insight

Part III: Essential Brand Components

An excerpt from the is + at Branding Playbook.

We’ve defined a short list of some of the essential brand components not to be overlooked by any organization, at any stage of the company’s lifecycle. Understanding the purpose and value of each will help to retain and grow equity, and drive positive marketplace perceptions.

BRAND NAME

A brand name is the most tangible expression of an organization, product, or service. While not the only critical component, it will be used more often than any other. A name will be employed to quickly communicate meaning, reputation, and expectations. It will be the lead in all press. It will have a significant impact on a logo, story, and all go-to-market assets. When someone asks an employee where they work or what they are working on, the name will often come first and be attached to everything that employee says next.

BRAND STANDARDS

Brand Standards serve as a guiding light for all internal stakeholders from newly integrated employees to communications teams and restructured management teams. It is a critical documentation of the intellectual attributes that define the brand, including purpose, vision, and core values. The more prescriptive and detailed the standards are, the more effective they will be. Standards may also include brand voice and tone, identification of external stakeholders, or central analysis of all intended audiences and markets. Brand Standards can help new hires assimilate into the company’s culture with a better understanding of how the company sees its markets and expresses itself with integrity in those markets.

BRAND IDENTITY

A brand’s identity is comprised of a set of assets that symbolize all that the brand embodies to audiences. The identity speaks to the brand's purpose, vision, and capabilities, as well as audience and industry perceptions and preferences. Identity components, when done well, are unique yet easily recognizable—especially when seen against the competitive set.

Yes, brand identity components are most often visual, however, non-visual components are also part of brand identity. Examples of non-visual brand components can be audio logos such as those belonging to Intel, Netflix, and MGM’s lion roar, a brand scent, a certain taxonomy or way of speaking, a character or mascot, or a highly specific aspect of an experience that generates a desired feeling or reaction.

BRAND APPLICATIONS

Brands are expressed across multiple applications and throughout all communications both internal and external. Consistent interactions across brand communication will reinforce the brand purpose as well as the idea, feeling, or association that is conjured when interacting with an organization. The website, presentations, templates, banners, advertisements, and any other collateral or designed experience are all examples of brand applications. These are opportunities to consistently communicate the kinds of experiences you want your internal and external stakeholders to have with the brand.

Any instance of interaction should be considered as a brand application and an extension of the brand. Existing applications should be defined, cataloged, and considered for both their current efficacy and their role in the future state. Having a clear understanding of the application landscape will help plan what needs to be addressed in the future and what needs to withstand any change.

We urge organizations to engage with a design agency that specializes in brand identity to evaluate, strategize, and design their brand. Expertise and outside perspective are critical to producing well-considered and designed components that meet market-ready standards and lead the way in critical marketplace communications.

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The branding experts at is + at created the most concise branding playbook ever designed. This is Part I of our four part series, excerpted from the playbook. It is intended to help our clients grasp the core concepts behind, and reasons for, a (re)brand. Continue to Part IV here.