Is all PR really good PR?

If you’ve read the subject, you’re probably going to say yes, because that’s what we’ve heard for years. Brands have been investing heavily in marketing and public relations to build a strong image and be in the public eye at all times amidst the cut-throat competition.

But what if brands got PR for free? We’re talking lousy PR, of course (if it were really good it wouldn’t be free, right?). Years of effort, loads of money spent, and yet one reckless move can turn into a nightmare for a brand, damaging its reputation, sales, valuation, and so much more.

Add to that the power of social media controversies, and you can bid a great brand goodbye overnight. Some may argue that the myth ‘All PR is good PR’ is right. Sure! It builds some brand awareness. Those who have never heard of the brand can now see it making waves across the news, but at what cost?

Some brands might not even intentionally plan bad PR stunts, but business decisions might put a brand at stake, and while that might seem monetarily worth it, it’s never worth risking your reputation.

Consider Deliveroo’s recent business move. To cut costs in the UAE and stay competitive, the food-delivery giant decided to slash rider salaries by 15% while asking some of them to even pay for fuel, work overtime, and bear their own visa costs. When riders retaliated with a strike and customers took to social media over cancelled order concerns, Deliveroo was quick to play the blame game without owning up to its decisions.

It wasn’t long before riders shared their plight on social platforms. Deliveroo received backlash from its customers for subjecting its staff to poor work conditions, especially in UAE’s scorching summers. Protecting your prices and product over your people can NEVER be a good decision and Deliveroo has learnt it the hard way in the last couple of days.

Now, halting all changes and promising its staff their fair dues, Deliveroo is back in business, but that probably doesn’t change the fact that its brand image has been tarnished. Many users called for a boycott of the company, while others encouraged people to tip delivery workers.

That’s what we’re talking about when we say one wrong move can affect your brand image for years. There are plenty of scopes to get dragged into brand wars and controversies, especially when you humanise a brand. It’s unreal to be right all the time. It’s also often fair to test the waters to know what your audience expects and get them to talk about you because that’s what you eventually want. But there’s a fine line between testing the waters and taking a plunge in the deep sea, which you don’t want to cross!

Signing off with a quote by journalist Bob Schieffer – ‘Good policy always trumps bad PR’ – make sure to get it right.

If we asked you your favourite brand there’s something that comes to mind, right? What exactly made that brand come to mind? Was it its core facets like logo, design, typography, packaging, or was there more to it? How long did it last in your mind? Companies that consider themselves the best branding agency in Dubai and beyond, go out of their way to create a brand experience not just restricted to the above factors. They evoke an emotional and personal connect with customers which adds value to the brand and creates a long-lasting impression.

Apart from the emotional connect, the marketing, the presence, the reviews, the treatment, and much more plays an essential role in representing the company. How a customer perceives a brand across every touch point and how they build a connection that is strong enough to believe in it makes all the difference. Brand experience and customer experience are inter-related and top branding agencies in Dubai strictly adhere to best BX and CX practices.

Let’s take a look at creating a better customer experience through branding practices, so as to become the best branding agency in Dubai.

1. Strengthen your relationship with employees

This might seem out of context, but it plays an essential part in building stronger connections with the customers. If something is hindering the employee’s smooth deliverables to the customer, it will affect the perception of the brand. Effective communication through surveys or any other medium may raise common pain-points in the overall employee experience and can be eventually resolved. A happy employee who is empowered and gives his best will have a positive impact on the brand’s clientele and well-being.

2.  Make your presence felt

It would be an understatement to say that the world is driven by technology, and brands can make the most of it by being omnipresent. More than 50% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. The digital journey with multi devices plays a vital part. Customers use a range of online and offline media to connect with a brand, so no matter how tasking it may seem, it is important to up your game and make your presence felt through compulsive strategies.

