And we’re back! We here at The Mood Lab love breaking myths about branding and these are the top five topics that are covered on most discovery calls. This conversation usually blows a client’s mind when they realise what a brand designer really does. Where the word “branding” comes up, misconceptions abound, so today we’re doing some mythbusting! So, cue the music and here we go!

1. Logo equals brand

This is the most common misconception out there. This is like saying your body can function using only your face. Your logo is only one of the visual tools used to connect with your audience but it’s not your whole brand. It’s often the first thing people see, so it is important to have a logo that fully shows who and what your brand is so that people have some idea of what to expect.

2. Branding is purely visual

Branding covers a gigantic field of topics ranging from mission statement development to go-to market strategy. The visual is just one small fraction of the field. This is a big thing that people often don’t think about. When branding, rebranding, pivoting, whatever, it’s important to remember that this is not just the visual aspects, but also a lot of pen to paper when you’re figuring out what your brand will be and who you will be in it.

3. Branding is personal taste

Branding should not be personal preferences. Decisions should be based on strategic reasoning as well as research on your target audience and market landscape, just to name a few. Your brand should have some of you in there, but it’s so important to remember that your taste isn’t everyone’s taste (and that’s okay), but you have to take the current market and design trends into consideration when designing your brand.

4. Set it and forget it

Branding requires maintenance, tweaks and adjustments over time. Growing a brand is like taking care of plants. It requires attention and energy, but when done right it will flourish. It’s all fun and games but you have to invest some serious time into developing and growing it. It might wilt sometimes but that’s when you jump in with your watergun and just get blasting.

5. Branding doesn’t bring you money

“Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23% (Forbes, 2018). There’s a reason why our brains immediately jump to Coca Cola (or Sprite, or Fanta) when we talk about soda drinks. That’s because they invested some serious money in deciding who they are and what they want to look like. They invested in brand strategy and research and their ROI (Return on Investment) is huge! Like Nike says: JUST DO IT! Just to link this with the previous point, you’ll see that occasionally their packaging will change. This is so they stay relevant and stay on top!

So, when we’ve gone over all of these things with a potential client and explained these branding misconceptions, either one of these scenarios will occur: They realise how much they have to deal with and decide they are not ready to brand now, or they realise how much time and energy brand designers put into the works and decide to sign with me right away and thank the heavens they find someone they can vibe with.

It sounds like a lot, but really, we here at The Mood Lab are geared and prepared and more than capable of dealing with whatever our clients need, while keeping these branding misconceptions in mind. So, if you’re looking for some rebranding, branding your brand-new business, or just some advice, remember to reach out!

Looking for some more (completely FREE) info on branding? Look at one of our previous posts here!

‘Till next time!