IMJ speaks to Niall Corcoran of Creative Inc on the components of a good brand story
Posted on June 01 2010
What are the necessary components of a good brand story?
“Alfred Hitchcock once said that a good story was “life, with the dull parts taken out”. An effective brand story is one that, much like a real story, uses similar ingredients to connect with an audience and allows you to communicate with them. In any great tale, these include the central character(s), the setting, dialogue, theme, style and plot. It should imbue the aesthetics but also the ethos of a company or product in a way that allows customers to identify it as something that represents who they are and what they are looking for.
Like our favourite characters in our most loved books, the brand should evoke strong emotions, we should be able to identify with it, empathize with it, develop a dialogue with it (through the advent of technology it is much easier to develop more interactive relationships with brands we like these days) and relate to the setting. The theme of the brand should be relevant to us and as we are such a time sensitive, critical and over exposed audience, we should instantly ”get it”.
Building a strong personality is key to the success of any brand. Brand builders use many tools of the trade to enhance the personality of a company or product. One of the first and critical elements is the name. A writer will often carefully choose the name of the central character; selecting one that reflects the tone and style they want to develop. Unfortunately business owners do not always place enough importance on the name of their brand. Rather than pick a name that has particular or special meaning to themselves, it would be more useful to think of what this name will mean to their audience.
A great name can help distinguish the brand, it should become the basis from which a strong personality and tone can be developed. The story of our central character (the brand) is crafted through the use of clever copy, strong design, typography, colour and imagery. As the personality of “our hero” the brand reveals itself, the world in which it resides becomes apparent as the brand builders begin to develop the environment, paying great attention to how and where it will be seen.
A recent example of this working well is the fast food restaurant Pablo Picante which opened in Baggot Street early this year. With a small marketing budget this team managed to build a brand story that was identifiable to their target demographic and has clearly resonated with consumers. The company is named after a fictional Mexican boxer, through whom the brand interacts with fans on social networking sites. The eatery gathered over a thousand Facebook followers prior to their launch. This ensured an initial stream of custom once they opened their doors. Another food chain with a similarly integral brand story is Saba, who came to Creative Inc some years ago and with whom we worked to build a strong brand from the ground up, beginning with a name that reflected the concept. In both of these projects, attention to detail has been key, it’s the little things that can make or break a story.”
The thoughts expressed above are the personal views of Niall Corcoran who is Commercial Director with Creative Inc.
Founded in 1996, Creative Inc is one of Ireland’s leading design and brand consultancies. Their portfolio of work includes the creation of brand identities for Clerys, Saba, Havok, Dublin City Council, Rehab, Finches, Total Produce plc, The Dublin Theatre Festival, IFG plc, The Irish Greyhound Board (“The Dogs”) and Zamano plc.