3. Make it personal

If someone exactly knows what you want and gives you that, how do you feel? That’s what personalisations do. Customers are seeking more personal and exclusive experiences that are tailored to their demands. Evoking an emotional connect through activations or activities or simply understanding their user profile, demographics, preferences, shopping histories etc. and using them to deliver personalised experiences, will strengthen the relationship with the customer.

4. Educate your customers

What does your brand stand for? Or what do you want your brand to be known for? In order for your customers to understand your brand well, you need to educate them and gain their trust. Some of the best ways can be giving away freebies or free samples so that your potential customers can try and get an exact idea about your brand.

5. Social Listening

Customer experiences are often shared across social media platforms especially if they are negative. If your brand happens to face such an issue, you can take appropriate actions and respond to their concerns. This won’t just boost your reputation on social media, but also increase your presence.

6. Refine and rebrand if required

To become the best branding agency in Dubai, or literally anywhere else, make sure that the brand represents exactly who you are as a company in the best possible way. Lot of researches cited that, the reason why customers could connect with a brand was due to the value that it provides. This also means creating a logo that is easy to understand, a consistent colour scheme and an effectively defined brand messaging. If your brand is unable to attract your target audience, you can also consider rebranding.

7. Reward your loyal customers

A satisfied customer makes a business successful. One of the vital parts of building a strong relationship is to make them feel valued and honoured and give them due credit for your company’s successful endeavours. The best way to do this is through rewards, giving early access and offering special discounts to loyal customers.

By now, we hope that its been clearly established how a customer experience plays a vital role in brand performance. Whether it is a small business or a full grown one, customer experience should always be the primary focus.

How Impactful is a Logo Design on Brand Recognition

If there is anything that Nike, Apple, Google, and Disney have in common, it is the fact that the logos of these companies are iconic and easily identifiable by the average person. This proves that designing a good logo is an essential aspect of building a company.

In this blog, let us discuss how important logo design is to a company and which company in Dubai can help budding organizations get to the next level. Continue reading to learn more!

 

How Does Logo Design Help a Company?

Logo design can provide the company with a lot of benefits, including the following:

• Distinguishes the company from competitors
• Fosters brand loyalty among existing clients
• Catches the attention of would-be customers
• Establishes the identity (and personality) of the company
• Creates a long-lasting legacy
• Eliminates doubt as to the legitimacy of the organization

 

How to Know if a Logo Design is Effective?

Any logo design company in Dubai can provide you with colorful imagery and energetic messaging, but the true test to ensure that your brand logo and your company stand out from the rest is the test of substance and recall.

Substance speaks to the quality or relevance of a particular object or person. A person with substance is an individual who is intelligent, skilled, talented, and/or virtuous. An object with substance is built and designed with quality, usefulness, and durability in mind.

In logo design, a logo that passes the test of substance can be indicative of the benefit that the company it represents can provide to the client.

Recall is simply about remembering. It does not have to be word-for-word. It can be the recollection of something as simple as the color of another person’s eyes, or the memory of what you had for breakfast yesterday.

In logo design, a logo that passes the test of recall is equal to how easy a client can remember the company it represents.

 

What is the Best Logo Design Company in Dubai?

There are several qualities and aspects that make a logo design company a good one – technical skill, adaptability, customer service, and positive feedback from previous clients. However, what makes a good logo design company the best is one thing – the ability to capture wonder. Wonder is a mixture of admiration and surprise as a result of experiencing something beautiful, complex, and thought-provoking.

Moonbox is the best company that can capture wonder. With its tested and proven formula of storytelling and communication to a wide audience, this logo design company and branding agency in Dubai can take your company to the next level.

If you would like to know more about the history and success stories of Moonbox, check out their website at:

https://www.moonbox.ae

If you would like to take the next step and get in touch with a Moonbox representative, contact them via email or over the phone using the following details:

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 04 2696733

Social media has quickly emerged as a crucial aspect of digital marketing. It provides a wealth of benefits and a more personalised way of reaching millions of people around the world. For competitive industries such as food or beauty,  investing in social media marketing could be one of the most effective ways of finding success.

Let us take you through the clear advantages of social media marketing for FMCG brands.

• Improved Brand Awareness

The FMCG sector in Dubai is chock-full of products that are similar, which offer consumers a wide range to choose from. Social media is a cost-effective platform which can be used to enhance brand awareness, so that such brands can differentiate themselves from the clutter in the market. This also aids consumers in forming an opinion about the brand even before they visit the store, which helps influence their purchase decisions. Through interactive posts you can invite users to engage with your brand, share advertisements and offers, taking your brand to new heights, while improving brand awareness and eventually, brand loyalty.

Positioning your brand correctly requires being on relevant channels to reach your target audience. Brand awareness is about ensuring that prospective customers understand who you are and what you offer. For instance, the food industry is one that’s full of competition and is always increasing in size, but social media gives brands the opportunity to muscle in and show people why their brand is the right choice.

• It’s Cost-Effective

Unlike other forms of advertising where FMCG brands usually spend substantial resources and work harder to reach a large audience, like TV, print ads, radio etc.; social media is a ready-made platform. With hundreds of millions of users, you can make your advertising budget pay off really well.

Creating an account is free on most social platforms. However, using paid advertising is a great way to target users based on demographics and their behaviours. Spending money on this form of focused marketing will enable you to target your chosen market and will increase your chances of generating sales, offering a better return on investment (ROI).

Advanced analytics from social platforms will let you gain deep consumer insights. This further helps in creating new campaigns and content that your target audience will find engaging. In the long run, this brings down marketing costs for FMCG brands.

• Improve Customer Engagement, Satisfaction & Retention

While it is likely that there are many FMCG brands offering similar products as yours, you have to provide your audience with a reason to trust your brand. If you can communicate with your audience, listen to them, and engage with them, you’ll find that they trust your brand more. This can be done in the form of answering product related queries, responding to general posts and even dealing with unhappy customers. If you can do all of this on an open social media platform, your audience will see you as a brand that cares. Influencer marketing is also found to be effective for FMCG brands because consumers are more likely to find your brand credible when an influencer whom they trust recommends it to them.

Social media plays a pivotal role in customer satisfaction and when you get it right, you’ll find yourself with a loyal consumer base, some may even act as brand advocates. Users are more likely to opt for a brand that uses social media to communicate than a brand that does not. It’s one of the simplest aspects of social media marketing but one that will set your brand apart.

In short, customers are not looking for a faceless brand. They are looking for a brand that has a voice and a personality. This is the level of connection that they expect and you can achieve this by engaging. Simple messages and responses will work for your brand and will enable you to begin forming relationships with users.

• Improved SEO Rankings

Social media marketing is not just about getting results through your chosen platforms. It is now highly recognised by search engines and they now factor it into your search ranking. Search engines are constantly evolving in a way that appeals to the needs of users and with millions of people using social media, it is now an integral part of the ranking process. It’s no longer enough to have a website that is optimised and updating your blog won’t cut it either. Businesses that share content on social media are now showing search engines that they offer value to users and that their brand has integrity.

Final Words

Social media marketing cannot be overlooked and if any FMCG brand wants to step forward and get noticed in the UAE market then a strong branding, along with a solid digital marketing strategy, with more focus on social media marketing, is the key. The right strategy, if implemented correctly will enhance awareness, traffic, improve SEO and build a greater level of brand loyalty, all of which will help your brand stand out.

Your website offers great potential for your brand to be noticed and remembered. There are pages on your website that help connect your brand to your customer and generate potential leads.

Every website is created with a different purpose and brings out your brand’s best and most unique qualities, but what’s common across all sites, is the need to create customer connect and loyalty. Few critical changes to your website can impact your brand immensely and bring the desired results.

Did you know that the most visited pages on your website are your Homepage, About, Blogs, and Contact us? How these pages are designed and written is crucial. Knowing the purpose of each page helps design them to achieve the desired response.

There is a way to optimize these pages or any other page on your website that is intended to bring traffic. Have you heard the term “optimize” in relation to a webpage?

This buzz word “optimize” is used frequently in phrases like “search engine optimization” (SEO) and “conversion rate optimization” (CRO). We advocate USER OPTIMIZED pages. It is vital that traffic is diverted to your page to initiate conversions. That can only happen when your page is user optimized.

How does one achieve user optimization? It is simple. You ask questions, and the answers to these questions will pave the way to create a page that is USER OPTIMIZED

To reach your user, find out what they are looking for and their source of arrival to the website.

The source of the user will aid in delivering relevant information. The user could have appeared from a number of avenues like:

1: A search engine- If yes then how? What was the question asked?

2: An email- What kind of email?

3: A navigation menu and therefore what option on the menu

4. Google Playstore

5. Referrals- which site were your visitors redirected from?

Find out what your target needs to know and remember that a single page can deliver only a limited amount of information. Less is more holds true here. The lesser you load on your WEB PAGE, the more are the chances of your brand being remembered.

Visuals such as explainer videos, diagrams, hero shots help make information compact and deliver the message with greater emphasis. Once you know what your user is looking for, you are halfway through.

Now you need to know the goal of your user. You have to ask the user to do something. This is the critical hit or miss spot, or, the call to action. In fact, every single page of your website should contain a CTA, a call to action.

Make every page informative from a user perspective so that it leads the user to the next page or the Call to Action. Ask questions that are on their minds and let the answers be revealed in the Call to Action. Define what you want the user to do, and create threads that link the user to the final action.

To increase brand recall make sure your HOME PAGE is intriguing. There is no doubt that every page should reflect your brand image and brand values, but your Homepage will ultimately bring in traffic and keep customers coming back.

Your Home Page is the door to the rest of your website and should be complete and crisp, encompassing everything that stimulates interest and inspires a purchase.

Without an impressive Home Page, it is almost impossible to get to your user and your potential buyer might be lost in a pool of sites that are trying hard to be noticed.

A good Home Page encourages easy navigation by giving access to information the user is looking for, in a systematic fashion. A user experience influences purchasing decisions.

Secondly, an attractive Home Page boosts conversions. Who wants to associate with a sloppy-looking company? Make your Home Page look confident and convincing.

To pack a punch into your Home Page include elements like a Call to Action, white space, and excellent copy to complement a fantastic layout. This exercise will build trust and assist visitors.

Another important aspect of a Home Page is that you have to keep it adaptable and evolving. A static Home Page can get boring and out-dated too. One more important aspect of a Home Page is to keep it clutter-free.

Too many graphics and features might make it look messy. Also, it is extremely important to make your Home Page mobile compatible as that is where most brand information is viewed today.  Your Home Page should appeal to your audience persona.

Avoid any fluff and keep it honest and direct. Use an appealing value after studying the consumer psyche.

To wrap it up neatly, keep your Home Page minimal. Speak less, but be impactful.

Use breath-taking images and be real. Show your audience right off the bat and you’ve got what they are looking for.

To make it big in the market, you must have a strong sense of who your customer is.
You may think about conducting full-fledged market research to understand your customers but first, remember this one fact:

Before anything else, your customer is human.
In today’s fast paced, increasingly digitized world, what people crave the most is connection and interaction. Nobody likes to interact with chatbots or the pre-recorded voice that tells us what to do.
In order to make your brand memorable, the first step is to humanize your brand. In this blog, we are going to share 4 practical and easy tricks that will make your brand more approachable for your customers!

1. Show the People of Your Organization

The best way to humanize your brand starts by sharing something about you and your team. The people behind the brand. You can start by creating a Social Media Account on Twitter or LinkedIn along with a company page. This space can add a more personal element to your brand.

Here you can share the achievements and stories of your employees through your company page or website. Moreover, hosting social events virtually where your employees or team can add value and show their humorous side is a huge plus!

