June 16, 2008

Pure Branding is a branding and packaging agency for organic and natural products. The first factor in “The Crit” evaluation is positioning–and it’s first because it’s most important. Without strong positioning their is no way for content (the second most important factor) to be as powerful as it could be. Pure Branding has a strong positioning statement and the site backs it up. Their news items, featured articles, work examples and case studies all prove out their specialization and expertise. The only reason the site didn’t score a five for content is that there just isn’t enough of it. A blog would really help, as would a more steady stream of case studies. I’d also like to see just a bit more writing on the portfolio example pages.

The platform seems fine, there are no structural hindrances to search engines or linking. However, they are not taking advantage of their title tags which would help leverage the content. The design is perfectly acceptable. The site is easily navigable, fast loading, clean, and orderly. I’ll always take strong positioning, compelling content, strong platform and clean layout over visual pizzaz, but to get all that and a distinctive visual presentation would be a bonus.