A strong brand can mean the difference between winning or losing out on new customers, maintaining the loyalty of existing ones, especially in a buyer’s market, and even securing a price premium.

Don’t be tempted to think ‘job done’ when the creatives hand over your new logo. It’s essential to track whether your investment is achieving what you had hoped for, both internally as well as externally.

Building a brand is one thing, staying on brand is another. It requires consistent action and sense of purpose over time. Internal communication needs to be aligned to ensure that everyone understands the company’s brand values and can communicate them.

You’ve recognised the importance of branding and know you could do better. So where to start? With positioning.

The forest industry laments the fact that it is misunderstood, that consumers fail to appreciate the inherent sustainability of forest products, and that such a highly sophisticated and diverse industry is often treated as one giant commodity. But it doesn’t always ask why.

Welcome to Opticom’s second customer newsletter. We hope the first gave you a few things to think about – do let us know if you found it useful.

Welcome to Opticom’s second customer newsletter.

What does the future hold for your business?

In the fight to get a customer’s attention, it can be tempting to bombard them with information and hope they will pick up at least some of it. But in a time-poor, screen-addicted world, information overload is usually counter-productive. If you want people to listen, it’s quality not quantity that counts, according to Opticom’s Martin Kubu.

If you enjoy a long-standing relationship with your Purchasing contact, it can be tempting to think ‘job done’. One-to-one chemistry is extremely important in business, of course, but have you asked yourself what understanding the customer really means? A chat with your main contact and maybe a few others within his/her department is far from the full picture.

Opticom’s extensive work on consumer perception confirms there is still a deep unease around a business model that relies on cutting down trees, because trees are an emotive subject, not a rational one. Understanding this key point and the perspective of the end-user can be a good start: Consumers believe trees are for planting, not harvesting.

Dear friends, Welcome to Opticom’s first newsletter! Whether it be in-depth analysis through market research, helping clients to build a successful communication strategy, evaluate customer satisfaction, test new products or service concepts, the insight we have gained from over 30 years in the forest industry value chain is unmatched. We’d like to share some of it with you.

Whether it be in-depth analysis through market research, helping clients to build a successful communication strategy, evaluate customer satisfaction, test new products or service concepts, the insight we have gained from over 30 years in the forest industry value chain is unmatched.

On #intlforestday , we celebrate the fact that forests provide employment, food, income, shelter and ecosystem services to at least 1.5 billion people (International Labour Organization, Decent Work in Forestry report).

Countdown to #intlforestday : Did you know that the iconic “Twin Peaks” actress Catherine E. Coulson, famously known as “Log Lady”, held onto her prop log and even took it on flights stored in the overhead compartment?

Countdown to #intlforestday : Did you know there are about 30 times more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way?

Countdown to #intlforestday : Did you know that 62% of Europe’s P&P mills’ energy comes from the forest?

Countdown to #intlforestday : Did you know that Europe’s forests grew by an area bigger than Switzerland from 2005-2020 – that’s more than 1,500 football pitches of new forest every day! (FAO data) We can help you spread the word.

Countdown to #intlforestday : Did you know that cartonboard packaging can be recycled up to 25 times and still perform as well as the first time it was used (Graz University of Technology)?

According to a recent McKinsey study, published in February 2022 - a vast majority of consumers are highly concerned about packaging sustainability and express a willingness to pay more for sustainable packaging, especially in large markets such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil. More than 75% of the respondents are concerned and willing to pay more for sustainable packaging. In Europe and US the figure is lower, but still – over 50% are willing to pay more.