3 step brand identity strategy
Brand identities matter. They provide a verbal and visual promise on the experience you are about to undertake, and the way you’ll feel afterwards. Everything needs to align and elicit the visceral, gut instincts that ‘this is the brand for you’.
But how do you strategise, create and manage them? Like fast-forwarding a film, this 3-step process summarises months of research, development, testing, iteration, creation, deployment and management. It distils a proven process applied by The Rubicon Agency to tech-centric businesses.
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How to develop a business-aligned brand
A brand can manifest itself in many ways, the most common is one that’s associated with a company. However, this is not the only application. A brand can be applied to a portfolio, an operating model, a culture or even a specific marketing programme. It’s purpose is to create a unique identity, differentiation and memorable characteristics/qualities for the entity.
Get it right and your brand can create a following, instil loyalty and even protect margin. Get it wrong and you might be remembered for all the wrong things, or even worse, not remembered at all.
Creating, evolving or refreshing a brand isn’t just a case of reaching for the crayons, there are much deeper levels of consideration to consider. What is the purpose of the brand? Who is it aimed at? What are the outputs? What does success look like? All these elements should be considered before you ‘go creative’.
Similarly, what tooling, enablement and motions are required to enact and maintain the new or modified brand? The graphic below provides a proven framework for the critical decision-making that’s required to make sure you set-off on the right path.
Brand development framework
Be conscious: Courageous or cautious?
Then comes the excitement of the naming. But hold your horses – you still need some guiderails to make sure you end up where you need to be – and take all the important stakeholders with you. Getting a consensus is key to achieving momentum and alignment on decision-making.
When deciding on a brand name there are several variables that should be considered, including.
- How courageous/cautious is the entity?
- Where do competitors map on the scale of functional to evocative?
- How long-term do you see or need the entity to remain current?
- Who are you appealing to and what are their hooks?
- How far can you stretch authenticity and DNA?
These are some of the questions you need to ask when landing on a name, and each have their pro’s and cons. For example, choosing a functional name may pay short-term dividends as it expresses exactly what the company or product does. But, on the flip side it probably has many competitors, ‘soundalikes’ and restricts the aspiration associated with it. It probably has less white space for domain names and IP/trademarking too.
Likewise, masquerading as a highly progressive organisation can undermine your core values if your brand is associated with something more conservative. And whilst it might create more freedom with domains and IP/trademarking, the immediacy of meaning and relevance may take some time and investment to land.
The mapping taxonomy below creates a canvas to map competitors, explore differences and set a course for strategic direction.
Competitor and client brand name mapping
Create identity eye candy not an eyesore
So, you’ve locked down the brand strategy. The brand name has been given the thumbs-up. Now it’s time for the visual expression work to begin, but how corporate or anarchic are you going to be?
A powerful, memorable visual identify can trigger brand associations even before seeing the logo, and a signature design style can make you stand out from the crowd. But before you try and become the next ‘Apple’, the visual expression of your brand needs to be a considered one.
Like the naming stage, the visual expression needs to run parallel to how elevated, visionary or differentiated you want the brand to appear. This should be considered for now and the foreseeable future.
This planning framework allows you to map competitors and craft desired outcomes for your visual identity success.
Visual expression (visual identity)
Brands need intentful planning, development and deployment
The 3 essentials outlined briefly above have been applied by The Rubicon Agency to brand entities of all forms and sizes. They’ve scaled for brownfield to greenfield identity tasks. And they’ve delivered powerful brand expressions for market challengers and market incumbents.
The Rubicon Agency has refined the approach over 25 years to deliver structured – but creative – brand solutions to organisations globally.
The 3 brand identity strategy essentials are designed to integrate with our proprietary M4 content assessment, Message Elevator and Content Spectrum frameworks
Brand strategy in action
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