Creating Brand Teamwork
Creating a brand is a process most people will never experience. Every day we interact with brands in stores, online, and by simply walking down the street. What you often don’t know is who was involved in creating these visual brand expressions. It’s curious to wonder how it all came together, and what the relationship was during the design process. Did the process come together quickly, or did it take time; was it easy or challenging; was the relationship a partnership or was it a vendor/client encounter?
When you are out in the world shopping for specific goods and services, we have a wide variety of options to choose from. For instance, standing in front of a vending machine you can clearly see the Snickers bar, Lays BBQ potato chip, Peanut M&Ms, and Slim Jim’s beef stick beyond the glass. In addition to standing in front of these recognizable brands, at first glance you also know exactly how much each item will cost and what your experience will be once your choice drops into the receiving tray. The beauty of the vending machine is once we decide on exactly which item we want and deposit the money, we’re quickly satisfied and can move on to the next thing. The only challenge with this interaction is deciding from a well-established choice of snack food options…simply see it and choose it.
This is how most people interact with brands. We make a one-person decision based on what is familiar and desired at that moment. Creating brand designs to communicate beyond what we see behind the glass is more complicated. Developing a strategy to create designs that will help message your brand effectively to your audience requires:
The design team to understand your venture, industry, marketplace, audience, and your passion.
The client being open to discovering unique opportunities to position and express their brand.
And that both teams are open to a collaborative process in finding the best results.
Here’s how you can tell if you are in a partnership or a customer vendor relationship.
We start by defining the scope of the design project, have the kickoff meeting, and develop the project brief. At this point everyone feels as if they understand what lies ahead for the project, the agreed upon direction we are collectively pointed towards, and who will be responsible for each part of the effort…and we’re off and running.
As the creative team concludes their first presentation, the excitement and praise flows freely during the meeting. A few days later the consolidated feedback comes from the business owner in one of two ways: “We have decided…” “Change the look…I don’t like the color…” or “Can you help us understand why…” “How does that fit with…” Remembering that this is just the first presentation and the beginning of the process, it’s clear that one approach is open to learning more from their creative partner and the other just wants the M&Ms.
On the creative team’s side, how we execute the presentation can help solicit good feedback to encourage or discourage the type of relationship you are looking for and help produce better design results.
As the presentation was underway, and you felt the excitement, did you or your team notice anything else? Was there anyone from the steering committee less enthusiastic? Was there someone asking more questions than the others? Were the questions positive or negative? Did the presentation include enough client-side information to create a more inclusive meeting? Did the design presentation give enough options to solicit good feedback? Were you open to criticism of your work? Did you help your client become a collaborative partner during the project, or did you dispense your work so the client could easily grab and go? There is no right answer here, and certainly no magic wand. Each project has a different budget, scope, and level of team participation, but you can see that there are teamwork/relationship objectives universal to a project’s success.
For the client, selecting the right creative team for your brand development is the first step. After moving through the process, how you communicate together can make or break the project. Do you respond in your feedback with honest concerns? Do you ask questions when you don’t understand something? Are your comments focused on the work? Are you open to looking at your brand in a unique way? Are you willing to step back from your personal desires and stay focused on the strategy the entire team created? Overall, designers are experienced in receiving critical, and not always favorable feedback. Communicating honestly and directly, in a collaborative manner, gets us all to the desired project result.
Every design project involves understanding the desired outcome, deliverables, scope of work, timeframe of the deadlines and the other details of the job, but it’s the unspoken expectations surrounding these project basics that could determine the results. The key words here are ‘unspoken expectations.’ Remember most people have never been involved in creating or revitalizing brand designs and messaging tools for a business so there’s a learning curve…for both sides of the project team and effective communication is key.
The client has the vision and passion for their venture; and we create visual and verbal brand tools from our strategic discovery to attract people to your business and help compromise your competition. The success of this union, whether it’s a long- or short-term engagement, depends on the effectiveness of the communication and collaboration from everyone involved on the project. Who knows, your product could become that brand consumers recognize most in the window. We all want every project to be a success and get the competition looking for you in their rearview mirror with deep concern. The truth is, we can’t make that happen without each other.