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Feeling courageous? Get inspired by the world’s boldest brands

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Papirfly
8 minutes read

When we talk about brands being brave, we don’t mean the ‘running into burning buildings’ kind of brave. We’re talking about a risky move that has the potential to go very well or horribly wrong. 

Let’s take a look at the reasons why a brand may choose to do something a little on the edgy side, and at some classic and modern examples of where these have paid off.

Why does the potential payoff outweigh the risk?

Even some of the most established brands in the world can fall into the trap of becoming too comfortable, too predictable or too familiar. They need to be consistent, yes, but never dull. 

A move that’s out of the ordinary reawakens an audience to new possibilities and provides them with a fresh perspective or view of the brand. It may reposition them entirely for some or reaffirm what an existing audience already knew. 

When this happens, there’s usually a flurry of free PR that follows. And not just from industry news outlets. Brands doing things out of the ordinary usually gain traction on wider social media and content publishing platforms. Understanding the impact on a brand from a business, customer and marketing level is one thing – how the media spins it is another. So teams need to have a plan in place to cover all eventualities.

What does brand bravery mean?

While in more recent times, brand bravery has shaped itself to be more about taking a stand on a particular topic or movement, historically it has involved doing something controversial or irreverent – which doesn’t fit our definition of brave. It would be great if every campaign has a direct positive impact on society, but this would flood the world with inauthentic attempts to make a difference. 

Below we’ve selected 4 brands that have made distinctly ‘brave’ moves in their marketing…

Guinness took a risk

Guinness advertising has long been iconic. But back in 2019, they took things to the next level. When Guinness cleverly announced that it was launching ‘Guinness Clear’ in a slot before the Six Nations rugby, they sent Twitter into a frenzy with desperate fans scrambling to find the new drink online. 

Of course, many others quickly caught onto the purpose of the ads. Guinness Clear was simply a pint of water. What the drinks giant had done was highlight the need to consume more water in between pints of the black stuff, to reduce overall alcohol consumption for a healthier attitude towards drinking during matches.

The ad was later re-released at Christmas, a time that’s notorious for revellers having more than one too many.

We think out of all the stunts Guinness has pulled, this is the one that sets them apart, and defines them most closely to the term brave. While the concept was lost initially on some people, it eventually got everyone talking and raised awareness of the power of drinking water in between alcohol. Which of course, means buying less Guinness. When a brand prioritises the health and safety of consumers over sales, it’s an unusual and welcome step in the right direction.

Lush turned the light off

While Lush has come under fire in the past for what some have described as “crossing a line” between being a retailer and an advocate for pushing societal issues, the brand seems more than comfortable as a rebellious crusader promoting what’s right.

All the deep and complex issues the handmade cosmetics company manages to address are very impressive, and you’d think that social media would be a great place to amplify the good work you’re doing. 

However, back in 2019 Lush made the announcement it was to stop publishing from its UK social media platforms.

Now the reason behind this was due to how the organic algorithm works on Facebook. The Lush team had become frequently frustrated with pouring their heart and soul into their content, only for the social media platform to make it hard for them to reach many people organically. 

It’s widely known that Facebook has a much more powerful audience reach when you pay-to-play through their advertising services. But Lush took a stand against the tech giant by calling it quits, and as it turned out it has paid off very well for them.

What the data showed them was that their audience was more engaged on their ‘owned’ platforms. So Lush now communicates via its employees and own platforms, to create richer, more authentic experiences and conversations for its customers.

Regardless of your relationship with Facebook, a global brand turning its back on a huge channel in an act of taking the moral high ground is pretty cool. Think of just how many sales they will have lost from the move. What we’re wondering is how long will they be able to keep it up? 

Burger King threw out the rule book

While many of BK’s stunts have been hit and miss, they always garner attention from the media. Whether it’s encouraging customers in Brazil to virtually burn the adverts of its rivals, or highlighting gender disparity in China with its Burger Queen campaign, the Burger King marketing team appear to be working overtime to continually create sometimes regrettable but mostly unforgettable campaigns. 

Here are just some of the bold moves the brand has taken…

They launched a Christmas ad in July

When the world realised 2020 wasn’t quite shaping up to be the year we all expected, Burger King jumped in and transformed one of its stores in the U.S. with Christmas decorations. The advert highlights to customers that they’re doing their bit to help wrap up the negative year by bringing the holidays much earlier. We’re not sure how many additional burgers it helped them sell, but it was a nice move nonetheless. 

They weighed in on British politics 

Driving an iconic red London bus around Westminster (where England’s MPs are based) with a controversial message takes some courage. Burger King’s use of Whopper in this ad not only plays on their product, but it’s also an informal word for a lie in the UK. Make of that what you will.

Another-Whopper

Credit @stu_bot3000 via Twitter 

They showed their burgers growing mould

Who could forget when Burger King removed artificial preservatives from its burger? They boldly left a Whopper to decay over a period of 34 days and then shared the results with the world. While this was met with some criticism of the ad being more for ‘ad people’ than customers, it certainly seemed to get people talking. Regardless of opinions, in a sea of been-done-before creatives, Burger King burst through with this unexpected and insightful concept. We say, bravo. 

Mouldy-Whopper

They undertook their first rebrand in 20 years

Burger King’s new logo took everyone by surprise. If you’re in marketing, you’ll understand just how much a rebrand can cost a company, let alone someone that has signage all over the world. The justification behind the move was that the brand wanted to capture more of its characteristics in its identity, big and bold, playful and irreverent. The retro-inspired logo certainly stirs up nostalgia.

BK-1

Other examples worth mentioning 

Always – Like A Girl campaign

The global personal hygiene company took purpose-driven marketing to a whole new level back in 2014. Always was keen to keep young girls feeling confident through puberty and set out to change perceptions of what it means to ‘be a girl’. They addressed many sexist misconceptions on female abilities all based around the hashtag #LikeAGirl. 

