Breakthrough Branding
It is worth starting with the idea of your business product or project. Definitely, the success of a business depends on its idea — how unique and in-demand it is. Any innovation needs a fresh presentation, visualization. Therefore, offline/online startups nowadays are often remembered for their identity. Not all of them, but most come to this and it’s good.
But imagine you launch a cafe, similar to hundreds of other cafes in your area. It is the same, but you know what is special about your cafe: it can be the interior, a special recipe, an amazing manner of waiters, or just a price/quality ratio. But who will know about it? What can you stand out for? Of course, for branding. It should be a whole system of identifying your brand — both visual and verbal, such as an instant greeting in Starbucks coffee shops, or “Korovka” candy in Mu Mu restaurants. Yes, you should be remembered by a casual customer!
That’s why our team uses the term “breakthrough identity”. That’s what we do, because we believe that the corporate identity is the start of a company’s relationship with its customers: a business card, a logo, a website style, a signboard, a bag or even a signature in emails. And in the current market, oversaturated with players, you need to have at least the smallest features that will pleasantly distinguish you.
Naming.
Problems of being. People don’t think properly about what they create, even starting with the names of legal entities and seals. These are probably the most depressing works of human thoughts: to be named just to be named, to make a seal just to make a seal. However, already at this point, you can start to form a brand. LLC Everything Will Be Cool (installation of engineering equipment in Krasnodar), LLC Giant Rabbits (an advertising agency): even the fact that people were creative about the name, and tried to make it special already attracts attention; it’s a small and funny thing but it attracts attention and starts forming an image. So, why should we think about the name?
There are many directions and methods of naming development, but you don’t need to be a prominent specialist and spend money on naming — if you are a creator of something new or just starting a new project, who if not you can know better how to name it. Just take some time, and discuss it with your nearest focus group: your partners, friends, and relatives, show them several options that came to your mind and look at their emotions, and reactions. It will help you choose the most successful option. We adhere either to the simplicity or to the uniqueness of the name. Remember: the name is created not for you, but for customers, so it should be understandable and fascinating only for them.
For example, for the project of a hotel complex in the countryside for family recreation, we proposed the name “Dacha”, since it immediately formed all the advantages of this recreation, it is simple and understandable for the end customer.
For a company that distributes elite alcohol, we have developed the Spiritus naming which perfectly emphasizes their attention to the choice of products, as they work with their soul and understand the significance of each drink and its features which will later become the very soul of the company at a party or backstage gatherings with a cigar and a glass of whiskey. We have created the values of the company and combined them with the values of customers who value time, environment and taste.
The system of the brand visual identification. Corporate identity of the company.
We are adherents of a dynamic identification system. It means that the corporate identity does not consist in ranking the logo on different types of media, such as business cards, bags, signboards, badges, etc. The system of perception of your brand should go much further than using your logo or name.
The combination of colors, shapes, fonts, and iconography can create a unique, very special style of your company. It can be completely versatile, but it must have unique combinations that will allow you to stand out among many brands.
Let’s consider an example of a fresh identity of the city of Porto in Portugal.
At first glance, the logo in the form of inscription “Porto” may cause a reaction from a lot of customers like “What? I paid just for the name inscription? I could write that myself, why would I pay tens of thousands of dollars for this?”. I think such opinions are a frequent experience when working in our industry.
Definitely, when it comes to a city logo development, the name should remain a name, simple and readable, and there is no need for any sophistication on the part of the graphics since it should be easy to read. It can be a uniquely designed font, or any font available to everyone and created earlier. Choosing a font is also a complicated and special work with deep analysis and testing on a variety of surfaces.
So, what is the peculiarity? It is about the developed system of identification of the city brand that emphasizes the attractiveness and features of the city.
In this example, the main dynamics of visualization are concentrated in the use of patterns that provide boundless spaces when working with any media, while their unified stylistics creates a special style for the city brand. This is a frequent technique and it’s great that there are more and more such examples, because you want to dive into each medium, study it, find the riddles embedded in it — this is the visual communication of the brand. Such an approach can turn a customer’s journey into an adventure or have a very distinguished shade among other signboards and carriers of other companies.
About the sense.
Having created the idea of involving a customer into visual communication, never forget about its sense, since the “communication” of the customer should have a final goal, like navigation in the city and the designation of infrastructure or your letterhead with the necessary contact details and auxiliary materials.
Therefore, it is better to fill any of your bright emotional shades with additional sense. For example, color can carry a substantive basis of confidence or a reflection of different fields of activity.
In conclusion, I advise you to approach thoroughly the formation of visual communication with a customer, in addition to verbal one (like an oral work of customer service, for example). Pay attention to the details: elaborate a complete Customer Journey Mapping, define the points of contact with him, highlight the brightest ones (for example, transfer of the product in a bag and additional souvenirs), strengthen them — this way you can increase loyalty to your brand, which means to encourage a customer to future sales. After all, customer retention is one of the most important tasks in modern business, since you have already paid to attract them. Develop your “fan club” and don’t forget to make pleasant surprises for it.
Thanks for reading!
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