Design: A Good Idea – The Key to a Successful Brand Strategy   Shannon Carter, President and Chief Creative Officer

“Design is a good idea,” is one of my favorite quotes. It speaks volumes about the branding business. When done in service to a strong business strategy, design can drive revenue, build loyalty and inspire emotion. Unfortunately, most design agencies don’t fully understand the branding potential of even the smallest project. Moreover, too many marketing executives don’t fully understand their own brand’s strategy and business value, let alone brief their agency partners on their branding standards and goals.

The most brilliant brand strategy and in-depth marketing plans are only theoretical abstractions until they are given life through skillful and clear creative execution. Design done with clarity is the key to successfully communicating a brand’s value to the target audience. Put more simply, design is a good idea.

Take Microsoft and Apple as examples. Both companies are obviously very successful, showing excellent growth and returns to investors. However, Apple’s brand is almost universally lauded, whereas Microsoft’s is perceived as being pedestrian, at best. What is the difference between these two companies? They both have excellent products, good customer service and strong marketing efforts. The true differentiating point is design. Apple invests heavily in strong design…simple design…branding-driven design (in their products as well as their promotions). Microsoft invests heavily in featuring-building design, which does not strike an emotional chord but rather is based in logic. Although the recent video parody of Microsoft redesigning Apple’s iPod packaging is a bit over-the-top, it does demonstrate both companies’ approach to design quite well.

Paul Rand, the legendary graphic designer known for his ground-breaking logos for ABC, UPS and many others, said, “design is simple, that’s why it’s so complicated.” At Cartis Group, we have evolved this quote to “brilliant design is simplicity, that’s why it’s so complicated.”

Many marketers admire the austerity of Apple’s iPod design and understand on some level that Apple’s disciplined yet assertive approach to design helps create a strong connection with customers. However, marketers often lack the power and upper management support to keep their own design projects simple. The natural response is to rely on the features of the product or service, when the real opportunities for building customer loyalty come from emotional connections. There are many cheaper, feature-rich alternatives to the iPod—none of which has achieved near the success of Apple’s brand. Time and again, Apple has proven that connecting with an audience emotionally (in this case lifestyle) will drive more sales, allow for higher margins, and create ultra-loyal repeat buyers than connecting with an audience purely through logic.

Because it is simple, creating great design (branding-driven design) is very difficult. Think about the design process Apple went through and vast the number of people who were brave enough to keep their hands off the design. Now think about the design process guiding your projects. How many people have to approve (put their fingerprint on) your designs, whether a brochure, logo or product packaging? How much confidence does upper management have in each department’s ability to create great design? Does your brand strategy reflect your brand personality and position and do you let that personality and position come across in your design?Before you dismiss the design-centric Apple example as an anomaly, consider the brands that are bringing design to the forefront of their entire business strategy: General Electric, Phillips, Procter & Gamble, and Nike. Even the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland added a track devoted to the importance of design this year.

Two keys to truly brilliant design are having a formal branding strategy driving the design process, and hiring a design firm that understands how to implement that branding strategy. For you to enjoy the benefits of the good idea that is design, your agency must be good enough to make the complicated simple—and so must you.

For more information on branding-driven design, please contact Shannon Carter at 800-479-2616.