The idea stems from phrases that have been wrongly used as derogatory such as “You throw like a girl”. The creatives behind these realigned perceptions, turning any negative preconceptions about the abilities of girls into positive ones. 

Read about the incredible results here. 

Coca-Cola – One-brand move

Back in 2014, the global drinks brand united 14 of its product family under one aligned campaign. They described the move as “putting the product at the heart of the creative” and it gave them the opportunity to create universal storytelling that would connect consumers from around the world. You can read how it’s benefited the brand here. 

While it isn’t bravery in the traditional sense, from the internal and logistical perspective of their marketing teams, it was a big step. And it paid off well in the short-term – although they have recently decided to change tact to unveil an all-new look for Coca-Cola Zero cans to try and set them apart.

Maersk Line – Learning from a mistake

Also in 2014, Maersk Line made a brave move by sharing a photo of a dead whale on their social media channels that was struck by one of their cargo ships. Maersk did not shy away from this unfortunate accident, and instead highlighted it as a signal of their intention to learn more about whale behaviour and adjust their own practices to ensure this can never happen again.

This open, honest discussion captured worldwide attention and engaged many marine experts offering their advice as to how Maersk’s team can avoid these events in future. Taking this bold step allowed them to control the narrative and shape it as a teachable moment – something they will learn from to better their process in future.

The Met Museum – Ignored traditional design rules 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been a staple institution in society for over 145 years. So when they replaced their logo with one that featured an unusually kerned typeface, it caused a bit of controversy amongst its die-hard fans. When you delve into the reasons behind the move, bringing together serif and sans serif letters to recognise its ability to unify both the classic and the modern, it makes a lot of sense. 

Premier League – No Room for Racism Campaign

What started as bringing together footballers to encourage people to report racism in the stadiums has evolved into a long-standing campaign to try and stamp out discrimination in the football industry. The sporting institution came under fire in 2020 when it publicly showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK. They have since released a statement to say that the support is not in any way political and that it aligns with their objectives of “eradicating racial prejudice wherever it exists”. They have stuck by this and continue their support to this day. 

ITV – Mental Wellness Campaign

The television channel used a primetime TV show and ad break to run silent adverts, and encouraging viewers to instead talk to each other about what’s going on in their lives and their minds.

Does it pay to take risks?

Every brand is different, and while taking some of these risks could have gone either way for the mentioned brands, ultimately they stood up, did something different and it paid off. The scale of the risk you take depends on what you’re comfortable with, and how your brand needs to be positioned to the world. 

Not taking any risks at all can be greater than taking them to begin with. Producing stale, uninspiring campaigns could leave you looking predictable. It’s always important to weigh up the pros and cons behind any idea, and be prepared for all eventualities should it not go the way you’d hoped. 

Finally, ensure that any big move you make is grounded in strategy, controversy or bravery for the sake of it could fall flat if there’s no solid direction and reasoning.

Table of contents:

  1. Why does the potential payoff outweigh the risk?
  2. What does brand bravery mean?
  3. Guinness took a risk
  4. Lush turned the light off
  5. Burger King threw out the rule book
  6. Other examples worth mentioning
  7. Does it pay to take risks?
Brand Asset Management / BAM

What is Brand Asset Management?

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Papirfly
4 minutes read

Trending words are something marketers are used to. The Martech space is in constant movement and forces us to stay alert and pay attention. You don’t have to embrace all new trends, but at least you need to familiarize yourself with the trends and base your decision on know-how.

One word that perhaps you have heard but not paid attention to, is BAM or Brand Asset Management. Did your brush it off as a trend? Then get back in, this is not a trend, this is an essential tool all marketers should acknowledge.

This is Brand Asset Management (BAM)

A Brand Asset Management solution is the extension of Digital Asset Management, BAM starts where DAM ends. This is the solution that connects your brand identity guidelines and your brand assets, putting your brand in context.

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Trending words are something marketers are used to. The Martech space is in constant movement and forces us to stay alert and pay attention. You don’t have to embrace all new trends, but at least you need to familiarize yourself with the trends and base your decision on know-how.

One word that perhaps you have heard but not paid attention to, is BAM or Brand Asset Management. Did your brush it off as a trend? Then get back in, this is not a trend, this is an essential tool all marketers should acknowledge.

This is Brand Asset Management (BAM)

A Brand Asset Management solution is the extension of Digital Asset Management, BAM starts where DAM ends. This is the solution that connects your brand identity guidelines and your brand assets, putting your brand in context.

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Trending words are something marketers are used to. The Martech space is in constant movement and forces us to stay alert and pay attention. You don’t have to embrace all new trends, but at least you need to familiarize yourself with the trends and base your decision on know-how.

One word that perhaps you have heard but not paid attention to, is BAM or Brand Asset Management. Did your brush it off as a trend? Then get back in, this is not a trend, this is an essential tool all marketers should acknowledge.

This is Brand Asset Management (BAM)

A Brand Asset Management solution is the extension of Digital Asset Management, BAM starts where DAM ends. This is the solution that connects your brand identity guidelines and your brand assets, putting your brand in context.

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Brand management, Corporate communications

3 steps to a successful branding process

Avatar
Papirfly
6 minutes read

Being a Brand Manager is a demanding job even at the best of times. Whether your brand is emerging, established or fighting for its place on the world stage, there are many areas you must consider to ensure brand strategy is effectively activated, developed, monitored, maintained and driven in the right direction.
If the global pandemic has taught us anything in marketing it’s that in order to thrive, brands need to be prepared for anything.

Every organisation should already have a brand management strategy where it belongs – right at the top of the corporate agenda, and marketers need to be ready for any eventuality. Brand management should be framed as a continual process of constant evolution – agile and responsive to global and competitive factors.

