It’s the end of the year. We’re giving gifts, decorating, and spending time with family and friends. Holiday parties. New Year’s celebrations. It’s a festive time no matter what religion you observe. And it’s also an important moment for those of us who follow the cult of design– the announcement of Pantone’s color of the year.
The Pantone color of the year is chosen by the Pantone Color Institute, created to shed light on the connection between color and the larger cultural moment. A color is selected each year to reflect the zeitgeist, drawing on everything from industry trends, pop culture, current events, future forecasting and more.
Pantone’s color of the year for 2023 is Viva Magenta 18-750. Pantone describes it as “a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of a new signal of strength.” Other descriptors include optimistic, joyous, brave, and fearless. It “vibrates with vim and vigor.” It’s “an unconventional shade for an unconventional time.”
Magenta is quite an interesting shade. It technically doesn’t exist, as there’s no wavelength of light that corresponds to that color. But that may be the very reason why Pantone chose it– it’s a hybrid and a shapeshifter, straddling warm and cool, red and purple, natural and digital.
Announcing their selection with the statement, “Welcome to the Magentaverse,” it’s clear that Pantone is reflecting on the connection between the physical and virtual worlds. Derived from the cochineal, the insect from which carmine red is created, magenta is just as at home in the natural world as it is in the tech space. Compared to last year’s color of the year, the bright periwinkle hue Veri Peri that was invented just for the color of the year, Viva Magenta feels more soulful, organic, and bold.
It’s an interesting hue with a fascinating reasoning behind it. Does Viva Magenta speak to you? We’d love to know what you think. Send us a note and tell us about it.
Branding is a company-wide effort that takes time, energy, and resources. It’s not easy. It’s not cheap. So what is the actual value of branding? Is it worth it?
The answer is a resounding YES.
There are so many benefits of branding. But you might still be asking yourself where branding shows up in your revenue reports, and how you can measure the actual value of branding efforts.
While marketing focuses on specific, targeted campaigns, branding is an evolution. In marketing, there are set points to measure your return on investment, but with branding, it’s not as clear-cut. The value of branding builds exponentially over time.
But what does that mean?
And if you can’t measure it based on income and expense, how do you know if the value of branding is actually worth it?
There are two primary reports for measuring a business: profit and loss vs. balance sheet.
The P&L statement compares income and expenses and makes a simple subtraction of the two to determine profit.
The balance sheet compares assets and liabilities and uses equity to force them to balance.
Marketing is on your profit and loss statement.
Branding is on your balance sheet.
Branding and marketing have different end goals. Marketing is about developing a return on investment within a set period of time. Branding is about building value over the long term.
Marketing shows up in your profit and loss. You can compare directly what a marketing effort costs and how much business was generated, and see if you made a profit.
But the value of branding is more abstract. It’s located on your balance sheet. Unlike a simple income versus expense calculation of marketing, your brand is an asset, which means it can grow and change, as well as be bought and sold.
The same is true for the timeline of returns: marketing is short-term, and the value of branding is long-term. Marketing creates sales in the moment, but branding builds longevity and loyalty.
Just because branding doesn’t lend itself to a direct income vs. expense comparison like marketing, that doesn’t negate the importance of branding. The benefits of strong branding resonate both internally and externally across consumers and employees.
Measuring the value of branding on your organization requires a different perspective, a focus on long-term value rather than short-term gains.
What is brand equity?
Brand value is also referred to as brand equity: the accumulated value of a company’s brand assets, both financially and strategically.
In practice, brand equity is the overall market strength of a brand.
What is your brand worth in the marketplace? High-value brands are memorable and authentic, and inspire loyalty in their customers. Brand value is a huge asset – it’s how you keep customers coming back in an ever-changing marketplace, even when you have a myriad of competitors.
When your brand is valuable, consumers trust you.
Think of a brand like Coca-Cola. The value of the Coca-Cola brand is most likely equal to, if not exceeding, the value of all the physical assets of the company (like warehouses, factories, offices, personnel, etc).
