Category: How To Guides

How to Develop a Unique Brand Identity for Your Business

Close your eyes for a moment and picture your favourite food or beverage product. (We know it seems weird, but trust us – this is important.)

What comes to mind first? Is it the logo? The visual design or colour palette? The product’s name and tagline in its signature typography?

Or is it how the product makes you feel – comfort, desire, satisfaction, excitement?

Even in a world of near-constant advertising, we all have favourite brands that cut through the noise and become important to us. Thinking about them triggers a flood of associations and emotions – from memorable ad campaigns to enjoying their products with family and friends – increasing our loyalty and making us more likely to choose that brand over a competitor.

What all these brands have in common is a powerful and distinctive brand identity. And it can mean the difference between your success, or being lost in the crowd.

Why Building a Strong Brand Identity is so Important

Let’s face it – the marketplace is growing exponentially, with new food, beverage and retail brands emerging every day. So how can you attract an audience, ensure your customers remain loyal, or maintain a competitive edge?

Simple: by making people care. Care not just about your product, but about your story, your values and your company. A recent worldwide study found that consumers wouldn’t care if 75% of existing brands disappeared, driving home the importance of having a meaningful connection with your customer base. Pair this with the fact that the power of consumers in the retail relationship is only increasing, and engaging customers becomes more than just a marketing tactic. It’s essential to ensure the future of your business.

That’s why all the best brands are focused on creating a brand identity that is unique, authentic and consistent. A strong brand identity is your superpower – it makes your customers care.

The Key Elements of Successful Brand Identity Design

In essence, your brand identity is everything that the customer sees, from your product packaging to your social media presence. So it makes sense that you would need striking graphics and a catchy name. But good branding design runs deeper than that.

Each branding element needs to be cohesive, telling a consistent story that your customers can understand. If you say your brand is eco-friendly but use non-recyclable materials, or claim to prioritise customer satisfaction but ignore enquiries on your social media, customers will consider you inconsistent and inauthentic. With only 47% of brands deemed trustworthy by consumers globally, it doesn’t take much to damage a brand’s reputation these days.

Customers also prefer purpose-driven organisations, who stand for something more than the products they sell. Just as we expect to be treated like people by brands, people expect brands to act more human, focusing on positively impacting society rather than on profit. The more transparent, engaged and sociable your brand is, the deeper your connection with customers will be.

Creating a brand identity that people will love is hard – creating a brand that customers will remain loyal to is even harder. Luckily for you, we’ve got the key elements covered.

#1: Know Your Audience Inside Out

When you create an amazing product, you can’t help but want to share it with as many people as possible. After being in that intense creative headspace for so long, it seems inevitable that everyone will be as excited about your product as you are. Why shouldn’t you just market it to all demographics and audiences, and shape your brand identity later to suit the customer base that responds?

Unfortunately in trying to appeal to everyone, you run the risk of becoming just another generic brand, ultimately appealing to no one. Successful companies know their target audience inside out; they know how to appeal to them and what they need. Crucially, clever businesses know the gap in the market which only their product can fill, flipping the switch from disposable to essential in their ideal customer’s mind.

Figuring out your target audience is a huge step towards creating a brand identity that lasts. So close your eyes again (yeah we know, it’s still weird), but this time picture your product and how it makes you feel. We guarantee there’s people out there who want that same experience. That’s your audience.

#2: Define and Refine Your Brand Position

At the heart of brand positioning is the ongoing quest to set your brand apart from your competitors and make your product the most favourable in the eyes of consumers. We know it can be tedious, but thorough research of the marketplace is the best way to discover your unique flavour, whether that’s the quality or convenience of your product, your unprecedented level of customer service, or your innovative approach to retail.

With the rise of e-commerce, success can no longer be measured simply by owning the aisle or having the best eatery in a particular postcode. It’s about creating a brand identity that truly means something to your customers.

We know that consumers trust meaningful brands, those who offer ongoing value beyond their products and work to create deeper emotional ties with their audiences. And in the digital age, one of the best ways of sharing your company values and brand mission is by cultivating a strong social media presence. If you demonstrate a genuine interest in your customers and work to create an engaged online community, your brand will become associated with authenticity, credibility and most importantly, humanity.

