Creative Brand Strategy - Task 01
Ellyn Saw Mei Hui / 0353358
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Creative Brand Strategy Task 01
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Creative Brand Strategy Task 01
LECTURES
♡ 04.04.2023 Week 01
Lecture #1 - What is Brand Strategy?
- A brand strategy defines rules and guidelines on HOW, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN and to WHOM a brand communicates its brand messages. A well-executed brand strategy can create a consistent brand message, a strong emotional connection with customers and higher brand equity. It is essential to have a brand strategy as it can provide clear information on the competitive landscape, market position and customer expectations.
♡ 11.04.2023 Week 02
Lecture #2 - The Branding Process
Branding is not just about designing logos, taglines or graphics to be 'pasted' on a company or person. While a 'rebrand' does not instantly change the way how people perceive the brand and how the company puts itself out there.
Branding now has evolved over the years and currently has affected multiple sectors in the industry more than ever before as competition for audience intensifies. A brand includes both tangible and intangible and can be applied to almost anything (a person, business, country, etc).
Basic brand development process:
- Formulating brand strategy
- detail areas such as understanding the brand audience, and its market and integrating with the vision of the brand.
- Creative execution
- brand development stage
- creating a look and feel for the brand, as well as creating the brand logo and name
- Creative implementation
- executions in various forms and through different platforms
- design is needed for full implementation from concept to development to brand presence
- Communicating the brand
- cover both employees and external communications execution for the brand
About campaigns
There are a total of 6 types of campaigns out there.
- Concept campaign
- Cause campaign
- Event campaign
- Launch campaign
- Personality campaign
- Social media campaign
♡ 18.04.2023 Week 03
Lecture #3 - The Creative Brief
A campaign's big idea is the message that underpins all elements of a campaign in order to allow the audience to relate to it. There are a total of 4 steps in order to create a big idea which are understanding, clarifying, positioning and brand essence.
- Understanding - to understand and identify everything about a brand or campaign
- Clarifying - to unify an idea using the data from analysing and researching (understanding)
- Positioning - to develop and refine a positioning strategy
- Brand essence - Understand why a brand is better than its competitor, what or how they want to be perceived, SWOT analysis, etc.
Lastly, the big idea can always be expressed in one sentence and sometimes it could also be the tagline. It must be simple and easy to understand. It also needs to have enough ambiguity for future developments that cannot be predicted.
♡ 25.04.2023 Week 04
Lecture #4 - Touch Points
Brand touchpoints are the interactions that customers have with a brand. Every interaction a customer has with the brand is considered a touchpoint. From websites to a retail space, direct mail to as product. These all play a part in the overall customer experience and the brand's eventual perception. It is important that we consider the touchpoints carefully and strategically in order to achieve business goals or to create a great impact on a campaign.
There are 3 steps to prioritise brand marketing activities and brand touchpoints.
- STEP 01: Make a list of brand marketing activities and brand touchpoints for everywhere the target audience could experience along the different phases in the 'Customer Journey Map'.
- STEP 02: Prioritise touchpoints based on the potential for impact and the degree of ease for each implementation. Populating each touchpoint allows the opportunity to determine where to best focus our time, money and energy on.
- STEP 03: Add prioritised activities and touchpoints and map them along the 'Customer Journey Map' (aka Customer experience journey).
Moodboard
♡ Collection of visual assets that represents a brand's visual identity.
♡ May contain photos, colours, typography, quotes, patterns, shapes, etc.
♡ A moodboard helps support the designer to be inspired and can direct the artistic sty;e, tone & manner in which the brand communicates.
♡ It is also a valuable tool as it helps with inspiring the designer, affirming and supporting the brand identity, guiding the art direction and easing the communication between all parties involved.
INSTRUCTIONS
<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tvKXPe3nVSTmDp3NrhcDZLWMJku_hiAP/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION
During the first week, Ms Lilian briefed us on this module and explained to us what we have to prepare/carry out on each task. After that, she told us to start thinking of ideas for Task 01.
