Problem Based Learning (PBL). Trigger 3.
Visual Brand Identity
Problem: How
to develop visual brand identity?
Learning
Objectives:
1.Reasons
to create visual brand identity
·
What is visual brand identity?
·
Why it is important for brands?
2.Ways
to implement your new visual branding strategy
·
What to consider when creating
visual brand identity?
·
How to Implement it successfully?
·
Relevant examples
3.How
to reach the target audience?
·
How make an influence on consumer
with your brand identity?
·
Most efficient channels?
1. Visual Brand Identity- planned and strategically planned and purposeful presentation in order
to gain a positive organizational image in the minds of the public.
An
organization’s visual identity includes all of the observable and measurable
elements of the organization’s visual presentation such as:
Name,
logo, tagline, color palette, architecture, as well as organization’s public behavior-
employees, customer/stakeholders reception, service etc.
Ideas of the terms brand and visual brand identity are closely related:
“A brand is the feel of
your business card, the way the company’s phone is answered, the tone
of a letter, the package that’s almost impossible to open, the
receptionist at the corporate office who continues to chat with a
fellow worker when a customer arrives, the instructions that are too hard
to follow, the lane-hogging driver of a corporation’s truck. The
brand is every touch point and every thought the customer has about the
brand.” (by
the American Marketing Association)
Importance
of visual brand identity needs to be understood throughout the organization as
a component of the organization’s success.
Positive
tidentiy is established to gain a favorable reputation over time.
Company’s
strategy and visual identity are directly related to each other, as it is shown
on the figure below. Company’s mission (
or “philosophy”) is personified through
the company’s visual presentation and organizational behavior, which
together create an identity. Company is able to control how it projects its
identity, but is unable to control how that identity is perceived by consumers
(image). Or, in other words, company IS able to indirectly control its image by
directly controlling its identity. Image results from consumer’s associations
with the identity s a result of interactions, experience and promotion.
Over
time, exposure to the positive image produces positive reputation.
2.
Visual Identity elements:
- Name
(meaningful/creative/shocking/wordplay/etc.)
- Symbol ( Logotype/Ideograms/Pictograms/Characters/Letter Marks)
- Tagline (slogan)
- Color Palette (What
psychological effect you want to make on your consumers? What do you want them
to feel?)
- Sounds
- Interior Design (Another
way to stand out: Google’s office/ IKEA's blue box/ McDonalds/etc.)
- Scents (don't forget kinesthetics; high
arousal/low arousal)
Consider:
- Costs
- Secondary research (e.g.
color theory, typography etc.)
- Primary research (focus
groups, ethnography, surveys etc.)
- External launch (ensuring
strong media presence)
- Internal launch (
communication new VI internally to stakeholders)
- Alternative opportunity to
launching new VI is to change existing brand identity
3.
Relationships between identity, image and reputation can be better understood with the help of 2
psychological theories on learning
Low Involvement theory: repetition of the message
will bring about the movement of information from short-term memory to the
long-term memory, and will influence the perception of the brand.
Applying
this theory to the successful visual brand identity means the repetition of the
elements of a visual identity, which means that VI should be consistent withing
different communication channels and needs to be repeated to a defined pace.
Classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov’s experiment
with a dog, food and a bell):
Creating
associations between meaningful objects or ideas (stimuli) to elicit desired
response.
Conditioned
stimulus (Brand Identity itself) + Unconditioned stimulus ( Consumer’s
association: positive or negative)= the
conditioned response ( after repeated pairings of stimuli- the result can be a
favorable attitude toward the organization when viewing its logo/ name/ etc.)
By the way, the word “Identity” comes from the Latin identi dem, meaning “repeatedly” or “the same each time” (Balmer 1997)
Tiffany& Co's famous "Tiffany blue"- conditioned stimulus (When consumer sees it, he associates it with the brand, even though brand name is necessarily mentioned or colour appears in relation to brand)
The same can be said about
Burberry's check
Sometimes brands try to
involve celebrities as their visual identity. In ideal world, celebrity becomes
brand ambassador in the mind's of consumers and when they see him/her outside
of marketing campaign, they think of a brand, but what happens in reality is
the fact that often companies choose the most popular celebrities which are
involved in advertising campaigns of different brands, thus making consumers
lost and confused in their associations. E.g. Psy in South Korea.
15 logotypes, which you have to see more than once: http://www.adme.ru/tvorchestvo-dizajn/15-logotipov-na-kotorye-nuzhno-posmotret-dvazhdy-864860/
15 ads worth seeing: http://www.adme.ru/tvorchestvo-reklama/15-reklam-na-kotorye-hochetsya-posmotret-dvazhdy-866310/
Sources: Based on "Visual Identity.Promoting and Protecting the Public Face of an Organization" by Susan Westcott Alessandri; "Consumer Behavior. Science and Practice" by Kardes, Cline, Cronley;"Essentials of Visual Communication" by Bo Bergstrom; personal experience.
