What to expect from a brand workshop and strategy

If you're investing in your business, perhaps with marketing campaigns, or a new website, it is vital that your brand is in the best possible shape – before you start all this.

The first step: a brand workshop.

But if you’re not sure exactly what you're getting for your money when you book a brand workshop, allow us to remove the mystery and reassure you there's no smoke and mirrors – just clear, logical steps based on trusted principles.

Brand before all else

When a client comes to us seeking help with a website, we tend to lead with the question: 'Are you happy with your brand?'. We do this because every business, every project, starts with a brand.

We also do this because both visually, communicatively and in terms of values, trying to fit an outdated brand into a new strategy (if it is no longer fit for purpose or reflective of the organisation) means wasting valuable time and resource, retracing steps and launching with something that somehow isn't quite right and will affect performance.

Once we've determined the state of your brand, you will either proceed to the campaign planning, or new site discovery, or we will book in a brand strategy session if you feel there are elements that need developing.

What is a brand workshop and what happens?

A brand workshop is a structured, goal-oriented meeting that aims to establish exactly how your brand looks, feels and performs. It involves a series of exercises and activities that help to define your proposition.

Getting the right people in the room

Branding could mean anything from a visual refresh, through to a complete overhaul – it will be tailored to your needs, never sold to you 'just because'.

The vital step here is getting the right people into the session. We tend to suggest a maximum of three or four key stakeholders or decision makers with varied involvement in the brand.

With too many people, it becomes tricky to give everyone space and time to contribute. With too few people, we don't get a diverse look at how your team views current brand elements and their performance.

A session designed to suit your needs

While the session is based on key principles, it is never one size fits all – our team will curate the session based on your needs. This involves a deep-dive into your brand's past, present and future, looking at key themes, values, objectives and ideal customers.

Hands-on exercises

These sessions are designed to pull people out of their comfort zones and challenge your perception of your brand, pushing you to examine what it is that external clients and stakeholders are invited to see (and if you feel it matches the desired look, feel and values).

We often tell people to suspend their pre-conceived notions about brand and answer without too much thought, to give the most honest and authentic responses. Having multiple stakeholders with different positions also helps with this, as each viewpoint will differ based on time with the company, and how they interact with the end user.

The exercises we undertake will vary from word association, through to the psychology of colour in design, and imagery. The end result will be a layer-by-layer review of your brand and what you need it to do for you, what you want it to stand for, and the elements we will use to help ensure it communicates these things.

What are the outcomes of a brand workshop?

The deliverables will vary depending on the level of strategy session you choose, but will include some of all of the following:

• Stylescapes – Enhanced moodboards to direct the styling and evolution of the brand's design elements
• Brand strategy document – The foundations of your brand: your pillars, your vision, mission, values, personality and archetypes (all based on outcomes of the session). This is worked on until all elements feel correct and, together with the brand (design) guidelines, becomes your 'brand bible'.
• Tone of voice exploration – A document which helps you understand and refine the way you sound, and how this impacts perceptions, response and understanding of the brand.
• Brand concept(s) – Development of one or more brand concepts, building on stylescapes to refine or redevelop your brand.
• Tone of voice guidelines – The final document that acts as a guide to all employees on how you communicate across multiple touchpoints to ensure consistency.
• Brand guidelines – The final document which details the optimum way to utilise and apply your branding, colourways, iconography, graphical elements and more.

Need a hand working out what's next for your brand?

Our experienced team of brand specialists help to build and shape brands across all sectors — we would be delighted to help yours embark on its next adventure. Click the ‘Get in touch’ button below to get the ball rolling.