Branding, Business, and Making Them Work
How to INNOVATE (and why it matters in branding)
I know I promised to talk about collaborations today but I don’t have so much time to write so let’s do it tomorrow. I cooked something else — innovation
Building a successful brand requires innovation... So, if you’re keeping count, you know we are on the second discipline of brand building. The first one is ‘difference’, the second now is ‘innovation’
This is where “branding” comes in.
Branding is the design and administration of impressions.
It requires some ingenuity, a lot of it perhaps.
If you have your focus right and you have decided what tribe you are or how you want people to feel when they associate with your product or organization, you are still not done.
You have to design that impression and administer it.
Organizations have trouble with creativity. Especially those with executives that are strategy focused because creativity is right-brained and strategy is left-brained. And those creativity focused guys really don’t like to be boxed. If you want them, you need to learn how to manage them, now more than ever. That’s why office space design has dramatically changed over the years, the model for managing teams have evolved too! The reason is, there is more demand for creative solutions now, a more urgent need to stand out. There’s no model for creativity. Oh! maybe there is.
The Beatles were largely successful because they never did the same thing, not once.
Now, don’t mistake this for inconsistency because consistency is one of the keys to building a brand, but, there are things to be consistent in and there are others. You have to be creative with what you show your audience, the messages you send, the impression you create.
How do you know that an idea is creative? When it sweeps people off their feet, scares people…when it triggers an emotion. The emotion that keeps your product in mind.
You need to stand out. So, how?
Start with a creative name. I wrote about it here. Your name should be distinct, brief, appropriate, easy to spell and pronounce, your name should be likable.
If you have a great name, then you need great graphics. The human organs for perception include the eyes for sight, the ears for sound, the tongue for taste, the nose for smell, and the skin for feel.
What this means is that all these are the gateways through which the impression goes. You have to appeal to the eyes!
You need a logo, you need an icon(s), you most definitely need an avatar.(I'll write about those if you stick around)
If you are selling a commodity, you need great packaging, the packaging is your chance to create the impression that makes a sale.
Presenting the information effectively (following this sequence) gives you a greater chance of sales.
If you run a tech product, say a website or mobile application, you don’t want to load your user with information! You want to present it strategically, neatly, and in the order of importance. That’s why google.com will lead you straight to a logo and a search box ONLY.
Take a look
Overloading users with information with the intention that they get-it-all and that it’ll make them buy is the wrong thing to do. When the brain is overloaded, it looks for an easy alternative.
What you have done is, presented all your ideas and put a placard on them that says… Don’t read! Don’t look! Don’t read! Don’t look!
Nobody wants any stress and it’s no one's fault, it’s just biology.
To create a successful brand, you have to innovate. Find ways to tell your story. Use great words, great design, and whatever you do, make sure it’s easy for the user.
Branding is the process of creating a brand, the design of impressions.
Nike doesn’t even produce anything, not the shoes, not the wears, nothing. They tell compelling stories with great design, they innovate!
Do the unusual, say the unlikely, think, design, be creative, be innovative.
To your difference, add creativity.
I’ll write about collaborations tomorrow as I promised. I hope you read
