"What is CI?" Sure enough, Ye Jianhuan's answer was not what Ye Kai expected. This eldest brother has been away from the advertising industry for too long in the past few years. He actually doesn't even know what the term means. This can also be understood from a
This reflects from the side why he wanted to abandon the advertising business.
"CI, to put it simply, can be regarded as corporate image." Ye Kai said to Ye Jianhuan.
"Oh, you want to engage in corporate image design, what does that include?" Ye Jianhuan asked rhetorically.
"Well, it contains a lot of content..." Ye Kai replied.
ci is the so-called corporate visual identity system, and ci design refers to the design of corporate visual identity, including corporate name, logo, standard fonts, colors, symbolic patterns, slogans, mascots, etc.
It is generally believed that ci originated in Europe at the beginning of this century. The earliest information seen so far is the case of the German AEG Electric Company. In the 1920s, the company asked a famous designer to design the three letters "aeg" into its logo.
, and use it uniformly on letterheads, envelopes and some products. This is the first attempt to unify the overall recognition.
Of course, before this, similar examples of serialization and homogenization can be found in bank notes, military uniforms, and religious activities.
In the 1930s, during the construction of the subway in London, England, in order to quickly impress citizens with this emerging urban transportation system, the authorities invited famous designers to design and standardize various types of subways in a unified form as much as possible.
** Design projects, such as station signs, tickets, series of posters, etc.
The unified form appears again and again in different designs, deepening the impression of citizens and achieving good visual effects.
After World War II, Europe's economy was in urgent need of recovery, and the United States also ushered in an unprecedentedly good economic development environment. CI design developed rapidly due to the intervention of various large European and American companies.
During this period, the American International Business Machines Corporation IBM has been considered a model for successfully introducing CI in the early stages.
"It is said that in the mid-1950s, the chairman of IBM asked the company's design consultant how the company can effectively convey its pioneering and creative characteristics to the world?" Ye Kai said to Ye Jianhuan, "The consultant said that it should be through
A design to convey the advantages and characteristics of IBM and unify the company's design. They used the three letters "IBM" to form a new logo, and used the new logo that is fast, smooth and full of industry characteristics as the commander to unify the design of the company.
, it is refreshing. While the performance has increased significantly, the three connected letters of IBM are known as the blue giant."
In fact, IBM's success has inspired many advanced American companies to start introducing CI design.
"Then what does this thing have to do with me?" Ye Jianhuan asked.
"It has a lot to do with it. If your advertising company wants to retain it, you can start with ci design. This is an opportunity to make money, and it is also a good opportunity to give your company's advertising business a new lease of life." Ye Kai said.
In fact, Ye Kai was very impressed by the manifestations of American corporate culture, especially the standardized design of corporate images like McDonald's. He especially admired it. Although it was just a simple combination of red and yellow, no matter whether the design looked good or not,
Wherever they go, as long as they see this combination, people will think of McDonald's and the taste of McDonald's hamburgers. To a certain extent, this is the designer's greatest contribution.
"However, CI standardized design is not only a decoration of corporate image, but also an inner culture, a guarantee of quality, and a sign of standardized and professional production. Its role for the development of enterprises cannot be underestimated.
"Ye Kai said, "But many domestic companies now do not realize this. The introduction of CI that has been developed for decades abroad is completely different in China."
Speaking of this matter, Ye Kai also had some feelings. A while ago, he walked in the streets and alleys of the capital and took a casual look. He found that most of the domestic bank branches lacked standardization. The designs of the business points were various, and the facades and faces were different.
The logos are completely different and appear to be inconsistent, giving people a sense of disorder and clutter.
The most important point is that today's advertising colleagues have not realized that this is a market gap.
Ye Kai keenly felt that this was a business opportunity, and he had to seize it if he had the opportunity. He had to do it quickly and accurately, otherwise there would be no such store after this village.
"It sounds very complicated. How do you do it specifically?" Ye Jianhuan gradually became interested in Ye Kai's proposal.
"There are many examples for reference, especially the CI designs of the world's top 500 companies. Most of them are of great reference value." Ye Kai said, "Actually, to put it simply, it is nothing more than designing a system for the bank's business department.
It’s just a unified lintel, so you can understand it, right?”
"I understand, I understand. If you keep talking, I have some feelings now." Ye Jianhuan nodded and smiled.
