Making light work of the hardest brand challenges (2020)

Attention often falls on what the brand looks like – it’s the glamorous side of branding – when arguably, focusing on things like your proposition, brand architecture and messaging are just as important. After all, isn’t it the hard things that help your brand sing and make it great?

Your logo, the colours you use, your style of photography, illustrations and font – they’re all important but your brand is more than that. To start with, all of that has to be based on something – your brand strategy, proposition and idea. How do you ensure it’s relevant when the world’s turned upside down and that it’s compelling given so much uncertainty? How do all your different propositions work together to create a greater whole? How do you have messaging that appeals for all your different audiences but remains unmistakably you? How do you create a meaningful experience with your audiences in ways and places that work for them? And how do you achieve all of this when your brand has to be used by different teams in different ways in different countries?