Building a Powerful Brand: Insights from VIRGEN's Strategic Approach

Whether launching a new venture or giving an existing brand a facelift, organizations understand that a well-defined brand strategy is essential for crafting compelling messaging and achieving business success. VIRGEN’s branding process offers a structured and insightful approach that can benefit any organization aiming to build a strong and resonant brand.

At its core, a brand is more than just a logo or a catchy tagline. It transcends even what the organization claims it to be. A brand is defined by what the audience perceives. The key to successful branding lies in ensuring that the internal vision aligns with the audience's perception.

So, how does one create a brand? Where does it start, and what steps are involved? VIRGEN breaks down its brand-building process into four phases: Discovery, Development, Design, and Deployment.

The Crucial First Step: Discovery

The most important step in the process is a thorough excavation of research and data about the brand itself and its context. This initial stage is designed to uncover critical insights that form the foundation for building a strong brand. The Discovery phase includes several key components:

● Key Management Interviews:

One-on-one interviews are conducted with all key management team members to understand their perspectives and thoughts on the brand. The findings are compiled into an anonymous report shared with the entire management team, fostering honest feedback.

● Customer Perception Study:

This involves analyzing existing research alongside opinions and thoughts about the brand gathered from social media, blogs, and surveys. The goal is to understand what customers genuinely think about the brand.

● Brand Advocate Report:

This focuses specifically on the brand's most enthusiastic supporters – the "brand advocates." The study seeks to understand why these advocates are loyal, what motivates their purchases, and what sets the brand apart from its competitors. Understanding the opinions held by management, customers, and brand advocates is crucial for aligning internal and external perceptions and leveraging brand assets.

● Competitive Analysis:

Identifying and analyzing key competitors is essential to understanding their strategies and identifying emerging startups.

● Market Analysis:

While not a replacement for needs assessments and feasibility studies, this analysis provides an overview of the current business sector and anticipates future product needs. It considers factors like specific definitions, differences between daytime and nighttime audiences, crossover potential, competitive pricing, and other concurrent happenings. Understanding the key elements driving customer purchases—constantly influenced by economic, social, and political factors—is also vital, as these market drivers often become integral brand drivers.

Laying the Foundation: Are You Down with USP? Do You Know Me?

Brands are emotional and connect with consumer mindsets. Identifying important brand attributes, or brand pillars, is thus key, as they significantly influence the brand's "look and feel." Established brands like Apple and Disney have strategically cultivated specific perceptions. Once identified, these brand pillars should permeate every aspect of the company, from external messaging to internal employee communications.

To ensure the validity of these brand pillars, they should be tested against four simple questions:

1. Are they valued and mentioned by customers?

2. Are they seen as part of the fabric of the company?

3. Have they been proven over time?

4. Are they impenetrable by the competition?

Following this groundwork, the next step is to define the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This concise statement establishes who the brand is, what its core values are, and what makes it superior in its market. The USP encapsulates the "one thing" that defines the brand's identity, actions, motivations, and approach.

Defining the Essence: Cult of (Brand) Personality

The cult of (brand) personality represents the culmination of all the research and information gathered. This key document outlines the distinct personality of the brand—whether it’s intelligent, fun, serious, or spontaneous. This personality shapes how the brand will be perceived by customers and is a vital element in further brand development.

The mood board serves as a visual translation of the brand personality. This single-page visual representation incorporates photo styles, brand pillars, and color options. The mood board is a crucial communication tool shared with all vendor partners to ensure a consistent understanding of the brand personality before any work begins.

Bringing it to Life: All Systems Go - The Brand Identity System

A successful brand needs more than just a logo and colors. A comprehensive visual system is essential for consistent application across all online and printed materials. Delivering messages and campaigns with a consistent look, feel, and tone across various platforms is crucial for effective brand communication. A basic brand identity system typically includes:

● Logo

● Colors

● Typography

● Design system

● Photography

● Illustration

● Iconography

● Data visualization

● Interactive elements

● Video and motion

● Web design

The identity system is designed to facilitate a seamless connection with consumers at all touchpoints.

Deployment: The Power of the 3 C’s

The identity system is created with three things in mind to allow the brand to connect seamlessly to all consumer touchpoints.

Consistency

Delivering messages and campaigns aligned with core values in a uniform tone, look, and feel across all relevant channels.

Community

Building both physical and online communities that acknowledge, believe in, and support the organization's objectives.

Content

Creating and curating media that educates, informs, and entertains the audience, fostering a desire to be part of the brand experience.

The Journey of Brand Building

By following this comprehensive branding process, organizations can aim to achieve several key outcomes, including ensuring the brand occupies the desired position in the marketplace, communicates effectively with its target audience, maintains consistent and intelligent creative work across all platforms, fosters alignment among management, implements a strategic brand architecture, and ultimately maximizes the chances of success and return on investment.

Creating a powerful brand is an ongoing journey that requires dedication, insight, and adaptability. By following the structured approach outlined by VIRGEN—Discovery, Development, Design, and Deployment—organizations can build brands that not only capture attention but also resonate deeply with their audiences.

Ultimately, a strong brand is a living entity that evolves alongside its customers, continuously fostering connections that drive loyalty and growth. It’s not just about making a memorable impression; it’s about creating lasting relationships that endure in a competitive landscape.