Brand is a dirty word.
We get it.
Branding has become the symbol of a lot that's wrong with marketing, especially in the world of startups.
Why?
First is the thinking that if a product needs brand to sell, there must be something wrong with the product.
Branding is for suckers.
Second is the intense pressure early stage companies have to drive immediate growth, at the expense of thinking long term about why they are doing what they do.
Branding is for later.
We think brand needs a rebrand.
Or at least a reintroduction.
Because "brand", conceptually, has a really useful core. It can get bloated and confusing and expensive, but at its heart, brand is the expression of an identity.
Identity is organic, human and honest.
It's a product of who we are and who we want to be.
And identity is not created or made up - it's revealed, because it's inherent to who we are as people, and as organizations.
We think that a company's foundations should reflect inherent characteristics - Mission, Vision and Values, why it exists, and more, all come before anything has to be "branded". Those foundational components are vital even if an organization never undertakes anything that feels like branding.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
We are Foundation Projects
This is what we do:
We partner with founders and leaders to develop a clear and meaningful Identity Architecture for use across teams and functions; the Architecture provides a north star that impacts both internal decision making as well as external marketing needs
We focus on identity vs brand when defining that core - we believe that identity is organic, meaningful and easier to intuitively understand and rally around than “Brand”
We go as deep as needed to craft plans for how to bring identity to life; this can include jumpstarting brand guidelines, reassessing product priorities, guiding recruiting and talent programs, and more
We partner with amazing designers, creatives, and a company's own internal teams to craft the pieces that are needed for a given project
We move quickly - engagements typically last between 8 and 12 weeks, but can go longer if necessary