Initiating Stronger Branding

Start the journey to a stronger brand with this team exercise

I am a little bit of a branding nerd. I have to admit that when the ads come on between my favourite program segments, I’m still glued to my screen analyzing their advertising technique, what I think works and doesn’t work, which brand personality they would fit, the thoughts go on. 

Sometimes brands do lose their way a little, or perhaps they didn’t define themselves well from the beginning.  You may have identified this problem in your own business or company and you want to address it.  So here’s what I would do to start to tackle this problem.

First off, if I was running this session with a client, I would have the following people in the room – the marketing/creative team, CEO/Manager, 1-2 board members (if you have a board), 2-3 invested customers/members.  Each person should answer the below 10 questions in under five words.   

1.     Who are we now?

2.     Describe the current culture?

3.     Who knows about us?

4.     How would they know about us?

5.     What image do we portray?

6.     Where will we be in 10 years?

7.     What would be the culture then? 

8.     What are our top 5 strengths?

9.     What are our top 5 weaknesses?

10.  What attracts someone to our brand?

 

Ultimately you are looking to have a better understanding of how your brand/business currently sits, and how you envisage it in the future.

Doing this exercise as a team is a great way of bonding and to get the group on the same page as you move forward.  Give yourself a couple of hours to talk through everyone’s different thoughts, and make sure all people are heard.  Sometimes the quieter team members have a lot of wisdom to share, and might see things in a different, but equally important light, so make sure everyone is heard.

Let the discussions lead to a general consensus for each question.  Once the session is over, consider the feedback - where you are now, and where you want to be.  This may then help you to work out strategies to help you make the journey to the end goal.  

And my final thought for this session is to make sure you have the right person leading the group.  Sometimes this can be a session where everyone decides to air their differences, and raise those thoughts/grievances that have been simmering for months.  So having someone external come in and run the session can help to guide the team to positive outcomes. 

For more branding exercises check out the articles page.