3. “Every advertisement should be thought
of as a contribution to the complex
symbol which is the brand image.”
- David Ogilvy
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
4. Waterfall Branding
“We hired a brand consultancy and developed a
grand brand strategy. Our ad agency went on to
create and produce an ad campaign that stepped
way ahead of our capability to deliver the brand
promise.
We ended up with customer disappointment,
internal conflicts, and brand credibility erosion.”
5. Defining Brand
A brand is the unique story that consumers recall
when they think of you. This story associates your
purpose with their personal stories, a particular
personality, what you promise to solve, and your
position relative to your competitors.
Your brand is represented by your visual symbols and
feeds from multiple conversations where you must
participate strategically.
6. “Regarding Lean Branding, simplicity is not the goal.
It is the result of a good idea, modest expectations,
constant testing, iterative execution, and ruthless
cutting.”
- Will Evans
7. A S K T H E S E Q U E S T I O N S :
• What is the deep seated, validated need
that we satisfy?
• What is our core competence? What are
we really good at?
• Why do we deserve to exist?
• What role does branding play in our
competitive strategy?
Defining Brand
8. • Trademarks (these are legal properties)
• Mission statement (this is a reminder)
• Logo or tagline (these are signatures)
• Products or services (these are the tangibles)
• Advertising (they are the vehicle)
What a Brand Isn’t
9. “The art of marketing is the art of
brand building. If you are not a
brand, you are a commodity.
Then price is everything and the
low-cost producer is the only
winner.” - Philip Kotler
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
10. Challenging Brand
§ Is it the personification of an organization, product or service?
§ Is it the source of a promise to the customer?
§ Is it a trust mark?
§ Is it a set of associations that enhance or detract from the related
product or service?
§ Is it a source of emotional connections with customers?
§ Is it something that should drive the deisgn of the total customer
experience?
§ Is it a singular concept embedded in the minds of the customer?
11. Branding as Storytelling
Man is, in his actions and practice, as well as in his
fictions, essentially a story-telling animal. He is not
essentially, but becomes through his history, a teller of
stories that aspire to truth. But the key question for
men is not about their own authorship; I can only
answer the question "What am I to do?" if I can
answer the prior question "Of what story or stories
do I find myself a part?"
12. “In societies where modern conditions of
production prevail, all of life presents itself
as an immense accumulation of spectacles.
Everything that was directly lived has
moved away into a representation.”
- Guy Debord
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
14. D E S I G N
T H I N K I N G
L E A N A 3
BRAND
STRATEGY
LEAN UX
BRANDING+ + =
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
15. D E S I G N
T H I N K I N G
L E A N A 3
BRAND
STRATEGY
LEAN UX
BRANDING+ + =
Customer
Psychology
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
16. D E S I G N
T H I N K I N G
L E A N A 3
BRAND
STRATEGY
LEAN UX
BRANDING+ + =
Customer
Psychology
Strategic
Experiments
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
17. D E S I G N
T H I N K I N G
L E A N A 3
BRAND
STRATEGY
LEAN UX
BRANDING+ + =
Customer
Psychology
Strategic
Experiments
Crafted
Messaging
SEMANTIC FOUNDRY ATELIERMADE WITH LOVE
18. “The brand needs to be reframed as a piece of
narrative. And it follows that the consumer is
no longer a mere ‘receiver’ of a message. We
have finally established a model that places the
consumer in a pivotal role — as a reader of
brand activity.”
— Chris Barnham
Branding as Storytelling
19. § Narratives are constantly changing
and open to interpretation.
§ There is no expectation of
permanence.
§ Authorship is irrelevant.
Brand Narrative
20. p u r p o s e
the reasons to tell
brand stories
Customer Stories Brand Stories
Brand advocate
Stories told through
social media
stories told to share
experiments
Strengthen positioning
Stories told through
paid & earned
media
Stories told to
leverage events
m e t h o d
the channels of
storytelling
opportunity
when to tell brand
stories
Brand Drivers
21. • Be relevant — you’re only as valuable as your
customers thing you are
• Be different — but only different where it
matters (like creating value)
• Always deliver — but never over-promis
• Have a story — connect your idea emotionally
with customers
• Open authorship — customers create the
brand along with you
Brand Principles
22. what is a brand?
narrative
lean branding methods
24. • What is your testable hypothesis about how
you will deliver value to customers?
• What experiment did you run?
• Can you repeat the experiment?
• What was the source of the insight?
• Did you validate that insight?
• How did you test your hypothesis?
• Can you distill it to one core promise?
Brand as Hypothesis
27. • What you believe in
• What you care about
• How you will make a difference
• What guides your decision making
Values
28. • You have identified a pain point in your
customers’ experience, and validated that it’s real.
• How do you plan on solving it?
Brand Promise
29. § A narrative, told from the perspective of your
customer, with a beginning, middle, and end.
§ It starts with your customer’s problem, and ends
with your solution easing their pain.
Story
30. • What is your name?
• Does it speak to your values?
• Does it resonate with your customers?
• Have you tested it?
• Does it align with your visual identity?
• Logo
• Colour Palette
• Copywriting
• Style Guide
Name
31. § State your promise as a hypothesis
§ Start small
§ Assume your message is wrong
§ Test your assumptions
§ Iterate based on customer feedback
§ Accept that you will fail
§ Be comfortable with a brand pivot
Lean Branding
32. “If you don’t talk to your customers,
how will you know how to talk to
your customers?”
- WILL EVANS