Brand identity is the most fundamental consumer touchpoint for your business and 77% of marketing leaders say branding is critical to growth. Your brand is your reputation, and therefore the most important asset your company has. If you’re authentic and keep your promises, and if your customers have positive experiences, they will tell other people. If they have a bad experience, you can be sure they will tell the world.

So when it comes to establishing a successful brand activation strategy and brand development process, what does an effective process look like? And what does being prepared actually mean in practice?

First, you need to create a plan that prepares you to overcome any obstacles and challenges which may lie ahead. We believe the best approach to creating or enhancing a successful branding process is as follows.

Step 1: Establish the foundations of your brand identity

Brand identity is about more than just logo, font, and colours. It’s a unique, consistent customer experience of an organisation’s purpose, voice, visual style, and vision. Consistency is especially important during times of change, when customers are looking for stability and trust.

3-steps-to-a-successful-branding-process

A useful starting point is to think about your current brand asset management processes and identify the key challenges you need to overcome. This is a critical element of the entire process as it will also establish the groundwork for measuring your brand development success further down the line.

Start by listing the issues and problems faced by the organisation with regards to brand management. Look closely at the challenges faced by your marketing department:

The ability to remain consistent:
  • Colleagues and local offices are struggling to access the latest branded materials resulting in off-brand assets and communications are regularly being distributed.
Lack of resources:
  • Your marketing team is struggling to deliver requests on-demand. There is simply not enough time to support ad-hoc tasks and you fall behind, unable to deliver brand assets on time.
Limited budget:
  • Budget cuts are not uncommon, and sometimes you are forced to cancel or limit brand campaigns.
Challenges staying relevant in the market:

The market changes fast, and if you’re already struggling with the above, your ability to remain relevant is a major challenge.

Next up is to analyse your current brand environment. New brands have the luxury of starting from scratch, but if you’ve been in the market for a while and the brand has stagnated, you need to know why. Key questions to consider include:

How loyal is your customer target group?
  • What elements does your group focus on when choosing a brand? Price, quality, purchase locality, etc. can all be factors in this decision-making process.
Is your brand perceived as it was intended to be?
  • Is your brand clearly understood and are you delivering on your promise?
What’s the competition?
  • Who are they and how well is their brand resonating with their audience? Know what you are up against and understand how to get in front.
How do you reach your target group? In store? Online?
  • You need to be where your customers are, so make sure you know where that is.
What is the length of the buying decision process?
  • If the purchase decision is made in store, you need to plan on how to convince and build-up brand recognition that puts you in front of your competitors. If the decision process is long and requires research, you need to plan on how you can help them decide and take part in their purchase cycle.

It’s important that these and many more questions are considered before you move on to deciding what branding and identity development strategy to choose.

Step 2: Optimise your brand strategy to ensure growth

There is no exact timetable to determine how regularly you should optimise your brand strategy. It’s a good idea to be constantly vigilant about your brand’s overall health and identity, always keeping in mind customer feedback, employee morale and the business’ growth trajectory.

When feedback, morale and/or growth aren’t where you want them to be, it’s a good time to take a step back and assess things. Taking the time to check the current strengths and weaknesses of your brand while evaluating where you want to go will only serve to strengthen your positioning. A brand asset audit is a useful exercise to conduct regularly.

An audit could include the following inventory:

  • Strapline
  • Purpose
  • Logo
  • Visual identity
  • Colour scheme
  • Brand marketing templates

A strong brand is the foundation upon which the business stands, which means it must always be firm and resolute. While a solid product or service remains the core of your business, few customers will take the time to explore your offering if there isn’t a confident and credible brand to back it.

Knowing exactly what your brand’s messaging is and what it stands for is crucial, and having a coherent strategy to communicate that to prospective customers and clients will propel future success.

3-steps-to-a-successful-branding-process-2

Step 3: Identify your brand’s development metrics

When you’re ready to execute your brand activation, make sure you have the necessary KPIs in place so you can measure your success based on facts instead of your gut feeling.

There is a significant amount of value in your strategic brand management process, but how do you accurately determine how much? Set KPIs that can measure the situation before and after activation. Consider these examples:

Metric 1:

As initially stated, consistency is key to brand growth, but your current state is showing that local offices are repeatedly using the wrong logo.

  • Strategy goal: Secure brand consistency
  • KPI: All local offices should within 3 months use the correct logo according to brand guidelines.
Metric 2:

Regardless of how much you try, you simply do not have enough resources and time to deliver brand assets on-demand and you lose out on brand presence. Yet brand growth is dependent on your ability to be visible in the market.

  • Strategy goal: Secure brand presence
  • KPI: No backlog of requests. Respond to requests within the same working day.
Metric 3:

Growing a brand demands focus. However, current status shows that you are constantly spending your time on ad-hoc and repetitive tasks, meaning your time for value-added brand work is reduced.

  • Strategy goal: Enable self-serviced brand assets
  • KPI: Eliminate requests for existing assets.

Tracking your brand KPIs can help validate everything you do as a marketing professional. Thanks to the countless tracking tools available today, businesses have the opportunity to gain more visibility over their marketing efforts and the continual progression of their brand than ever before. Get to know your marketing failures and fix them. Get to know your marketing successes and highlight them.

Supporting your branding process

By following the three steps outlined above, your branding process will be more robust and capable of supporting the constant evolution and progression that every brand goes through in order to survive and thrive.

But this is only the beginning – there is a lot more ground to cover. For more on enhancing brand management in your organisation, check out our whitepaper on the value of an investment in your brand.

3-steps-to-a-successful-branding-process

Take your branding process further with a brand management platform

Once you have a process and strategy in place to maintain your brand strength and security as it develops and evolves over time, it’s crucial that this is consistently applied across all marketing channels. This is where Brand Management, or the Papirfly Platform, will make a big difference for your brand.

With an all all-in-one brand management platform you can confidently streamline processes that accommodate multi-channel asset production to support building brand awareness and the efforts of multiple teams.

