Graphic Design 2.1: Professional Practice, Project 2: ‘Principles of Branding’ Research points
Research Task 1: Brand Identity and Brand Image Synchronicity
Companies of various sizes and across many industries employ brand strategists, communication specialists, customer experience consultants and graphic designers to plan the consumer journey and design the experience with the brand at all customer touchpoints. The intention behind this planning is to align, as closely as possible, the brand identity with the brand image, or public perception of the brand.
For this research task you will need to:
Identify two examples from your own experience:
One example of a brand that delivers on its promise exceptionally well.
The second example of a brand that did not meet your expectations.
Find out about the intended brand identity by reading the vision and mission statement or company values. These can often be found on the ‘about’ page of the company website or published in annual reports.
Answer the following questions:
What identity does each brand portray and how is this the same or different from the brand image or expectations that you have of the brand?
How is the brand experienced? Identify a number of customer touch points with each brand, this can include visuals used in advertising, the design of physical spaces (e.g. product displays, checkouts, directional signage), unique experiences, membership perks, or sponsored events.
How does the brand meet the promises it makes to customers? If the brand doesn’t meet the promises it makes to customers, can you identify where the brand has lost its way?
To present your research, summarise the brand identity or promise that brand makes to the customers for each of the examples. Break down the overall promise into specific aspects and map each aspect to the experience of the brand. For example, a company that promises to serve a social cause by engaging with youth, might encourage customers to participate in games by hosting competitions on social media, they might curate a music playlist featuring indie artists to set the atmosphere in stores, and they might include the social impact of the products they sell on tags or packaging to describe their products.
Here with Dove, it seems as if their brand identity and mission statement ‘Dove aims to be an agent of change to educate and inspire everyone with a wider definition of beauty and to make them feel more confident about themselves’ align well. Their self esteem project and ‘confidence kit’ are obviously positive elements a brand can promote, whilst being in their lane of expertise and product.
I am always skeptical as to the real reasoning behind a campaign when a business promotes something positive but some brands and companies, especially now seem as if they do actually want to do good, whilst operating a profitable business. I see no reason why this can’t be done in synchronicity. The positive campaigns help promote the brand and drive profits, whilst having a good impact.
A brand that delivers on its promise exceptionally well:
Patagonia:
Patagonia is a brand that came to mind when considering a positive example of a company thats identity aligns with their public perception and that delivers on their ‘promise’. Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and accessory designer for ‘silent’ sports such as climbing, surfing, skiing, snowboarding and trail running that has become very popular as everyday fashion wear. Their marketing strategies and public perception of their brand have made them rise to the top of the outerwear sector. They very rarely collaborate with other brands, especially not with high end designers or streetwear companies, this makes them stand out from the rest and aligns well with their company ethos. The brand has become even more popular after being worn by various celebrities such as Shia La Boeuf, Kendall Jenner, Drake and Jake Gyllenhaal. Patagonia acts as almost a badge for people, representing and presenting that they care about the environment, work culture/conditions, fair pay etc.
“We're in business to save our home planet” with their core values being:
“Quality: Build the best product, provide the best service and constantly improve everything we do. The best product is useful, versatile, long-lasting, repairable and recyclable. Our ideal is regenerative products that give back to the earth as much as they take.”
“Integrity: Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes and meet our commitments. We value integrity in both senses: that our actions match our words (we walk the talk), and that all our work contributes to a functional whole (our sum is greater than our parts).”
“Environmentalism: Protect our home planet. We’re all a part of nature, and every decision we make is in the context of the environmental crisis challenging humanity. We work to reduce our impact, share solutions, and embrace regenerative practices. We partner with grassroots organizations and frontline communities to restore lands, air and waters to a state of health; to arrest our addiction to fossil fuels; and to address the deep connections between environmental destruction and social injustice.”
“Justice: Be just, equitable and antiracist as a company and in our community. We embrace the work necessary to create equity for historically marginalized people and reorder the priorities of an economic system that values short-term expansion over human well-being and thriving communities. We acknowledge painful histories; confront biases; change our policies; and hold each other accountable. We aspire to be a company where people from all backgrounds, identities and experiences, can be their whole selves and have the power to contribute and lead.”
Patagonia’s social media is not the usual display of end of season sales, item promotion or influencer marketing, but a presentation of people from around the world interacting with nature. Their posts promote stories, local activism and a love for nature, agreeing exactly with their mission statement. Through this they are able to indirectly promote their quality, durable products being worn and used without the usual in your face ‘money grab’ style marketing.
