Case study
5 Steps to creating a winning brand strategy – i&e Professionals, recruitment
Creating a winning brand strategy takes a few things. Firstly, deep strategic thinking combined with excellence in creativity in design. Some called this science and art converging. And secondly, a collaborative and willing client to look at the 'truth' of what their brand means to the audience it wants to do business with.
Following is a precis of the process and systems C+H take to creating a winning brand strategy, using our recent work with i&e Professionals, to illustrate our point.
1. Rigorous investigation
It's critical for a branding project to start at the right place. In-depth and thorough research into i&e's market, the challenges they faced and the opportunities that were opening up for them. Only by mapping, interrogating and understanding the issues could we start to unpick the strategic problem, see the gaps and plan where to go next.
2. Strategy and narrative
Once we fully understood the context of their brand, we began to define it: what it stood for and its core purpose. Before we went anywhere near the design process, we needed everyone to agree on the 'verbal' basis for the brand - we call this the Brand Manifesto. The brand proposition 'Delivering Positive change' perfectly encapsulated i&e's business purpose: To positively contribute to making the healthcare system better to all those involved.
3. Bridging the strategic and creative gap
Our next step was to build a bridge between the Brand Manifesto and the design approach. There are several elements involved with this, such as naming and brand architecture. Our strategic decision to consolidate the two previous brands into one gave the design inspiration to launch a new logo and brand identity that reflected the premium market positioning we were aiming for. I&e Professionals was born.
4. Design and creative
This is where the serious design work starts. A thorough brief was given to our C+H design team. We allowed time for the best ideas and design principles to percolate through. It was important to take our clients on the journey, sharing progress and creating a sense of shared ownership. All along making sure that the design decisions interfaced with the strategic ones.
5. Implementation
Without solid and consistent implementation, the idea can quickly fall apart. The goal was to make the new i&e Professionals brand seen, heard and understood as it is intended to be. In this case the core of this was the new website, flowing to all other touchpoints across their business. But it doesn't stop there. Once launched there is a task that must be ongoing. This is the job of ensuring a new brand is fully understood and embraced internally as well as externally, month by month, year by year.