Creative session for brand strategy

For a substantive creative session, good preparation is important. A good brainstorm fizzles, feels good in energy and leads to concrete results (a design, for example). It has to have the right vibe. But its approach is more systematic than you might expect. Good preparations yield predictable and therefore successful results.

Three things are important:

A clear goal
The right people
Clear issues to be answered

A clear creative goal

A clear creative purpose for a brand strategy begins with proper analysis and understanding of target audience, mission and core values. This forms the basis for a brand strategy as well as for the translation of a brand into an interior. The values and brand values that represent the brand give it personality and make it distinctive.

And this does not always have to be in words: it can also be in images or feelings, as long as it is a clear choice: limping on two minds or just “one direction” is not enough. It does not lead to clear exit assumptions and clear choices. It is often easy to move quickly past this and opt for speed: but unfortunately the adage: “garbage in is garbage out” applies.

Brand positioning

Equally important is to define how you relate to the competition. What makes your brand unique? What position do you take in the market? And what moments, feelings and characteristics are associated with them?

Brand promise

So what is your brand’s promise to the customer?

Formulate a clear promise to your target audience. What can they expect from your brand? This is an essential part of your brand strategy.

Action Plan and Evaluation:

Develop a concrete action plan for your marketing activities based on your brand strategy. Track the results and adjust as needed.

How did we deploy this?

In a creative session for a Dutch fashion brand, we tackled this as follows:

A clear goal: to bring the interior concept and design to the current state of the brand (new brand strategy and design). Not a complete rebranding: but clearly a refreshed design.
The right people: from the CCO to the construction manager and commercial manager: everyone at the table
Clear issues to be answered: the adapted audience (age range), more Gen Z and Gen Alpha, more focus on sustainability.

Brand positioning

With an inventory of archetypes, we sparked discussion: where does the brand stand now? And where should it be? And why are you standing here now and for what reason are you not yet where you want to go. The outcome is only too n partially relevant: the conversations therein are far more interesting. This reveals the state of the brand: where has the obstacle been and what are the opportunities? What is circumstance led and what is choice? From this, we concisely summarized the brand positioning and brand promise.

Analysis

In the analysis, we then looked at the type of furniture and its position. The postie in the Lay Out, but also the role in the sales process.

Based on that, we outlined the Lay Out and looked at different angles of the Lay Out and determined a customer journey in the design from there. To finally materialize the Lay Out design, we also compared a material library and looked at what fits the brand, what fits the new sustainability goals and how to incorporate that into the design.

Creative sessions can take different forms, such as brainstorming sessions, hackathons, design sprints, trendstorming and master mindstorms. Choose the format that best suits your team and goals. A brand session can also help lay the groundwork for your brand strategy by delving deeper into your brand identity and unique characteristics.