Patagonia’s advertising is very interesting. Their advertisements seem to act as an extension of their social media presence, promoting their brand ethos of environmentalism. Large, clear images including mountains or vast natural landscapes are shown with people wearing their clothes and interacting with or within nature. Their clothing is not at the forefront of their advertisements, people are not having even more products pushed in their face but are sold more of a feeling of nature and love for the environment, this again helps foster a more positive public perception of the brand, making Patagonia a desirable and honuorable brand to wear.
Patagonia’s brand identity and their public perception are very well aligned. Patagonia promotes environmentalism, quality products and recycling throughout their whole brand image from their social media, website, physical stores and advertisements.
When you reach Patagonia’s website landing page you aren’t just greeted with products. They promote their items sale with a few images again including a story, describing the scene or who the person in the image is. Across the top drop down bar their various current environmental activist endeavours are promoted, being at the forefront of importance for the company yet again. Next to this their ‘worn wear’ section is promoted, where they sell pre-worn or repaired items, promoting recycling and not further use of energy/material for production of new clothing.
Patagonia’s packaging is created from 100% recycled materials and is 100% recyclable. This is a great example of the brand really doing as they say in promoting caring for the environment by not using plastics or other single use materials. Their branding on the packaging is very minimal, using their classic white logo and mix of colours used within their logo. This is great branding and is a physical representation of the brands identity and ethos.
The outer store signage, signs within the windows, in-store displays of products and interior design are all cohesive with the brands ethos. “Build the best product. Cause no unnecessary harm. Use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” is a sign showed within a Patagonia store. Even when selling the products directly there is a reminder for the buyer of the brands mission statement, accompanied by wooden interiors and further imagery of nature.
Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia created the trust ‘Holdfast Collective’ is 2022. The Holdfast Collective now owns 98% of Patagonia and pledges to ‘campaign on climate issues while also maintaining Patagonia’s environmentalist values’. Although this is a vague statement not an action plan and I am skeptical about a non-taxable trust fund being used, I would prefer and trust Patagonia as a brand to genuinely use capitalism for good. Patagonia’s brand identity, the public perception of it and mission statement seem so genuine that Chouinard was praised for creating this non-taxable trust, something others are demonised for.
A brand that did not meet your expectations:
Apple:
Apple is a brand that came to mind when considering a company that’s brand identity doesn’t quite align with their actions or public perception and that doesn’t quite deliver on their mission statement. Apple is one of the world’s largest companies with their most popular products being the iPhone and Macbook. iPhones are used by over 20% of the worlds smartphone users and over 100 million Macbooks are in use as of 2024. Apple prides itself on design and quality with their mission statements being:
“To bring the best user experience to customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.”
“To make the best products on earth and to leave the world better than we found it.”
I have always used Apple products and believe that their design and functionality are unparalleled. There are a few areas that did not/do not meet my expectations, nor their brand mission. The technical issues are, phone lifespan and camera quality. There are also moral/ethical issues in relationship to the company that do not sit well with myself and many people whether they use Apple products or not, that also do not align with the brand vision of ‘leaving a world better than we found it.’
Currently and historically there have been issues with Apple regarding; the raw material needed to create parts of Apple products such as the iPhone battery which includes problems with mining minerals (cobalt), child labour, poor working conditions, bad treatment/conditons within some of the factories that are contracted to make products such as the iPhone, privacy leaks and issues with sharing data and landfill wastage.
Apples website is definitely aligned with its branding, it is very clean and the functionality is great. The promotion to the consumer of the iPhone seems to always be based on the camera quality. I feel as this is not the strongest element of the iPhone and shouldn’t be Apple/s main focus for promotion. Apple’s instagram works great and makes sense in being a mainly photograph social media site for it to look like an iPhone gallery but these professionally taken photos with the perfect lighting, set up and being arranged etc are unrealistic interpretations of what your every day photos will look like using an iPhone.
“To bring the best user experience to customers through innovative hardware, software, and services.” Their hardware is great but the software of the cameras causes highly saturated photos and creates more issues than it solves, this again does not go with their branding of being the best/having the best user experience. The camera should be an extra element not Apples main promotion.
Apple produces a very large amount of waste, contributing a lot landfill annually, averaging around 50,000 tonnes. Apple also uses a lot of non-recyclable elements within their tech and packaging, such as plastics. These contribute to the damage of the environment and addition of forever chemicals to water. Despite Apples aesthetically and conceptually brilliant packaging designing, they don’t completely align with the brands identity “to leave the world better than we found it”.
In 2021 Apple launched a privacy campaign after competitors (Google) were berated publicly for the sharing of users personal data with third parties. Apple claimed that iPhones were completely private by their advertisements ‘We’re in the business of staying out of yours’. This claim was untrue, again going against their brand identity and literally their advertisements. A lawsuit was launched against Apple in 2022 regarding their internal sharing of user data and the allowance of third party apps to gather user data.
