A brand refresh: taking a fresh look to conclude 2022.
Indeed, a brand review is not just coincidentally timed for the end of the year (or for Christmas!) but it can be an appropriate time of the year to introduce adjustments ready to be primed for the start of a new year.
All organisations, including trusts and schools, should review and reflect on their brand and brand messages when the time is right, to ensure they are reinforcing their own core values and proposition.
Marketing Advisers for Schools: brand review at Christmas!
For a few key reasons we undertook a review in 2021, collectively we acknowledged that our logo needed to be developed onwards to reflect us and our central support message. Also, we considered what the future requirements might require, with versatility and scalability featuring in this discussion.
Marketing Advisers for Schools: brand review
We (MA for Schools) have used our own recent logo and branding review as a real example of why and then when to consider this refresh work to strengthen the brand strategy. Our change steps from old to new:
3 key objectives for our brand review:
- For our ident (logo) and core message to be clear and understood by all, to bring more clarity and sharpness. To support the scaling and use in a variety of formats.
- To adjust and strengthen the colour pallet and to give future options. But maintaining a link to the existing brand colours.
- To adjust our brand strap line to work hand-in-hand with the ident and our objects we seek to achieve.
Schools and Multi Academy Trusts (MATs)
Schools would be no different to consider such a brand and strategy review, to make sure that their external identity continues to communicate the consistent message and values which it seeks to express and be known for.
By this we do ‘not’ mean starting over with a new logo to replace the lovely heritage logo which has been around for decades, although it might actually need a modernising refinement? The organisation must keep with the times, be viewed as a forward thinking organisation able to adapt to the expectations of the present.
What is brand strategy and why does it matter?
Before we take you through our review steps for the MA brand development, let’s firstly take a step back to ask what do we mean by ‘brand strategy’? Not to reinvent the wheel, we’ll refer to the definition provided by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
“A brand strategy is a plan for brand management that answers the big questions: who, where, why, what and when? Building a strong brand requires a continuous commitment to excellence and an understanding of the qualities that define the brand. A brand is not a logo, it’s a consistent attitude and a carefully managed experience that meets or surpasses consumer expectations”.
So, a brand review could actually provide an ideal opportunity to develop the ‘managed experience’ through a hierarchy of your key brand messages. It is essential that you know your main one! There’s always going to be a first. A central brand message within an advert, the first headline on a website, and so it’s crucial that you know what your first message is, and your second, third and fourth. A review of your brand and strategy helps you to develop this hierarchy.
A refresh on the MA branding (the ident logo) – we take a look at the stages our review followed.
5 days considering 5 development stages for reviewing the MA ident logo and introducing our new strapline caption.
Day 1 – Creative design outline
Visuals created to gain ideas and interest. New design outline proposed but retaining the light bulb ‘shine out – new ideas’, element and the use of the acronym letter ‘MA or ma’, to identify ‘ma’ more easily.
Day 2 – Refining the design
Design ideas developed on wards, moving towards agreeing the ident shape and basic design. The ‘a’ is further developed to make unique use of the ‘@’ symbol, as both our ‘advisers’ and also a digital reference.
Day 3 – Colour palates and options
With the ident design agreed, next the colours and variations were considered.
Day 4 – Design and colour options reviewed together
Progressing the design and revised colours to output an adjusted ident logo to ‘final’.
Day 5 – Ident design fused with new strapline
Considering variation formats and the inclusion of a new strap line which works both with the logo ident but also has direct meaning to the service being offered. Our objective is to help organisations to be even better than they already are, to – Shine even brighter.
Our new logo and branding for 2022 and beyond.
To summarise.
Our review has been timed with the end of the year, to give us clear direction for the start of the new year.
However, a brand review can take place any time of the year to suit the organisations own objectives and timings.
“Branding should strive for differentiation, should express uniqueness, be relevant, and distinct”.
We are here should you need any brand, marketing, communication support in 2023.
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
If you need support to help review your branding and core messages, please do Contact us for support.