Branding

What is branding?

Instead of just looking at imagery and hitting the heart button, let’s dive a little deeper on what exactly these topics are all about and some good examples.

What is a brand?

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller’s good or service from those of other sellers. (American Marketing Association)

It is how a business is perceived in the mind of someone who has experienced it in some way. In other words if someone heard about it through a friend, saw a review online, a billboard or even experienced it themselves.

To a brand owner, much of this is under your control. With the way technology is currently, you are able to streamline your overall voice and brand perception through social media touchpoints. Branding enables you to connect to your customers. Whether this is an emotional or rational connection, communication allows for you to stand out from competition.

What makes it?

Companies tend to use different tools to create and shape a brand. Examples such as:

• Advertising and communications: TV, social media
• Brand definition: purpose, values, promise
• Brand positioning statement
• Brand identity: name, tone of voice, visual identity design ( logo design, colors, type)
• Customer service
• In-store experience
• Product and packaging design

So the biggest obstacle is to get people to remember your brand let alone all of the things you stand for. Having someone recall a commercial or a quick Instagram ad is the hope for all of those advertising dollars but also hard to measure unless you click directly to purchase.

Your package is just one element of your entire brand strategy. It serves as the silent salesman that will grab that busy consumers’ attention when in-store. Whether it reels them in for the first time, or its reinforcing something they have already seen, your package is the encyclopedia for your brand. It tells that consumer about the product, its story and why it’s better than the one it’s next to. To help reinforce we have the world of advertising especially today with social media.

The package, ad, image, website among other things should all be consistent to help build brand awareness.

Some great examples?

Tula– their logo is simple. All items fall within the Tula Skincare line. The packaging is simple. The colors and fonts are consistent. Their categorization running up the sides was clearly well thought out and seamlessly executed. The packaging example is not only what is inside but the outside box (if applicable) as well. Their photography style and messaging on social media is simple where they let the product do all of the heavy lifting. bravo!

Everything is consistent from the packaging to the ads, social posts, icons and even when they move into other categories. With so many products out there and even more ways for brands to interact with people throughout the day, it’s hard to break through the clutter. 

Now onto a newer brand that we had the pleasure of working on- Protos. Antithesis Foods came to us with the desire for a logo, style guide and packaging. With all of the above mentioned measures, we took these into account and created the line below. 

From the logo, type faces, color palette, packaging and photography we were able to give the team the right tools to start this brand and continue to grow Protos. Although we are not running the social media, we are SO proud of their strategy and the fact that they are using all of the items that we had created. It’s like we know what we are doing! We are so happy with the outcome and look forward to more items like these!