We all love brands.
With so much choice we use brands as short cuts to making decisions.
Creating and maintaining a brand identity is central to the success and growth of every organisation.
Your brand makes it clear why your product or service is better than any other offer by creating a rewarding and memorable experience across every manifestation of the brand – from shop window to advertising and web site.
Businesses often mistakenly see a brand as being a logo. Having a great logo or visual identity that doesn’t resonate with costumers does nothing for the business. Your brand must be distinctive and clear about what you stand for and what you offer.
Brands connect with people emotionally, culturally, economically. People build loyalties to all types of product and services and swear by them – cars, clothes, foods.
Everything an organisation does should be focussed on what they say about themselves and what they want their customers to know about them. Anything else is a distraction.
The strongest brands maintain a consistency by following a ‘golden thread’ through everything said and done. The brand is the ethos of the business; how it works, what it does and how it presents itself to the market. Its the language and tone used, its the way that services are presented and sold, its the look of your catalogue and its the style of photography.
Your brand should influence everything your organisation does.
Here are some examples of brands I have helped develop and grow:
Sussex County ASA is the organisation responsible for the administration of competitive swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming and diving across Sussex. The development of their website was a result of researching user demographics and requirements. The result is a vibrant site that is designed for mobile and tablet users.
Austin Rees are a long established firm of residential property managing agents based in Brighton. They required a refresh of their visual identity, new website and build on the strength of the company’s reputation.
AR Lettings are a residential lettings business that had been trading as Austin Rees. The brief was to create clarity from the main organisation to enable it to be a stand alone business. This involved developing a new identity that built on the main themes of the Austin Rees brand but with a distinct new approach.
Overill Associates was formed when two established professional Chartered Building Surveying practices joined together to work in central Hove. The launch of the new business demanded a new identity that reflected their strength and confidence, retained all the values of a high quality, professional practice but showed them as ‘the new kids on the block’ who still retain traditional values.
Lewes Hike and Bike Festival was a series of events run in and around the South Downs National Park to help people learn about the natural environment and the country side around Lewes.
TravelChoice was the brand developed with East Sussex County Council to engage communities across the county and to encourage them to think about the impact their travel habits had on the environment, health and well being of other people.