#3: Command Attention with Clever Visual Design

Ever heard the saying that we eat with our eyes? There’s a reason why branding design focuses so much on the visuals. Having an eyecatching logo or bold packaging that leaps off the shelf is a brilliant way to connect companies with customers, and if cleverly utilised the visual design of your brand can come to symbolise your entire brand identity.

Our creative team has decades of branding and packaging design experience, so you can trust us when we say that products that stand out, sell. The first thing customers will see and judge your product on is the visual design, and the decision to go with one product over another is made almost instantly, sometimes even subconsciously. Since that decision could be based on any number of branding elements from the typography to the colour palette, it pays (literally) to put the extra effort in.

It’s not just about being aesthetically pleasing, either. A memorable brand is one that intelligently disrupts the status quo, making a potential customer stop in their tracks and think, or smile, or laugh, or reminisce. Never underestimate the power of effective packaging design.

#4: Use the Art of Storytelling to Connect with Customers

Since the dawn of time, there’s nothing that we as a species have liked better than sitting around the fire and sharing a few yarns. Stories are not only how we understand the world around us, but also one of the most effective forms of communication available to us.

Like we said earlier, the success of both your brand identity and your business relies on making your customers care. Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of branding. By forging an emotional connection with your audience through story, whether you’re making them grin or tugging at their heartstrings, you ensure that they keep choosing you over your competition.

Believe it or not, one of the best ways to create an enduring and authentic relationship with customers is by telling them your personal story. Great brands are built on great stories, ones that create interest, warmth, trust and connection. And if you’re worried that you don’t have a unique or interesting enough story to tell, check out our work with some of the most recognisable food and beverage brands in Australia. Sometimes it’s simply a case of asking the right questions to uncover the perfect yarn.

#5: Combine Creativity with Brand Consistency

By now you’ve probably realised the essential role that creativity plays in developing a strong, distinctive and authentic brand identity. A cohesive brand identity is actually made up of multiple creative branding elements that need to be refined and cultivated to tell your unique story. Whether it’s introducing a food product into the market or opening up a new restaurant, you should never miss an opportunity to be creative in your branding design. However when it comes to retaining the loyalty of customers, consistency is key.

We can learn from industry giants like Coca-Cola Amatil about the importance of maintaining a consistent brand identity – if someone mentions cola, the Coke logo and its iconic red and white colour scheme immediately comes to mind. Coca-Cola doesn’t just sell cola-based beverages, it has come to represent cola itself in Western popular culture. By continuing to deliver high-quality products while repeating key visual design elements across their range, Coca-Cola is both instantly recognisable and beloved by its audience. People may appreciate innovation in the short term, but it’s familiarity and consistency that will keep them aligned with your brand for years to come.

Whether you are a long-established business looking to re-energise your brand or an entrepreneur with the beginnings of a dream, having a unique and memorable brand identity is essential for success.

Contact us today to see how we can build you the best branding and design package for your business.

Key steps to beer branding success

Working in the beer and alcohol industry has its obvious perks – beer on tap (pun intended), invites to the best events and beer brand launches, and working alongside some pretty large and legendary personalities. But it can be a hard graft. The Australian Craft Beer Brewery list reported that in 2018, a new craft beer brewery opened every six days in Australia, and Statista estimates that there are currently over 300 beer brands available to Aussie beer lovers.

How do you create beer branding and packaging design that stands out and sells?

Know the person you want to buy your beer – really, really well

When you’re competing with 300+ other beer brands, you’ve got to really get inside the heads of the people you want to appeal to in order to understand what’s going to make them reach for your can over the competition when they’re dying for a cold one. How old are they? What socio-economic bracket do they fall into? What is likely to be their drinking occasion? Are they looking for a six-pack to take to a mate’s to watch the footy or a rich, dark pint to sip and savour after a long week in the office? What do they do in their spare time? Where do they live? All of this information drives the style, tone and positioning of your beer brand and packaging design.

