What the hell is a brand?
25 November 2013
A brand is so much more than a logo. It's more than a tagline, a collection of Pantone colours and a set of fonts or photos – it's everything! Yes, everything. And more!
A brand is everything that makes up the public perception of your business – it's you, your staff, your business name, your building, your website, the way you answer the phone, your advertising, the coffee you serve. What a good brand does is embrace all of these elements and present them as a promise behind which your business can stand. What a GREAT brand does is embrace all of these elements and present them as an impressive stage from which your business can shout to the world!
Often it takes the assistance of an agency, such as Tank, to unlock, define, tweak and creatively express your brand. We work closely with NOW Broadband and Calling. Before their launch they were entirely convinced that their raison d'être was that they offered a refreshing change from the large telco brands, and that "NOW, that's more like it" should be their promise. Tank strongly suggested that they were much bigger than this! They were young, fresh and full of energy. They were more than an 'alternative', they were a 'first choice'. "We're awesome, we're NOW" was unleashed and they've never looked back.
A great brand becomes a cornerstone on which all business decisions are made. Each decision at NOW – be it the creative for a new advert, a new broadband plan, or the choice of an office ping-pong table – they ask themselves, "Is it AWESOME?" If it's not awesome, it goes in the bin.
Branding – it sounds so easy... choose a promise and live by it. And it is easy – you just need to choose a promise that's real, true to you, something you can live by every day, believable, unique, resonates with your customers and resonates with potential customers. Like I said... easy!
Discover your promise, define it, love it and live it every day. It doesn't mean that everything has to look, feel, smell or taste the same – but if you slice it open everything has to bleed the brand.
Steve Moody
Director and Senior Creative, Tank Marketing and Design