A brand management platform provides a single online destination for your global employees dedicated to preserving, protecting and propelling your brand. Teams can produce studio-standard marketing materials from bespoke templates, store, share and adapt them for their own markets and stay firmly educated on the brand’s purpose, guidelines and evolution – with no agency help necessary.

Whilst improving your workflows creates more time and saves money as internal bottlenecks are eliminated, relying less on external agencies and reducing time wasted on back and forth approval processes makes bringing asset creation in-house an appealing choice.

Start empowering your team with the all-in-one brand management platform by Papirfly.

Table of contents:

  1. Establish the foundations of your brand identity
  2. Optimise your brand strategy to ensure growth 
  3. Identify your brand’s development metrics
  4. Supporting your branding process
  5. Take your branding process further with a brand management platform

The best way
to manage your brand.
See it in action.

  • Boosting revenues
  • Doing more for less
  • Activating brands on a global scale
See how it fits your needs

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The challenges and opportunities of digital content creation

Avatar
Papirfly
4 minutes read

As professionals, we’re constantly consuming; videos, podcasts, articles. We just can’t get enough.

As brands, we know that digital platforms are the best way to get in front of our potential customers. But getting to them at the ideal stage of the customer journey and serving them the right piece of content at the best time can be a challenge. 

Now multiply that by several personas, channels, industries and locations, this is the reality that so many teams are facing.

Producing digital content on any scale can be taxing, but on a global scale the process can be even more burdensome.

Today we’re identifying some of the key challenges facing marketing teams worldwide, and what can be done to alleviate some of this pressure, so that teams can keep up, keep evolving and keep producing engaging content.

What are the common challenges and opportunities?

Creating a digital content schedule

Challenge:

Knowing how much to schedule and how frequently

Solution:

No matter how many great ideas you have, it all starts with objectives, budget and capacity. If you don’t have the infrastructure to fulfil all your content needs, you’ll end up putting your team in a compromising position (unless you have BAM by Papirfly™, of course).

If you don’t have a solid grounding of data or strategy to guide your scheduling decisions, take a look at what competitors are doing as a starting point. 

Challenge:

Preparing for reactive content

Solution:

Have a full plan in place should there be an exceptional opportunity to jump on something topical. If your content guidelines require a heavy sign off process, then create a scoring system for your content team to assess the opportunity of the topical piece. If the benefits outweigh the consequences of missing out, they can proceed with an abridged sign-off process.

Or, if this is not an option, explore Brand Activation Management to make sure teams have the tools they need to create the assets they need both quickly and autonomously, as well as to streamline the sign-off process. 

Tips for creating a digital content schedule

  • Work backwards from launch deadlines in order to determine feasibility
  • Don’t rely too heavily on hard deadlines, give yourself some wiggle room of a day or two
  • Check the diaries of those delivering the schedule beforehand to make sure there’s nothing that could affect production

Assigning roles in the process

Challenge:

Knowing who is responsible for what 

Solution:

If there’s confusion or crossover on duties, get everyone to make a list of their skill sets and daily tasks and rate their competency level for each. By doing this, you’ll spot who is doing things within the process that shouldn’t be, and you’ll utilise skill sets you may have not known about.

If you have an internal messaging platform, also ask employees to put their job roles in their names. This helps prevent requests that aren’t relevant coming through to the wrong person, and wasting their time. 

Challenge:

One or two people knowing the process better than others

Solution:

Whilst clear hierarchy is integral to ensuring content production runs smoothly, if all the information is kept under wraps, you could end up stuck if someone leaves. Ensure that every process and guideline is documented and accessible, and make sure your team is kept up-to-date with any changes made to avoid confusion.

Tips for assigning roles

  • Assign a primary and secondary person (in case one person goes on holiday)
  • Ensure each person knows who they report to and get sign off from
  • Give everyone a copy of the production schedule and who is responsible for what

Make your budget go further

Challenge:

Keeping up with volume of demand 

Solution:

Invest in a digital solution that allows you to quickly create, edit, duplicate and deliver at scale. The Brand Activation Management space, home to BAM by Papirfly™, is opening up a whole new world of opportunity for teams to create assets that are tailored for markets, countries and more. 

Challenge:

Utilising skills in-house 

Solution:

Not everyone can be a creative, designer or writer. But it’s not always cost-effective to keep engaging agencies or hiring new team members. Having pre-defined templates that give individuals flexibility in a framework ensures peace of mind and optimal levels of delivery. 

Tips to make your budget go further

  • Repurpose content when and where you can
  • Revisit and update outdated content if it’s still relevant
  • Bring production in-house if it’s still BAM by Papirfly

What is the future of digital content creation?

Like every other area of marketing, it’s only a matter of time before the creation side of content production is automated to some degree. It’s safe to say that Brand Activation Management is here to stay.

The digitisation and centralisation of all brand assets worldwide is a logical next step for the biggest brands across the globe. The likes of Coca-Cola, HSBC, Vodafone and IBM are already using BAM by Papirfly™ to deliver more digital and print assets than they ever thought possible. More empowerment and autonomy for their teams. More output for their budgets. More efficiencies and much less stress. This is the future of digital content creation.

If you would like to learn more about BAM by Papirfly™ and book a demo for you or your team, please get in touch.  

Table of contents:

  1. Creating a digital content schedule
  2. Assigning roles in the process
  3. Make your budget go further
  4. What is the future of digital content creation?
Branding, Branding processes

What part does the brand play in your company?

Avatar
Papirfly
3 minutes read

You probably heard the expression “The world would be a boring place if we were all the same”. Comparing this to a brand’s role might give you a better understanding of the functions a brand has in a company and how much branding actually matters.

Because if all brands in one specific market were 100% identical, wouldn’t consumer choices become more or less irrelevant?

