What makes your brand the “only”? Dive deep into the heart of any successful brand and you’ll find one crucial element: a zest factor. Think about why your brand matters. At our Vancouver branding agency, we take our clients through a unique process to discover what makes them the only. This "onliness" is what we call the zest...
What's in a name? Are you a rising startup in search of the perfect brand name? Choosing a brand name requires strategic thinking and consideration of brand naming guidelines. Choose the wrong name, or even the wrong spelling could cause an incredible amount of headaches and missed opportunities. If you want to create a brand name that sticks...
Branding Beyond Design As brand designers, we develop many aspects of the brand, from the strategic thinking that creates the big idea, to the brand visual graphics, colour strategy, typography and imagery. But there’s an aspect that many startups and designers overlook, and that is a brand’s voice. People often say, “we need branding work,” and then they...
If there are so many good reasons to innovate, why is innovation so rare? The loudest and most compelling voice is always the voice of warning. It’s respected with little scrutiny and it’s often parlayed into the voice of wisdom in brand survival. However, the intention of survival isn’t actually survival, it's stagnation. This voice of warning...
It’s becoming understood that an investment in strong branding for cannabis companies is key to rising above the glut of hopefuls trying to get a piece of the grassy pie. With Canada's federal government announcing it would be legalizing marijuana, we're seeing a staggering increase of products coming on the cannabis market. This means you’ll be seeing...
The brands we buy are an extension of our identity. Products are more than just products, they’re a signal to who we are and the values we hold. The job of branding and package design is to reflect those values back to the customer. When it comes to adventure brands, we want the products to look and...
Getting your idea to the shelves The process of getting your idea to the shelves of major retailers can feel overwhelming. And once you're there, success not only requires a viable idea but an alluring brand, scaleable business model and healthy supply chain. Understandably, we all want the instant product success and the brand recognition of companies such...
If you don't have a succinct personal brand, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage in your professional and personal life. What is a personal brand? Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, it's your reputation. Personal branding means taking an active role in the direction of your life and it will highlight...
Strategies for getting ahead of the competition are often based around the principle, be better than the rest. This can be an uphill battle if you’re one of many in a peloton of brands. If you’re a startup or small brand looking to breakout, you’ve gotta think about micro-specialization. What do your customers need and how can...
If you think branding is only for big companies with big budgets, you need to look closer at the definition of branding Many small business owners I meet think they need a “logo” for their business and very few understand the nitty gritty of what a brand is, why it’s important and that their financial investment is...
Mindfulness is a means to listen more deeply and guide actions through clear intention rather than emotional whims or reactive patterns. In an era where brands are increasingly pressured into short-term thinking, careless reactions to trends, features frenzy and non-existent visions, it’s worth considering how mindfulness can help brands filter out the noise and create space for what matters. Mindfulness encourages more...
Sometimes catching the best wave is not what makes you successful, it’s what you do on the wave you’re riding that makes the difference. You can frantically paddle into whatever comes your way, but it’s a waste of energy and resources. To really get the epic payoff you’ve gotta play to your strengths with strategy, patience and...
Here at our Vancouver branding agency we lead ambitious companies to become brave and captivating brands. Regardless of what we’re working on for you, our approach has a potent focus on consistent brand experience—That’s how you build an authentic brand that people desire. The zest-factor When you're getting to know a person, you start to feel more and more...
You're not selling features and benefits. These days it's critical to dive deep into meaning and belonging. Alter the thinking of tangibles to the intangibles people desire. Often people think of attracting customers by finding a large group of possible targets, make shiny things to attract them followed by sending a bursts of messages. This is a...
If you try to sell, you're doomed. You must alter your thinking from transactions to relationships. Aim for not just sales, but for a much deeper connection with your customers....
A brand isn’t one thing. It’s the combination of several components functioning together to create a reputation. Let’s think about a bike to help understand the complexity of a brand. The look of the bike can be considered your logo, it’s the visual expression of the brand. We know what makes a bike great isn’t simply how...
Before trying to manage communications your brand must be stripped down to its simplest form: one big idea that everything else builds on. If it can’t be said simply, how can you expect customers to quickly connect with the heart and value of your brand? Simplify to Amplify It's common to want to list every bell and whistle on...