The key to being seen, heard, and understood is unpacked in a clear branding formula.
Most companies spend enormous investments on strategy. Then they spend meager time and resources to cascade these strategies to employees. The point they miss is that only when a strategy is embraced soulfully by employees will the execution be well on its way.
In using the power of branding and storytelling, a communications team can bring to life a well-devised strategy for their internal audiences.
BRANDING: THE ULTIMATE TOOL TO MAKE A STRATEGY SEEN AND UNDERSTOOD
Al Masaood Automobiles introduced its latest mid-term strategy earlier this year. The strategy is set to propel the company in a new business direction that embraces innovation to its core and changes the course of how it does business.
The automotive sector is currently at a crossroads of major disruptive forces, these being earmarked with technology advancements. Automotive dealers of the future will be hosting digital and virtual showrooms, offering intelligent autonomous mobility solutions and incorporating shared mobility.
One of the biggest hurdles in strategies is that they are launched in the most conventional methods; perhaps through a presentation or a speech, and then shelved away in the folders of computers.
But what if you can brand your strategy?
What if you treat it like a precious branding exercise and breathe life into it through logos, memorable taglines, and visual assets that tell a story?
OLD IS GOLD, EVEN WHEN PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Applying the golden rules of branding even when communicating a new strategy can be a magic potion to getting your messages across. In launching the new strategy, we sought to use the classic approach to branding any new product or service:
Coming up with a logo, a tagline, a color palette, and a celebrative launch campaign.
They say that branding a company or a product is like a mirror to your soul, it reflects the values and essence of your business. But what is branding to a strategy?
In our strategy, we used particular branding elements to create a spirit and personality that our employees can identify with
Coming-of-age colors
We used vibrant gradient palettes to signify the transition into digital and virtual spaces. The combination of violet into our existing blue palette allowed us to communicate that while we keep the traditional model, we are integrating technology at the core of the business.
Simplify to amplify your messaging
Strategies are often multi-fold and built over many layers of business plans. Before jumping onto aesthetics, the comms team worked closely with the business team to simplify the strategy into three main pillars and communicate each pillar against a backdrop of a brand purpose and values.
Birthing brand characters
Humanizing a brand by a character will breathe life into it. As our original brand icon was a falcon, we decided to upgrade it to something that our team can connect with. We chose a character that is part-human part-animal, a combo resembling superheroes and Transformers. We went further by choosing a modern Transformer-like Optimus Prime.
We all know that customers generally don’t care about your story, they care about their own. So through the branding and comms journey, we established a relatable fairytale narrative.
To read the full article, click here: https://campaignme.com/a-blueprint-to-branding-for-strategy-by-al-masaoods-marwa-kaabour%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8b/
Comments