Imagine if Coca-Cola sold its brand. The company that bought them would have an instant foothold in the market. And that’s not because Coke is delicious, it’s because people know the brand.
It goes to show that the power– the value– of the company isn’t just in its production capacity. It’s in the strength of their mindshare.
The value of branding isn’t all abstract. The impact of a valuable brand can be seen in concrete, measurable ways. A strong brand makes your sales and marketing teams, as well as your internal hiring practices, much more effective – directly increasing revenue.
Powerful branding supercharges your sales team
Consumers use a bold brand as shorthand, so your sales team doesn’t have to introduce everything about you in every sale.
By developing a well-recognized identity that communicates an authentic concept, people feel a connection to the special offering you provide. That connection forges loyalty, which rises above features and benefits.
Branding makes it easier for your sales team to close deals and get new business because their targets already know what the company is about and are connected to it through the brand.
Branding boosts your marketing efficacy
Marketing is a short-term investment and can reap great returns. But you will end up wasting time and money on disparate marketing campaigns without a solid brand identity and equity to base them on.
When your brand is strong, your marketing efforts are more focused and therefore more effective.
With a solid brand, marketing and branding work in a symbiotic relationship, each reinforcing the other.
Your branding efforts create a loyal consumer base, while your marketing efforts strengthen your brand identity by getting your message out to the right people.
There are internal benefits to building a strong brand
Your brand develops a sense of spirit among the people who stand behind them.
Spirited organizations are highly effective because the hearts and souls of the employees, investors, and contractors are committed to their success.
Here is the true value of your branding efforts, broken down in detail:
1. Brand equity is on the balance sheet
Executives tend to look for ROI on branding initiatives as a way to determine budget levels. But equity isn’t found on your P&L; it’s on the Balance Sheet.
Brand value is an asset, so consider the budget as an investment. The ROI will be long-term, contributing to the valuation of the organization.
2. Brand value is often greater than book value
In many cases, the value of a great brand can eclipse the value of a company’s tangible assets.
Brands like Coke and Google drive valuations far higher than the sum of their facilities and inventory. Taking an investor’s approach to branding opens up the opportunity for high rates of return.
3. Branding drives more than revenue
Branding does increase revenues by making your sales, marketing, and hiring more effective. But it’s also more than the sum of its parts– a strong brand can drive up the entire value of your organization.
Branding is a long-term, capitalized investment that delivers benefits over time.
4. Brand value is largely emotional
The degree to which your customers form an emotional connection with your company has huge ramifications for your longevity in the marketplace and ability to capture mindshare.
It is through branding that customers form an emotional bond with your company, elevating the interaction from a simple transaction to something much more meaningful. That’s what gets them to return, choosing you over a competitor.
This translates to strong brand loyalty even when your offerings change.
5. Branding is a strategic investment
Branding is an essential element of your strategic plan, requiring an integrated consideration from leadership. Attempting to assemble piecemeal funding from the marketing department alone is like leveraging investing for retirement with loose change.
With a solid understanding of the value of branding, it’s clear why you need to allot funding and energy to such a critical initiative. Branding is an all-encompassing process that reverberates internally and externally through your company over time.
The results for companies with strong brand equity speak for themselves. If you’re dedicated to building long-term value in your company, it’s important to keep an eye on your brand.
If you’re ready to build value in your company through branding, we’re ready to help. As a top branding agency in Los Angeles, we’ve helped hundreds of companies across industries sharpen their position and clarify their place in the market.
Branding aligns your team and connects your customers. And the value of that cannot be overstated.
At one level, “everything” refers to the make-or-break success of branding and rebranding campaigns – if you don’t have good branding, you aren’t going to have a competitive edge and reach your potential. At another level, “everything” refers to the totalizing nature of branding.
It’s the sum of all internal and external parts of your business. And the benefits of branding impact both.
The 6 essential benefits of branding
Brand is everything. It’s a huge statement.
In this essay, we’re going to break down why branding is so important – and share some of the benefits of branding.
What does it do for your company?
What does it do for your employees?
And what does it do for your loyal customers?