TASK 1A: CASE STUDY
♡ Identify brand strategy
Brand story behind the brand and campaign
♡ Understand brand experience
Talk about activities to understand the brand experience
♡ Key visuals and application
key visual ideas, graphical or image-based (colours, typography, logo, etc)
look at how it is applied on websites, applications, collaterals etc
Brand story behind the brand and campaign
♡ Understand brand experience
Talk about activities to understand the brand experience
♡ Key visuals and application
key visual ideas, graphical or image-based (colours, typography, logo, etc)
look at how it is applied on websites, applications, collaterals etc
PROGRESS ( 04/04/2023 ) :
♡ Ms Lilian allowed us to marinate the idea into our minds after her briefing of this module and come up with any draft ideas we have for this task. My initial idea was to use Mentos's 'Say Hello' campaign for this case study. After doing more research on the campaign, I realised that there weren't many graphic/visual elements that I could analyse for the case study so I decided to change the campaign.
 |
| Fig1.1 Mentos say hello campaign post on Twitter (source) |
♡ While researching for some other campaigns I could do a case study on, I suddenly thought of YSL's Libre perfume campaign as I attended their pop-up store event in Penang and even witnessed their campaign ad on the digital billboard opposite my apartment last year!
Fig1.2 YSL pop-up event at Penang
♡ Proceeded to start with my research after deciding on YSL's Libre campaign.
Fig1.3 Research on YSL Libre campaign, (canva link)
 |
| Fig1.4 PPT progression_01 |
♡ When I was almost done, I decided to check and see if I missed any more events on Libre regarding YSL and to my surprise, I found an article showcasing the 'airport campaigns' that YSL did for this perfume so I added them into my slides.
.png) |
| Fig1.5 PPT progression_02 (added the airport campaigns) |
FINAL TASK 1A: CASE STUDY SUBMISSION
Fig1.6 FINAL Task 1A, (PDF link)
TASK 1B: CAMPAIGN PROPOSAL
♡ launch new products, personalities, create awareness, etc (any type of brand campaign)
♡ think of a brand campaign from a well-established brand (ex: Vivian Westwood's retrospective or introduce a new brand ambassador from a brand, etc)
♡ consider who it is for, its vision & mission, etc.
♡ consider who it is for, its vision & mission, etc.
♡ describe what the campaign is about
♡ brand is not the main thing (just a frame of reference), design should not influence by the main brand
♡ come up with a brand story that is about our campaign (NOT BRAND)
♡ what are the brand values associated with that
♡ vision & mission (campaign)
♡ target audience (various segmentation)
♡ organisers = the main brand can also incorporate other brands
♡ come up with a brand story that is about our campaign (NOT BRAND)
♡ what are the brand values associated with that
♡ vision & mission (campaign)
♡ target audience (various segmentation)
♡ organisers = the main brand can also incorporate other brands
SWOT
♡ strength and weakness (internal, for the campaign)
♡ opportunity & threats (not within the campaign’s control, pandemic, economic downturn etc)
♡ strength and weakness (internal, for the campaign)
♡ opportunity & threats (not within the campaign’s control, pandemic, economic downturn etc)
CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
♡ trace various experiences customers will have with this campaign
♡ from the beginning to after the campaign
♡ awareness through website
♡ interactions through socmed
♡ pop up store for the experience
♡ map out the emotions, needs, and benefits of the campaign
♡ trace various experiences customers will have with this campaign
♡ from the beginning to after the campaign
♡ awareness through website
♡ interactions through socmed
♡ pop up store for the experience
♡ map out the emotions, needs, and benefits of the campaign
PROGRESS ( 04/04/2023 ) :
♡ Similarly, I have already thought of one idea after Ms Lilian brief us on this task.
 |
| Fig2.1 Task 1B draft idea |
♡ After getting Ms Lilian's feedback, I did more research to see what ideas I can come up with for this task. I knew I wanted to do an awareness campaign but I had 0 idea in my mind so I decided to take a look at the 'Sustainable Development Goals' table to determine the theme of my campaign. I remembered this table as it was taught to us in one of our modules which is Social Innovation Project.
 |
| Fig2.2 Sustainable development goals |
♡ The reason for choosing an awareness campaign is because there are many social issues going on around the world right now such as racism, going green, mental health, etc. So after taking a look at the table, I finally came up with two ideas for my campaign.
 |
| Fig2.3 Task 1B_idea 01 |
 |
| Fig2.4 Task 1B_idea 02 |
PROGRESS ( 11 - 12/04/2023 ) :
♡ After my consultation with Ms Lilian, she preferred the Innisfree idea so that was what I went with. However, after conducting deeper research,
I found out that Innisfree actually has its own Plant a Tree campaign (source) so I decided to use another brand instead.
 |
| Fig2.5 Innisfree's Plant a Tree campaign |
♡
There were various brands I considered to use for this task such as Beplain and L'Occitane but my final choice was to go with L'Occitane as they are more suitable for this campaign that I am proposing.<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/12SOYF0jhQJX4cJP7GrLj5TszYy9hqpiu/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
Fig2.6 Slide progression for Task 1B
♡ After getting more clarification on my customer journey map and SWOT analysis from the feedback session on 18/04, I went ahead and made a few changes to my slides.
