Many organisations focus on the wrong things when trying to create a brand identity and by wrong, I mean what they presume creates a brand identity.  The popular perception is that creating a brand identity is a one-time affair that is handled by marketing who would engage an agency to design logos and stationery. And also what kind of agencies – depending on the priority and importance to the budget everyone from a DTP operator to a multinational branding agency is a potential branding agent. And that’s where the problem starts.

Building a brand identity consists of two parts – first creating an image and the second communicating that image. So it is neither a one-time effort nor an element to be taken lightly. Very simple. Imagine you are building a high rise and concentrate on the exterior of the building, the approach, the parking, and everything else but compromise on the foundation – what do you think would happen? Now think the other way. You build a very strong foundation. Then you decide to build your high rise either in one go or keep on expanding as per requirements. Creating an image or brand identity is exactly that. And again the stress and emphasis cannot be enough on the word ‘image’ which is a composite of look and feel and also language, persona, tone, and ideals. Brand identity is not just about a good ‘looking’ logo. It is the culmination of the vision, the objective of the organisation, the benefits it would provide, and the ideals it would stand for.

In one of my earlier posts (click here) I had talked about evaluating creatives. The same applies to creating a brand identity as well. The reactions or evaluation cannot be superficial (I like this font, this colour can be changed, can we make the mnemonic a little more rounded) but needs to take into consideration all that it will stand for and see if it matches that persona and does it give that vibe. And in another of my blogs I have talked about ‘Creative Fatigue’ (click here) – it is something to look out for while sustaining that identity for long.

A brand identity to look at cannot be modern but the practices of the organisation are old school. Meaning do what you say and say what you do. The inner soul of the organisation needs to reflect in the identity as it would be incongruous for many to look an identity but feel different about the product and service. For example, how does ‘Sri Dhanalaxmi Chinese Restaurant’ sound? It might be the owner is actually a Dhanalaxmi but consumers feel really torn apart when they see the brand and the service it offers. But if the same were to be ‘Sri Dhanalaxmi Udipi Restaurant’ would it sound that incongruous? This is of course an extreme example where the name itself is jarring. Now imagine if ‘Sri Dhanalaxmi Udipi Restaurant’ were written in a futuristic font like this font called Airstrike (click to see sample) that is another level of a gap between name and image. Writing in serif font or an ‘Indian’ type font makes it closer home.

Once you have got the design right, it is time to build it. Here it is more important for services as compared to products to demonstrate their persona and character while serving the customers. You cannot have a ‘Reliable Repair Shop’ that cannot repair or does a shoddy job of repairing. Building a brand is a lifelong effort because like I said above a brand is not just how it looks. It how it delivers on its promise.

So what’s the cost of building a brand identity? It is not in money terms but in terms of staying true to your persona and being consistent at it. In terms of real costs you have the same DTP operators doing a logo at five thousand bucks or a multinational agency doing it for 53 crores (like recently for a mobile rebranding)! Such a wide spectrum is hard to digest!

Happy New Year and see you in the next year with more of these thoughts!