The Oceanside Chamber of Commerce
Oceanside Chamber

BLOG

Oceanside Chamber of Commerce
  • Oceanside
    • About Oceanside >
      • History of Oceanside
      • Demographics
      • Arts and Culture
      • Education
      • Employment
      • Health Care
      • Religious Organizations
      • Local Government and Services
      • Retiring in Oceanside
      • Oceanside Maps
    • Visitor Information >
      • Beaches
      • Accommodations
      • Groups and Meeting
    • Things to Do >
      • Oceanside Events >
        • Downtown History Walks
        • Farmers Market
        • Sunset Market
      • Shopping >
        • Coupons
      • Dining
      • Surfing
      • Regional Attractions
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Business Directory
    • All Categories
    • Coupons
    • New Members
  • Media
    • Publications >
      • Advertising Your Business
      • Best of Oceanside Magazine
      • Military Publications
    • Member News
    • Blog
    • Advancing Oceanside Podcast
  • Chamber
    • Membership >
      • Member Portal
      • Application
      • Testimonials >
        • Digital Plaque - Oceanside Chamber Member
    • Advocacy >
      • Chamber Political Action Committee
      • Public Policy Guidelines
    • Our Work >
      • 2023 Annual Report
      • 2023 Strategic Priorities
      • Committees - Task Forces - Forums
    • Oceanside Young Professionals
    • Oceanside Leadership Academy
    • Workforce Development >
      • SOCAL Workforce
      • Pooled Employer Plan
      • Kindness
      • Frontline Friendly
    • Our Team >
      • Chamber Staff
    • Chamber Trip: Sights of Scotland
    • Privacy Policy
  • Events
    • Signature Chamber Events >
      • Meet the City of Oceanside
      • Armed Forces Day Operation Appreciation
      • Coastal Business Expo
      • North County Health Fair
      • Heroes of Oceanside and Camp Pendleton
      • Oceanside Senior Showcase
      • Rising Star Student Program
    • Monthly Chamber Events
    • Annual OCC Mixer Passs
    • Oceanside Community Events
  • Resources
    • Community Resources
    • Local Business Resources
    • Military Resources
    • Sustainability Resources

Inside Out: Who are you really? Defining Brand Character

7/6/2016

 
Picture
by Quantal Langford

In Part 2 of the Inside Out series, we begin to go a little deeper into the branding process. In specific we are talking about the “character” of your brand. 
 
When you think of a company like Apple. What do you think of? What do they represent? Disruption of Status Quo? Innovation? Minimalist? When you walk into a Apple Store, how does the customer service approach you? How is the layout of the store? The communication of their marketing materials stays on brand with the character of their brand. When a company knows, from an inner knowing of their brand, who they are and what they represent and how they work; they build the brand loyalty and self-awareness with company and their audience.
I see many that are effectively working the opposite way of this. Redesigning marketing material, logos, colors, website, etc.,  effectively rearranging chairs on a ship; it’s still the same ship. If the inner character of the company is still the same and hasn’t been refocused for your audience. You may get far worse backlash from your audience. Some of the examples I think of is a redesign of the Gap logo. Feeling the need to change leadership, due to lowering sales. The logo was supposed to change the mental perception of their audience, but the opposite happened.
 
According the company NeuroFocus, their research concluded that Gap’s specific logo redesign didn’t sit well in the brain chemistry of outraged consumers. Their redesigned logo changed the font and shrunk their iconic blue square towards the corner of the p in Gap. 
 
“With our brains hard-wired to avoid sharp edges, people reacted negatively to the blue cube cutting into the round curve of the letter “p” in the new logo.” -NeuroFocus
 
What maybe needed to be revised, wasn’t the logo, but a correction in character. To revisit what made Gap great with consumers in the first place. 
 
I find myself, being a student of branding, revisiting what the true character of my business is. What’s “off-brand” or “on-brand” with marketing and communication. It gets even more complex when you start adding employees and absorbing other companies under one umbrella. Being congruent with the integrity and purpose of a company’s vision is essential in brand development. 
 
