We believe that a brand is a living thing. Branding in the Middle East is different even across all the countries within this region. Branding in Dubai is not the same as branding in Saudi Arabia. As consultants, our aim is to help new brands survive and grow by thinking about how the brand is different and how this can be supported by its positioning, visual and verbal language so that it connects with the target audience.
This is the art of branding
Brand Strategy Development
A plan for the systematic development of a brand to enable it to meet its agreed objectives. The strategy should be rooted in the brand's vision, driven by the principles of differentiation, and sustained consumer appeal. The brand strategy should influence the total operation of a business to ensure consistent brand behaviors and brand experiences.
Brand Positioning
The distinctive position that a brand adopts in its competitive environment to ensure that individuals in its target market can tell the brand apart from others. Positioning involves the careful manipulation of every element of the marketing mix.
Brand Platform
The Brand Platform consists of the following elements:
Brand Vision: - The brand's guiding insight into its world.
Brand Mission: - How the brand will act on its insight.
Brand Values: - The code by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviors & performance
Brand Personality: - The brand's personality traits
Brand Tone of Voice: - How the brand speaks to its audiences.
Brand Naming: - Brand naming should embrace several disciplines. A new name must have a strong positioning orientation to help differentiate the brand. It also should have a strong customer sensibility, and it should have a realistic basis in linguistics. A variety of techniques and inspirations are used in creating new names. Here are several:
Existing terms or words used in new ways, such as adapted metaphors "DieHard"
Compressions or contractions of existing words and phrases "Newsweek" and "Citibank"
Construction of new words (neologisms) from obvious and recognizable roots
Brand Architecture: - How an organization structures and names the brands within its portfolio. There are three main types of brand architecture system: monolithic, where the corporate name is used on all products and services offered by the company; endorsed, where all sub-brands are linked to the corporate brand by means of either a verbal or visual endorsement; and freestanding, where the corporate brand operates merely as a holding company, and each product or service is individually branded for its target market.
Brand Visual Identity: - What a brand looks like - including, among other things, its logo, typography, packaging and literature systems.
Brand Applications & Experiences: - The means by which a brand is created in the mind of stakeholders. Some experiences are controlled such as retail environments, advertising, products/services, websites, etc. Some are uncontrolled like journalistic comment and word of mouth. Strong brands arise from consistent experiences which combine to form a clear, differentiated overall brand experience.
Brand Guidelines: - The standard reference document or manual where all brand elements and executions are written down and their usage explained to ensure consistency in all future applications.
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