work/brand activation

building the focus and meaning of brand

a brand strategy outlines the focus, meaning, and conviction of an organization or individual to build an emotive bond between capabilities and the advocates of those capabilities. perhaps more than any other marketing initiative, brand can be the most mysterious.

documenting current perceptions and future opportunities

research & impressions

the goal of this stage is to find out what the perceptions of the current brand are or, if it doesn't exist yet, who the ideal advocate is and what their needs and motivations might be. the research stage also helps to define future opportunities for differentation in a market, and how a brand can evolve and mature over time.

outputs from a brand workshop

positioning

a positioning workshop captures ideas and thoughts around the key elements of a brand. these messy sheets are the dna of a brand in the making. the only way to document this information is to capture it from the key stakeholders closest to it, either virtually or in person.

portfolio structuring

often the creative strategist will be working with an organization that owns multiple brands, so some structuring strategy must take place to ensure each brand functions either independantly of each other, or in unison towards a common brand vision.

putting it all together in a brand blueprint

blueprinting the brand

like the blueprint of a building, a brand blueprint documents the foundational elements of a brand so that designers, content creators, employees and individuals can use it as a single source of truth for understanding what an individual or organization stands for, and what its vision for the world around them is.

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activation and guidance

one example of how a brand beluprint can be used to create artifacts and outputs is a brand application guide. the above example shows how another creative agency used a brand blueprint i created to make a logo and other identity elements that align to the vision, mission, and values of the company that stands behind it.

next: experience definition

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