If you haven’t defined what the character is of a company, start researching traits that you feel defines your company. I would knock it down to 3 precise character traits and use that to define the inner workings of your brand. Give yourself or a panel group time to write down various traits that represent the brand from the beginning to what you envision the brand becoming in the future.
 
Think of your brand as something organic and alive. How would you nurture it from the very beginning?  Sit down and write various aspects on post-it notes and place them on a wall. For start-ups it will be different, considering they are just developing. So they could start with a present and future section. For others it may be slightly different. 
 
When brain-storming your traits, use traits that are singular aspects. For example words like “inexpensive” is a product attribute. While the word “cheap” is a more precise trait to use. -Scott Lerman, Building Better Brands
 
While there are more things we can discuss in the trait building process for a later time or in one of my brand workshops I’m developing; for this article, getting it down to 3 traits that clearly defines your brand is good. There, one can develop strategic communications and marketing that represents your inner traits.
 
Defining brand character dictates the organization of your brand from the inside out and creates part of your foundation for years.
 
In part 3 I will talk about the arena where your brand competes for consumers, awareness and attention.
 
About the writer: Quantal Langford runs Langfordesign, a purpose driven, creative studio based in Oceanside, Ca. Focusing on graphic design and brand development for B2C businesses, non-profit organizations, and athletic departments and helping create their own unique voice. He also runs an inspirational/fitness lifestyle brand called Just Heart Apparel.

Read Part 1 of the Series... 
http://www.oceansidechamber.com/occ-blog/inside-out-your-logo-is-not-your-brand​

Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Advocacy
    Arts And Culture
    Business
    Camp Pendleton
    Community
    Education
    Emerging Issues
    Entertainment
    Events
    Finance
    Health And Wellness
    History Of Oceanside
    Home
    Military
    Photo Blogs
    Political Action
    Resources
    Restaurants
    Ribbon Cuttings
    Senior Living
    Technology
    Visit Oceanside
    Women
    Workforce Development

    Archives

    March 2025
    December 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2023 Oceanside Chamber of Commerce
928 N. Coast Highway | Oceanside, CA 92054
Tel 760-722-1534 
[email protected]
Privacy Policy
Map/Directions
Picture
  • Oceanside
    • About Oceanside >
      • History of Oceanside
      • Demographics
      • Arts and Culture
      • Education
      • Employment
      • Health Care
      • Religious Organizations
      • Local Government and Services
      • Retiring in Oceanside
      • Oceanside Maps
    • Visitor Information >
      • Beaches
      • Accommodations
      • Groups and Meeting
    • Things to Do >
      • Oceanside Events >
        • Downtown History Walks
        • Farmers Market
        • Sunset Market
      • Shopping >
        • Coupons
      • Dining
      • Surfing
      • Regional Attractions
    • Volunteer Opportunities
  • Business Directory
    • All Categories
    • Coupons
    • New Members
  • Media
    • Publications >
      • Advertising Your Business
      • Best of Oceanside Magazine
      • Military Publications
    • Member News
    • Blog
    • Advancing Oceanside Podcast
  • Chamber
    • Membership >
      • Member Portal
      • Application
      • Testimonials >
        • Digital Plaque - Oceanside Chamber Member
    • Advocacy >
      • Chamber Political Action Committee
      • Public Policy Guidelines
    • Our Work >
      • 2023 Annual Report
      • 2023 Strategic Priorities
      • Committees - Task Forces - Forums
    • Oceanside Young Professionals
    • Oceanside Leadership Academy
    • Workforce Development >
      • SOCAL Workforce
      • Pooled Employer Plan
      • Kindness
      • Frontline Friendly
    • Our Team >
      • Chamber Staff
    • Chamber Trip: Sights of Scotland
    • Privacy Policy
  • Events
    • Signature Chamber Events >
      • Meet the City of Oceanside
      • Armed Forces Day Operation Appreciation
      • Coastal Business Expo
      • North County Health Fair
      • Heroes of Oceanside and Camp Pendleton
      • Oceanside Senior Showcase
      • Rising Star Student Program
    • Monthly Chamber Events
    • Annual OCC Mixer Passs
    • Oceanside Community Events
  • Resources
    • Community Resources
    • Local Business Resources
    • Military Resources
    • Sustainability Resources