The ultimate branding challenge
Brand and branding have a branding challenge! To the business world, it’s one of the most confusing practices — shrouded in mystery, perceived smoke screens, and what some would describe as superfluous corporate assets. Brand builders, buyers, and sellers alike claim to understand the practice. They’ll nod eagerly when they hear the term “brand awareness”, but in reality, the majority lack the knowledge and struggle to articulate the complexities. However, it’s not their fault. Decades of poor communication from the branding community and a struggle for this service industry to truly find its place while being sized up against marketing and advertising have caused serious damage in public perception. Branding’s brand trust has been found wanting.
You want an example? You’ve likely heard the saying: “Marketing isn’t branding, and branding isn’t marketing”. This is true; however, branding is, in fact, a marketing practice, but so is advertising! Even though advertising is a marketing practice, people seem to easily differentiate between the two industries and the services provided. Branding, on the other hand, doesn’t get the same respect, and people are confounded by who the experts in the field are due to blurred boundary lines. If you want a successful organisation, then marketing and branding should be viewed by stakeholders as equal partners. Yes, there’s plenty of crossover and synergy, but they need to stand alone to breathe and produce the best outcomes. I’ll save my rant on stock-market-listed organisations needing Chief Brand Officers for another day.
What also doesn’t help is that creative companies selling branding services often don’t know the difference between branding and brand identity design. I’ve lost count of the number of graphic design studios or design agencies that claim to offer “branding”, but when you analyse their services, they simply provide design for brand identity. I’m confident that the majority of these organisations just don’t understand the subject, rather than intentionally misleading customers. However, this lack of knowledge creates mistrust in the industry and further confuses the practice of branding.
On the other end of the misinformation spectrum, you have marketing and advertising specialists who also dabble in branding. They may promote their branding prowess, but if you scratch the surface, it’s solely focused on messaging and tone-of-voice consultancy and creation. Please don’t misunderstand me — visual identity, messaging, logos, slogans, and tone-of-voice are all part of a brand’s personality. However, they’re just small pieces of a much larger branding puzzle.
Talking about visual identity, the term “rebrand” is another common branding phrase that gets incorrectly thrown around. Most rebrand case studies are nothing more than a redesign of the visual identity, without even refreshing the brand identity. Changing only the emblem, colours, and fonts does not constitute a rebrand. Yes, these are tasks within a rebrand, but they represent a small fraction of the exercise. A true rebrand would involve changing some or all of the following brand ingredients:
I’m convinced that throughout my professional career, I’ve inadvertently contributed to the confusion surrounding the practice of branding. I immediately recall an organisation I worked for early in my career, which would sell logo designs packaged as branding. They didn’t even include brand guidelines as part of that offering, just an overwhelming number of logo options that would confuse the customer. After numerous revisions due to the flawed foundations and fundamentals, the chosen design would be slapped onto a letterhead and compliment slip. It’s easy to understand how customers become disgruntled and feel like they’ve dealt with snake oil salesmen, even if the company had the best intentions. However, my empathy lies solely with the customer.
Pure fascination led me to delve into the world of branding, and in the early days of my journey, I found myself overwhelmed with all the business jargon. However, from the beginning of my exploration, one question has persistently nagged at me: when it comes to the practice of branding, should we discard the existing script and start afresh? Should branding itself undergo a rebrand? Should there be a complete overhaul of its messaging, terminology, and market positioning? After much contemplation and playing with the idea, my answer is… no! What we need is evolution, not revolution.
Evolution, not revolution
Where do we begin with the evolution of branding and aiding people in understanding the practice? We start with high-level clarity and emphasising the distinction between brand and branding. One thing that must be made absolutely clear is that a brand is not defined by the organisation! A brand is constructed by the customer’s perception and their emotional response elicited by interactions with an organisation or a product. The organisation can certainly shape the customer’s perception and emotions through branding efforts.
Now that we have established the differences, let’s shift our focus to the vision. Brands should strive for infinity, which means branding needs to engage in the infinite game and not seek short-term or medium-term wins like their finite-playing counterparts: marketing and advertising. Even long-term objectives alone are insufficient. Branding is an ultramarathon, not a 100-meter sprint. Branding strategy and planning should be centred around constant evolution, building a loyal following, and establishing a strong presence in both the conscious and subconscious minds of the market. Brands ultimately need to become omnipresent entities, and branding must keep pace with the brand’s accelerated growth to ensure consistent and on-brand experiences for customers, stakeholders, and employees. Brand recognition holds equal importance to brand awareness.
Next, let’s address the roles of the builders, buyers, and sellers of branding, and the significance each of them holds. We’ll begin with the buyers.
The buyer
As a buyer, it is crucial for you to do your homework before approaching agencies and consultants for their branding services. While you don’t need to be an expert in branding, you should be knowledgeable enough to understand what you are purchasing and what level of branding you are seeking. It is essential to ask numerous questions, explore different options, and compare service providers and the types of branding they offer.
If you are starting from scratch and aiming for a comprehensive branding experience, simply obtaining a logo and brand guidelines will not suffice. You will require a specialist who will collaborate with you to develop your brand’s DNA. At the very least, the expert should begin by conducting qualitative and quantitative research, organising discovery workshops, and providing training sessions on brand equity, activation, and enablement.