A strong brand strategy is a critically important part of building longevity in a rapidly changing market. But longevity isn’t the only benefit of branding. As a top branding firm in Los Angeles, here are some of the other benefits our clients experienced after letting us build their brands:
Internal benefits of branding
Branding impacts the very spirit of your company, which impacts your day-to-day operations.
1. Better, more engaged talent
Your brand isn’t just for your customers. It’s just as much for your employees. A part of your brand strategy process should include defining your company values, culture, and philosophy. Strong brands rally their teams around a unified mission, resulting in alignment and cooperation.
One of the benefits of branding is making people feel something for your company – and that affects your employees even more closely than it does your customers.
In fact, 72% of recruiting leaders worldwide say that employer branding has a significant impact on hiring. People want to work for a company that they know stands for something and aligns with their own sense of purpose.
2. Increased revenue
One of the most desired benefits of branding is its impact on revenue. And this is three-fold.
Branding helps qualify customers more quickly, helping improve marketing efforts and decrease acquisition costs by quickly attracting the right people who are most likely to become customers. This in turn has a tremendous impact on sales teams, allowing them to focus their time on helping prospects who are qualified and ready to buy.
Further, another surprising benefit of branding is lower price sensitivity. This means customers give less weight to price when they are purchasing from a business with an intentional brand identity.
Lastly, branding goes hand-in-hand with increased revenue because it creates loyalty and repeat customers. It’s much easier to re-engage an existing customer than a new one. And research shows that 57% of customers spend more money on brands they’re loyal to.
3. Streamlined product launches and marketing efforts
The benefits of a strong brand mean you don’t have to figure it out from scratch every time your company evolves.
Whether it’s launching a new product or service (and navigating product marketing vs brand marketing), expanding into a new market territory, or managing a new acquisition, your established brand paves the path forward.
It acts as a guiding light that empowers better decisions, streamlining complex business changes and ensuring that stakeholders are all on the same page.
External benefits of branding
Your brand affects your customers on multiple different levels.
4. Increases loyalty
This is one of the benefits of branding that straddles both internal and external parts of your company.
Customer brand loyalty is the natural effect of a positive experience, product satisfaction, and the perceived value of your offering.
Getting customers to buy is one thing– getting them to return again and again is another. While marketing may get people in the door, branding is what really cultivates loyalty. Loyalty can only be formed if customers have a reason to believe. Knowing what you stand for and what drives you as a company allows them to align their beliefs with yours.
Engaging with something they believe in is a much stronger motivator for repeat action than simply buying a product or service they want.
And as your brand loyalty grows, so too does your brand reputation.
5. Creates a stronger connection
Brands use emotional branding motivators to elevate transactions to memorable experiences. When it’s more than a purchase, people are driven to action.
They’re not just buying a car, they’re buying adventure.
They’re not just buying a computer, they’re buying innovation.
They’re not just joining a gym, they’re joining a community.
This is an incredible benefit of branding that fosters long-term engagement and staying power in a crowded market. A huge part of branding is about figuring out what feeling you want to inspire in people, then engineering the response.
We’ve written extensively on the powerful relationship between branding and emotion– check out this series of articles for more information.
6. Improves brand recognition
Strong brands are instantly recognizable through visual cues and messages.
In a crowded marketplace, you have just .05 seconds to make an impression. It’s essential that you stand out from the competition.
Having a clear brand strategy process means having a plan to align your brand voice and identity across all platforms and mediums, ensuring consistent presentation. The easier it is for customers to know who you are, the better they can make decisions. In fact, a consistent brand presentation has been seen to increase revenue by 33%.
Ready to experience the benefits of branding?
The multiple benefits of branding aren’t always obvious. Branding can have a huge effect on your business – internally and externally. Whether meant to boost your company culture, boost sales, or increase customer loyalty, a well-executed brand-driven strategy makes a major impact.
As such, you shouldn’t think of a branding or rebranding campaign as a secondary part of marketing. We are a branding firm in Los Angeles that’s dedicated solely to crafting exceptional brands.
