Brand Stories

What is in an identity ?
Identity tells stories. Identity can be made up of many components. Brand, logo, public image, characteristics and many other aspects. Every part of an identity should all tell the same story, convey the same message and accepted or agreed by the general public.




A brand is anything and everything. A school, a city, a country, a product,they are all are and have brands. From my perspective, I consider Singapore as a product, and a brand name and Singapore has been selling herself to attract investments, tourist and talent, and she has to do it to survive, as she does not have any other form of natural ( except human ) resources that she can conveniently exploit for the good of the society.




Singapore Inc, much like many MNC can have many brands, but the core Identity is more or less the same. Minor tweaks have been made to appeal and satisfy the differing needs and taste of every unique market. The brand has to stays true to its roots and it makes a strong identity.



But what is the Singapore identity I asked myself this when I had trouble pin pointing an identity that says Singapore when i was trying to design the YOG logo . 



We have been trying,enthusiastically over the last couple of years to give this tiny nation an identity to set itself apart from the major cities of the world. Many attempts to re-brand ourselves, some were applaud while some where frown upon. Icons that were christened before they were built, landmarks that failed to impress on too many scales.



I came to the conclusion that we are a melting pot of cultures and identity, and too a young nation, and we are at a crossroads to a new Singapore, both literally and figuratively. I agree I was just lazy to, as it is such a daunting task to create an Identity for a corporation that has 4 million employees. 


• 10 mistakes when creating an identity.

  


• Long names, keep it short, not more than 4 syllabus long.

• Generic names, such as golden apple bridal studio, makes it hard to register and copy right. Problems will arise when creating a web domain name, or e-mail address for it, it adds clutter next to a logo. The brand name should say (my company) not any thing else. Mcdonalds says fast food, Nokia says finnish mobile phones.
• International appeal , brand names that is able to cross cultures and borders with no need to deviate too much, or have problems with translation. Fiat’s Punto in Brazil was known as small penis. 

• “Dynamic” logo, that keeps changing before the customer can remember it.

• Change for the sake of changing is not an easy way out to re-brand itself or to play catch up with the industry

• Inconsistent image projected by the company and its employee always leads to a PR nightmare and dilutes the Identity.

• Brand extension is not always the answer to introduce new products. Brand extension should be used sparingly and only applies to a line of product or services that has little or no differing elements in them.Kraft food inc was in trouble when customers failed to recall its product (except for its processed cheese). Its brand name was so diluted and spread thinly over the huge range of products that customers had a problem placing name to product into the right pile.
• Design brief that are either not well thought through, with no directions and clear objectives. A good brief, is… well far from being a brief or sparse, should have enough information to guide yet not limit its potential of the designer.
• Promises and objectives were not shared or known by everyone internally and thus these promises and objectives are not met which disappoints the public.

• Poor Judgment, this typically happens with asian companies who till today, fail to see the importance and value of branding. The boss top management has the final say without consulting a professional and usually that is the biggest mistake of all as this just includes the previous 9 mistakes, all rolled into one to create a brand disaster. 









I guess, an identity can be created, or if not, left on it’s own to manifest and when the public has a common idea of what it stands for, capitalize on it. 



Identity can be very expensive to create, implement and upkeep.


But an identity, when simply put is a unique user ID, an avatar, or an e-mail address to help people recognize you at an instance.



That will help create a strong identity and lasting impressions



Next week , the all important element of a brand that greets a customers before anything else. The Logo