Eye opener? Maybe so, but it establishes cause for why many believe a brand is more or less everything in a company. This is what sets the most successful brands apart from the crowd – they have anchored the brand in all parts of their business – with all employees, in their vision, in how they meet the consumers, their visual expressions and in all forms of communication.

Continue reading “What part does the brand play in your company?”

You probably heard the expression “The world would be a boring place if we were all the same”. Comparing this to a brand’s role might give you a better understanding of the functions a brand has in a company and how much branding actually matters.

Because if all brands in one specific market were 100% identical, wouldn’t consumer choices become more or less irrelevant?

Eye opener? Maybe so, but it establishes cause for why many believe a brand is more or less everything in a company. This is what sets the most successful brands apart from the crowd – they have anchored the brand in all parts of their business – with all employees, in their vision, in how they meet the consumers, their visual expressions and in all forms of communication.

Continue reading “What part does the brand play in your company?”

You probably heard the expression “The world would be a boring place if we were all the same”. Comparing this to a brand’s role might give you a better understanding of the functions a brand has in a company and how much branding actually matters.

Because if all brands in one specific market were 100% identical, wouldn’t consumer choices become more or less irrelevant?

Eye opener? Maybe so, but it establishes cause for why many believe a brand is more or less everything in a company. This is what sets the most successful brands apart from the crowd – they have anchored the brand in all parts of their business – with all employees, in their vision, in how they meet the consumers, their visual expressions and in all forms of communication.

Continue reading “What part does the brand play in your company?”

Brand management, Branding processes

What you need to establish proper branding processes

Avatar
Papirfly
3 minutes read

When you are cooking and you want to make it perfect, you need a recipe. After all, an excellent dish is not complete without the right ingredients, and you can’t skip a few of the steps in the process.

This is also how it is with proper branding. If you leave a few components out or take short cuts in the process, you will be left with an indigestible brand.

So, what do you need to establish proper branding processes?

Include the people in your branding processes

Many great speakers have spoken relentlessly about the people and the difference they make. And with good reason. The people do make a significant difference, and therefore it is essential that you have them on your side.

Continue reading “What you need to establish proper branding processes”

When you are cooking and you want to make it perfect, you need a recipe. After all, an excellent dish is not complete without the right ingredients, and you can’t skip a few of the steps in the process.

This is also how it is with proper branding. If you leave a few components out or take short cuts in the process, you will be left with an indigestible brand.

So, what do you need to establish proper branding processes?

Include the people in your branding processes

Many great speakers have spoken relentlessly about the people and the difference they make. And with good reason. The people do make a significant difference, and therefore it is essential that you have them on your side.

Continue reading “What you need to establish proper branding processes”

When you are cooking and you want to make it perfect, you need a recipe. After all, an excellent dish is not complete without the right ingredients, and you can’t skip a few of the steps in the process.

This is also how it is with proper branding. If you leave a few components out or take short cuts in the process, you will be left with an indigestible brand.

So, what do you need to establish proper branding processes?

Include the people in your branding processes

Many great speakers have spoken relentlessly about the people and the difference they make. And with good reason. The people do make a significant difference, and therefore it is essential that you have them on your side.

Continue reading “What you need to establish proper branding processes”

Branding, Rebranding

Rebranding strategy?

Avatar
Papirfly
4 minutes read

Are you about to give your brand a facelift? Then don’t leave anything to chance, for starters, make sure you lay a solid and thorough strategy. A rebranding is not only comprehensive, but it also comes with a risk: It can damage your brand – if you don’t do it right.

A good example is when Uber changed their logo and it resulted in as much as 44% who didn’t recognize the company behind the new logo. Additionally, 64% preferred the old logo instead. In other words, change is not always for the better. If you are going to make changes, you must secure a solid strategy to back up your decision.

Who is your target audience? 

At the end of the day, your brand and its position is established in the market by the consumers. There are expectations to fulfill and it is essential that you understand these expectations throughout your rebranding process. The new brand needs to create perceptions that are newer and better for the same audience who have already chosen your current brand as the preferred one.

Who are you?

As part of the new strategy, look to the existing brand through a different pair of eyes. How have you previously communicated your brand? Study your vision, and what’s your mission? What associations do you want your market and audience to associate with your brand?

Remember the example in the introduction with Uber. It is crucial that you make it clear who you are and ensure that this reflects the entire brand chain. This is also where brand consistency comes in. Studies show that consumers need to be exposed between five and seven times before they remember a brand. Now communication becomes especially important and if not done right, it can be expensive.

Shape your brand identity

When you know who you are communicating with and how you need to communicate, you can start working on the more visual elements of your strategy.

In short, this is more or less all elements that communicate your brand: Logo, colors, typeface, slogan, and elements such as promotional items, business cards, and similar material.

Keep in mind, there is a reason why we call the things connected to your brand identity “elements”. It’s not the brand itself, but the visual extension of your brand.

The brand identity becomes the most important element that communicates your brand and empowers how the market perceives the actual brand. To highlight an example that explains the impact of brand identity and how easily it can be placed in consumers’ mind: If we ask you what color the McDonalds logo has, you probably didn’t hesitate long before the color yellow came to mind?

Stay loyal to your brand guidelines

McDonalds is a good example of the importance of clear and well-defined brand guidelines that everyone follows. If McDonalds was randomly using different logo colors or constantly changing the shape of the well-known arch, yellow would probably not come to mind as quickly as it did in the previous paragraph.

A rebranding is extensive and when you are responsible for the brand identity you also need to make sure it is used correctly. It is particularly important that the guidelines for your new brand are respected and followed to avoid communication chaos by using old and new communication interchangeably.

This is what your guidelines should incorporate

To ensure zero unclarities, make sure your guidelines include:

  • Logo – Updated logo, in different formats, needs to be available, including “how to use” guidelines.
  • Colors – Color swatches and clear guidelines on how to use the colors in visual communication need to be addressed.
  • Typography – Let there be no doubt on what font(s) are allowed and how to use them.
  • Visual elements – The use of icons or other graphical elements such as patterns must be explained and available.
  • Social media rules – What expectations do you have for sharing and publishing company-related posts?
  • Code library – Digital platforms demand their own set of guidelines for buttons, fonts, colours and more, make sure to have it in place.

