This is a 5-part series on the key ingredients for creating a powerful, memorable, valuable brand with Geletka+

Let’s start by congratulating you on creating an amazing product that you just know people will want. Now let’s get them to become fans and customers for life–by creating a powerful brand.

THE INITIAL CHALLENGE

Creating a brand. Sure that sounds good. But here’s what happens at most new or emerging companies.  First, they don’t have the resources. Or they don’t have the appetite to take this on. The bigger issue involves their belief that the product speaks louder than anything.

We get it, in the food and beverage world, success depends on the recipe, the right ingredients, and a little chemistry–the product.  However, the same is true in creating your brand. The connection to food terms directly applies. The difference is that while food and drink land on your senses of taste, smell, feel, and visual appeal, the brand connects to your brain.

The Edge of the Cliff Moment: BRAND PERSONALITY

The first major decision a company faces is what face to put on their brand. It’s easier said than done, especially when it comes time to actually put it out in the market. Will it be relatable, likable, interesting, and compelling? That’s a lot on the shoulders of a personality. Don’t think too hard, or you’ll be standing on the edge of the cliff for a long while.

You can’t fake it.

Just be you, fearlessly you, and let those beliefs be known in expressing your brand. Of course, this requires you to do the work of identifying those beliefs and how you articulate them in words and pictures. But if you stick to what you believe in you will avoid the frozen in your tracks feeling.

Our client,  Milkadamia, is a non-dairy line of products whose founders are intermittent vegans, and die-hard environmentalists with a clever sense of humor.

Sounds interesting, right, like someone you want to have a conversation with.  The brand doesn’t just put this personality on each day and go to work. They live it, because they believe it and it comes from who they are. The elements of the brand rise up and express themselves in creative, messaging, and media decisions that are rooted in the beliefs.

Expressing beliefs builds personality.

Expressing them consistently over time builds a brand that stands for something.

In the creative and brand work for Milkadamia, we ask ourselves a simple question. “Could anyone say this (or make this)”?  The brand has a voice, defined by a CEO who enjoys poetry, wordplay, and describes the company as ‘Tastefully Defiant.’ As you’ll see in the brand video below, many of the brand statements, value statements, product points– and even an appeal to the food industry–come from the same tone and personality. The video didn’t just happen. It was created after many marketing initiatives. It is a synthesis of the brand personality. It is genuine, not just because it is the CEO talking. Its power comes from the understated, relatable way of the brand personality. It demonstrates how a brand can be playful, as well as Tastefully Defiant.

Next: Who the heck should my brand be talking to? Part 2: Audience