Creative Brand Strategy: Task 1A & 1B

 04.04.2022 - 25.04.2023 (Week 1 - Week 4)

Adeline Wong Chyn Nee / 0344017 / Tai Li Lian
Creative Brand Strategy
Task 1A & 1B / Case Study and Campaign Proposal



LECTURES

Week 01
Introduction To Creative Brand Strategy


Understanding Brand Strategy:
In this lecture, we learned about the fundamentals of brand strategy, its connection with consumer needs and emotions, and its role in creating competitive advantages.

We learn that a brand strategy that is well-defined and executed affects all aspects of a business. Elements of a brand strategy include purpose, consistency, emotion, flexibility, employee involvement, loyalty, and competitive awareness. 

Getting to Know the Projects:
We also learn from the slides that we will be executing 3 tasks in this module with 2 separate tasks in the first two, and a final task so a total of 5. We also learn that the design journal maintain as important as ever and that we should not neglect it. It is important for our idea rationalization and to convince the audience.

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Week 02
Introduction To The Branding Process
Fig. 1.1 Brand Development diagram (source: W2 lecture slides)

Understanding Brand Strategy:
The second week focuses on brand positioning, which involves understanding the brand's target audience, market, vision, and mission. The four essential stages of basic branding development are formulating a brand strategy, creative execution, implementation, and brand communication.

Getting to Know Brand Experience:
Additionally, brand experience is critical in creating an emotional connection with the audience through the brand's style and communication with clients. Positioning, personal branding, SWOT analysis, and customer journey mapping are all critical components of branding.


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Week 03
Introduction To The Creative Brief:


Fig. 1.2 Brand Positioning Statement Formula (source: W3 lecture slides)

The third week of the lecture discusses creating a creative brief and developing a big idea for the brand, which involves understanding the target market, researching all necessary data, and solidifying the brand's core values and attributes. The big idea is expressed in a sentence or tagline and should have enough ambiguity for future development. The brand positioning statement comprises the target customer, market definition, brand promise, and reason to believe. Figure 1.1 shows the big idea in detail.


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Week 04
Introduction To Touch Points:
Fig. 1.3 Cohesive Visual Identify & Brand Experience (source: W4 lecture slides)

Understanding Brand Touch Points:
In the week 4 lecture, we learn about brand touchpoints, a consumer's possible interactions,
and exposures to a brand. Prioritizing brand marketing activities involves listing the various brand marketing activities and touchpoints, evaluating them, and adding them to the consumer journey map. A mood board, campaign logo wordmark, color palette, typography, visual style, and photography are essential components of brand touchpoints that provide clear guidance and affirmation of the brand identity.




INSTRUCTIONS






Task 1A / Case Study

Week 01 - Week 02

In week one, Ms. Lilian gave us a brief of the module and what to expect this semester. It was as serious as I remembered it but it was very clear and straightforward. For our first task, we have to choose to dissect an existing brand campaign which is not a new concept to us, however this time, we'll have to touch on the brand experience part such as features and activities as well as review the key visuals and how they are applied. 

One brand immediately came to my mind although I am not 100% sure of the ongoing campaigns, I love LEGO, and I just felt the need to choose this brand.

Specific Notes from Ms. Lilian:

Find out the purpose behind this campaign, for example, it’s to motivate people to have an active lifestyle by doing this this this.

From here, they feature merchandises which are the how, how were experienced, and used. Basically their reaction.

Lastly, look at the logo, colors, and typographies as key visuals. See how they are applied to their various platforms, even their social media posts.

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With these notes in mind, I head on to forming my case study on LEGO's Rebuild The World.

Fig. 2.1 LEGO "Rebuild The World' Promotional Image

Fig. 2.2 LEGO "Rebuild The World' Promotional Clip

Fig. 2.3 LEGO "Rebuild The World' Official Website




Slides Development:

Ms. Lilian gave us feedback during week 3, when we showed our progress for task 1(B), she advised that I should add more activities and examples.

Finalized Slide:

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Task 1B / Campaign Proposal

Week 03 - Week 04

In week two, just right after our presentation for Task 1(A), we were immediately reminded and briefed about Task 1(B) again. This time, we were more sure about the requirements and what we need to show Ms. Lilian by which week. That day, we shared our ideas with her to get approval to proceed. For me, my favorite color always comes to mind... GREEN, what is green, vegetables hmm... and some fruits. How about I do something healthy-related! The first thing that popped into my mind when I thought of health and 'green", was somehow Village Grocer. They always give off n image that they sell the best fruits and vegetables, although not at the cheapest price. So I thought that building a campaign off this brand would be a good idea, it is also flexible as it's a big brand and already "green" enough to establish a campaign related to health.  

In better words, for this second task, campaign proposal, we are to propose a brand campaign. The campaign will be for a well establish brand of our choosing and may take the form of a concept, cause, event, launch, personality, etc.

The suggested proposal outline goes like this, it starts from our campaign description, brand story, objective & purpose, brand values, vision & mission, target audience, and organizers. SWOTs, brand positioning. Furthermore, we are to identify the brand touch points by producing a Customer Journey Map.


When constructing the proposal, I faced a problem where I did not know how to place my touchpoints in relation to the consumers, after a feedback session with Ms. Lilian, she advised me to simply apply them to my Customer Journey Map after knowing my customer and business goals, all I had to do was see where the touchpoints would suit in that stage of a customer brand experience. So that was what I did here:

Before knowing how to put touchpoints into use...