Create an execution roadmap

A huge part of the strategy is the actual execution. Let’s draw a metaphor. One of the most popular Track and Field (Athletics) practices is the 100 meters sprint. The runners are well-prepared before the race and they understand 100% what will happen when the opening shot fires. They have a plan for how to get to the finished line, hopefully first.

With this image fresh in mind, imagine your brand preparing to complete a 100-meter sprint. Without solid preparations and understanding of what to do when the race starts and a complete lack of understanding and plan on how to cross the finish line, your race will consist of runners left at the starting line, others are running in different directions and are most likely crashing into each other. With a little bit of luck maybe a couple of runners manages to cross the finish line at the end. But the journey to get there was chaotic.

If you initiate a rebranding process without any execution plan, this is a realistic scenario. Make sure everyone in your company knows your plan and safeguard a smooth journey towards the finish line as soon as the race starts.

When live – analyze your performance

Remember that a rebranding strategy is not over when you go live. One element that enables athletes to constantly improve their time and achievements is their continuous analysis of their achieved accomplishments. This is also what you must do after launching your new brand. The lesson and insight you gain from the launch can help you in your daily communication or prior to the next launch or rebranding.

Bear in mind, patience is key. Building a brand does not happen overnight, it requires time. Make sure you organize your time well and correct it from the very beginning. If you fumble and run in different directions, your goals for brand consistency vanishes. Brand awareness is non-existing, and your rebranding fails.

Brand Consistency

Brand association: How to establish your brand in the minds of consumers

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Papirfly
6 minutes read

Why do some brands immediately come to mind when we think of a season, a person, or even a mood? It might feel instinctive, but in most cases, these associations are carefully built over time — through everyday interactions and standout brand marketing moments.

Brand associations are the mental connections people make between your brand identity and specific thoughts, feelings or ideas. These associations are central to building brand equity. They shape buying behavior and help your brand achieve differentiation, even in a market filled with similar products or services.

The psychology behind strong brand associations

The psychology behind brand association goes deep, with one of the most widely accepted explanations rooted in the Hebbian Theory of Donald Hebb, considered the father of neuropsychology. In his 1949 book The Organization of Behavior, Hebb proposed that our brains form stronger and quicker neural pathways the more frequently two concepts are experienced together.

That same principle applies to branding – through repeated interactions and brand messaging, your brand becomes mentally linked to specific ideas.

5 ways brands create an emotional connection:

Attributes

These are the recognizable features of a product or service, including how it looks, feels, and performs. For example, a brand promoting itself as eco-conscious might use recyclable materials and nature-inspired designs to reinforce that perception.

Attitudes

The emotional associations a brand cultivates are also tools for connection. These include feelings associated with joy, nostalgia, luxury, or athleticism. Take this Apple ad from 2024. It’s a great example of how brands find ways to connect with familiar, recognizable elements from their customers’ lives before tying those experiences back to their own company’s story.

Benefits

Many people buy products or services based on the benefits associated with the brand. But these benefits do not always have to be purely experienced by the consumer – they can also be about helping to make the world a better place. A great example is Warby Parker’s pledge to donate a pair of glasses to children and those in need for every pair purchased.

Celebrities

Endorsements from public figures remain a tried-and-tested way to build brand recognition. This works most effectively when the celebrity naturally aligns with the brand identity – like when famous ketchup lover Ed Sheeran collaborated with Heinz.

How do leading brands build brand equity?

For global brands, building and reinforcing positive associations is essential to staying ahead. Here’s how some of the most iconic brands keep themselves top of mind:

coca cola brand association

There’s a reason you’ll find bright red Coca-Cola branding at holiday resorts and sports events, and tied to beloved characters like Santa Claus. By connecting with these overwhelmingly positive experiences, the brand becomes inextricably linked with people’s happy memories – and has consumers reaching for Coca-Cola products in good times and bad.

apple brand association

Apple hasn’t just gained customers — it’s garnered a following. Their sleek product design, elevated packaging, and hyped launch events all reinforce their premium, innovative brand identity. Collaborations with creative powerhouses like Aardman Animations further connect Apple to groundbreaking talent.

nike brand association

The Nike swoosh has long been associated with the world’s most famous athletes. As well as tapping into people’s athletic aspirations, Nike is connecting itself with the emotions that first draw people into sport, such as competitiveness, teamwork, self-improvement and determination. It’s why everyone these days thinks sport whenever they see Nike (and thinks Nike whenever they see sport).

starbucks brand association

Besides the iconic mermaid and expansive range of coffees, what’s the one thing everybody associates with Starbucks? That’s right – writing customers’ names on their cups. It doesn’t feel like a big deal on the surface, but this small personal touch helped make Starbucks a standout influencer brand on Instagram, and they continue to connect with millions across the globe this way.

mcdonalds brand asociation

After a run of negative publicity surrounding childhood obesity, McDonald’s made some major changes to their brand marketing strategy. This included:

  • Revamping menus to include healthier options and provide customers with nutritional information
  • Projecting a strong eco-friendly message by introducing recyclable packaging and drastically altering their brand colors to green
  • Reusing their own cooking oils to fuel their bio-diesel range of trucks
  • Overhauling the design and feel of their restaurants to encourage more people to eat in

3 ways to start building stronger brand associations

If associations aren’t yet part of your brand marketing strategy, here are three steps to build connections that last.

#1 Association mapping

A brand association map like the example below will help you analyse the positive and negative associations that consumers currently have of your brand. It will show you where you stand out from your competitors and what makes your customers choose your products or services.