"You just need to completely copy the foreign model and operate it. The first step is to do a lot of surveys and write a feasibility report based on the survey results.
For example, how much does it cost to make a standardized door lintel? You have to conduct surveys in three cities: large, medium and small. On average, calculate how much a door lintel costs. This price is not necessarily very accurate, but in order to provide customers with
A sense of trust, you must follow all the principles of using numbers to speak, so that customers will feel that you are more reliable in what you do. Simple assumptions will not work, as this will make people think that you have stolen a lot of money from them." Ye Kai said aside.
Er thought about it and expressed his experience, "Then there is the design of a new corporate logo. For you who have been engaged in art for more than ten years, this should be a familiar task, right?"
Ye Kai was not just talking, he also took out a pen and drew a simple diagram for Ye Jianhuan on the paper, which included the bank's lintel summary, image logo, Chinese and English fonts, etc., which looked clear at a glance
.
"What kind of material should I use to express this kind of thing?" Ye Jianhuan immediately asked the key question. As a person with a background in advertising, he can naturally see which things are more important.
"Just use aluminum-plastic panels. This kind of material is not available in China. The outside is aluminum and the inside is plastic. Use a machine to repair a groove. It can be spliced arbitrarily. It is made like a sculpture and can be copied arbitrarily."
Ye Kai replied, "You can contact the United States about this matter, and you can also get the agency rights for aluminum-plastic panels. This thing will be used a lot in the future, and you can also build factories and invest in it later.
Aluminum-plastic panel production is all about money!”
"This idea is worth trying." After hearing what Ye Kai said, Ye Jianhuan was eager to try it. He stood up and walked around twice, and then said to Ye Kai, "Boy, in that case, please help me."
Let’s win over the CI design business of China Construction and Development Bank! This shouldn’t be difficult for you, right?”
"This..." Ye Kai immediately laughed after hearing this.
This matter is not only not difficult, it is simply a piece of cake. But it seems a little unloyal to blatantly make money from the father-in-law. I will be complained by Miss Chu in the future. Ye Kai will not commit such low-level behavior.
mistake.
It’s not that the Construction and Development Bank’s business can’t be done, it’s that it can’t be done now. If you want to gain better experience, it’s best to start with other banks.
Ye Kai’s reason for choosing a bank to promote this business is the simplest and most direct, because banks have the most branches in various places. For example, the current Bank of China has more than 16,000 branches across the country.
Network, how big is this?!
If this single business alone is acquired, the revenue figure involved is estimated to be around one billion, and the net profit should be more than two to three hundred million.
Let Ye Kai operate on his prospective father-in-law first and swallow him two or three hundred million at once. Although it is not a big deal, it will definitely be difficult to live up to in terms of face. At least he will feel more embarrassed, and he will not be able to earn anyone's money.
, you must make money from your father-in-law? If you do this, Ye Kai will not be able to hold his head high in front of the old Chu family.
If this matter were started by another bank, there was a successful example, and then the China Construction and Development Bank was contacted to follow suit, the nature of the problem would be different.
Therefore, Ye Kai suggested, "Let my father-in-law take care of it first. I suggest you start with the Bank of China."
"Okay." Ye Jianhuan nodded, but didn't say anything bad.
If Mr. Ye really wants to get a business, what does Bank of China mean? But from a purely commercial perspective, all the procedures that should be followed must be followed, so as not to teach others what to do and cause misunderstanding to Mr. Ye.
An unfavorable excuse for the family.
The main reason why Ye Kai chose Bank of China to do this is because Bank of China is now the largest bank in China and has the strongest international flavor. It must have a better understanding of the importance of CI introduction. Secondly, Ye Kai heard that
Bank of China once invited a well-known designer in Hong Kong to make a preliminary ci standardization design, but it has not yet been promoted.
This shows that Bank of China intends to make big moves in the standardization of corporate image design, and this is Ye Jianhuan’s opportunity.
And as Ye Kai said, this matter is actually not complicated. It is nothing more than designing what later generations called 10go, making it into a lintel and installing it. Of course, it will be necessary to replace the lintels for more than 16,000 outlets.
, obviously it is not a simple matter, and it will probably take a few years of hard work.
"Okay, let's do it with Bank of China!" Ye Jianhuan looked at the rough model diagram that Ye Kai drew for him, and he already had a plan in his heart, and he couldn't help but have the urge to do something big...!