Vonu is a great example of a beer that knows exactly who it’s speaking to – surf, ocean, and exploration lovers. Coca-Cola Amatil approached us to develop the Vonu brand identity and packaging into something that better reflected its pure, rustic, Fijian roots, and the aspiration of “living free”. See more here.

Tell your story and the story of your beer

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of branding and a story easily interpreted and shared amongst consumers goes a long way to people remembering your brand and product. Any beer brand can talk about hops, strength, and fresh and fruity flavours – it’s the brands that tell a compelling story that see the most success. Is there a story behind how you came into the beer industry? Is there some nostalgia behind your beer or a certain SKU? Is there a story worth telling in the way the beer is produced or where it comes from? Stories evoke emotion, and emotional connections can drive loyalty and sales.

Doyles is one of the oldest fishing families in Sydney and that story is brought to life in the brand identity and on the packaging for their Fisherman’s Lager beer. Check it out here.

Define your position in the sea of beer

Craft, mainstream, everyday, special occasion, old school, progressive, strong, light, safe? There is a multitude of ways to position your beer brand and what you choose should resonate with your target audience and help to tell your brand story.

Yenda Brewing Co. has been around for a number of years and is the current sponsor of the Wallabies Rugby Union team. Over the years Yenda had lost its way and, due to a massive influx of players into the craft beer space, had also lost market share against its competitors. To help regain its position, Yenda needed new brand identity and beer packaging that would drive more of a mainstream craft beer positioning that appealed to a regional Australian audience. See how we helped Yenda regain its rightful position here.

Cut through with distinctive brand assets you can own

If we had a dollar for every beer that included a badge or crest in its beer branding, we’d have a lot of dollars. Sure, they’re a fundamental design cue within the beer industry and crests can signal heritage, but how can you make them work harder?

Vonu is a pure lager targeted at surfers that tells the story of living free. When redesigning their beer branding and packaging we crafted a crest that retained a key part of their brand – the turtle – and added two surfboards as discoverables. Clever touches like this give your beer branding depth and give consumers something new to discover every time they interact with your brand.

When redefining Yenda Brewing Co., we used the Y as a core visual brand asset to reflect the name of the beer and to ensure it is easily seen at a distance or in low light. The Yenda logo device is also a unique shape, crafted in such a way that it punches off the bottle and throughout all beer branding pieces.

There is so much more to successful beer branding and packaging than a nice looking label.

We’ve been branding beers and booze for decades for local breweries and companies like Lion, Coca-Cola Amatil, Campari, Casella Family Brands and more. You can check out more of our work here or get in touch if you have a project you’d like to discuss… over a well-branded beer.

The Essential Rules of Food Packaging Design

Let’s face it – you put months or years into perfecting your product; pound the pavement getting it into the best boutique grocers or chain supermarkets; get your pricing strategy just right; but what the consumer sees and judges after all this effort is – your food packaging design.

Packaging design is a crucial part of whether your product makes or breaks it in the big wide world of FMCG. You might use the best tasting combination of unique ingredients, give the biggest nutrient hit, or provide people the ease and comfort they need when heading home after a long day at work, but if your food package doesn’t reflect this well, or it doesn’t stand out on a busy shelf, or is simply too similar to a cheaper option, why would anyone buy it?

Successful food packaging design stands out, connects with people, is authentic, unique and answers what they’re looking for. And it does all of this in an instant. It takes years to learn and perfect this craft, but luckily for you, we’re here to share our essential rules of great food packaging design to get you started.

Food packaging design rule #1:
Do your research

We know – after months of market and consumer analysis and testing, you’re all researched out, but do us a solid and take the time to research from a brand and packaging perspective. What are other companies doing in the space? Who is doing it well, and why? What semiotics apply to the category? Are there certain colours, fonts, materials and structures that best reflect your product benefits? What white space opportunities are there for your food package to own?

Sultry Sally Potato Chips is a great example of a food product that, through copious amounts of research, sought to fill a glaring gap in the market – low fat potato chips. 97% fat free, gluten and preservative free, but still full of flavour, our client got the product just right. What they needed was high-impact food packaging design that reflected their key message – high flavour, low fat.

in 2008, Sultry Sally Potato Chips filled a gap in the market for a healthy, tasty snack. Our food packaging design appealed to an audience searching out a healthier food alternative on shelf

The illustrated character clearly enjoys her chips guilt-free and helps the product stand out in the crowded crisp market. The silver bag reflects better for you, subliminally enticing those after a healthier snacking option.

