Branding: A one-trick pony š
As creative people, we are wired to keep things fresh, new and original. You probably know this feeling: "I should change my logo" or "Maybe I need a new approach". It's often times hard for us to keep 'repeating' things because we fear repetition and sameness more than a heavy storm on a Sunday morning.
Yet, in branding, the challenge is often times to keep repeating the same message over and over again. Why? Because people, aka 'customers', aren't exposed to the brand as much as you are, on the contrary, they are constantly exposed to thousands of messages and brands. So in order to really take a 'position' in the mind of the customer, we need to be consistent, bring the same message, over and over again.
In my latest podcast conversation, I decided to talk to an entrepreneur, Wim Ballieu, founder of the food concept Balls & Glory. He explains that his brand is really a 'one trick pony'. Have a listen here.
That's the thing, we as designers and entrepreneurs are so fixated toward a brand sometimes that we want to change things too quickly. As Wim explains in our conversation, you need to keep connecting everything the brand does to the brand essence. Sometimes that means going back to the roots, In Wim's case, that's slaughtering a pig on his grandparent's farm together with his team.
I also asked Wim what he expects from us, creatives. He looks at us at people challenging that internal view, yet knowing everything about the strategy, the story behind it. Interestingly, he mentions that he does not work with 'inhouse' teams because he believes that the outside view is exactly our strength. So keep that in mind when working on a brand, to always look at it from the customer's perspective.
So if you are working on a project right now, ask yourself:
What is the 'trick' for this pony?
How will people know about this trick?
Does everybody know about the trick?
How can we show the trick as best as possible to the audience?
Is that really the trick? Maybe there is a deeper level to it.
How can we keep telling the trick over and over again, without boring people?
