Branding for Beginners.

We did some work over the summer refreshing our brand logo on Fool.co.uk   You can read about that here.

To tackle the logo we had to understand the brand completely. What I soon realized was that the composition of a brand is complex to say the least and not as wishy-washy as I (admittedly) previously thought. For this reason, and because advice in this area seems to be guarded, I promised myself I would write about it at some stage, to keep for future reference should I ever get in to this tricky business again and also to see whether others felt I had completely missed the point (which is of-course entirely possible.)

I guess there are a few things I identified as being important in the process of understanding “brand” and what it is made from. I like lists, so here’s a list of the things I think make up and equate to a brand and therefore are the things you need to know about a specific brand in order to understand it:

• The Vision – a company generally has a long-reaching goal for the business.
• The Mission – the underlying purpose of a company/business. 
• The Company Values - The essential and enduring tenets of a company.
• The Brand Manifesto - is a declaration of 
1) the core intention of a brand
2) the guiding principles of a brand 
3) the detail that guide everyone in the company toward delivering a brand promise.
• The Brand Promise - a statement to your customers identifying what consumers should expect from all interactions with a brand.
• The Brand Position - the relation to the competitors in your market place. 
• The Brand Story - the heart of a brand, a story that translates and resonates both with customers and staff. 
• The Brand Name - the thing that ties everything together. 

I’d say it’s only when you have a handle on these that you start to really understand a brand. And obviously you can only tackle logo design once all of these things are aligned and coherent. See, not wishy-washy at all.

Comments

[Ritaaran]

Branding started because manufacturers wanted their merchandise to be distinguishable from the generic dross of others. This is still the case today, even when brand owners don’t necessarily make the product. Branding now often carries cart loads of psychological baggage. This is a back to basics checklist.
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Ritaaran

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[Carl]

Thanks Ritaaran. Spot on, being distinguishable is very much still the aim I would say.