Branding? First Step: Your Creative Brief
by Emily Hall
So you’ve decided to take the plunge and update your brand…where to start? If you’re working with a creative team, you can expect them to lead you through a discovery process that results in a Creative Brief. Ultimately, the Brief outlines your project’s goals – an important foundation for several reasons:
It defines the problem you want to solve with your rebrand or brand refresh.
It answers tough questions and gets your team on the same page about what needs to be achieved.
It outlines the competitive landscape and your position within it.
It focuses the creative team on what’s important to you, so they can best tell your story.
It shows the creative team your likes and dislikes.
It serves as a guidepost that your team uses to evaluate creative options.
A Creative Brief can be short and sweet, especially for a brand refresh or a very small firm with one stakeholder and/or one client type. For slightly larger firms, those who plan to grow, or firms with multiple stakeholders, it helps to develop a more thorough Brief.
At the very least, a Creative Brief should answer:
What is our Mission, Vision, Firm Values, and Value Proposition?
What makes us different?
Who are our clients? What do they value? Why do they choose us?
What’s our brand personality and “tone of voice”?
What ISN’T our brand personality?
What do we NEED our brand to communicate?
Who is our competition and what do their brand identities look like? Who would we like to be competing with (aspirationally)?
What brands/websites do we like?
Aesthetic preference survey: what are our likes and dislikes?
A more thorough Brief might also include:
Client interviews to help clarify differentiators and common themes.
Employee surveys to better understand your culture.
SWAT analyses and/or strategic planning exercises.
Messaging work and taglines.
Client personas for multiple client types.
With each of CVG’s branding projects, we bring our familiarity with the A/E/C industry and our overall understanding of the architecture business to the Discovery Phase. This instinctively tells us where we need to dig deeper in our questioning, what interesting messaging ideas have yet to be explored, and how to turn over metaphorical rocks to arrive at a truly authentic, unique brand to represent you.
If you’re curious about rebranding or a brand refresh, schedule a free 30-minute consultation below: