Vision - Placing enthusiasm.
What must a brand vision look like for it to be able to meet the demands of the markets and modern consumer behavior in the future, too?
A brand vision has to be inspiring enough to prompt consumers to act or even change their behavior. Internally, it should also provide a guiding model.
To achieve that, we employ a three-phase process: first we determine the current market drivers. What role does the brand play in the life of the consumer? In this phase we sketch the future rules of the market and illustrate possible future development paths for the brand. In the second phase – the actual ‘visioneering’ – we define the strong brand vision in collaboration with our customer. To do this we write a ‘brand script’ describing not static brand values in the main, but rather how and by what means the brand interacts with the consumer and which behavioral patterns it elicits from them. Using the brand script as a basis, in the final phase we then generate in conjunction with the customer a go-to-market strategy with a roadmap for internal and external marketing measures.
”It’s not the wind, but the sails that set the course.”
Nautical proverb
Brand Driver Analysis
How does the consumer perceive and organize differences within a certain market segment? Where is my brand located within this “psychogeographic system” in relation to my main competitors?
The brand driver analysis functions as a kind of positioning tool for a brand and its culture. This involves investigating the brand perception and positioning within its
competitive environment from the point of view of consumers and experts. We accomplish this using both a semiotic identity analysis and a psychological image analysis.
Both approaches allow us to draw conclusions about the effects and perceptions of the brand on the market, and especially about the quality of the brand’s relationship to its users.
An additional way of determining both the internal self-image as well as the (external) image is our “mIndmarkerTM” software-supported tool. The mindmarkerTM is a process that combines the systematic approach of conventional questionnaires with the individual aspect of personal interviews. Using modern software technology, the mindmarkerTM can efficiently interview as many people as desired individually, combining the results to form an overall picture of the group.
The mindmarkerTM shows which personal criteria and dimensions are truly relevant today when it comes to distinguishing brands, products, services and themes, plotting the imagined world of consumer feelings in an easy-to-read graphic. The key indicators of the brand’s emotional image are thus rendered comparable and measurable.
Strategic Visioneering
Sensible brand visions formulate a guiding ideology that is evident in brand configuration, brand communication and brand posture. Major brands are open to future developments and transform themselves all the time.
That often makes it especially challenging to dynamically position growing brand portfolios in today’s markets, which are constantly in transition. The strategy must follow the evolution within both the company and externally while also having a clear strategic direction.
Based on market trends and consumer insights, we develop a positioning statement in conjunction with the customer. Then we develop various vision routes highlighting the future brand configuration, brand communication and brand posture as well as the guiding mission statement. The mission statement distills the vision into an easily communicated and action-evoking essence. The brand vision is thereby translated into a culture of stories and experiences that make the brand culturally relevant to consumers.
Go-To-Market
The go-to-market strategy involves the choreographed staging and marketing of the brand across all contact interfaces to the market. And naturally it also involves the right branded content and relevant branded services required to bring the vision to life. We consider services the most important aspect of the go-to-market innovation, since branded (digital) services are the best way to initiate and expand the brand relationship to consumers.
In order to strategically and creatively charge the go-to-market activities of our customers, we decipher the brand's core values into all their current, exciting facets using a phenomenon analysis. A phenomenon analysis is a creative and highly illustrated conceptual tool that continuously inspires and showcases guiding brand themes like "freshness“ in new, exciting and attention-grabbing ways. It can also be useful in exploring cultural codes when entering new markets and in understanding the various ways a theme can be interpreted in different cultural contexts.