Makeovers, Movie Sets and Magic
Branding for young companies is a thorny issue for sure. With so many competing priorities, there is a tendency to feel like there are costs everywhere across the business, and so the prospect of investing valuable reserves on developing the company’s brand is often filed under: “I’ll get to it later”. This is understandable, but it’s a missed opportunity.
There are elements of branding that do appear to be regarded as essential, which is encouraging; however, these elements represent the tip of the iceberg, the company logo especially. It may feel like just a visual signature at the beginning, but over time it can be an iconic shortcut that carries the weight of customers’ lifelong aspirations. Think Nike, Apple and Mastercard.
So, young companies looking to scale should commit to getting this critical brand element right at the outset.
More Than A Logo
Much has been written about a brand being more than a logo over the years and part of the visual challenge of branding is the subjectivity that can accompany it, without a proper brand positioning being developed. Positioning is critical to providing objectivity by identifying where the brand sits in the marketplace relative to its competition and how it can connect emotionally with its audiences. A strong brand positioning will in turn create an identifiable brand identity of visual and verbal signifiers that will create the foundation for the stories that you want to tell. The stronger the identity, the more powerful the stories are.
Tap Into Emotion
In ‘Emotion by Design,’ Nike’s former CMO, Greg Hoffman, refers to famous sporting personalities over the years and their haircuts. From Andre Agassi’s long flowing locks to Brazil’s Ronaldo and his infamous hairstyle. Their physical appearances were key visual elements of their own personal brands. If they weren’t each at the peak of their powers their respective styles would be fleeting and forgotten. Equally, their performances can be respected but may not necessarily transcend and endure in the way that they have without these makeovers. So when performance and style multiply each other, brand distinction can be achieved.
There can be a tendency for brands, especially in tech, to focus on product features and benefits in pursuit of the most effective product/market fit however, if every brand in the category talks about itself in this way not only is there little in the way of differentiation for the customer, there is a lack of emotional connection established. And it’s emotional connections between brands and their customers that can provide the rocket fuel for growth.
By creating a rich and immersive world for your brand and its products, where every fine detail is attended to, your customer can become like a character in a movie that plays a key part in the overall story. Disney has made a virtue of micro-managing the fine details of the customer journey to create an exemplary brand experience that puts their customers at the very heart of the brand's magic. Their former CEO, Michael Eisner, has provided one of the seminal definitions of what a brand is when he described it as being:
“a living entity that is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.”
Don’t Put It Off
So while this to-do list may well appear overwhelming for a scaling business with competing priorities, the intention is to show the importance of building powerful brand worlds from the outset so that they can enable the realisation of greater value for their shareholders. My advice is to simply think boldly over the long term, pay attention to the details and take steady, incremental steps along the journey.
