Brand Verbal Messaging

Brand Promise

At the core of this stage is the development of a guiding idea and a tangible brand promise, which our team creates in with our clients through ideation workshops and creative brainstorming sessions.

Simply speaking, the idea is a unique, compelling insight that drives and unites all aspects of brand expression, and underpins the development and growth of the entire enterprise.

Unfortunately, in our experience most business consultants, creative professionals and ad agencies disregard most of the above steps and begin their work here – without a complete understanding of what needs to be done and why.

We have found that one of the most critical parts of our work is sifting through and clarifying the unifying elements in the information gathered and data collected in order to craft compelling and articulate messages, metaphors, narratives and stories. At this stage in a project, strategic planning, creative development and message dissemination are considered inseparable from one another, and happen almost simultaneously.

Since every piece of communication (an ad, a lobby, a press release, a letter, an annual report) must contribute to the brand in tone, look and feel, and message, those aspects of the brand are developed together concurrently. Ultimately the words that we choose and the images that we create will have the power to engage people on many different levels: to make them think, to change the way they feel, to inspire them.

In this phase the client sees the work become a reality as we all implement the work across a client’s products and/or services, environments and entire organization, including:

Develop Positioning

Using the output from our immersion and planning in Phase 1, including insights from the brand opportunity and action report, we connect the needs, desires, and mindsets of your key audiences with category opportunities and competitive points of difference to create a positioning statement and brand promise.

Brand Platform Development

Once we have developed a positioning statement, our goal is to bring it to life in a memorable, unique, and engaging way. Through the judicious use of creative concepts that evoke the value proposition of the brand, we develop the brand platform, which includes the following components in addition to the brand positioning:

• Brand Values – The “character” of the brand and its reasons for being.
• Brand Personality – The manner in which the brand expresses itself – its tone and manner.
• Brand Essence – Typically a single word or short phrase that intuitively represents the brand and is at the heart of all its expression.

Messaging Platform

A messaging platform organizes a brand’s universal and audience-specific messages, and it provides guidelines for expressing those messages in a strategically positive voice across a range of media. A strategically positive messaging platform maximizes the effectiveness of your communications efforts to realize your business goals.

• Develop and present universal and audience specific messaging for designed assets and supported platforms.
• Develop and present recommendations for use of media (both earned and purchased media).
• Develop and present verbal expression.