How Brand Strategy Ties a Brand Together
By Levina Kusumadjaja
What is the best chocolate chip cookie that you have ever eaten?
A chocolate chip cookie is a masterpiece. It is no ordinary cookie. It demands the perfect balance between the crunch on the outside, and the softness on the inside. You want that satisfaction from finding pockets of melted chocolate as you break apart the cookie at the center. And then as you bite into it, you get this blend of rich flavors coming from the caramelization on the exterior, the dough, and the chucks of chocolate. You get what I mean, it’s basically like heaven.
To make the best, out-of-this-world-kind-of chocolate chip cookie, you need more than just to have good quality ingredients on hand. You can have the world’s best butter, sugar, eggs, flour, and chocolate chips in your pantry, but they can’t just magically turn into a delicious cookie. You need 1 thing to ensure that those ingredients will turn into the chocolate cookie of your dreams: A recipe.
A recipe is a baker’s game plan. It is the anchor to their entire process so that as they attempt to bake a chocolate chip cookie, they can apply the perfect ratio and techniques. Just having the ingredients won’t do because what matters is what you do with those ingredients. Furthermore, you can even substitute the ingredients because if the recipe is right, you can still end up with the same level of taste and texture.
In the case of graphic designers, designing visuals for a brand without strategy is like wanting to bake the prefect chocolate chip cookie without a recipe. It is like putting the ingredients of a chocolate chip cookie in a spoon, eating it raw just like that, and expecting it to taste like a chocolate chip cookie. Standing alone, the visuals might look stunning. It might be the result of the most sophisticated design techniques to date. Unfortunately, without strategy there is nothing to tie the visuals together and this creates little value to the brand.
Brand strategy provides the recipe for a brand to emotionally connect with the customers. It helps you understand the role of a logo, website, interior design, and everything that contributes to the brand identity, messaging and experience. The same way that a recipe provides an anchor for bakers to know how much of each ingredient to put in the mixing bowl, brand strategy provides an anchor for you and your client to know what kind of visuals need to be created and what kind of texts need to be drafted. Brand strategy not only takes into account all the elements necessary to building the brand, but considers what the elements can achieve and communicate together as a brand.
You cannot just mix any amount of flour, butter, sugar and eggs if you want to make best chocolate chip cookie in the world. a delicious cookie. It has to be weighed, measured, and processed specifically based on a recipe to achieve the right texture and taste. It’s the same with design. Good design without strategy cannot effectively help a brand reach its customers. The recipe to create valuable designs is brand strategy.
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!