1. What brand strategy settles before design begins
Branding follows the same rule as meeting your new girlfriend’s parents for the first time: think before you speak. If you haven’t worked out what you want to say, opening your mouth is probably a little premature.
And that’s where it all starts. Before design even enters the conversation, we need to uncover and develop the values, ambitions, vision and personality of the business behind the brand. People don’t connect with a brand on looks alone. They connect with its character, what it stands for and how it makes them feel.
Harley riders are chasing adventure. Boundless freedom. A long, straight road disappearing into the horizon and the wind in their hair. Technically, another motorcycle can get you there too. But it won’t feel quite the same. Before moving on to the next stage, you need to know who you are, what you stand for and where you want to go.
2. Turning strategy into a brand people can experience
Once we know what we want to say, it’s time to open our mouths. But we can’t always be in the room with our customers, and words alone can only do so much to convey a feeling. Time for a little translation.
That’s essentially what developing a brand identity involves: translating what we want to say into imagery, sound and language. The real question is what actually lands with the person on the receiving end. Design helps the intended message come through clearly. And for that translation to work, it needs to draw on the strategic foundations we’ve already laid.
Suddenly, the conversation moves from “But I prefer orange” to “We stand for adventure, and we’re speaking to explorers. How do we make that feeling come through visually?”
3. How research changes the branding decisions we make
There’s another layer to all this, of course. We’re not basing our decisions on assumptions alone. We’re not completely mad. Anyone who’s written a dissertation knows that a convincing claim needs a little more than a good gut feeling.
This is where we open the agency toolbox. Surveys, workshops that bring different disciplines together, testing and benchmarking help us understand what customers, employees and partners actually think of the brand. We find out what isn’t coming across as intended, where there’s work to do and how people really see us.
We also get clearer on where we want to go. What really drives us? What role do we play in our customers’ lives? What do we want people to say about us when we’re not in the room?
Take an example from our own work. These questions became very real during the brand strategy and rebranding project for Leukerbad Clinic. Thermal waters and an Alpine setting are considerable assets. But what expectations do we create if we talk about the clinic mainly as a place to unwind? Rehabilitation takes active effort. The surroundings can give patients the strength for it, and the clinic provides guidance and support. But patients still have to walk their own path. For us, that meant thinking about support and personal initiative together. Even the language makes a difference: do we talk only about relaxation, or do we also talk about movement, effort and progress? Decisions like these shape what a brand promises long before anyone starts debating typefaces.
4. Why a clear strategy gives design the courage to be bold
Think outside the box. Lovely. But how are we supposed to do that if we haven’t worked out what the box is? Boldness without direction is just naive. And risky.
Once we know what we want to say and achieve, we can afford to be properly bold. We have a direction. We can judge whether an unusual idea moves us forward or whether we’ve started talking complete nonsense. That clarity gives us a sound basis for visual decisions, helps us explain a creative direction and lets us break conventions with intent.
Something along the lines of: “You have to know the rules to break the rules.”
5. How much strategy does a branding project need?
Yes, we’re aware that some of you reading this may already be suffering from strategy fatigue. It tends to set in when the strategy never turns into anything you can actually do, or when it’s simply out of proportion to the job at hand.
Enter a little concept called “common sense”.
The depth of the strategic work needs to fit the branding project. How far we go depends on the scale of the decisions, the risks involved and the questions still unanswered. A major rehabilitation clinic with a national presence has different things to work through than the village restaurant around the corner. How much groundwork is needed also depends on what’s already clear. But every project needs a solid understanding of the brand’s identity, audience and positioning.
6. What a clear brand strategy changes day to day
All very nice. But what do we actually get out of this? What changes when we get back to work?
This is where many brands die a quiet death. A strategy, a visual identity and a brand promise are only as good as what comes of them. A brand is a promise. You do, however, have to keep it.
Once that promise is clear, everyone needs to be on board. And we mean everyone. The aim is to build a shared belief and motivation that employees, stakeholders and partners can get behind.
Employees are a brand’s first ambassadors. That’s why the brand needs to become part of everyday habits, decisions and behaviour. If you promise a personal touch, it still needs to be there when a customer calls to complain. If you promise clarity, your proposals had better make sense. That’s how a claim becomes something people actually experience. And how a promise grows into an authentic, strong and confident brand.
We wear this ambition proudly: to rid the world of brands that have nothing to say or are too afraid to say it. It’s our mission. We want more bold, authentic and confident brands out there.
Ready to take the leap? Let’s talk about what your brand has to say.
