Branding Toolkit — Brand Launch

14.12.19

Through this series of posts I will attempt to de-myth the branding process by explaining our approach and process in depth.

Overview
Brand Strategy
Visual Identity
Brand Launch

Within the strategy phase, we have discovered which values we need to translate to the consumer. During the visual identity phase, we designed the vessel that will hold these value(s) and communicate them long into the future.

Fundamentally, there are two key threads to consider from the strategy phase to keep in mind when launching a brand. Consumer and corporate value.

Phase 3. Brand Launch

1. Consumer value

The product or service offered must be of a quality, not to say it must be high-end, but it must have a uniqueness to it that customers can value.

Examples of consumer values:

Quality of material and manufacture — Rolex, Mercedes
Reliability — Toyota, Audi
Convenience — Subway, Tesco Express,
Value for money — H&M, Lidl

2. Corporate value

Why does the business exist beyond just making a profit? What is their ‘reason for being’.

Examples of corporate mission statements / ‘reason for being’:

Environmental — Patagonia - “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”
Product quality — Apple - “Committed to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.”
Emotional — Nike - “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”

Brand Launch

When launching the brand, these two values should be communicated consistently from the beginning with a long term view so equity can grow within consumers. A long term view of this is fundamental.

Brand touchpoints should be unified to communicate these values, across social, digital and print, anywhere the brand exists.

When rebranding an organisation, the most important rule to consider is not to damage existing brand equity. A direct to consumer email is the best way to communicate the reasons behind the rebrand, and the design choice reasoning lets the consumer feel some ownership of the new identity.

The following of the brand will grow alongside the equity the brand holds within their consumers. The brand must stay honest to their mission, producing products which have consistent intrinsic consumer values.

Our role is to create a vessel that, over time can hold and translate these values consistently.

This post is the last in our branding toolkit series

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About the author, Adam

Adam is the design director of BrandCraft. BrandCraft is a branding and design consultancy based in Hong Kong. We specialise in branding, visual identity, corporate identity and rebranding.

Adam is a branding consultant and has worked with clients in the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Tokyo, South Korea and China. He has had self-initiated art and design projects exhibited at various galleries and museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum of Art and Design and regularly writes about branding and design theory.