You've probably already read here that "“The brand is, does, and speaks.”"Besides being our tagline, the phrase translates the vision that guides all our brand-building work. Brands have personality, they are like people, and as such, they are increasingly required to be coherent and consistent with their promise. The basics: Brands need to deliver what they promise, fairly and honestly. This is the first step for them to be recognized as strong brands that build value.".
Now, how many brands can you think of that deliver on their promises fairly and honestly, building relationships with transparency and authenticity? There are still few, right? But we believe this has gone beyond a trend and is something brands are increasingly seeking and working towards. After all, the world has changed. Consumption has become more collective, visible, and, in a good way, "noisy," which means brands must always be mindful of their words and behavior – remember, they are like people? Consumers want brands that demonstrate and put into practice their human dimension, contributing to the lives of their users and, at the same time, positively impacting the world.
However, having a well-defined personality, fulfilling promises fairly and honestly, and building a transparent and authentic relationship with stakeholders isn't enough. There are still elements missing from the strategy for building a strong, valuable brand. Time to talk about creativity. The truth is, we are all creative – it's not a gift exclusive to artists or designers. Have you noticed that today's world demands that, as professionals, we are able to solve problems quickly, generating learning and working collectively? For this, more than a "gift" or an "idea," creativity can be seen here as a "skill." Creativity is about invention, about doing something different from what has always been done, and about process. All of this together. Have you ever stopped to think about the last time you were creative? What could the world – or your brand – gain from one of your inventions?
When Natura Tododia Having launched its formula with Prebiotic Nutrition, we needed to communicate the new technology without losing the essence of a brand that already positions itself as close to its audience. Our challenge, then, was to delve into this story and discover how to tell the story of this evolution through the new visual and verbal universe, paying special attention to the brand's proprietary characteristics. Starting from the insight that skin is alive and changes every day, the created universe is fluid and comprehensive, guiding the consumer to understand this evolution. You can read the full case study here.
A creation It becomes a fundamental vector in building brand value when combined with methodology. After all, creation as an exercise is not enough; it is necessary to create in a way that the result responds to the challenges posed in a given project. In this way, we create differentiated brands, with proprietary elements that strengthen their personality. As we have already mentioned on other occasions, method is "the path to get there" – the steps and stages that need to be followed to achieve what is expected as a deliverable. When faced with a challenge, whether professional or personal, do you break it down into small steps, which become small tasks that, in the end, respond to the challenge in a way that solves it? Then you already have a method-oriented work process. It is always necessary to strengthen it, review it, question it. After all, what works today for a challenge may not work tomorrow.
Each brand challenge will require special attention to how it will be conducted. The National Department of SENAI The institution needs to guarantee the desired quality standard of education across all its units, spread throughout Brazil. However, the pursuit of standardization addresses a prior challenge: deeply understanding the needs, motivations, and difficulties of professionals within the school management community, a broad and diverse audience. To address these issues, we combined tools from Service Design and UX Research, conducting contextual visits and qualitative interviews to generate hypotheses about existing professional profiles. This was the first step in creating a guiding tool for the National Department in decision-making and planning actions targeting the school community and its diverse professional profiles. You can read the full case study here.
Finally, delivery alone is not enough to guarantee a project's outcome. Building value involves understanding and measuring the relationship between effort and gain. Furthermore, today we have the ability to track and measure a potentially infinite amount of data, often in real time, allowing us to adjust our course to ensure the best possible result. When we talk about Branding, we necessarily talk about Performance. Aligning Brand, Business, and Communication works effectively when we see the results of this alignment in real time. As we've mentioned before, one way to unite Branding and Performance is by building a unique narrative for Brands. We tell the same story in many different ways, addressing different objectives at each touchpoint.
“"Building value" can sound abstract when repeated without context. That's why it's important to clarify things. Brands build value when they have a well-defined personality and fulfill their promise fairly and honestly. They build transparent and authentic relationships with their audiences. Their creation is methodically driven and reflects originality and differentiation. Their value is effectively measured, adjusted, and proven, corresponding to their challenges.
In closing, it's worth repeating and reflecting on the... question In the title: are you paying attention to how you build value for your brand?