Food packaging design rule #2:
Know your story

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of branding, dating back to many moons ago when our ancestors sat around the fireside having a good yarn. Fast forward to today, and the same basic principles apply – great brands are built on great stories that create connection, warmth, trust and, most importantly, authenticity.

It’s crucial that you know your story before you start to build your brand or packaging – who are you and why are you in the food business? What does your food product deliver that no other product can? How do you do it better? Where does your passion for food come from? How do you create or cook your product? Is there anything unique about your methods or recipes? What do you want your customers to tell their friends about your food?

Many people starting out in the food business don’t believe they have a story and that it’s all about the product, but by asking the right questions a great story always emerges.

The Casa Gusto brand design and food packaging is centred around the story of their father who followed the circus around Italy

Casa Gusto didn’t believe they had an interesting story for their range of imported Italian food and ingredients – until we began talking about how their father first discovered the products whilst following the circus around Italy in his twenties. The Casa Gusto brand identity and food packaging designs were built from there. View full project.

Food packaging design rule #3:
Understand your target consumer

With so many packaged food options available in-store or at the click of a button online, you need to really know your ideal customer in order to build a brand that talks their language, makes them laugh or feel good about their purchasing decision, and ultimately leads them to pick up your product over the competition.

Doyles on the Beach – Sydney’s oldest fish’n’chip shop – approached us because their existing customer base had been loyal to them for decades and, well, they were getting old.

Doyles needed to refresh their food packaging to appeal to a younger demographic, without losing their sense of quality, heritage and story dating back to 1885 when they used to catch their product by hand line.

We created reinvigorated takeaway food packaging design with typography, graphics, and language from the late 1880s to bring the Doyles story to life in a contemporary way, and solely used the iconic Doyles blue to drive the idea of a fresh, seaside dining experience. View the full project here.

Doyles on the Beach wanted to update their brand design and food packaging to appeal to a younger audience, whilst retaining the heritage of the brand

Food packaging design rule #4:
Make the most of the space available

Most food packages only have very limited space, so you need to use it intelligently. There is nothing worse than a food label that is crammed with “key” messages or overloaded with unnecessary details.

Use the category codes and semiotics from your research phase to get your message, benefits and brand story across without taking up precious space.

The package design we created for the Guzman Y Gomez range of sauces featured photographs of real team members taste testing each product in the range. We captured their facial expressions after trying a teaspoon of sauce to authentically portray the flavour and intensity of the product in a fun and unique way that celebrates the character of the GYG brand identity without having to type out the full brand story on the bottle label.

The Guzman Y Gomez sauce packaging designs feature real employees tasting the food product on the label

Food packaging design rule #5:
Create a smile in the mind

With all this research we keep banging on about, it’s easy to forget that consumers are people too. Nothing will help them remember your food packaging design more clearly than connecting on an emotive level – and what better way than with a smile?

When Sumo Salad wanted to drive a greater sense of freshness, connection to the farmers and community, and create a unique language for their food branding, we decided to disrupt and get a giggle by giving the ingredients real character.

The Sumo Salad packaging design features fresh ingredients with fun facial expressions to bring character to the food package We designed packaging stamps and badges to further reinforce the key brand messages on the box

Let’s talk about your brand

Whether you’re a brand manager looking to reinvigorate a multi-national food brand or an entrepreneur with the beginnings of a dream, you can talk to us. Contact us today to see how we can build the best brand and food packaging solution for you today.

The Complete Guide to Restaurant Branding

With relatively low barriers to entry, it can seem like anyone with a family recipe, a healthy amount of passion, and a dream can make a go of it in the restaurant industry. However there are a number of important factors to consider to ensure you not only make it through the crucial first 12 months of trading, but that you’re set up to succeed and thrive for years to come.

Along with negotiating supplier agreements, choosing the best location, creating a great menu and pricing strategy, and employing the right team with the right experience, developing a solid restaurant brand should be up there in your list of priorities.

