POV: You’re a brand with a great team behind you, big goals, and a lot of room for growth!
As you evaluate where you are and where you want to go, the biggest question you must ask yourself is: where are we on our branding journey?
Breef is here to help you decide whether to start with Brand Development or consider a Brand Refresh. We’ll explore the different options and how an agency can help.
Let’s begin!
Development from the ground up is the first step for brands new to the market or in an earlier phase. We call this Brand Development. This holistic process involves strategic planning, the development of comprehensive brand guidelines, and, ultimately, creative execution. These elements ensure that you’re able to build and maintain a brand that has longevity and will resonate with your target audience.
Conversely, if you’ve been in business for several years, you may consider a Brand Refresh (or Brand Refinement) instead. A Brand Refresh typically involves updating various elements of a brand's identity to reflect its current position, values, and market dynamics while retaining its core essence.
If you identify as a “new brand or company,” this section is for you — let’s dive into what Brand Development entails + how an agency can help.
First things first, you’ll want to work closely with an agency that resonates with your overall mission and can help create a brand strategy and visual identity that helps you stand out in the market.
Building a brand from the ground up typically includes:
Brand Strategy:
Defining your brand's mission, vision, values, and positioning in the market. It also involves understanding the target audience and determining how you want the brand to be perceived.
Brand Identity:
The visual elements representing the brand, such as the logo, color scheme, typography, and imagery. An agency can help with consistency across these elements — that way, all your marketing and sales collateral build upon each other, helping to create brand recognition, consistency + trust.
Messaging:
Develop clear and compelling messaging that communicates your brand's values, benefits, and unique selling propositions to your audience. This includes taglines, slogans, and tone of voice.
Content Development:
Creating content that aligns with your brand's identity and resonates with its audience. You can start by having an agency create a brand book or guidelines. Then, you can scale to blog posts, social media content, videos, and more.
To sum up, Brand Development is a broader and more comprehensive process that involves an agency creating and shaping the entire identity of your brand from scratch or significantly evolving it based on your early ‘back of the napkin’ ideas for a new brand. Starting with this foundational step is crucial if you’re aiming to carve out a distinctive place in the market.
If your brand has been active for at least a year, you may have gained insights into your ideal customer profile or simply be seeking an updated look and feel. In this case, partnering with an agency to take your branding to the next level may be beneficial!
A Brand Refresh is not just about updating the logos and colors of your existing brand; it's about strategically positioning the company for continued success and growth in a dynamic business environment. This scope of work typically includes:
Logo + Visual Identity: Updating or modernizing the logo, color palette, typography, and overall visual style to make it more relevant and appealing.
Messaging + Positioning: Refining the brand's messaging, taglines, and positioning to better communicate its values, mission, and unique selling propositions (USPs).
Brand Story + Values: Clarifying or evolving the brand story and values to resonate more with current and target audiences.
Website + Digital Presence: Updating the website design, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) to align with the refreshed brand identity.
Marketing Collateral: Refresh marketing materials such as brochures, business cards, and advertisements to reflect the updated brand identity.
Product Packaging: Updating product packaging design to reflect the new brand identity and enhance shelf appeal.
An example of a Brand Refresh is Nike's logo evolution over the years or Coca-Cola's periodic adjustments to their packaging design. More recently, Abercrombie (shout-out Gen-Z!) underwent a brand transformation to a more sophisticated, classic, and trendy vibe as opposed to their previous preppy, low-rise jeans aesthetic. This refresh proved incredibly beneficial for the brand, generating $4.03 billion in revenue within the first 12 months of the brand facelift. Nike, Coca-Cola, and Abercrombie are perfect examples of brand refreshes — where the brand's core elements remain intact. Still, certain elements are updated to stay current, relevant, and appealing to their customers.
Overall, while both Brand Refresh and Brand Development involve shaping a brand's identity and perception, they differ in their scale, objectives, and the extent of changes made to the brand's identity and strategy — depending on where you are with your branding process! Whether you are a new company about to embark on the branding process or an established brand looking to spruce things up, Breef is here to help you find an agency that will bring your vision to life and execute it flawlessly. When you’re ready to get started, book a call with a Marketing Strategist here.