Fig. 3.1 Screenshots of touchpoint pages (pages 4 to 5)

After knowing how to put touchpoints into use!


Fig. 3.2 Screenshots of touchpoint pages (pages 4 to 6)

I then updated my Customer Journey Map, which in my case, is mapped out in MIRO. Here is the touchpoint overview before and after the feedback session.

Fig. 3.3 Screenshots of touchpoint overview


Fig. 3.4 Screenshots of touchpoint overview

Another confusion/ problem I faced was during week 4's class. Myself and a few fellow classmates did not know there isn't a need for us to present, and therefore I prepared my slides in presentation form, with point forms and pictures with no description on the side. So I changed it and updated it later that week. Here are my before and after presentation slides.

Before realizing...
After realizing...




FEEDBACK

Week 2
Overall Feedback
Task 1B:
- We were advised to show more of the concept and less of the brand
- For more info, we have to refer to the framework in MIB, from there we can arrange our ideas
- Brand is just a context and therefore the design should not be influenced by the main brand.
- We have to create a campaign brand story that connects the brand to the campaign
- There can be other collaborators under “in support of” collaboration
- We are to execute the SWOT analysis as followed, execute SW as internal and OT as external factors such as Covid and the rise/ fall of the economy, then turn it into an opportunity at the end
- We should on who are we providing to and how are we providing it?
- We have to have a customer journey map (show the experience and awareness of consumers chronologically)
- The features are a way to tell info to the consumers, we are to create touchpoints such as emotions, needs, and benefits from the campaign)
We are required to show our solid framework on week 3

Specific feedback
Task 1A: I was told that I should provide more examples in my slides and the activities part was lacking. Not only that, I was told that my Brand Value was not right and should be corrected.

Task 1B: I got positive feedback and was told to continue research and show a more developed proposal next week.


Week 3
Specific feedback
Task 1B:
- I was told to focus on conveying "the best-grade fruits and vegetables" and incorporate that into the brand value, mission, SWOT, and so on...
- I didn't know that "Collaborators" mean the brand itself too, so I was reminded by Ms. Lilian to add Village Grocer to my list of collaborators as well as WHO Malaysia
- I was advised to have more points for my SWOT
- I was advised to place my touchpoints in relation to the consumers, by simply applying them to my Customer Journey Map after knowing my customer and business goals, all I had to do was see where the touchpoints would suit that stage of a customer brand experience


Week 4
Overall Feedback
Task 2A: At least 9 social media posts, need to fill up one 3x3. Social media touchpoints are more for task 3 but can start planning. For the website, what kind of website pages do you want, product, merchandise, payment page, and so on… The video has to be an introduction or a promotional video for the event to be launched, put up an example of how you want your video to be, and have a reference. We are to design a mood board, can have more than one, out more if want, and break them down to visual style, typography, headline, body, and so on, we also have to look at graphical elements as additional visuals for videos and merchandise, so on. We also have to think about the logo, how to design the campaign name, and what possible typefaces we want to go for. We also need to look into color palettes, we have to choose a good range and have primary, and secondary colors for their uses. The tone and voice and personality have to be looked into as well (eg. friendly, welcoming). They can be utilized in social media posts, to keep them consistent.

We are allowed to alter and refine our previous task at the next task. 

Specific feedback
Task 2A: 
- I was advised to reword my description to a reader's pov
- I showed Ms. Lilian many touchpoints that are all not confirmed to be made, so she advised that I choose a few vital ones for my campaign's design direction.
- She mentioned that one touchpoint that I must have other than the required ones is the shopping bag.
- I was reminded once again that I should not be focusing on the brand and instead, I should put my focus on the campaign only. I thought about including a membership touchpoint and was immediately told not to as it relates strongly to the brand and not the values of the campaign.
- I was told to have more references for my touchpoints for next week's feedback session



REFLECTION

Finishing these tasks was probably the most effective procrastination preventer, from back-to-back submissions and proposal feedback sessions. I learned to time myself so much that I started using a Podomoro timer when it comes to finishing CBS tasks haha! Other than finishing the tasks themselves, what we did in these two tasks made me truly understand on a deeper level the right way to propose a brand campaign's background, and then construct a fresh one from the flesh of my brain. I feel that I was lacking in task 1(A) because I was starting out with it and did not know exactly everything that we need for a comprehensive case study, so I ultimately missed a point or two. However, I feel that in the second, I tried my best to expand on what I know and what I want to convey. I even learned to create a Customer Journey Map which I was totally intimidated by at the beginning, but that's what unfamiliar things do to us I guess. Overall, I am proud of the brand campaign I came up with in task 1(B), and I can only hope Ms. Llilan feels the same too, haha.



FURTHER READING

Customer Journey Map


A customer journey map is a diagram (or several diagrams) that depicts the stages customers go through when interacting with a company, from buying products online to accessing customer service on the phone to airing grievances on social media.


A customer journey map comprises various elements, such as customer stages, buyer personas, customer touchpoints, and emotions. Initially, identifying customer stages, including inquiry, comparison, purchase, installation, and loyalty/advocacy, is essential. Buyer personas are composite models of market segments, which help predict customer behavior and feelings. Customer touchpoints, such as phone calls and chatbots, must be included at each stage. Lastly, emotions play a significant role in predicting customers' feelings, enabling brands to identify potential issues and successes.




REFERENCE

Mixon, E., Horwitz, L., Horwitz, L., & Scardina, J. (2020). customer journey map. Customer Experience. https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/customer-journey-map

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