We were recently at a market engagement day where the question was: “how should we brief a brand review?” A great question. Let’s take this a step further. How do you write a brief in a way that makes every agency want to get their hands on it? A brief that gets the best agencies out of their office and into your boardroom. A brief that’s the envy of every strategist from London to New York. And the top designers in the agency are competing for. Here are our suggestions: define the problem not the solution, make sure you and all stakeholders are committed, and be clear about the type of agency ..read more

Transform Awards Europe 2024 was the biggest and best to date. The event celebrates excellence in rebranding, repositioning and brand development, and saw agencies from London to Berlin entering more incredible work than ever before.   Firms like Pentagram, Interbrand and Dragon Rouge submitted brand projects for Bugatti, TikTok, Aston Villa, Kraft Heinz, and Transport for London.  Despite the intense competition, RBL Brand Agency came away with “the most prestigious accolade” and highly coveted award of the night – The Grand Prix – recognising excellence in strategy and creativity f ..read more

“What famous person, alive or dead, real or imaginary, best represents your brand?” This is a helpful question to get to the personality of your brand. And it’s a question we ask during every brand review. There are many common answers: Barack & Michelle Obama, Steve Jobs, and Nelson Mandela. But there is one name that always comes up. David Attenborough. Attenborough, whose name is affectionally shortened to “the bro” by some, has uncommon resonance among younger audiences. He’s arguably the only 90-year-old naturalist that could draw a 100,000-person crowd at Glastonbury. He embodies pos ..read more

As we wrapped up an interview with a stakeholder during a brand review they said: “Wow, that was great. I didn’t expect that.” It’s nice to hear, but it makes you wonder – what did they expect? To feel like a number? Like their answers were being bucketed into convenient categories for data analysis? Instead, we had a conversation. And these conversations have unexpected benefits for your organisation. Some of the benefits include providing an opportunity for introspection and innovation, fostering a sense of connection, and building a deeper sense of meaning and purpose in work. We’ll cover a ..read more

The marketing team may recommend a strategic brand review, but ultimately, it is an executive decision. It can’t consider only the perspectives of the executive team and marketing team, however. Each of your key stakeholder groups should be consulted. What is a key stakeholder group? Any group of people who have a relationship with your brand. That may mean the executive leadership team, senior management team, employees at every level, customers, clients, partners, members, and possibly members of your wider community. A broader cross-section of stakeholders provides a greater depth of insigh ..read more

A brand agency helps clients with brand strategy, brand identity design, and brand activation. Their full offering may include customer and stakeholder research, naming, brand architecture, 2d/3d digital and motion design services, brand governance and guidelines, and the ongoing creation and delivery of content, communications and campaigns. Every brand agency approaches this slightly differently with varying levels of scope, sophistication, and success. Regardless of the nuts and bolts of the process, a brand agency should help align your business and brand strategy so that your communicatio ..read more

Brand and Marketing are vital business tools and it’s important to measure their performance. We recommend measuring them in two ways: long-term brand health and short-term marketing effectiveness. The starting point is to establish a baseline. This can be done through commissioning your own research, or it may be that you have sufficient current data to do this. This data could be contained in reports, research, and analytics data which you already have. Even the number of social media followers that you have can be a useful starting point (if that’s something that’s important to your brand ..read more

We’ve seen brand projects transform organisations from the inside out. Starting from the outside, we’ve seen outcomes such as: Pipeline +$240 million Awareness +33% Fundraising +171% And we’ve heard how these projects have impacted how employees see themselves and show up in the world, provided renewed confidence and ambition, and uncovered insight to navigate critical challenges. But on the surface, “transformation” sounds like an empty promise. Software companies, accountants, and consultants sell transformation and often provide something more modest. Here’s how brand delivers on this. To ..read more

Typically, A brand agency collaborates with an organisation to develop a transformative brand strategy and identity system while a marketing agency helps an organisation achieve shorter-term goals like impressions, downloads, and sign-ups. But beyond this, what is the difference between a brand agency and a marketing agency? And crucially, how do you know which one to partner with? Critical differences can be identified in time horizons, objectives, and tactics: Time horizons:   A brand agency creates a strategy that positions companies for success in the medium to long-term (5-15 y ..read more

At the moment, business and marketing leaders are facing multiple challenges, all at the same time. rising costs, declining profitability inflation decreasing demand hybrid working becoming the norm the acceleration of AI world events and political change internal changes that disrupt plans So, when all this is going on, what part does brand play in helping you weather the storm?   1. Strong Brand Enables Strong Leadership Strong leaders need strong brands. But strong brands also need strong leaders. For a good leader the brand is the touchstone that helps them make the right decision a ..read more