and awareness.

There is a choice every company makes; to be a direct marketing company or a branded company. If you want to be a branded company that does direct marketing you can. But you can’t be a direct marketing company that attempts branding. The brand has to come first.

Perfect Pixels on the web. Read their blog. Follow them on Twitter.

Portfolio Peek

Virgin Travelstore

All Recipes

Classmates.com

Getty Images