Branding requires resources, time, and effort. By enlisting an experienced, professional team with a proven process, you can let your internal team focus on their primary roles. Partnering with a trusted agency helps bring out the authentic core of who you are. At Flux, we help companies bring their stories to life. If you’re ready to take your brand from now to next, we’re here to help.
The potential for long-term success makes a branding campaign more than worth it.
Launched in 2006, it’s a time to celebrate the power of design in our everyday lives. Held in conjunction with the National Design Awards, it’s an exciting time to shine a spotlight on some of the world’s most exciting designers and design thinkers.
The National Design Awards is a Cooper Hewitt initiative launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council. The awards and its associated public programs seek to increase national awareness of the impact of design in our everyday life.
Reflecting the ever-growing scope of design, the National Design Awards program currently includes nine award categories:Design Visionary, Climate Action, Emerging Designer, Architecture / Interior Design, Communication Design, Digital Design, Fashion Design, Landscape Architecture, and Product Design.
In addition to the annual awards ceremony, Cooper Hewitt integrates National Design Award winners in a series of educational programs happening throughout the year and during National Design Week.
Check out all of the incredible winners at the awards site. From building affordable and beautiful housing, to recycling vintage textiles in men’s fashion, to visualizing big data at a human scale, the featured work is truly extraordinary. Many of the recipients are using inventive materials and incorporating digital technologies in their work.
While they’re all unique, they share the common ground of using design as a way to approach some of our world’s greatest challenges. Design affects the way we live and understand our time. Congratulations to these design mavericks who are endlessly inspiring.
Below is a small sample of the amazing work these Designers produce.
Nader Tehrani, Tanderrum Pedestrian Bridge, a new pedestrian bridge (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2016). Collaborator: John Wardle Architects. Photo: Kristoffer Paulsen
Giorgia Lupi, Mindworks: The Science of Thinking, data visualization and experience design for the world’s first working lab dedicated to behavioral science, hosted by the University of Chicago (Chicago, Illinois, 2020). Project Partners: Abbott Miller (Pentagram), Luke Hayman (Pentagram), K&S Partners. Photo: Tom Rossiter
CW&T, Penny Pelican, a penny farthing style cargo bike for hauling around goods and small children (Brooklyn, New York, 2018). Photo: CW&T
It’s always fun to see the brands we make enter into the world. We’ve been hard at work with Cityview Developers to craft identities for several of their new major residential projects across Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, Alex and Olivia attended the naming unveiling ceremony at LIV, an amenities-forward building in Mid-City that we named, positioned, and built the entire visual language for.
The building’s location near LA’s museum row and particularly the Los Angeles County Museum of Art makes it a perfect place for creative minds, and the event definitely had an artistic flair. A local spoken word artist introduced the name with a poem, while a painter created a work that will be hung in the finished lobby.
The event also featured live jazz, an oyster bar, and a cotton candy machine.
We had a great time seeing how far the building has come since we last toured the property and seeing all the attendees experience the name and logo we created for the first time. The signage we designed will be going up soon, and we can’t wait to print the fun brand experience pieces we developed, including a set of postcards featuring original art.
A lot of love and effort goes into taking a brand from idea to reality, and we so enjoyed getting to celebrate that together. Take a look at the website we designed. It will give a taste of the brand we created for LIV on pico.
Knowing who you are isn’t always easy, and communicating it powerfully and succinctly is even harder. It’s challenging to sum up the complex facets of your offering, beliefs, and differentiators, especially if you’re looking from the inside out. But a clear perception who you are is essential to creating a cohesive brand that inspires action and loyalty, both internally and externally. In branding, we call this your brand position– how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers, competitors, and employees.
Crafting the brand position is the first step of the branding process. It’s an essential strategic document that lays the foundation for all further brand expression. It defines who you are, what you do, and how you show up. Read on to learn how to look deep inside your brand to find your true north. Are you headed in the right direction?
What is a Brand Position?
