‘Branding’. It’s such a huge, complex idea these days. Making it work for your business can seem an overwhelming task. Especially if you don’t happen to be a massive multinational with legions of people to help. But help is at hand. For over a decade at SomeOne, we’ve been busy developing smart ways to make it easy for anyone to manage a rich, adaptable brand – and make change pay.
At SomeOne, we’re finding that more and more products, organisations and services are looking to us to launch or relaunch them — but those commissioning the work are baffled as to how they can develop lasting systems that keep on working hard when the agency has left the room.
We’re a branding company. So you’re probably here because you’re launching something new, and need to manage the experiences around it. Or you’re rethinking an existing brand.
You’ve got a head full of big words: customer-centric, agile, conversational… You’re keen to embrace new challenges. And you know it could look fantastic. (Everyone’s a designer these days, right?) But how do you make sure the change delivers for the business? Not just a short-term bounce, but a lasting improvement in fortunes? How do you make it stick? And do it all swiftly enough to seize the moment – without sacrificing rigour?
So many questions…
Not just a pretty fascia.
These days, we get asked to launch or relaunch more and more products, organisations and services. But those doing the asking often struggle with how to manage their brand systems to maximum effect after the agency has left the room.
Once, ‘branding’ meant designing logos and applying them. Now it covers every aspect of the branded experience – which is everything you do. What it looks like. How it sounds. The ideal ambassadors…
There’s a lot to think about. So it’s a good idea to talk to people who’ve done it before – over and over again. Surprise, surprise – that’s us.
Launches. Relaunches. Ongoing management, optimisation, and promoting specific parts of the business. Internally and externally. This is our core offer – and has been for more than ten years.
How do you make it pay? It boils down to three things…
1. We make a plan together
Call it strategy if you like. But whatever the label, make it immediately useful. It should be actionable from day one, as well as steering the business towards its objectives into the future.
Look at what we did with WorldPay. We took them away from the functional description of ‘online payment processor’ to the more inspiring ‘Leaders in Modern Money’.
That enabled the brand to carve out an influential place in thought leadership circles, and demonstrate why it should be chosen over the growing competition — and achieve the biggest float of the year on the London Stock Exchange.
2. We make a system together.
Often, the brief issued in January bears little relation to the work presented in May. And clashes with the business environment for the roll-out in July.
Branding systems have to be flexible. For example: Madame Tussauds shows are always changing. So for them, we made a design system that could change faster than a celeb in a limo. You need a smart system that can carry any variety of communications. Strategically driven, but hyper-flexible. Internal as well as external.
We call these ‘BrandWorlds’. Brand operating systems designed to work everywhere, all the time. Even when we’re working with biggest show on earth – The Olympic & Paralympic Games.
3. We make it happen together.
Experiences—It’s another one of those big words. But it’s the best term to encompass every possible challenge ahead. From internal comms and HR to external campaigns and PR. Brochures, advertising, websites, packaging, the words on the return envelope… Everything you put out is experienced by someone. (And, frequently, designed by SomeOne.)
Having a plan and a BrandWorld means those experiences don’t just happen to audiences. They’re consciously designed, to make a positive impact on those audiences.
Impossibly complex?
It used to be. Once, a logo, typeface and colours was enough for all but the biggest, richest brands. But that was then. Now, we’ve developed a digital platform that enables any brand to profit from the benefits of a richer, more emotive, more adaptable BrandWorld. Now, we can combine all your branding tools in one secure, cloud-hosted location. With integrated analytics, to show what’s working hardest and where. That means you’re always on top of things, and can adapt and improve your approach every day – easily. On your desktop, tablet, or even your phone.