Disciplines / brand strategy

Phase 1 - Examine

Our examination begins from the inside out. Open access to senior management, employees, industry experts, and customers, fosters a rich and detailed audit. Through facilitating interviews, competitive analysis, and ethnographic research, we explore our client’s history and structure, building a deep understanding of context and scope.

Phase 2 - Define

Whether a company is new, merging, changing names, or warrants rebranding, clearly defining its key elements is an indispensable part of the process. This step pinpoints the company's core values, mission, target market, competitive advantage, offerings, and brand attributes; all of which form the foundation for establishing a robust and integrated brand system.

Phase 3 - Position

After reviewing the company’s definitive key elements, our strategists use structured brainstorming and research techniques to develop positioning criteria, communication tools, and naming options. During this process we focus on the context surrounding the communication objectives, and explore related meanings and associations. We generate multiple possibilities that push beyond conventional boundaries and then filter out the best results.

Phase 4: Assess

Favored names are tested for phonetic value, legibility, size, and availability, while key messages are reviewed in context of specific audiences. Once we feel the names and supportive messaging are crisp and captivating, we produce a blueprint for the brand strategy brief.

Phase 5: Deliver

The creative brief summarizes outcomes from earlier phases and provides the design team with a basis for developing the brand identity. Once all elements of the full brand architecture are constructed, we provide a branding guideline addressing the components of the brand strategy and defining their usage in conjunction with business needs such as co-branding, naming conventions, brand extensions etc.