What is Branding and How Can A Company Communicate Their Story Through It?
Branding
Branding is a concept that is often misunderstood. It is not simply a logo and color scheme, but rather the feelings one has when they experience a company and their products or services. Well-defined brands not only represent the product, but also the way of life a consumer desires. The strongest brands align with emotions and ideas that reinforce the values and principles associated with the work they do.
Above: Adidas is a prime example of a global brand that wears its passion for sport and pop culture on its sleeve. Often the progenitor of culture, in any form Adidas is always immediately recognizable as the “brand with the three stripes.” Image credit: https://news.adidas.com/jenna-ortega
In marketing, the branding process is achieved through a combination of the brand’s internal marketing strategy and how it is externally represented through campaigns and designs. Marketing strategy is meant to answer the following questions:
How is the company defined and what does it stand for?
What value does the company bring to the marketplace and why should consumers care?
How will the company deliver its value proposition?
To define how a brand handles its marketing strategy, it must be able to clearly express the following elements: Purpose, Vision, Values, Positioning, Personality, Voice, Expression, Messaging and Goals. With all of these defined, it is easier to develop the marketing strategy because you have a keen understanding of how to represent the brand and its value effectively.
The design of a company’s brand constitutes the way it communicates with consumers with marketing solutions. This is achieved through consistent visuals and messaging, clearly defined by the brand’s guidelines, which have been developed to reflect the marketing strategy and connect with consumers. All these brand components work together in harmony to create a Brand Identity.
There are six key elements of brand identity:
Brand name
Brand story
Brand personality
Products and services
Communication style
Visual identity
Let’s look at Patagonia as an example. The brand represents sustainable and high-quality products with a responsible, outdoor-oriented, and activist perspective, inspiring consumers to consider the impact their purchases have on the environment. The brand uses a minimalist logo with earthy tones to appeal to outdoor enthusiasts and environmentally conscious consumers, who put the Earth first, like they do.
A Brand Identity may also include sonic (sound) and scent as well. The combination of these elements gives the brand a personality and characteristics that consumers can easily identify with in the context of their market. Therefore, good branding also employs storytelling to humanize the company and connect with consumers.
Within a company’s brand identity is its Visual Identity, or the cohesive visual language. This visual identity is used throughout marketing materials and campaigns, allowing consumers to easily and readily identify the brand. It is critical to remain consistent with logos, colors, photography and other brand assets to effectively communicate the brand’s message, demonstrating professionalism, avoiding confusion in the marketplace, and building trust with the consumer.
Activating the Brand Through Creative
The primary way brands connect with consumers is through marketing and communications campaigns. Effective campaigns demonstrate the benefit a product or service provides the consumer. Developing a big idea or theme for the campaign enables marketers to thoughtfully create a brand strategy and key messages that help the company reach its goals. With this in mind, it is crucial to ensure creative solutions align with the overarching strategic approach for the marketing campaign. Messaging should focus on attracting attention, effectively communicating key messages and moving viewers to action and engagement.
Creative concepting is where this magic happens. James Webb’s A Technique for Producing Ideas has been utilized across a myriad of disciplines since it was developed in 1965. Exceedingly simple, it is a tried and true method for concepting:
Gather Materials - index and organize information
Think - about the problem and potential solutions using what you have gathered
Take a Break - let your brain rest and work in the background processing your ideas
Eureka! - the solution makes itself clear, write it down
Refine and Rework - to make the idea fit the situation or function as the best possible solution
What works is often completely different for each brand, and sometimes you may miss the mark. Be wary of jumping on trends that don’t fit a brand or utilize unclear messaging. That said, the most successful marketing campaigns would not exist without a willingness to take a leap and push boundaries. To develop brands and creative concepts that resonate with consumers, we need to see and experience the world from their perspective.