A brand position is a strategic internal document that forms the basis for all external messaging. Your brand position is how you are strategically located within the marketplace, expressed through a combination of concept, visuals, and tone. We talk a lot about how successful brands aren’t just promising goods and services– they’re promising emotional rewards. Your brand position is where that feeling comes from. It defines what people think of when they come into contact with your brand. A positioning document should include several core elements:
Personality
A brand position is a strategic internal document that forms the basis for all external messaging. Your brand position is how you are strategically located within the marketplace, expressed through a combination of concept, visuals, and tone. We talk a lot about how successful brands aren’t just promising goods and services– they’re promising emotional rewards. Your brand position is where that feeling comes from. It defines what people think of when they come into contact with your brand. A positioning document should include several core elements:
Archetype: What’s your fundamental character?
Archetypes are immediately recognizable characters that recur across cultures. Though it’s not outwardly expressed, the archetype informs your overall tone and feel. Associating your brand with an archetype ensures that it resonates at a subconscious, intuitive level. Are you an explorer? A magician? Read more about archetypes here.
Concept: What’s your big idea?
Your concept expresses who you are in a bold, simple statement. This is the underpinning strategic message that sums it all up, accompanied by a creative treatment to set the voice of the brand.
Mood Board: How do you look?
A collage of images and colors, the mood board creates an atmosphere, begins to express a color scheme, and sets the emotional tone. Is your brand mysterious and sexy? Bright and poppy? The mood board is an important step in visualizing your brand feel before a full brand identity is established.
Ethos
Core Values: What do you believe? What do you stand for?
These internal beliefs are a tool for creating a cohesive culture and ensuring internal alignment throughout your organization.
Promises: What sets you apart?
Promises are the unique factors that differentiate you from the competition, and what you need to communicate to your customers right off the bat.
People
Customer Personas: Who do you sell to?
Understanding the segments of your audience is key to knowing how to position your brand. Your brand should speak specifically to the hopes and fears of your customers.
Find Your Position
Crafting your brand position is the first major step of the branding process. At Flux, we use the IDEA method to build brands that speak loud and clear. In the first phase, IGNITE, we collaborate with you to learn all the raw intelligence about your company, competitors, customers, and more. Then, we distill it into a brand position that will strategically locate you in the marketplace while always being an authentic reflection of who you are. This process of contextualizing your brand is essential to creating an effective position. There are 3 critical contexts that need to be understood:
Know your target market: understand your customers. What are they looking for? What challenges do they face? How are they differentiated? We create customer psychographics to get deep into the mindset of your target audiences.
Know your competitors: who else is in your space? How are they positioned? You definitely don’t want to disappear into the crowd. We undertake competitive research to understand the landscape in which your brand exists and ensure you’re doing something unique.
Know yourself: what do you stand for? Why do you do what you do? A brand position must be authentic to succeed. In guided sessions, we uncover your purpose and intention.
The position is the foundation for your brand. Armed with a brand position document, you’ll be able to bring employees and collaborators into the brand effectively. You’ll resonate emotionally with your customers and stand out from the competition. It’s the first step in creating a cohesive presence that’s instantly recognizable and highly memorable. Without a brand position, there is no brand.
Positioning Examples
We’ve positioned hundreds of brands across industries. Here are a few examples:
Groveland: One of the oldest hotels in the Yosemite area, the Groveland needed a brand that would support its forward evolution while still paying homage to its historic roots. We positioned the brand to speak to a timeless feeling: big adventure and wide open exploration. We brought it to life with an identity that’s both modern and classic, with a clear sense of California heritage. SEE MORE >
Respara: This new apartment building in one of LA’s most desirable neighborhoods wanted to exude private luxury. Unique because of its hidden location at the end of a residential cul-de-sac, we positioned the brand as a secret hideaway for those who want a retreat in the city. SEE MORE >
Poppy: A family owned vacation rentals company needed a brand refresh with a generational change of leadership. After in-depth interviews with stakeholders and employees plus a competitive review, we positioned this company as vacation rental matchmakers. Based on the idea of “love your stay,” they’ll find you the vacation rental that fulfills all your getaway dreams. We crafted a brand that spoke to their sunny personality and Palm Springs roots. SEE MORE >
What’s Your Direction?
