Brand and Activation

A brand is more than just a logo, it is the most valuable asset on a company’s balance sheet. It drives business transformation, inside and out.

“Design is essential but design is not brand. A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another” – Seth Godin

I thought branding was mumbo-jumbo, until I saw what Hundred achieved. Now I push every company I invest in to take branding and positioning seriously

Espen Strøm

Investment Partner, EV Private Equity

A strong brand and clearly articulated positioning differentiates you from your competitors, attracts investment and potential partners, aids lead generation, supports recruitment and retention of the best talent in your industry, and enables you to charge appropriately for your product or service.

In our volatile, uncertain, complex and ever-changing world, branding must now go beyond messaging, through the layers of the business to drive meaningful impact and behavioural change.

Ever-changing customer expectations are also challenging brands to be ultimately more cultural. It is this tension that creates sustainable competitive advantage.

Recent research suggests a strong brand and effective communication bring:

We help organizations create market advantage by optimizing their brand portfolio, brand architecture and naming strategies to work within shifting markets and dynamic customer expectations.

We help organizations to deliver business transformation from the inside out by clarifying and articulating the purpose, vision, mission and values of the organization and translating that through inspirational employer branding, effective employee engagement and an aligned culture.

Brand positioning is the process of making your strategy and purpose actionable.

We work with organizations to build robust brands that resonate by clarifying and articulating how their corporate, product or service brand is different from its competitors and where it sits in customers’ and investors’ minds. This lays the groundwork for your organization to accomplish its strategic aims and brand purpose.

Positioning around a functional or emotional benefit isn’t enough anymore. What makes a brand become, and stay, relevant in our ever-changing world is the answer to two important questions:

We craft brand identity designs that connect your vision to your reality and resonate with your key stakeholders both commercially and emotionally across all touchpoints.

Brand identity is distinct from brand image. Brand identity corresponds to the intent behind the branding and the way a company does the following—all to cultivate a certain image in your key stakeholders’ minds.

This includes:

Brand image is the result of these efforts, successful or unsuccessful. Building a positive, cohesive brand image requires analyzing the organization, its market and its competitors; and determining the organization’s goals, customers, and message.

Industry, competition, customer and client assessment
Employee research, insight, and measurement
Communications and content strategy
Campaign approach, concept and measurement
ESG and Sustainability Report writing and design
Employee engagement strategy
Strategic alignment
Leadership communication
Change management strategy
Culture programs

What should a brand strategy include?

Branding expert Marty Neumeier says a brand strategy is “a plan for the systematic development of brand in alignment with a business strategy.” A brand strategy is an action plan that determines the type of image that a company wants to build with its key stakeholders – employees, investors, and customers. The key components of a brand strategy include purpose, consistency, emotion, and employee involvement.

How do you write a branding proposition?

Your brand proposition is something that digs into the problems that you want to solve for your customers and explains why you are the right organization for the job. In simple terms, your brand proposition isn’t just one thing, it is multiple factors that join together to demonstrate the uniqueness of your brand.

How do you engage employees through branding?

Employee brand engagement is achieved when employees are aligned and involved with the organization’s brand. It requires the company to have a clearly articulated brand identity and its leaders to cultivate a positive, multidimensional connection between employees and that brand identity. The goal is to make sure employees know what the brand stands for and are committed to reinforcing it with their actions. A few ways to do this are:

Solicit their feedback on the brand
Implement regular brand contests that support branding objectives
Have all employees establish a brand-related goal as part of their corporate goals and objectives

This will keep them thinking about their roles in building the corporate brand

Brand and Activation