Marriott does this wonderfully, by using the storytelling format by dedicating an entire month to their women employees, and showcasing powerful stories to highlight their work experiences.

Your audience actually wants to see the people who work with you, so include real pictures of real people on your website.

 

2. Focus on Educating Your Prospects. Sales Will Follow

When do you buy a product? What compels you to buy a product?

There could be multiple answers to these two questions and all of them could be right, given particular circumstances. While you think the answer to these questions, let us tell you something fundamental: Nobody likes to fall for an effective selling strategy! It is because we feel manipulated.

However, when a purchasing decision is made after thorough analysis and understanding, the purchase becomes more organic and special. So, a better approach is to understand the problems, and requirements of your customers and instead of telling them to become a buyer, focus on telling them how your offering can solve their problems.

3. Leverage the Power of Video Content

Videos are among the most engaging forms of content, and a great tool to capture audience attention. You can use videos to show your employees, office, and through these tell the story of your brand or product.

The best part is that you can fit in a video anywhere; be it your “About” page, Home page, blogs, social media handles, or even ads. Using videos will ensure that more and more people will know about your brand and product.

4. Nothing Says Human More Than Moment Marketing

When it comes to humanizing the brand, nothing beats the power of moment marketing. (A marketing strategy that involves the use of text or graphics, related to any recent event, is called moment marketing.) Brands like Netflix and Zomato have acquired a lot of followers through this marketing strategy. Before the latest season of Money Heist, a Netflix show of worldwide fame, many brands including Pepsi and Magnum jumped onto the bandwagon to promote the show in association with their brands where characters of the show were seen on Pepsi bottles.

Closer home, the Al Mamzar area saw it’s first Money Heist themed cafe in Dubai- El Professor Burger. The place was a hit immediately owing to its relevance to this popular show, with the owner of the cafe even taking the name ‘El Professor.’

Moment marketing represents your brand as trendy, approachable, and fun.

We hope these tricks will prove effective for your brand. If you have any queries, please feel free to reach out to us.

 

Read before you choose the visual elements for your branding

About a year ago, one of our prospective clients approached us and said:

“We have to launch next week. We can’t delay. Let’s start with the current branding ideas, and we will keep changing things as we move forward.”

We could not allow that to happen because branding is not a one-off thing that should be changed every now and then. It is one of the key aspects of your business, it gives your business an identity that people will associate with for a long period of time, if not for life.

The main reason for sticking to one brand identity is to strengthen brand recognition among customers. Changing it often would destroy the true purpose of the branding process. Therefore, it is crucial to properly plan and carefully choose every aspect of your branding process.

How do you think our team responded?

Of course, we couldn’t turn them down! This was a big project. Our team arranged a meeting with the client and explained to them the whole scenario and how this could be a disaster.

Visual elements help generate emotion and establish a connection with your audience, reinforcing the power of your brand in their mind.

Let us have a look at some of the key visual elements that businesses have to consider while drafting an effective brand identity:

The Logo

Your logo becomes the visual representation of your brand, and it is engraved on, literally, everything! You might have to go through several changes to get that final logo that best represents your brand and all that it stands for. But when you do, it will be totally worth it!

 

Color Palette 

Choose colors that reflect the personality of a brand. For example, you may want to select bright colors when you open a toy store, but you need to pick highly sophisticated colours while selling cosmetics.

It is also better to choose only a few colors and use them throughout your logo, images, designs, and even texts. Moreover, this strategy also helps in building brand recognition. Doesn’t “red” come to your mind when you hear “Air Arabia”? ‘’Apple’’ is associated with its iconic black and white colors, and ‘’McDonald’s’’ for its famous yellow arc.

Studies show that when audiences see a logo repeatedly, they are able to recognise the brand basis the color palette without even seeing the name.

 

Typography 

This is a fancy term for “Fonts”! Just like colors, you need to pick your fonts carefully because they affect how your audience perceives your brand. For instance, for a toy store, you can select fonts like Gill Sans, but you have to be very selective while picking a font for a cosmetic brand. An elegant font like Playfair Display or Sans Serif is a suitable option for such a business.