Your position is the start of your path. With the right position, you’ll keep moving forward. With the wrong one, your brand may struggle to find its footing in a crowded market. At Flux, we guide brands on their journey to brilliance. We’re insatiably curious about how things work and what makes people tick. We’d love to get to know you. If you’re ready to find your path, get in touch.
We’re not all racing fans at Flux– but Alex has convinced us why the sport is worth talking about. Not only are the cars themselves an example of design and engineering, the Formula 1 brand is a fascinating case study of rebranding strategy. In honor of Alex’s amazing experience, we’re diving into why the F1 rebrand has proven so successful– and what you can learn from it.
After polls showed a steep decline in viewership and new ownership took over the company in 2017, Formula 1 began a rebrand process that has been nothing short of stunning. What had once been a highly technical niche sport for elites has now become one of the most watched sports by young people with a die-hard fan base around the world. They’ve gone from a sports company to a global media entertainment brand. It’s not just about showing races on TV. It’s all about connecting with fans.
Liberty Media, F1’s new owner, approached the business like a media company rather than a sports team. Chase Carey was appointed to lead the organization, signaling a major shift in leadership priorities. Carey had been COO of Fox, Inc., CEO of DirectTV, president and COO of News Corporation, and, most recently, former vice-chairman of 21st Century Fox. Before Carey’s appointment, Formula 1 had no formal marketing, promotion, sponsorship, or digital departments. They had a chance to really rebuild the brand from the ground up– and it’s an opportunity they didn’t waste.
Since unveiling a modern and slick new logo in 2017, the company has steadily built a wildly successful digital strategy that has been hugely effective in converting more and more people into fans. From Youtube videos to a Netflix show to allowing their drivers to post on social media and interact directly with fans, F1 created a content strategy that propelled them from the outskirts to the center of the sports universe.
Formula 1 figured out what they were missing– emotional connection. So they looked inward, and figured out what makes the sport so special. With clarity on what they stand for and what they want to mean to their audiences, they built an ironclad strategy for bringing that message to the world across platforms. Their new look, feel, brand voice, and branded content are all reflections of a strong initial strategy, and a commitment to following it at every level of brand experience.
This month, we’re featuring a brand we built for Flax Coffee Co., an organic coffee company known for their flax seed and coffee blend. We positioned this unique beverage, inspired by the Ethiopian telba drink, and crafted a unique brand identity that was carried across packaging and collateral.
We love packaging, and creating the bags for Flax Coffee Co. was so fun for us. Here on the blog, we’re giving you a peek into coffee packaging that inspires us. Check out the incredible design of these coffee brands. With one of these bags in your morning routine, you’ll want to keep your eyes open– no caffeine needed.
Halfwit Coffee Roasters
Mad scientist meets coffee enthusiast. This retro future collage style is humorous and unique, offering tons of personality at first glance.
Blend Station
This coffee shop in Mexico City is tons of fun, with bright colors and playful illustrations throughout their brand. But it’s the graphic, high contrast packaging that’s really memorable– those two eyes set in a black background stick with you immediately.
Square One Coffee Roasters
Hypnotizing patterns and a cylindrical container make this coffee from Square One almost an art piece. Super minimal and simple but still enticing and engaging– a hard balance to strike.
Papa Palheta Brand Experience Kit
While more than just a coffee bag, this kit is too cool to ignore.The kit features a connoisseur’s tasting notes record sheet, informative brewing guide that suggests the golden water-to-coffee ratio and a cake recipe card to create the perfect pairing with coffee, encouraging the coffee drinker to explore the all aspects of coffee culture.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters
In a sector where most coffee packaging feels modern and graphic, Stumptown is a unique standout. It has an artisanal, 70’s vibe that makes it feel like an artifact from a larger story, or a window into a different world. It communicates an atmosphere, pulling the viewer in.
Which one is your favorite? Drop us a note and tell us about it.
