Our thinking


Branding

Things to remember

  • A brand must have meaning – a brand identity might look pretty and modern, but without meaning behind it, it will have limited value in the long-term
  • A brand needs definition, it needs a backbone or a set of values which define exactly what you want to communicate
  • It must be honest – it’s no good imposing values upon an organization which simply doesn’t demonstrate those values, because it will inevitably come unstuck
  • Your brand must be reflected across everything you do as an organisation, from recruitment to marketing to the interiors of your office or shop
  • And it must be understood and believed in by your staff, partners and intermediaries

Common pitfalls

  • Too often an organisation’s perception of its own brand is completely at odds with the perception in the marketplace. It’s crucial to take a critical and realistic look from the outside in to really understand how you’re seen by others.
  • There is a misconception that brands are only really important when it comes to big business. But every brand needs care, attention and protection.
  • A brand is about far more than a logo - it is everything you stand for as an organisation. 
  • A brand only has meaning in relation to competing brands. It’s no good claiming to provide high levels of customer service without considering the standards of your competitors’ customer service. Branding is about achieving competitive advantage through understanding what makes you different and communicating that difference – in other words, helping customers make a decision about who to choose.

Benefits
A strong brand should enable an organisation to strengthen its position in the marketplace and achieve competitive advantage through its difference in relation to its competitors. It can allow an organisation to re-position itself within a given marketplace, enter new markets, create opportunities through familiarity and reputation, contribute to increasing staff morale and also attract new talent, counter declining profitability or consumer confidence and encourage brand loyalty and recommendation.

Good branding
The biggest brands in the world are so engrained in our consciousness that we literally only need a glimpse of their identity to recognise them - Nike, Orange, Audi for example. Asda and Waitrose are both extremely powerful brands because their position in the marketplace is absolutely clear. But branding is not just about global or even national recognition – there are many extremely successful brands that operate in very small niche marketplaces, in a particular sector or region. There are local brands here in Wales achieving fantastic things through effective branding.

Calon Wen is a co-operative of Welsh dairy farmers who came to us a couple of years ago to undertake a rebrand. Our challenge was to develop a brand for Calon Wen which matched the high quality of the products, engaged effectively with their target markets and allowed Calon Wen to position itself as a premium brand at the top end of the market.

So following research and market analysis, we developed a new identity and packaging which has enabled Calon Wen to win over a number of supermarket chains that wouldn’t previously stock their products – and the products are now being sold as a premium range. That is the power of branding. By defining exactly what they wanted the consumer to think about them – organic, welsh provenance, quality, non-corporate, fresh, a sense of farming and hence a certain confidence in the manufacturing of the product – they have a brand which is highly targeted and which has a strong and secure position in its marketplace.

If you would like to get to know us better and find out what we can do for your brand, call us on 029 2035 3940 or email shelley@stills.co.uk