 

Images and Layout

Just like all the aspects discussed above, the images you use must align with the theme of your brand. A sophisticated monotone image with a backdrop of London Street will look out of place on a blog of your toy store’s website. However, the same might look just right on a fashion or lifestyle website.

 

With all this settled, the last thing that you have to focus on is the layout and whether it aligns with the whole branding strategy or not.

That’s it! You are all set and ready to go!

If you are wondering about the project, we still got it! However, it was a mammoth task for our A-team to complete the project before its launch.

Creativity is just like any other skill. It needs to be polished and sharpened time and again. Whether you are a new graphic designer or an advanced professional, one thing remains unchanged: your heavy dependence on typography, colour theory, and other creative resources to expand and add dimension to your designs.
To get you moving when you hit a creative block or need a fresh perspective on things, we’ve put together a list of 5 great websites to help you take your next project to a new level.

 

1. Logoinspirations

The name gives it away; this site hosts a vast collection of professional logo designs. Browse through it, and you might find the inspiration you need from one of the many beautiful templates. You can also design your logo on this website.

The resources section on the website has an extensive list of tools you need to succeed as a designer, including Envato, Printful, The Hungry Jpeg, and Flywheel, among others.

 

2. Dribble

Dribble is an online community for graphic designers to connect with other creatives, share ideas, get inspiration, and feedback, maybe even find a future collaborator or colleague. You can sign up to this site for free and follow designers whose work interests you. You have the option to publish your work on the site where others can see it, but only if a member has invited you. Note: You must save and upload your work to Dribble’s draft page to get an invite. Once it is uploaded, make sure to connect and interact with other designers to widen your network and improve your chances of getting an invite.

Dribble also works as a platform for hiring managers to scout new talent.

 

3. Adobe Color CC

Earlier known as Adobe Kuler, this site offers a free online color tool that can be used to create various color themes and palettes. You can also share your ideas and work with others. Another highlight of this site is color relationships. Using Adobe Color on your browser you can find new color combinations and save them via the color wheel on the homepage. You can adjust the color picker between different search parameters such as analogous, monochromatic, complementary, or triad.

Another way to create color relationships is by using the app’s camera function.

You can identify color schemes from the various surroundings of your choice, and the app will pick up colors in real-time as you look through the lens. You can also take pictures on the go, and the camera function can pick up colors from the saved images.

While there are different ways to use Adobe Color, it works brilliantly for designers and other creative professionals who work with color.

 

4. Httpster

Httpster offers a regularly curated collection of beautiful website inspiration for graphic designers to browse through and explore. It is a free resource featuring a quirky scale slider replacing the scroll bar. You have the option to filter websites by style or type. Different website categories have been thoughtfully classified, making the site easy and fast to use.

 

5. Flaticon

Founded in 2013, Flaticon is among the most comprehensive icon search engines today. They offer free, high-quality, editable vector graphics that you can download and use with attribution or pay a nominal fee if you want to use them without attribution.

The platform is easy to use, and you can search for icons using keywords or filters using monochrome or colored images. You can also download a set of icons such as ‘social media logos’ or ‘business and teams.’

These were some sites we really like and use for inspiration for design. We hope you found this post useful and can refer to it to make your next design project awesome!

 

A brand story is a cohesive narrative to convey your brand’s journey. It evokes emotion and gives a personality and character to your business. With a story, you have the opportunity to engage your audience and get them emotionally invested in your brand. However, what many overlook is how integral design is to the brand story; these two elements work in tandem to create an impact. Getting this combination right allows creative agencies to build a powerful brand story.

The basics of a brand story

For centuries, mankind has been drawn to story-telling. Stories have the power to capture our imaginations in a way nothing else does. Brand stories needn’t be complex, but they do have to be engaging–to create a space in the minds of your consumers.

