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Discover, Distill, Depict, Design, Deploy is the five-step
branding process known as Perception
Branding 5D. We recently completed the process for our
client, BrainStorm. Listed below is a brief review of our efforts
during this process. To see other examples click
here.
D1: Discover
We interviewed everyone from the owners, to trainers, to sales reps and the marketing department. We went outside their office and spoke with business partners and clients. We combed through existing marketing materials and examined the competition.
D2: Distill
An image and adjective brainstorm session sought visual and verbal ways to describe the brand. With the research completed, we sifted, sorted and segmented the information to determine the Brand Promise: the target's "take away" after engaging with the brand.
D3: Depict
We proposed a new tagline, “Teaching Software, Teaching People” and created a Brand Concept Board as a visual depiction of the brand. Together with the Brand Brief, a summation of findings and recommendations, the board and brief serve as a litmus test against which design deliverables are measured.
D4: Design
We presented four different conceptual directions for the new company logo. The preferred direction was refined with color studies and tested in various applications to determine suitability.
D5: Deploy
We created an identity standards manual and implemented the new identity in stationery, a proposal template, and tradeshow graphics, making the strategy a reality in all the customer touchpoints.
Halloween night in downtown SLC is quite different than it is in suburbia. A couple of us were in the office catching up on a few things. People were lining up outside, but the line went right past us to the nightclub next door. Little Bo Peep was definitely all grown up! / If you
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Recently modern8 has been experimenting with social media
networks Twitter and Facebook. (Subscribe/join below.) From a
brand strategy point of view, the most valuable aspect of these
new media is the interaction between the brand and the customer.
Successful brands maintain a dialogue with their customer and
social media make it easier.
Good brands have always listened to their customers, but instead
of a top-down system where the brand solely determines what to
provide, the customer is now helping shape the products and
services.
Nike has involved the consumer in a phenomenally successful
integration of running gear and technology in their Nike+
communities, where thousands of runners track and post their
running statistics using their smart phones and connected Nike
products.
Tucker Viemeister says the field of brand strategy needs to
change, because the customer is changing. “Branding is no
longer about internal focus for consistent product
broadcasting—now brands are a team effort. Future brands will be
more like ‘cloud computing’,… or ‘open
source’, using a concurrent input of different agendas,
approaches and priorities—with little centralized decision
making. Brands of the future will be both more personalized and
more communal. New brands will be virtual clouds of symbols,
products and places, with customers using digital technology to
build open source experiences.”
— Randall Smith
If you’re stuck in Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect,
Novell Groupwise, or other common applications, what do you do?
Call our client BrainStorm. The 14 year-old company reaches out
internationally from its Utah county home, with software training
products and services designed for the end-user. modern8 was
engaged by BrainStorm earlier this year to re-brand the company
both strategically and graphically. Using our proprietary
Perception Branding 5d process (explained in detail in the left
column), we built a foundation of understanding that shifted the
BrainStorm brand experience. When we examined the company
culture, it became clear that there was a disconnect between why
they were successful vs. the image that they projected. In
interviews we learned about the company’s fun atmosphere,
witnessing effective “people-based” training using humor. We also
learned about the extraordinary commitment to keeping the
customer satisfied. None of that came across in their previous
dreary identity and Web site. We proposed a new identity based
around a very non-stuffy logo and a strong yellow-gold color,
which is psychologically associated with pleasant feelings.
 
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