Brand Strategy
Key question
How is the brand brought to life?
A strategy only takes effect when it is lived day-to-day: in communication, service, behaviour, and decisions. Brand management ensures that the brand remains strong and credible over time.
Learning objective: You are able to derive communication measures from the strategy, measure the success of a brand, and summarise the strategy in a Brand Canvas.
A brand is what it does.
8.1 / Brand Experience
Every contact counts.
People experience a brand throughout their customer journey: before they buy, during the purchase, and afterwards. Friendly customer service can achieve more than an expensive campaign.
For every touchpoint, it is worth asking: is our brand promise being delivered here? The customer journey map from Design Thinking helps to make this visible.
Poor service beats any good campaign.
8.2 / Communication
One idea, many channels.
Communication translates positioning into messaging and actions. A campaign needs a central idea that can be told across billboards, social media, websites, and events.
Good communication is based on the target audience's insight and stays true to the brand's tone of voice. Find out more about impact and persuasion in Design Psychology, Module 07.
An idea, consistently told.
8.3 / Lead and measure
What gets measured gets managed.
Brand management regularly checks whether the brand is effective. Typical key metrics are:
01
Awareness
Do people know the brand, prompted or unprompted?
02
Image
Which qualities are associated with the brand?
03
Recommendation
Would people recommend the brand, for instance as measured by the Net Promoter Score?
04
Loyalty
Do people come back?
Numbers show what is happening, but not always why. Conversations with customers complement the data.
Measuring what aligns with your strategy.
Brands often like to promise sustainability, diversity or social commitment. If these promises are not kept, it is referred to as greenwashing or purpose-washing, and trust is lost.
Responsible brand management only promises what it can substantiate, acknowledges weaknesses, and actively involves those affected. In Switzerland, Swissness legislation (in force since 2017) also regulates when a product may be advertised using ‘Switzerland’ or the Swiss cross; for food products, at least 80% of the raw materials must originate from Switzerland. Find out more about manipulative patterns in Design Psychology, Section 8.1.
Only promise what you can prove.
8.5 / Brand Canvas
The whole strategy on a single page.
The Brand Canvas summarises the brand strategy on a single page: from purpose and vision, through target audience, insight, and positioning, to values, personality, promise, and measuring success.
It is a working document: it is developed within the team and reviewed regularly.
A strategy that doesn't fit on one page is not yet clear.
Exercise
Bringing the brand to life
Task: Derive actions from your strategy.
STEP 1
Map your target audience's customer journey and highlight three key touchpoints.
STEP 2
Develop a campaign idea and outline it for two channels.
STEP 3
Choose two metrics you would use to measure success.
STEP 4
Summarises everything in the Brand Canvas.
Evaluation: Does each measure align with the positioning and tone of voice?
Final project
A brand strategy in groups
In groups of three to four people, you will develop a brand strategy for a real or fictional organisation, such as a start-up, a club or a local shop.
STEP 1
Analysis
Market, competition and SWOT, with positioning map.
STEP 2
Target audience
Personas and at least two verified insights.
STEP 3
Brand core
Purpose, values, promises and positioning statement.
STEP 4
Expression
Personality, tone of voice, name and initial design elements.
STEP 5
Presentation
Brand canvas, touchpoints, and presentation in ten minutes.
Evaluation criteria: quality of the analysis, clarity of the positioning, consistency of personality, tone of voice and design, rationale behind decisions, persuasiveness of the presentation.
Every decision needs a why.