FEEDBACKS
Week 01 - 04/04/2023
Lecturer Feedback:
TASK 1A
♡ mentos 'say hello' campaign is doable but look at other materials like social media ads or any other visuals to further my case study
♡ if there are no other materials to support my chosen campaign it is a bit hard to proceed since the Mentos campaign has only one ad
♡ if there are no other materials to support my chosen campaign it is a bit hard to proceed since the Mentos campaign has only one ad
TASK 1B
♡ (nct dream X everland idea) it’s a little hard to go through with this idea because it's very limiting as the amusement park and the idol band itself already have a well-established image.
♡ hard to step into this project with a designer POV as I am already very familiar with the boy group and may be biased when it comes to researching and actually designing the items needed
♡ if I were to go with this idea, I would have to take everything in consideration (such as the boy band's identity/brand) which is limiting to me as a designer
Week 02 - 11/04/2023
Lecturer Feedback:
TASK 1B
♡ Innisfree n Plant a Tree campaign aligns with their brand story more
♡ ysl with abuse awareness seems vague and unfitting
♡ also ysl already has its own abuse campaign but I can work based on the framework and improve it if I want to
Week 03 - 18/04/2023
Lecturer Feedback:
TASK 1B
♡ only solidify the campaign name & tagline in task 2 so don’t worry about that now
♡better to call it a reforestation campaign as it is more specific and the ‘plant a tree campaign can sound like we will plant trees at any random place
♡ L'Occitane is known for using botanics for skincare & they really believe in the power of plants so I can add that to my brand story
♡ strong philosophy on relying on nature is how I can wrap it closer to my campaign
♡ specify my objective and purpose separately so it makes it clearer for myself
♡ include L'Occitane as the organiser too, a brief overview of the brand
♡ SWOT: swap strengths and opportunities with each other, have at least 2 points for each category
♡ SWOT: weakness can be tree sourcing as only specific trees are able to tolerate the environments of the Amazon forest
♡ positioning is clear
♡In my customer journey map under the decision, what can I include in my physical store to reaffirm the buyer’s decision to support this campaign (for example packaging can be changed to promote this campaign)
♡ maybe the buyers will get something for their participation (loyalty)
♡ can include competitors in my proposal, analyse what they did
♡ good that I have considered looking into competitors, those who are more critical thinking will have thought to cover this
After Submission Feedback:
TASK 1A
♡ well considered, generally good
♡ improve on the opportunity for graphic design in my analysis
♡ look at the typo, and talk about the use of colours/ imagery/ visual elements that the campaign used to represent ‘libre’ (freedom)
♡ followed the framework & understood the task and good case study but I can push further
TASK 1B
♡ brand value and SWOT has room for improvement
♡ think more critically towards the campaign for SWOT
♡ better way to angle, campaign target is limited by the sales so economic downturn can affect that aspect of the campaign (go into detail)
♡ competitor analysis reflects critical and analytical skills but summarise it (too many pages for the competitor)
REFLECTIONS :
Experience - It was so hectic even on week 1 where we had to think of so many ideas, projects, etc all at once but I am glad that I managed to complete everything in time. Through this task, I learnt how to analyse a brand campaign from start to finish (pre-event till post-event). I got to understand how brand touchpoints and customer journey map works. I really liked task 1B as we got to create a new campaign for any brands that we like.
Observations - I observed that it is very important to have a clear idea of how the customer journey map works as it really will help us in further stages when we are designing. Not having a clear customer journey map may make us confused or even lose sight of our campaign.
Findings - I never knew that there were so many types of campaigns. In my mind, I always thought they were the same up until now. I found that different campaigns have different purposes such as raising awareness, launching a new product, personality campaign and many more. In addition, I found that determining our brand touchpoints before we start executing the project is crucial as it helps us save time in the later part and we can start designing straight away with no delays.
FURTHER READING:
A customer journey map can help a brand visualise how its customers would feel at a certain stage of their brand touchpoint. It could also help increase customer retention and identify key information to make the best decisions. It maps out every engagement a customer has with a service, product or brand. Through this process, it allows brands to connect with their audiences on a deeper level thus improving and prioritizing the customer experience through shared understanding.
Comments
Post a Comment