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A brand is much more than a logo. It is a set of consumers' or users' expectations and a company's promise of performance. A brand distinguishes one product, service, or company from another in its class. Brands are powerful and valuable. Using an existing brand online or establishing a new one takes skill. Use the links below for an overview. For details about a role, activity, or artifact in the diagram, click on its icon.
More detail: Purpose - How to Staff
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The purpose of this workflow detail is to define the Artifact: Brand Strategy, whether your subject is an established brand in need of repositioning, or a new brand yet to be created. In cases where a new brand is being developed, Activity: Design Brand Identity and Artifact: Brand Identity are also required.
In order to formulate an appropriate and effective Brand Strategy, first define the brand attributes and personality. This definition addresses the four key components of a brand:
- Vision: the guiding sentiment or mission underlying the brand and the organization it represents
- Values: the belief system supporting the brand and guiding the way an organization operates and interacts with its customers, partners, etc.
- Personality: the qualities and attributes, often expressed as anthropomorphic adjectives, that a customer will associate with the brand
- Position: the place that the brand (and its supporting organization or derivative products and services) occupies within the market and the customers' minds
In addition to addressing these core brand components, an Artifact: Brand Strategy should explicitly articulate how a brand supports the underlying business objectives and will often prescribe a brand management and measurement plan. The Artifact: Brand Strategy should also address the nature of a customer's interaction with the brand in all its manifestations (e.g., experience of security or performance on a web site) and will prescribe guidelines for brand use (e.g., literature standards).
In cases where a new brand is being created or an established brand is being repositioned, the Activity: Design Brand Identity should also be performed. The design of a brand identity follows from the foundational work done as part of the development of the Artifact: Brand Strategy. The visual identity, whether logotype or mark, should embody the brand attributes and be consistent with the brand's position. The visual brand identity itself and any associated guidelines for use would be documented in the Artifact: Brand Identity.
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A Role: Brand Strategist takes the lead in gathering input for the Artifact: Brand Strategy and in articulating the core components of the brand: its vision, values, personality and position. This role is responsible for ensuring continuity between the brand and business strategy and for working with the stakeholders and any external agencies to support ongoing brand development, management, and measurement. The Role: Business Strategist supports the Brand Strategist in these efforts.
A Role: Brand Designer, skilled in the translation of brand strategies into faithful visual representations, works with the Brand Strategist to create the Artifact: Brand Identity. As the brand personality and its visual design are closely related, the Brand Designer and Brand Strategist collaborate in a tightly integrated, rapidly iterative manner, to generate ideas and provide feedback on artifacts as they are.
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Workflow