Find out how to express and evolve your brand
How useful would it be if we told you it was SUPER important to have an authentic brand identity that you could evolve as your business changes?
Not very right? I hear you say “cheers for that, but I kinda need to know how I can do that rather than stating the big picture obvious.”
And you’d be right. But you’re in luck. We got views from people with a track record in creating and building truly iconic brand identities.
So how have they done it and what challenges did they face? If you’ve got time, grab a coffee and sit back for the full conversation. But if you’re short of time, check out the key takeaways and save the video to your watch-later list.
5 key takeaways for expressing
and evolving your brand:
1: Leverage soft edges for creative bets
When deciding where to push boundaries, you need to look inward. Take your understanding of the brand and how they value things, and think about where you can make your creative bets. There will be an appetite for where to invest money already – whether that’s content, campaigns, brand or above-the-line marketing for example. Start here and think about how you could reimagine what’s being done and take it to the next level rather than trying to sell something that the leadership is less familiar with, or is out of their comfort zone.
2: Use brand attributes to stay on track
Zendesk thinks of attributes and characteristics of the brand. They describe how you intend the audience to perceive the brand, and these need to be aligned with who you want to be today and in the future. These are benchmarks to decide in every piece of work whether something is going to express the brand and personality in the way you intend. You can dial these up and down depending on where you’re meeting the audience, the touchpoint and their learning journey. They give you consistency and stickiness and shouldn’t be evolved too often.
3: Authenticity is the root of powerful creative
There’s often a mix of messages a brand needs to get across to be successful and a whole host of ways you can execute those. But it’s about finding that unique moment for your brand that’s authentic and instilled in the organisation already that can be creatively expressed. We’re talking about the opportunity within the strategy that can join the dots with the execution – and can break the mould without breaking consistency for the brand. It’s challenging to do, but it’s an exciting prospect that can move the dial.
4: Using the gift of not knowing
There are a few opportunities to ask questions and push. First, there’s the honeymoon stage when you first join a business. You have the gift of not knowing and can often see issues, call them out, and get action. Working with an external partner like an agency can also give you this advantage. We can ask questions that you might not have the opportunity to ask, or we can go out on a limb and show something that might not feel comfortable initially but starts to make people think differently.
5: Buddy up with cross-functional teams to embrace data
It’s unavoidable these days, and you can’t create without thinking about the impact on the business. Track the performance of your creative campaigns and use data insights to inform future creative direction by seeing what’s contributing to revenue. If creative, marketing, and brand can buddy up, you can understand what resonates with your audience, and drives impact.
If you enjoyed this and want a bit more in your life, you’ll like Bring Your Own Bold (BYOB) our flagship virtual summit. Check out the sessions here, and sign up for future webinars below.
