Giving you the big look - Guy Douglass (MD) comments on brand identity
09/07/2010

IMAGINE how hard it would be to find a friend in the Post Office queue if you didn't know what he looked like. Imagine having to find the Post Office in a row of shops if every Post Office sign was different. Both rely on recognition of consistent features.

Any brand development is about that consistent recognition. Recognition through consistent visual representation.

But there's more to it than that.

A brand identity should represent the "essence" of the company or product it portrays. It should represent the professionalism, the attitude and the approach that the company or product is built upon.

A brand creates expectations and associations amongst your customers. So it is important that you make sure that those expectations and associations are what you want them to be.

When flb redesigned the Somerfield brand, the retailer had recognised that their original brand didn't represent the friendly, welcoming community store that it had become over time.

So we designed an identity that was much more friendly and welcoming. When we designed the Cheltenham Town logo, the club had recognised that the old badge – the town crest – didn't represent the ambition and forward-looking nature of the club.

So we designed an identity that was ambitious and forward-looking. It is an understanding of what you are about, what you stand for and what you want your customers to think of you that drives the brief for a brand identity.

A brand has to engender trust amongst its customers and potential customers, through a consistency of approach and tone of voice.

Imagine if every time you met your friend in the Post Office queue they greeted you in a different way, used a different accent and moved differently; would you trust them?

But that's not all. If that same friend promised to buy you a first class stamp, then gave you a second class one, you'd be disappointed and might not ask him to buy a stamp again.

Equally, a brand MUST NOT be an empty promise. The essence of the brand must be followed through and be reflected in everything that the customer sees and experiences.

If you have a plumbing business and your branding implies a high level of professionalism, this is totally undermined if you smoke in their bathroom and leave them with a leaky tap.

Branding is fascinating. It's like creating personalities that develop a life of their own.

The DNA of that life form is the Brand Essence. Just like DNA in a life form the Brand Essence should be found in every part of your company. That way, you'll always be recognised in that Post Office queue.

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