Don’t I just need a logo, some fonts and colours?

Your restaurant brand encompasses so much more than just a logo or what your brand looks like – it is everything your customers experience in relation to your restaurant from first hearing about you from friends and checking your menu on the website, through to how your staff greet and treat them whilst dining, and even what they see on the back of the toilet door.

We have over 20 years’ experience creating, rejuvenating and refining restaurant brands to help them connect with customers, stand out from the ever-increasing competition, and endure the ups and downs of hospitality. Here are our key recommendations for building your successful restaurant brand.

Know your story

It’s crucial that you know your story before you start to build your brand – who are you and why are you in the food or restaurant business? What does your restaurant deliver that no other restaurant can? How do you do it better? (And we are not talking about using the freshest ingredients as everyone says that!) Where does your passion for food come from? How do you create or cook your product? Is there anything unique about your methods or recipes? What do you want your customers to tell their friends about your restaurant?

Many people starting out in the restaurant business or trying to save a restaurant brand don’t believe they have a story but it’s simply a case of asking the right questions.

Understand your customers

With so many food and restaurant options available within a dining precinct or at the click of a button online, it often comes down to personal or group preference as to where your potential customers will go. You need to really know your ideal customer in order to build a brand that talks their language, makes them laugh or feel good about their purchasing decision, and ultimately leads them away from your competitor and straight to your restaurant door.

What’s in a name? Soo Zee is Sichuanese for “number” and 23 represents the number of ingredients that go into Soo Zee 23’s signature beef broth. Aimed at customers seeking a truly authentic Sichuanese experience, the logo also contains the Chinese characters for “eat” and “23”, further enhancing the authenticity of their specialty cuisine, and causing our client to literally jump up and down in joy when he first saw it. View project.

Find your voice

Knowing your story and your customers will help you define your tone of voice – should your restaurant brand be humorous, edgy, elegant or mainstream? There is a place for all of these approaches, but what is right for you, your restaurant and your style of customer?

Your tone of voice and brand style should apply to more than just written words. How should your staff greet and treat your customers throughout their experience, right down to saying goodbye? Should you bring personality into the restaurant with hidden pieces of messaging or imagery? How can you use your staff uniform to reinforce your voice and style?

The opportunities to bring personality and further reinforce your brand are endless and pay dividends when people walk away with a smile or even better, share with their networks – free marketing!

The refreshed Oporto identity features authentic Portuguese tiles and language to reinforce their heritage, with images of chickens throughout to showcase their specialty cuisine.

Inspired by Portuguese “azulejo” tiles, the refreshed Oporto brand oozes authenticity, clearly represents the cuisine, and provides a smile. See how our work improved NPS 40 points.

Restaurant branding opportunities

Having worked with hundreds of restaurants and food brands over the years, these are the most underutilised areas we see for amplifying your brand:

Whether it’s on the wall or handheld, your menu is something every customer is going to read or at least look at – use it to connect and push the key messages you want people to know about your brand and business, but not to the detriment of readability.

Encased in leather, with the logo branded on the front, the 6Head menu not only feels premium, but also ties in with the story of the six head of cattle rumoured to be the first in Australia that formed the basis for the brand. View full branding project.

Wall graphics

Restaurant, fast food outlet, drive thru, market stall – they all have walls. Use this space to illustrate a key message, talk about your story, food or brand principles, or simply create a smile in the mind.

Every Guzman Y Gomez restaurant has a feature wall that reinforces the Mexican street-style roots of the brand. See our work with GYG over the past 15 years.

Takeaway packaging

Your takeaway bags, boxes and cups should be treated as walking advertisements. Create something truly clever and/or interactive and watch those Instagram posts write themselves.

Dang! One word says it all, really. Chicken Treat fried chicken is dang good! Read more about why we used a comic book style for the Chicken Treat restaurant branding.

Let’s talk about your restaurant brand

Whether you’re a brand manager looking to reinvigorate a multi-national food brand or an entrepreneur with the beginnings of a dream, you can talk to us. Contact us on +61 2 8231 9977 or us@thecreativemethod.com and let’s see how we can build the best brand solution for you today.