Branding 101: Essentials for Reinvention

Brand Strategy

Brand concept

Good brands start with an idea. Not an aesthetic. With the relentless pace of the trend cycle, rooting your brand in something real like an idea or a concept is the best way to ensure longevity.

Building a brand strategy requires you to start with rich and valuable insights about your brand and industry. It also demands empathy and intelligence to truly understand your audience. The process of developing a brand identity involves asking questions to gain a complete understanding of who you want your brand to be. You need to explore: What problem does your brand solve? What is your brand’s motivation? And, what does your end user care about? It also requires you to challenge assumptions and dig deep into the core reason that your business exists. Once you’ve uncovered the what’s who’s and whys, you’ll be better equipped to embark on a brand strategy.

Brand values & personality

Once you’ve had your lightbulb moment and identified the organising idea of your brand, it’s time to explore the brand values and personality. Start by synthesising the insights illuminated during your ideas sessions. Then, you can begin to distil what’s most important into a succinct list of brand values. Your values will inform what your brand says. Your brand’s personality, however, will inform how you say it.

To determine your brand’s personality, you essentially need to decide, if your brand was personified, what would they be like. Would they be moody and creative? Would they be bubbly and bright? Your brand’s personality is the lens through which all communication should be filtered. From your brand’s typeface, to its tag line, to its website design.

Brand name

This is the time to get weird. Why? Because first impressions matter. Distinctive? Memorable? Forgettable? The impression that you make has a lot to do with your brand’s name.

In a space where everyone is trying to stand out it can be difficult to make your voice heard. Whether it’s a newborn brand making its debut into the world or an existing one wanting to shed its past and start fresh. The process of finding your brand’s name is a crucial step in building your brand’s identity.

That’s why when it comes to brand names, our stance is, the weirder the better. With such a big and risky decision as a name, brands tend to stick to the status quo to avoid regret in the long run. Our tip? Remove the safety goggles. Then, what you’ll see is that often, the most memorable brands are the ones that aren’t afraid to take risks. Think about brands like Slack, Apple, Virgin and Google. They took a risk. They went with something a bit weird. That’s what makes them stand out.

Brand voice

Good brands are brands with something to say. They have a point of view. How a brand communicates, whether through visual elements or through words, is at the very heart of who they are. This is why your brand voice should never be an afterthought. It’s a common mistake. Spending all of the time building a brand strategy and designing a visually brilliant brand. The end result? A copywriter in a sea of lorem ipsum, struggling to fill out pre-determined sections of copy.

When you consider the brand voice from the very beginning of the branding journey, the result is different. The brand voice will be infused with the brand’s personality. It will reflect the brand’s values. And, it will help tell the brand’s story.

Brand narrative

An essential element of any successful brand is human connection. Genuine connection is forged through storytelling. Contrary to popular belief, your brand story is not simply your origin story. It’s a compelling and carefully crafted narrative that resonates with your audience. Having an authentic brand story helps evoke emotion, connection and even brand loyalty with your customers. 

While a brand’s strategy gives it direction. A brand’s story gives it purpose. To write a thoughtful and influential brand narrative you need a deep understanding of your audience. Their hopes, dreams, desires and problems. Find a way to connect with them emotionally, while also being authentic to your brand values and personality. Once you get your brand’s story straight, it needs to be implemented effectively. The brand’s story should be understood by every single person in the business. From the CEO, to the designers, to the marketing team to the person manning the front desk.

LOGO

Clear, concise, and instantly recognisable. Your logo is the culmination of your brand. Today, people are busier and savvier than ever. Outdated and low-quality logos can be the difference between capturing someone’s attention and losing them to a competitor. A good logo encapsulates your brand’s identity into a single mark that is simple, distinctive and relevant. This where all of the legwork you did during the brand strategy really pays off.

VISUAL BRAND LANGUAGE

Brand colour

Unsurprisingly, here at Orange, we take colour pretty seriously. Choosing a colour to represent your brand is not a decision that should be made lightly. In some cases, it could be the difference between success and failure. Gone are the days of blue for corporate and red for fast food. In today’s oversaturated marketplace, every element of your brand is an opportunity to stand out. Colour is no exception.

When choosing a brand colour, one strategy is to look at what your competitors are doing and simply do the opposite. Just look at Up Bank. In a sea of banking brands choosing blue for trust and green for cash, they went rogue with a vibrant coral orange.

Once you’ve selected a brand colour, our advice is to pick and stick. Just look how well it’s worked for Tiffany and Co. Choosing the right brand colour, and sticking with it, is a key ingredient for creating a memorable, and even iconic, brand.

Typeface

A typeface is a prime example of why the visual elements of a brand should be rooted in the brand’s strategy. It’s why investing time and resources into developing a thoughtful and comprehensive brand identity will set you up for success. 

By delving into your brand’s ethos, values and personality, you can select a typeface that perfectly encapsulates who your brand is and what it wants to say. Contemporary or classic. Quirky or cool. Creative or highly technical. Through sharp lines, bold curves or wonky shapes, the right typeface can communicate your brand’s personality and complement your brand’s voice.

Shapes & Imagery

An extension of your visual brand language is the graphic elements and imagery style. Why is this important? Well, meaningful graphic elements extracted from your brand’s visual identity can be used to create a consistent brand language. Used effectively, strong visual guidelines will aid in building awareness for your brand as well as becoming memorable in the minds of your audience. This brand language can be used across everything your brand does, from your website to your marketing materials, to ensure your brand is instantly recognisable.

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Jeff Bezos

The process of creating, or recreating a brand, can be painful, uncomfortable and down-right unpleasant. It’s no wonder that so few rebrands are done in house. Leaning on an agency to guide you through the journey eases the pain of rapid, and sometimes drastic, change and makes the experience as smooth and comfortable as possible. If you want a brand that is unique, compelling and gets people talking, team up with the experts.

Orange Digital is an agency that not only talks the talk. We also walk the walk. If you want to see what we’ve whipped up for our very own rebrand, check out more of our new website.