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It is important to set your expectations and ensure that the services you seek align with your vision for building a strong brand.
If you are considering a rebrand, it is vital for your agency or consultant to initiate the process with a brand audit. This entails conducting a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of your brand and branding. It should include dedicated sessions to gather insights from customers, stakeholders, and employees. The brand audit serves as the foundation for a rebrand, and no decisions regarding logos, naming, purpose, or propositions should be made until the audit is complete.
When it comes to new brands or rebrands, it is important not to prioritise cost-effectiveness above all else. Your brand is a critical pillar of your organisation and holds significant value when executed correctly. Opting for a cheap solution now may lead you to seek another “rebrand” in a year or two, or even worse, cause significant damage to your brand’s reputation in the minds of customers. Remember, building a brand is synonymous with building your organisation’s reputation, and it should be approached with care and investment.
“Hold on, what’s brand DNA!?” I can hear people exclaiming from the back. Brand DNA is the secret sauce of a branding specialist, and to quote the late, great Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight: “If you’re good at something, never do it for free”. However, I can share that brand DNA may vary slightly from expert to expert, although it generally encompasses common components such as a brand’s promise, positioning, values, and personality. Throughout my 20 years of experience in brand building, I have identified nine key factors that collectively form a brand’s DNA, but that knowledge is valuable currency. I know, “hypocrite” will be the cry! ??
Another issue that deserves attention, and seems to have intensified since the pandemic, is the unhealthy practice of certain “industry professionals” within the creative space who decry branding in order to promote their own specific services. While this tactic is not new, it remains underhanded. One has to question whether they would like to work with someone who struggles to effectively communicate their own benefits and instead attempts to belittle another service.
Allow me to provide a recent example that I’ve encountered: a marketing specialist whom I previously held in high regard has recently launched a campaign criticising “fluffy brand essences”, while simultaneously promoting their own messaging services. The importance of brand essence does not require defending; companies like Nike and Apple can easily attest to its significance. “Just Do It” and “Think Different” lie at the core of these multi-billion dollar companies, and they heavily invest in defining their purpose and beliefs, which are encapsulated in their brand essence. Their vast communities of loyal followers have wholeheartedly embraced these essences, considering them an integral part of their identity and proudly promoting them as brand ambassadors. It is evident that the so-called “fluffy stuff” adds tremendous value, and perhaps the marketing specialist in question should lean in a little.
The builders and sellers
As the builder and/or seller, it is your duty to educate and offer clarity to the buyer. By providing clear guidance and empowering the buyer, you will instil confidence and enable them to fully embrace the branding being created, becoming champions for it among stakeholders, employees, and customers. There are several reasons why branding efforts can fail, but two of the most significant factors are indifference and lack of adoption. For brands and products, nothing is more detrimental than having users who are unwilling or unenthusiastic about engaging with them.
Unwilling users are precisely why brand activation and brand enablement are absolutely necessary tasks that require strategic planning and execution. To be frank, or rather brutally honest, if you lack understanding or knowledge in brand activation or enablement, it is imperative to stay within your area of expertise and engage the services of a professional or agency that specialises in these areas. It is essential to provide the buyer with complete transparency, acknowledging that these tasks fall outside of your current domain and that you have enlisted the assistance of experts. This moment should be viewed as a valuable learning opportunity, recognising that the investment made in these specialists is an investment in acquiring knowledge. While this statement may be seen as controversial by some, it is my belief that if you are venturing into these tasks for the first time, you must bear the cost yourself and not pass it on to the buyer.
I want to clarify that I am not suggesting that individuals without experience in branding should refrain from entering the field. On the contrary, I encourage more creative thinkers to engage in the branding game. We all have to begin somewhere and work our way up the ladder of expertise. Personally, I entered the realm of professional branding through graphic design.
What I am emphasising is the importance of being honest about your experience and level of knowledge. Pretending to have expertise that you do not possess does not contribute to the reputation of the branding practice. It is crucial to be transparent about your capabilities and seek assistance when needed, rather than attempting to “fake it until you make it”. Honesty and integrity ultimately benefit the field of branding and foster trust among clients and stakeholders.
Another key factor in effectively communicating branding and educating potential stakeholders is using simple language. It is important to minimise the use of jargon and buzzwords as much as possible. Additionally, it is vital to be completely transparent about the services being provided, the process involved, and what is included in the branding package. Our goal should be to demystify branding without compromising its perceived value.
For the necessary branding terminology, it is helpful to provide visual representations that effectively convey theories, frameworks, and concepts. Additionally, having a glossary of terms can greatly assist the buyer in understanding and navigating the branding journey. As I mentioned earlier, it is essential to have champions and ambassadors for the brands being built and sold. As a branding professional, it is crucial to adopt the mindset of being a true champion for the brands you work with. If you are not convinced of the brand’s story or haven’t created a compelling narrative, it is unrealistic to expect others to fully embrace and support it.
To wrap up my rant, here’s the bottom line: branding experts need to practice what we preach when we communicate our craft. It might not be easy, but educating buyers, stakeholders, employees, and customers is absolutely crucial to raising the status and perceived value of branding. We should provide clear and concise information to minimise the mysterious aura surrounding our services. And above all, honesty is the name of the game. As I mentioned before, our aim should be to inspire confidence in everyone who’s all-in on a brand.