How Can Small Brands Amp Up Their Uniqueness?

As a small brand, maintaining a fresh and relevant identity is imperative to staying competitive and resonating with the target audience. When embarking on a brand refresh, it’s important to preserve core values and personality—the essence of what makes a brand unique.

A brand refresh can be both exciting and challenging, and Chase has successfully guided several clients through this process. In this article, we will explore ways to rejuvenate a brand while staying true to its foundations. We will also provide case studies which illustrate how strengthening elements such as typography, tone of voice, and package design can modernise a brand's identity while still holding true to its original essence.

1.?? Understanding Origins

Having a solid understanding of the origins of your brand, the driving force behind its creation, will ensure your authentic story and passion is retained within the refresh. Delve into the aspects that inspired the founders to launch the brand and business. What ignited their passion and led to the brand's inception? Which specific qualities make the brand stand out from the others?

Our work with snack brand Dang, was about reframing the brand to be more distinctive. Founded by two Thai-American brothers and based on recipes from their mother, Mama Dang, the brand’s mission was clear: to create convenient snacks with an authentic Asian soul, reinterpreted for a modern and healthy mindset.

Dang had really unique products rooted in their founder’s heritage, but the design lacked a unique point of view. Chase’s challenge was to bring to life their brand story in a fresh and compelling way, while maintaining the brand’s accessibility to the mainstream consumer.

Your consumers are an invaluable resource in understanding your brand. Who better to identify what symbolises the brand, then your most loyal users. Engaging with your brand’s community and asking for feedback during the rebranding process can help you make informed decisions that align with their desires, preferences, or lifestyle. Conduct surveys or focus groups to learn which equity elements resonate and understand how your audience perceives your brand to inform the refresh.

2. Strengthen What You Have

Alongside considerations of the learnings from consumers, and that passion driven by your origin story, take the time to also analyse your existing visual brand elements, messaging, and consumer perceptions. Identify which aspects of those elements are working, how they have positively impacted your brand, and how they may be reinforced or strengthened within the refresh.

It's equally important when accessing equity elements to identify outdated assets or those assets which no longer align with your brand’s personality and progression. Don’t be afraid to let go of elements which no longer serve your brand’s purpose, simplicity can be a powerful tool in creating a lasting impression.

Our partnership with Mike Hurtz, founder of Mike’s Hot Honey began when his unique pizza topping ingredient in a popular Brooklyn pizzeria, started to gain attention. As the brand was moving into new channels and targeting new consumers the packaging needed an impactful refresh to distinguish itself from ordinary honey products in the category.

The Mike’s Hot Honey brand equity consisted of multiple key assets which held significance for the brand. Our efforts elevated these key elements which allowed them to work at maximum strength on shelf. Chase hand crafted a script typeface for Mike’s beloved signature logo, personifying the home-grown history of the brand. The heritage Bee illustration was updated to offer a striking level of premiumisation. A bold and bespoke vintage-inspired font was created to give the brand’s unique selling proposition pride of place on front of the pack. To optimise versatility, the recognisable plaid pattern was reworked as an extractable border asset to allow for eye catching standout.

When approaching the Dang refresh, it became evident that many Asian products in the market fall into two categories— overtly stereotypical or too modern and generic with little cultural tie-back. By identifying the sweet spot for Dang, we were able to create a visual language that was both authentic and ownable. The “Asian for All” look and feel that we helped established was a platform to provide this differentiation.

The final design featured a strengthened master brand approach which drew visual impact to the Dang wordmark, while bold flavour colours and new, mouth-watering photography drastically enhanced the appetite appeal. A subtle Thai type-pattern was also included in the packaging backgrounds to pay homage to Dang’s Thai street food roots.

3. Flexibility to Enable Growth

It’s a well-known fact that maintaining consistency is crucial for brand recognition. So how does a brand enable flexibility for further reach, changing trends, consumer preferences, and portfolio growth opportunities, while ensuring that consistency? Establishing a brand’s visual guardrails can enable brand activations on multiple levels whilst retaining consistency and driving recognition. You can create engaging off-pack materials, trade show interactive booths, limited-edition artists collaborations, or even partnerships with other brands, all while preserving the brand’s unique personality. Ensuring these guardrails are clear, actionable and stand out across all consumer touchpoints will bring the best success.

Mike’s Hot Honey and Chase worked together to extend the brands reach across multiple touchpoints. Actioning within brand guardrails defined by Chase, we created campaign materials spanning from six sheets to digital banner adds, and a restaurant within Madison Square Garden stadium in New York.?

Those guardrails will also set the stage for new opportunities as a brand begins to grow its portfolio. From the addition of more flavours, scents or product offerings to the leap into an entirely new category, leveraging your strong equity assets and following the guardrails will ensure beloved and recognisable assets are retained where needed to bring loyal consumers along in the journey. The established guardrails have not only enabled the honey brand to extend to extreme temperature levels with Mike’s Extra Hot, they’ve also ensured the Mike’s personality shone through in its cobranding partnership with the beloved crisp brand, Utz.

In conclusion

Refreshing a brand is a delicate balance between innovation and preserving what makes the brand special. By embracing the above principles, a brand can navigate the exhilarating journey of transformation while staying true to its essence and fostering authentic connections with its audience. A well-executed brand refresh not only attracts new consumers but also deepens the loyalty of existing ones, setting the stage for continued growth and success.

If you’re eager to learn more about successfully refreshing your brand, we’d love to share our insights with you. So, please get in touch and let’s talk.