With the right story, your audience becomes a brand advocate– retelling your story for you.

 

How to tell a brand story

Start with the elements of who you are as a brand. Pick out some fundamentals to work with. Perhaps you are luxury, user-friendly, informal, community focused, or something else. Think about the roots of the business. Why did it start? Why did it develop in the direction it did? Remember that passion is rocket fuel for a good story.

Think about what you truly value as a brand. How are you different from your competitors? Who is your audience?

Remain true to your target audience and think about what motivates them.

 

What’s essential in any brand story:

1. Positioning – How do you make your customers’ lives easier?
2. Promise – What is your promise to them?
3. Personas – Who are the heroes in your story?
4. Personality – What kind of qualities do you have?
5. Product – What do you offer?
6. Pricing – What does this cost your customer?

 

Define your brand statement

Develop your brand statement by putting together the essential aspects of your brand. This statement will help you communicate to your audience what you stand for. A brand statement is not to be confused with a mission statement.

A brand statement tells your consumers and stakeholders what drives you and makes you unique; a mission statement explains the work you do.

Draft your story

With a strong brand statement in place, you are now ready to create an engaging narrative that is rooted in your brand purpose.

Tell your story in a way that it builds trust in your audience while keeping it simple to understand. The way you end the story is important. It should give a sense of continuation and success to come.

There are different types of stories a brand can tell

1. Core Purpose

This type of story focuses on real events from your life and how those lead to the purpose behind your brand. A story like this helps form a community and common values.

Take this excerpt from Body Shop’s story for instance

‘The Body Shop is rooted in activism, and our history of campaigning started in 1986. Anita teamed up with Greenpeace on the Save the Whale campaign to fight the cruel practice of whaling.

Our products were never tested on animals and didn’t exploit anyone in making them. We worked fairly with farmers and suppliers, and helped communities thrive through our Community Fair Trade program.’

 

2. Origin Story

A popular format, this story highlights how your brand came to be with details like why it was established, who founded it, where it was first launched, and any other highlights.

Here’s a snippet from Coca Cola’s brand story highlighting their humble beginnings:

‘On May 8, 1886, Dr. John Pemberton served the world’s first Coca-Cola at Jacobs’ Pharmacy in Atlanta. From that one iconic drink, we’ve evolved into a total beverage company. More than 1.9 billion servings of our drinks are enjoyed in more than 200 countries each day.’

3. Evolution Story

This is a story that shows how a brand went from its zero to hero stage. It lends a more real feel to your story, when your audience can see how you worked your way up, overcame challenges, and reached the top.

Who better than Oprah Winfrey to demonstrate the zero to hero story. The business mogul nicknamed “Queen of All Media”, is one of the most well-recognized figures in the world with unparalleled influence. While this is her story today, things weren’t always this pleasant. Oprah was born into rural poverty in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to a single teenage mother who could barely afford to send her to school.

While this is the story of an individual, Oprah has built a brand of herself, one that has helped grow her empire to a net worth of USD 2.6 billion.

Different elements of a brand story

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your brand story is simply a chunk of text under the title ‘Our Story’ on your website.

You can think of building your brand story by understanding, words, imagery and emotion behind your brand’s design. It links everything together for your audience. If you succeed in getting both a strong brand story and intuitive design, then they become even greater than the sum of their parts – this is what a creative agency will aim for.

A well-built and comprehensive story encompasses everything from fonts to your logo, and graphics, to tone of voice and personality. These come together to tell an engaging brand story that draws your audience in and keeps them coming back.

Headspace does this well. It is a mindfulness app that offers meditation and other calming activities and the visual elements on its interface create the same sense of peace.

 

You can think of this in terms of the look and feel of everything you do. This makes your story richer. Visual elements such as colours and photos on your website through to packaging or brochure design play an important role in this.