These insights will help you choose which areas to focus on when it comes to creating connections, generating engagement, and shaping future content.

brand association mapping

#2 Analyzing how people search and ask

The way people discover and connect with brands is no longer just about what they type into Google. The direct questions your audience asks in AI tools, such as ChatGPT or Perplexity, reveal customer behaviour: a need, a question, a curiosity.

By analyzing behaviors in both search engine keywords and LLM prompt phrasing, you have an advantage. You uncover the mental connections people are making between ideas, categories, and brands. This isn’t just about SEO keyword rankings anymore. It’s about visibility in the answers people trust.

Search trends still show which topics matter. But increasingly, language models are shaping brand perception by surfacing examples and recommending solutions. If your brand isn’t showing up in search results, or in the answers given by AI, that’s a gap in your brand association strategy.

Combining traditional keyword analysis with LLM-based prompt intelligence can help you understand:

  • What ideas your brand is associated with (or not)
  • Where new associations could be built
  • How to align content with how people actually think and search today

Social listening remains a powerful companion to this. It gives you real-time insight into the conversations happening around your brand, letting you see what themes are emerging — and how to harness them in content that feels relevant, timely, and resonant.

#3 Avoiding the negatives 

Poor brand associations are easy to create — and difficult to undo. Common pitfalls include:

  • Inconsistency – Gaps in service, product quality or brand messaging can break trust and strengthen negative perceptions.
  • Contradictions – Brand values must match business practices. If a brand promotes fairness but uses unethical labor, consumers will notice.
  • Forced connections – It’s not enough simply to raise awareness via a trend. Your brand needs to be part of the solution as well. Any response that feels half-hearted or inauthentic is likely to be called out.

How DAM software helps you build brand association

Building positive associations that reach the hearts and minds of your audience is one of the most powerful marketing techniques at your disposal. But associations don’t form overnight. They take consistent, ongoing content that reinforces what your brand stands for. Without that, the connections you’ve worked hard to build can fade.

Papirfly’s Digital Asset Management and templated content creation suite is designed to help marketing teams generate in-house content faster and more cost-effectively – without ever straying off-brand. It makes building and maintaining connections with an audience easier and more reliable than ever before.

Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

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Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

We’ve got you covered.

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Not sure what to look for in a DAM?

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Read our buyer’s guide
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Papirfly DAM - All you need in one single place

FAQs

What is brand association, and why does it matter?

Brand associations are the mental connections people make between your brand and specific ideas, emotions, or experiences. Positive brand associations build brand equity, influence customer decisions, and help businesses stand out in crowded markets.

What are the most effective ways to create emotional brand associations?

Brands can build emotional connections through product attributes, consumer benefits, attitudes, celebrity endorsements, and symbolic moments. Each method reinforces a specific brand perception or value linked to the brand.

Can brand association be negative?

Yes. Negative experiences, poor customer service, or bad publicity can create harmful associations that damage brand perception and reduce customer loyalty.

How can you start building brand associations from scratch?

Begin with an association map to understand existing perceptions. Use co-search and social listening to spot real-world connections. Avoid inconsistencies or forced associations that could erode trust or feel inauthentic.

How does Digital Asset Management support brand association?

A DAM system ensures consistent brand marketing by organizing assets and enabling faster content creation. This consistency reinforces the mental links customers form with your brand identity and values.

Table of contents:

  1. The psychology behind strong brand associations
  2. How the world’s leading brands stay front-and-centre
  3. 3 ways to start building stronger brand associations
  4. How DAM software helps you build brand association
  5. FAQs

Brand management, Brand strategy

How to succeed with your brand development strategies

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Papirfly
4 minutes read

Having a brand development strategy is an essential part of company growth. In fact, as much as 77% of B2B marketers say branding is crucial for company growth. But how do you ensure success? 

First, you need to start with a plan – where you are going and how will you get there? And knowing that branding is more than just one task, your plan also needs a line of attack on how to overcome the obstacles and challenges that lie ahead.  

Planning is easy, execution is hard. Let’s have a look at what we believe are essential steps in succeeding with your brand development strategy.  

Continue reading “How to succeed with your brand development strategies”

Having a brand development strategy is an essential part of company growth. In fact, as much as 77% of B2B marketers say branding is crucial for company growth. But how do you ensure success? 

First, you need to start with a plan – where you are going and how will you get there? And knowing that branding is more than just one task, your plan also needs a line of attack on how to overcome the obstacles and challenges that lie ahead.  

Planning is easy, execution is hard. Let’s have a look at what we believe are essential steps in succeeding with your brand development strategy.  

Continue reading “How to succeed with your brand development strategies”

Having a brand development strategy is an essential part of company growth. In fact, as much as 77% of B2B marketers say branding is crucial for company growth. But how do you ensure success? 

First, you need to start with a plan – where you are going and how will you get there? And knowing that branding is more than just one task, your plan also needs a line of attack on how to overcome the obstacles and challenges that lie ahead.  

Planning is easy, execution is hard. Let’s have a look at what we believe are essential steps in succeeding with your brand development strategy.  

Continue reading “How to succeed with your brand development strategies”

Marketing

7 ways to optimize your video content for marketing

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Papirfly
5 minutes read

Video has become a cornerstone of modern marketing, transforming how brands engage, educate, and influence their audiences.

To maximize its potential, you need to produce video content that is not only compelling but also consistent, scalable, and brand-aligned. And that means having the right strategy and content creation tools from the start.

Why video matters

Consider these stats:

  • 91.8% of internet users worldwide watch videos online weekly (Datareportal, 2024)
  • 93% of marketers say video marketing has given them good ROI (wyzowl.com survey, 2024)
  • 84% of video marketers say video has directly increased sales (wyzowl.com survey, 2024)
  • YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine behind Google (Search Engine Journal, 2024)

In short, video is not just another social media content trend. It is the new standard in creative content marketing. But with opportunity comes complexity. Video content creation is not just highly effective – it can be very expensive and resource-intensive as well.

