SERVICES
Brand strategy
Competitor analysis
Brand identity design
Messaging
Brand guidelines
Why Brand Strategy Matters
The customer-brand dynamic has evolved from a transactional relationship based on product features to an emotional relationship based on shared beliefs and values. These emotional relationships are formed out of a company's brand which is made up of a set of qualities, ideas, and attributes that define the company.
"Your brand isn't what you say it is, it's what they say it is. It's the gut feeling a customer gets when they think of you." – Marty Neumeier, Author and Brand Strategist
This is why it's so important to build and shape a brand in an intentional way. Because if a brand isn't clear who they are and how to communicate it, they can't attract and create relationships with the people they serve.
Brand
Promise
Brand
Experience
Authenticity
Inform Design
A brand strategy informs the design of your identity system so that everything ties together.
Focus
A brand strategy provides focus and eliminates shiny-object syndrome.
Making Decisions
A brand strategy provides an objective foundation for making decisions.
Prioritization
A brand strategy helps to prioritize objectives and ensures alignment with business goals.
The first part of developing a brand strategy was to understand TechEnvy's current identity, its competitive marketplace and its target customers. Since TechEnvy was a brand new startup, its identity would be formed by the personalities and values of its founding partners.
We planned a day-long workshop, away from interruptions and distractions and spent the time going through various brand discovery exercises. Together we brainstormed, scribbled on flip-charts, and challenged each other's thinking in open and honest conversations aimed at surfacing deep insights.
We started by looking at TechEnvy's competitive landscape and mapping out similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses of the key players in their marketplace.
By combining demographic data with psychographic information, we developed high-level composites of TechEnvy's key target customers. We created journey maps to better understand what the customer was doing, thinking, and feeling at each stage of their purchasing process. At each stage, we identified opportunities where TechEnvy could help the customer by eliminating pain points and making already good things, even better.
Identity
Now that we understood TechEnvy's marketplace and their customers, we moved on to identifying and articulating who they were, what they did, what made them different, and how to communicate it. We started by uncovering their brand attributes; the core values that define the overall nature and essence of TechEnvy Solutions. Next, we used this information to develop value proposition and brand positioning statements, and key messaging talking points to communicate who TechEnvy is, what they do, and what makes them different.
Culture
What is your
company culture
Customers
Who are your
customers
Impact
What benefits do
you provide
Personality
How do you
sound
Feeling
How do you make
others feel
Once the brand tone was set, our next challenge was to convert the words into a visual aesthetic that represented the brand. We created three stylescapes - mild, medium, and hot to test design ideas of style, mood, colour palette, and typeface, all in alignment with TechEnvy's brand attributes.
One of the three stylescapes developed. This one is "spicy." The selected aesthetic is shown at the top of this web page.
With the aesthetic style selected, we went on to create an identity system that echoed TechEnvy's brand attributes. We created several brand logo options and created mockups depicting them in various applications, from business stationary to office wayfinding.
At the end of the project, we wrapped it up with a Brand Style Guide that serves as a reference for how to use the TechEnvy brand in a way that will strengthen the brand by providing a cohesive experience, specifically when creating content or communications.
TechEnvy Solutions
Brand Strategy
CASE STUDY
Developing a startup's plan to attract and connect with clients in a genuine and authentic way
By 2023, research estimates that more than 60.3 million homes in North America will be smart, meaning 41 percent of all homes in the region will have some form of power, lighting, audio/video, security and home comfort automation. TechEnvy Solutions was launched to provide home and office technology automation solutions and services targeting the affluent market.
BRAND CHALLENGE
As a new startup, TechEnvy Solutions wanted to ensure that they differentiated themselves from the competition from the get-go. Although a young company, TechEnvy wanted to project an image of stability, expertise, and high-value service in a way that would be attractive to their target clients.
WHAT WE DID
Starting with a discovery workshop with the company principals, we helped TechEnvy uncover and articulate their brand by identifying their company attributes and values, their voice and key messaging, and their brand positioning that differentiates them in the marketplace. TechEnvy's visual identity system (logo, taglines, colour palette, and typefaces) were created using the key brand elements to reinforce and create a singular, unified brand experience.
Discovery
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