The mining of cobalt predominantly occurs in the DRC with over 70% of the worlds cobalt coming from here. Apple uses a Chinese based company to acquire cobalt called Huayou Cobalt Co who are known to have not respected human rights, purchasing from mines which use child labour and have horrible working conditions. This does not align with Apple’s brand mission “to make the best products on earth and to leave the world better than we found it”. Their products may be the best in terms of functionality and technology, but can’t “the best” also entail being sourced ethically? This does not leave the world a better place for the population of people who work in a mine which are part of a supply chain for Apple products. Apple have said that they will use recycled cobalt only from 2025 after these issues made it into the public zeitgeist.
Apple stores and their packaging are a great example of excellent branding by Apple. These really do promote the best user experience within their stores, representing their great technology, but the public perception around Apple product producers and landfill wastage doesn’t align with their brand identity.
In order to be the best, the best conditions must be met for all Apple workers. Workers in countries such as America, or in-store workers in the UK for example are treated fairly as everybody should be. For workers in some of the factories within China Apple used to use for example ‘Suyin Electronics’ the conditions were not the same. This company has been accused of using child labour and having poor work conditions/safety. Apple continued to work with them for 3 years afterward these claims and audits were made.
Sources:
[1] Linked in, Firefly Communications: How Patagonia maintained eco-friendly authenticity in the age of greenwashing https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-patagonia-maintained-eco-friendly-authenticity#:~:text=In%20a%20time%20when%20brands,is%20not%20a%20sustainable%20brand.
[2] Patagonia: How We Fund https://www.patagonia.com/how-we-fund/
[3] Influence Watch: Holdfast Collective https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/holdfast-collective/
[4] Washington Post: Alaska Native group protects land coveted by Pebble Mine developers https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/22/alaska-native-group-protects-land-coveted-by-pebble-mine-developers/
[5] Berkeley Economic Review: What Patagonia’s Donation Shows Us About American Philanthropy https://econreview.berkeley.edu/what-patagonias-donation-shows-us-about-american-philanthropy/#:~:text=The%20Holdfast%20Collective%2C%20where%20the,purpose%20of%20combating%20climate%20change
[6] Apple: Waste Generation https://www.globaldata.com/data-insights/technology-media-and-telecom/apple-waste-generation-2095979/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20company%20landfilled,waste%20in%20the%20same%20year.
[7] Business Insider: Apple knowingly used child labour…https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-knowingly-used-child-labor-supplier-3-years-cut-costs-2020-12?r=US&IR=T
[8] Daily Mail: Devestating photos cobalt mines https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11668015/Devastating-photos-cobalt-mines-Democratic-Republic-Congo-power-Apple-Tesla-more.html
[9] Business Insider: Inside iPhone city https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-factory-foxconn-china-photos-tour-2018-5?r=US&IR=T
[10] New York Post: Apple iPhone factory workers ate rotten food… https://nypost.com/2021/12/30/apple-iphone-factory-workers-allegedly-fed-rotten-food-paid-under-5-a-day/
[11] Medium: No, Apple does not care about your privacy https://medium.com/codex/no-apple-does-not-care-about-your-privacy-4bd68669f791
[12] The Privacy: Apple sued for promising privacy… https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/28/apple_sued_privacy/
[13] Demand Sage: 32 iPhone user statistics… https://www.demandsage.com/iphone-user-statistics/
[14] The Business Model Analyst: Apple mission and vision statement https://businessmodelanalyst.com/apple-mission-and-vision-statement/#:~:text=Apple's%20mission%20statement%20is%20%E2%80%9Cto,better%20than%20we%20found%20it.%E2%80%9D
Sectors and Industries:
Monzo is an example of a bank that defies traditions and norms of the industry. Monzo’s identity is more of a social ‘peoples’ bank aimed at the every day user. The brand logo is bright, uses multiple colours and is more of an abstract ‘M’ shape, even the name itself ‘Monzo’ sounds less professional, I feel like it is the ‘o’ ending.
Monzo’s social media is very interesting, they use up to date memes as promotional material, acting as if they are in direct conversation with their users. The up to date ‘cool’ and current content idea separates them from the normal banks and has made them a very fast growing global bank.
I made notes on the ‘sectors and industries section’ including researching Lippincott consulting firm and their work with Standard Chartered.
Their re-brand brings the company forwards into the more digital era, the use of the dot shape for the t’s within the company title for the logo works excellently.
Monzo’s pink colour is shown throughout their logo, website and social media, a very different colour to the normal more professional or even regal colours of banks such as HSBC, Halifax, RBOS, Barclays etc.