The power of the designer

You have the most information about your brand. You know your audience. You know your history, values and objectives. An excellent creative agency will work on how to tie these different threads together, through design, to create a cohesive and emotive story. Without design, brand storytelling is simply words on a page. It is the creative design which allows your story to stand out from the crowd and get your audience 100% invested in your business.

Building a brand story is not an accidental process.

It is a conscious and directed process which requires knowledge of the business, the audience, the industry and marketing. Employing the right creative agency is vital to this process, to keep your business ahead of the game.

 

In the last two years, we’ve witnessed the pandemic change the marketing landscape and just how quickly the industry can evolve. Lifestyle changes in the lockdown have made consumers conscious of their choices with regard to health, wellness, and inclusion which was reflected in the brands they engaged with.

Peloton tapped into this shift with their holiday campaign “When Your Workout is a Joy, It’s a Joy to Workout.” Headspace is another brand that picked up on the widespread but often overlooked ‘holiday dread’ and created exclusive in-app content ‘Happier Holidays’ to help navigate this period.

Whole Foods created an online educational program teaching their health-conscious consumers how to prepare new recipes using Whole Foods ingredients.

In 2022, we will see the impact of the pandemic hangover on how people interact with brands.

Staying current with industry changes is critical to staying relevant with your audience. To stay ahead of the curve, these are the branding trends to keep an eye out for in 2022:

 

1. Video to remain a mainstay

A picture says a thousand words. So when thousands of pictures are put together to create a captivating video, imagine the impact it creates. With falling attention spans and the rising number of high-speed-powered smartphones, user preferences are shifting from long-form text to short videos or infographics. The coming of Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and LinkedIn stories are proof of this.

Brands who want to focus on awareness and engagement must realign their content creation and marketing strategies to publish visually appealing content as an integral part of their content marketing strategy in 2022.

 

2. Customer experience to be a hybrid of digital and physical 

It is no surprise that the pandemic has brought about a wave of digitization for brands across industries with a large number of physical stores shutting down. Sales from e-commerce have gone from 13.6% to 19.5% in the last two years. This trend is expected to grow in the next five years.

Without building a strong brand and memorable customer experience in the virtual space, you risk little to no brand awareness, high customer acquisition costs and reduced remarketing and loyalty-building opportunities. The right balance of the digital and physical will give your customers a complete brand experience. Use online media for visual and informational branding and traditional channels for appealing to the other senses. Ralph Lauren did this successfully with a Snapchat collaboration. Users could take on different Snapchat avatars to virtually try on Ralph Lauren outfits and buy them via the app. This made the customer experience a wonderful union by adding fun and novelty to the online buying process.

 

3. Audio Content

Marketers were thrown by the tremendous popularity of Clubhouse in 2021. This platform took the marketing industry by storm, and they did this without publishing any visual content. Major players including Twitter and Facebook rushed to invest in similar features. Notable names such as Slack, Shopify, and Sephora followed suit and launched their podcasts to expand their listener networks and this is expected to continue in 2022.

Closer to home, Dubai-based Huda Kattan, CEO of Huda Beauty shared the origin story of the beauty empire on ‘Breaking Beauty’ a trending UAE podcast that features successful women entrepreneurs.

While audio-only platforms may not have an immediate monetizing feature, they make a strong channel for increasing brand awareness and engagement.

 

4. Influencer campaigns

A majority of marketers already leverage influencer marketing but it is set to go from being a trend to becoming a tactic in 2022. A report states that it is among the top ROI generating trends. Brands need to collaborate with influencers who are part of the niche you operate in or have come under ‘micro-influencers.’ They will act as brand ambassadors except they are viewed as regular people which makes them more relatable, and audiences find it easier to trust their recommendations.

While it is important to stay abreast with new trends and changing consumer expectations, major business growth comes from a laser-sharp focus on your foundation. So while you adopt these new trends and or ask your branding agency to employ them into your strategy for 2022, don’t lose sight of the basics to ensure a strong bottom line.

We hope you find these trends useful and get a head start on your marketing campaigns in the new year!