To maximize the impact of what you create, while at the same time aligning video content with marketing objectives, your strategy must account for both the advantages and the limitations.

Advantages and disadvantages of video marketing

On the plus side, video:

  • Grabs attention more effectively than written content
  • Evokes emotional responses and improve message recall
  • Drives strong engagement and conversation
  • Suits mobile-first behavior and has cross-platform reach

The downside is that video:

  • Can be time-consuming and expensive to produce
  • Requires more planning and technical support
  • Is typically difficult to update post-publication
  • May be limited by bandwidth or device compatibility

How can you maximize the impact of video content while minimizing the production bottlenecks? The solution starts with smarter, more strategic video planning.

7 steps to increase your chances of video content success

1. Choose the right video format for your audience

The format you choose should reflect your message, your audience, and your brand voice. Not all videos serve the same purpose – and not all will resonate with your viewers. Pick ones that reflect your team’s strengths and can scale easily. Then build repeatable processes around them.

7 tried-and-tested video styles:

  1. Vlogs: personality-driven content that is cost-effective to produce
  2. Explainers: videos created to explain a product, service or brand to your audience
  3. Tutorials: showing viewers how to use a product or service
  4. Promos: videos that publicize the effectiveness of your brand’s offering
  5. Webinars: discussions or interviews that explore a topic important to your audience
  6. Testimonials: stories from real customers that highlight how working with your company benefited them
  7. Behind-the-scenes: glimpses into the culture and atmosphere behind your organisation
  8. Animations: for clear, visual storytelling

2. Analyze competitor video strategies for insights

If you want a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t, take a look at how other brands are using video in your space. What’s getting traction? Which formats drive the most views or engagement? Where are there gaps you could potentially fill?

You don’t need to copy. But nor do you need to be completely original. The most effective strategy may be to improve on what’s already there. You can follow a trend without being a follower, as long as you deliver more value or stronger execution.

3. Repurpose content across all key marketing channels

Video is beautifully versatile. With just one well-produced piece of video content, you can fuel multiple content streams. For example:

  • Add it to email campaigns
  • Feature it on landing pages for better search visibility
  • Break it into snippets for social media content
  • Embed in blogs to boost time on page and SEO

That said, you should always aim to adapt your video content for each platform’s format and audience expectations. While two-minute explainers thrive on LinkedIn, they may need trimming for Instagram or TikTok. Explore content creation tools that enable you to repackage video content quickly and consistently, without multiplying your workload.

4. Master video SEO essentials: titles, thumbnails, tags, and CTAs

For best results, every piece of video content marketing should have the following checked off:

  1. Clear storyboard: No matter how simple or short your video, it pays to have a plan.
  2. Attention-grabbing title: Describe what people will get by watching your video, ideally in fewer than 60 characters.
  3. Quality thumbnail: This will be one of the first things your audience sees, so make sure it catches the eye.
  4. Keyword-rich description: Crucial, because this is what Google uses to rank your video for keywords and phrases.
  5. Relevant tags: Another key SEO and GEO component (see point 5), especially on YouTube.
  6. Strong hook: Modern viewers have very short attention spans, so make sure you grab them from the start.
  7. Effective CTA: Don’t leave viewers hanging – lead them straight to the next stage, whether it’s another video or your website.

5. Optimize video content for generative AI and search engine visibility

As AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews reshape how people discover information, your video content must be optimized for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Unlike traditional SEO, GEO focuses on how AI models interpret, summarize, and surface your content in response to natural-language queries.

To improve visibility in this new landscape:

  • Use clear, conversational titles and descriptions that align with how your audience asks questions.
  • Include accurate transcripts and captions – these boost accessibility and provide rich context for AI models to parse.
  • Add structured data (schema markup) to your video pages so key information is easy for AI to identify.
  • Address common audience questions directly in your videos and descriptions to increase the likelihood of being featured in AI-generated results.
  • Prioritize technical performance: fast load times, mobile responsiveness, and minimal reliance on JavaScript.
  • Host on platforms AI models trust – like YouTube – and cite credible sources in your descriptions to reinforce authority.

GEO isn’t a trend. It’s the next evolution of discoverability. And embracing it will ensure your video content stays visible – and valuable  – in the age of AI.

6. Ensure consistent video branding to build trust and recognition

Videos are one of the most effective tools for building brand equity. But only when they reflect your brand’s identity consistently.

With Papirfly’s Templated Content Creation tools, teams can produce on-brand videos quickly, complete with approved intros, outros, typefaces, and transitions. This not only protects brand integrity but also removes design bottlenecks.

Empowering teams with pre-built templates means more content, faster turnaround, and no compromise on brand standards.

7. Design videos for mobile-first viewing and user experience

With most YouTube views happening on mobile, optimizing for smaller screens is non-negotiable. Your videos must:

  • Play responsively across all devices
  • Display CTAs that are easy to tap, not just click
  • Use layouts and subtitles that are legible on mobile

Neglect mobile and you risk missing out on the majority of your audience – especially younger, on-the-go consumers.

Maximize marketing results with optimized video content

Video’s power lies in its ability to connect. But to unlock its full value, marketers must combine strategic planning with scalable production.

Papirfly helps you do just that.

With our Templated Content Creation solution, marketing teams can produce and personalize high-quality video content – on-brand and on-time. Whether for product launches, internal communications, or employer branding, your teams are empowered to create with confidence and speed.

Ready to streamline your video strategy?

Explore how Papirfly helps global brands create consistent, impactful video content, without sacrificing quality, speed, or control.

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A template creation interface with customizable design options for content like ads and banners, showing smart controls for layout and branding.

Table of contents:

  1. Why video matters
  2. Advantages and disadvantages of video marketing
  3. 7 steps to increase your chances of video content success
  4. Optimising your video content marketing
  5. Maximize marketing results with optimized video content