How to be a brave brand! A 10-step guide

Here at Skona, our mission is to help our clients build brave brands – easier said than done!

Here are a few of our top tips for operationalizing a brave brand approach!

Trust!

We believe trust is the basis of anything daring that’s ever been created. The Wright brothers trusted each other innately – and the rest of us got the airplane. Likewise, in order to become a brave brand, you have to trust the process and the people you’ve partnered with. As a company, we try to be real and authentic. We don’t pretend we can do things we in fact suck at. We do what we say we’re going to do and we try to always over-communicate. If you’re attempting to build a brave brand, the first step will be to establish trust – trust with your internal team, your clients and your customer base.

Identify what makes you scared!

The first thing that pops up is probably going to be failure, but you have to dig deeper. What’s on the other side of failure? Fear of embarrassment? Fear of losing your job? The more specific you can be the better so if you have the opportunity to write up a paragraph describing exactly what that failure would look like, I promise it will be worth it. A while ago, we helped identify that in developing a new campaign for a client that shall remain unnamed, our biggest fear was actually coming across as tone-deaf and because of that, turning away the people we’re trying to appeal to. Knowing that helped guide our creative development and I dare say, made the final campaign much better than it would have been without that insight.

Identity success!

Now do the opposite, identify what success actually looks like. Just like with failure, write a paragraph really outlining what success would look and feel like. The more specific you can be, the better. Keep in mind that this is for your eyes only. In other words, allow yourself to dream big without being put off by other people’s opinions. By writing down something like “if this campaign is successful, we will dislodge the top artificial intelligence computing provider”, you’ll see openings through your words alone. You’ll start to ask yourself what it would take to accomplish the goal – and you’ll be open to the outcome. Finally, specifying success will also be a great source for any KPIs you might want to be tracking.

Try to be as objective as possible!

Develop a 1-10 scale approach for fear and success. Now when you review any brand creative, try to leave your personal preferences behind. Meticulously look through each option and ask yourself where on the fear scale this concept falls and why? And also, where on the success scale this project is landing – and also why. For each instance, the potential success needs to outweigh the risk of failure but be clear in your mind what those levels should be before you embark on the journey.

Be a peacock!

Or as made famous with Levi’s launch of the black jeans “when the world zigs, zag”. Start with an assessment of your category, look at your competitors and analyze what they’re doing, saying and what they look like. What are the common threads and trends? Are they all talking AI? Are they all blue? Any specific buzz words? Once you’ve mapped out the competitive landscape, you’ll hopefully be able to identify a less crowded opening on the playing field and go for it! Scary – for sure! We’re biologically hardwired to fit in and it goes against our tuition to stand out. But we’re not in High School anymore (or in the stone age) and being noticed is the goal and not something that results in ostracization or even death! If your industry is blue – be yellow. If your industry is quirky, be serious. Find the opening and make sure you communicate in an authentic way that sets you apart from the rest of the pack.

Your first reaction matters most!

When you get presented with concepts and ideas, you’re going to have a visceral reaction… The animal brain will kick, you’ll want to reason and analyze. But you need to pay particular attention to your initial reactions, before you start listening to all that reasoning. Because truth be told, your message will be 1/10,000 that your potential customer will be exposed to – that day! They won’t have time or be interested enough to think it through the way you have. They only have a few seconds, then they move on.

Refuse to dilute!

Once you pick something, that’s when the real work starts. You’re going to put it through internal approvals. Even though you’ve clearly thought of the upside and risk of each project in light of your bigger goals, you’re working with people who do not have that same experience or insight. They’re going to want to comment, make suggestions and tweaks. While you want to have an open mind, you also really need to be selective at this point. And brave. Even if that means having to tell your boss no… You can be kind and creative in how you do this, but at this point – you’re not just the brand guardian, you’re now also the brave guardian of the integrity of the entire creative process.

Brand guardians unite!

Let’s take a side-tour here and talk about why you have to be that guardian… Every creative professional has said it, screamed it, written it… public opinion does not make creative work better. We’ve all heard the story about Ford claiming we would have had a faster horse and not a car if he’d asked people what they wanted! Likewise, committees water things down to the lowest common denominator, they force the path of least resistance. When they go to buy ice cream, they come back with vanilla. It might be scary to have your creative noticed by everyone especially as there’s always going to be people complaining and giving negative feedback. However, when you think it through, having your work noticed by no one is a far worse fate. All that money you’re spending on ads seen by nobody is probably what’s really going to get you fired – and not the few negative comments that might come in on a wildly noticed campaign!

Lean into who you are!

At the core of brave brands is authenticity – determining the real you, codifying that truth in your mission, vision, and values, and not being afraid to communicate those traits to the world. It’s easy to look at a brand we admire and want what they have, but customers can smell when you aren’t being yourself. You need to be brave to lean into the real you, build from it, stay the course, and trust it’s the right path.

Finally, brave is not the same as stupid, in fact it’s the opposite. The bravest people know and calculate the risks – and know when to push and when to hold back. Don’t end up dying on a hill not worth defending!

For more on brave brands, check out this blog.