18/12/2018 The Dos And Don'ts Of Building A Brand Identity (Part 1)

Forbes CommunityVoice Connecting expert communities to the Forbes audience. What is This?

7,146 views | Mar 5, 2018, 07:00am

The Dos And Don'ts Of Building A

Brand Identity (Part 1)
Katie Jansen CommunityVoice
Forbes Agency Council CommunityVoice

POST WRITTEN BY

Katie Jansen

Katie Jansen is CMO of AppLovin, a leading mobile marketing platform that helps brands reach over 2 billion
consumers with relevant content.

Pexels PEXELS

Creating a brand identity is more than just your logo. A brand identity is visual
and emotional and communicates relevance and trustworthiness. Building an
effective brand identity takes years of hard work and perpetual tweaking, but is
necessary for the success of your company.

When it comes to building and maintaining a brand identity, every little detail
matters. It’s a delicate task of following your core values while being brave
enough to adapt to changing market forces. This task is so hard that not even
multibillion-dollar companies get it right every time.

A strong brand identity can do wonders for a company; it can have people
humming your tune and thinking of your company when they see a certain shape
or color. In the tech industry, Amazon and Apple are obvious winners, as they’ve
been able to translate their brands to mobile. Their brands are infused
throughout many verticals and products, which is not an easy thing to do. In my
experience, it takes strict brand guidelines and a strong focus on keeping your
brand elevated no matter what.

In this first part of a two-part series, we’ll be taking a look at some of the dos of
building your brand identity through examples of some notable companies.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-1/#5cfa599e61bc 1/3
18/12/2018 The Dos And Don'ts Of Building A Brand Identity (Part 1)

Do: Keep things simple and focus on your core values.

Last year was the year of voice assistants, with Amazon’s Echo products
dominating the market. With Echo, Amazon moved ever-closer to delivering on
its company mission statement to be “Earth's most customer-centric company.”

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Amazon’s relentless focus on customer experience stems beyond its friendly

representatives and lenient return policy. With voice, Amazon is strengthening its
brand identity as being the most customer-centric company on earth by making it
easier than ever to buy what you want, whenever you want.

By focusing on its core value, Amazon not only manages to delight its customers
with a low-friction shopping experience using voice but also fosters trust that
Amazon will always put them first.

Companies should identify what makes them unique and allow that to guide their
core values. With these things in place, your messaging and brand identity will
become apparent.

Do: Be flexible and adapt to trends.

If you’re looking for an example of an established company successfully adapting

to trends, look no further than McDonald's. The fast-food giant was struggling in
the era of clean and healthy eating, but it managed to stay relevant with a
renewed brand identity. Last year, McDonald's announced that its most popular
menu item, the chicken nugget, would be free of artificial preservatives, adding to
the company’s artificial-preservative-free pork sausage patties and egg offerings.

But getting rid of artificial preservatives was just one aspect of McDonald’s
renewed, health-conscious brand identity. The company announced it would
move to using cage-free eggs exclusively by 2025. Additionally, the company
moved to using sandwich buns free of high fructose corn syrup.

By identifying food-specific trends, McDonald's rebranded itself as a fast food

chain for new, health-conscious consumers who still value convenience. This is
not to say that McDonald’s food is actually good for you, but it shows how an
established brand adapted to changing consumer tastes. The brand's strategy
seems to be working as its shares surged thanks to stronger than anticipated
sales.

Brands should always be analyzing the market for changing consumer behavior
and needs. Beyond looking at your product, look at the entire consumer flow
from start to finish to identify what pain points need resolving. Look at what
competitors are doing and see what you can do better. In my experience, taking
all of these factors into account can lead to a healthier brand identity that's
relevant to its consumers and the current times.

Do: Follow the data, but don’t underestimate emotion.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-1/#5cfa599e61bc 2/3
18/12/2018 The Dos And Don'ts Of Building A Brand Identity (Part 1)

When Netflix transitioned from its DVD-by-mail rental service, it followed data
but forgot to take into account one important thing: customer emotion. In 2011,
the company announced it would be splitting its DVD and online streaming
services in two; Netflix would stream video while Qwikster would deliver DVDs
by mail. Combined with a price increase a few months earlier, customer backlash
was immediate. The company lost 800,000 subscribers and lost goodwill because
it didn’t take into account customer emotion.

This didn’t stop Netflix from bouncing back and maintaining its dominance in the
streaming video space. The company quickly nixed Qwikster and its CEO publicly
apologized. Although months of planning and rebranding were wasted, it showed
that companies that accept and rectify mistakes can recover their brand identity.

It’s easy to get lost in the numbers as a data-driven business but it’s also
important to take a step back to make sure you don’t forget to ask obvious
questions like how customers will react to change. In my experience, one easy
way to gauge user sentiment is through surveys and beta tests before finalizing
updates to a product.

In part two, we’ll discuss the don’ts of building a brand identity by analyzing
some of the biggest branding mistakes from a variety of companies.

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in

successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do
I qualify?

Katie Jansen is CMO of AppLovin, a leading mobile marketing platform that

helps brands reach over 2 billion consumers with relevant content.

143,674 views | Nov 13, 2018, 09:30am

How Business Can Make An

Exponential Difference In The Lives
Of Students
Lisa Dughi Brand Contributor
Grads of Life BRANDVOICE

Lisa Dughi Brand Contributor

Lisa is Chief Operating Officer at NAF, a national network of education, business, and
community leaders who work together to ensure that traditionally underserved high school
students are college, career, and future ready. She oversees the Marketing &
Communications, St... Read More

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/03/05/the-dos-and-donts-of-building-a-brand-identity-part-1/#5cfa599e61bc 3/3