What’s a brand workshop dad?
This morning my daughter asked me what I was doing today. She’s 15, creative and really beginning to explore what the world is all about which is a wonderful thing to see.
‘A brand workshop’ I replied. It’s going to be an interesting day, they always are.
‘What’s that?’ she replied. And that’s when I had the idea for this blog article.
My challenge to her (and you) is to explain without the use of any jargon what they are all about and more importantly why they can help you define your own business or product… so here goes.
So, let’s start with the title.
What’s a brand?
Kids are pretty clued up on this already. They really do fall in love with brands in a big way. In fact, one of our favourite family games is ‘The Logo’ board game. It’s well worth checking out if you are looking for a new family board game.
The logo however is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s much more how your clients and customers feel about your business in their heads and hearts. It’s just like the subtle feeling or emotion you have when you meet another person. If that person made you feel good you will keep wanting to come back to them.
The workshop bit is the opportunity for you to decide how to clarify that emotion so that you can communicate to the people that you want to talk to and make sure that you really know how they tick.
So far, so good…
So when’s a good time to do a workshop?
It doesn’t matter if you are a person who has had an idea scribbled onto the back of an envelope or are a big business looking to change the way they are seen by the people that buy their products or services. A workshop can help bring very early ideas to life or help a more mature business communicate in a different way.
Where do you hold them?
Somewhere quiet. All screens, phones and digital apps are turned off so there are no distractions. I prefer to use paper rather than any screen-based activities. The workshops usually work in half day sessions so everyone involved doesn’t get too tired. Mornings are usually best. Sometimes we might need to do a couple of sessions.
Are they fun?
Absolutely! It’s not that often that you can spend such a long period of time with a client. Sometimes we use playful exercises to help get away from the formality of just asking questions.
It really helps build a relationship and trust between us and the client. We can begin to understand each other’s worlds. I often describe it as a distillation process. Like you have a large funnel fully loaded to the brim with information and insights, and as you work through the process you extract something very pure and simple. Something people understand straight away without you having to describe it in too much detail.
What do you talk about?
There are lots of key areas we need to cover. Understanding the client’s audience is a key one. Ideally the client’s ideal customer should be in the room too, but that rarely happens. So the best I can do is remind the client that they are in the room in spirit. It’s really important to understand what the audience are looking for from their product or service. We really need to know them well so we can communicate with them easily.
We look at the competition, other businesses that are offering something similar. We analyse what they are doing – the good, the bad and the ugly. This helps us to shape the new brand’s identity so we know what to do or not.
We are also looking for gaps in the marketplace, somewhere which does not have too many competitors in it. Somewhere the new business can stand alone and be seen in a unique way. That bit is called positioning.
We look at creating an engaging brand story, just like any good story it needs to grab your attention and capture your imagination. This helps to make the business authentic, something the audience can relate to and believe in.
We look into defining the tone, look and feel, which will be the brand’s voice and visual style.
We look at colour, personality, values and the culture of the new business.
The aim is to get everyone in the room to contribute. Sometimes there are lively debates. Not everyone agrees. But at the end we should have a broad agreement on the direction. And then its over to me to sharpen up the insights and deliver them back to the client in a proposal and design brief which everyone can get behind.
And then the work can really start and we can begin taking all the insights that have been gathered and developing a brand identity for the client.
‘Did all that make sense?’ I asked.
Mmmm… great, thanks dad. Can you remember put a fiver in my account this week please?
If you are interested in finding out more about undertaking a brand workshop with us, please get in touch. We’d would really like to hear more about the aspirations you have for your business.
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