Four senior creatives share their advice for crafting winning brand worlds.
Strategy is the ultimate dark art of branding. Get it right, and you'll create a successful design that gets results. Get it wrong, though, and you'll end up with a solution to the wrong problem.
"Strategy is a springboard to great, unforgettable ideas," says Pearlfisher founder Jonathan Ford. "You have to know your market. You have to lift up the rocks and see what's crawling about underneath, as well as what's basking in the sunshine."
Here, four leading creatives offer their professional tips on how to craft a winning brand strategy…
01. Understand the value you add
Moving Brands helped transform Veon from a lumbering telco giant into an agile global tech business
"The fundamental failing of most branding systems is that you've got people who know one area well and dictate into disciplines they have no experience in," says Mat Heinl, CEO of Moving Brands.
"It breaks down and the client's left with a system that doesn't work. If you feel like you've got a broad approach as a studio, then learn about that properly. If you're an expert in one area, be clear about it. Don't pretend you know about areas you don't."
02. Be honest with yourself
Pentagram is the world’s largest independent design consultancy
Pentagram partner Natasha Jen advocates approaching each branding project honestly from the very start. "Not every project is suitable to your own process, or method or taste," she reasons.
"Try and identify that as quickly as possible – and have the courage to decline things that you see as not in your area. I think that's totally ok. We don't have to be omnivores in order to be a successful branding designer, or any other type of designer."
03. Don't make gods, make worlds
SapientNitro designed a high-impact website for video game publisher Activision
"Take the most beloved brands, like Harley Davidson," says SapientNitro worldwide chief creative officer Gaston Legorburu. "How does the product transform you – what does it do for you? You sit on these things and you're a different person."
"It's not about having consumers adopt your values: it's about them relating to them and making connections," he continues. "Really successful brand strategies are the ones where there's a gift – a value set – and it really connects."
04. Don't straight-jacket design
Pearlfisher was responsible for Ben & Jerry's global redesign
Don't straight-jacket design, advises Pearlfisher co-founder Jonathan Ford: "Packaging is different to digital, which is more experiential," he explains. "People are smart beings: take the brand thoughts that came through in the strategy and allow them to be inspired on all the different mediums in their appropriate way – retail, digital, physical, whatever. It can all come back to a common point of clear focus and thought."
Enter your best branding to the Brand Impact Awards by 9 June
If you’ve already mastered the craft of branding, submit your best work to Computer Arts’ international awards scheme.
The Brand Impact Awards celebrate the very best branding work from all around the world. Deadline for 2017 entries is 9 June. Find out more at www.brandimpactawards.com.
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Julia is editor-in-chief, retail at Future Ltd, where she works in e-commerce across a number of consumer lifestyle brands. A former editor of design website Creative Bloq, she’s also worked on a variety of print titles, and was part of the team that launched consumer tech website TechRadar. She's been writing about art, design and technology for over 15 years.
