What is a brand partnership?
A brand partnership is when a brand (startup or established) and an agency join forces to push that brand in the direction it needs to go to be successful through a mixture of branding, design, marketing and sales.
The agency a brand partners with will do the following things throughout the relationship:
- Understand the needs of your brand
- Address your challenges and overcome your growth hurdles through effective design and strategy
- Provide a cost effective relationship
- Gain a detailed understanding of your customer base and their needs over time
- Be able to react to changes in environment for both business and customers as your brand evolves
- Provide continuous support for design, digital and/or marketing efforts
Why is a brand partnership good for your business?
Simply put, a brand partnership takes the stress out of having to manage your brand alone. It's an opportunity for a brand to always have creative, strategic and marketing teams on hand. It also ensures you can reach your strategic goals and communicate with your audience effectively.
Want to know the ins-and-outs?
Here's how our brand partnerships roll-out and evolve over time.
- Initially an organisation will contact us telling us their brand positioning and what they're looking for from a brand partner.
- This is the start of the discovery stage where we'll gain a detailed understanding of the organisation, the audience and the goals through our tried-and-tested method of research, auditing, landscaping and strategising. We really get under the skin of the brand to become an extension of the organisation.
- We'll delve deeper into the brand aspirations as well as the proposition, the target audience, the sector and the competitor landscape, picking out key information to refine the brief with what we collectively feel the brand will need going forwards.
- Then we'll schedule in a workshop to go through our insights and make sure our ideas are aligned with the brand vision and mission.
- The next steps differ depending on whether the brand is a startup or an established brand. It can go one of a variety of ways. We'll either start the branding process in its entirety for a startup company, or we'll begin to refine the visual identity for an existing brand.
- Next up is the design phase, it's what we do best. This stage is where we develop our ideas and construct concepts to fit the brief. We encourage collaboration and welcome input throughout this stage. We will develop the brand personality, visually interpret the brand values, explore creative solutions, offer feedback and revisions and finally evolve the creative direction.
- After a series of feedback and iteration stages, the final stage is delivery. This means completing the project on time, on budget and on scope. Providing all design elements for the brand identity/products and packaging/stationery and collateral/marketing campaigns/website and digital. This can cover both print and digital touchpoints. It’s also about instructing the client, on how to use their brand, design assets and website to suit their audience
- With an ongoing brand partnership, we'll continue to assist in the roll-out the brand assets across all relevant mediums, building up momentum for customers as well as internal teams. This is also where we'll research and plan out our brand and marketing strategy for the next quarter/six months/year.
- During the entirety of this relationship we will also oversee the general marketing calendar, creating a thorough media plan while being reactiving to any pressing trends/news within the industry, using listening tools and keeping a detailed account of social activity.
There are so many more steps that can be included for any brand partnerships which vary depending on your industry and how involved you'd like us to be. From being on hand for big campaign creation, to managing your website, social channels and monthly newsletters. The possibilities are endless depending on what you're looking for.
So, if you're a challenger brand, a startup company, SME or just want to propel your brand into a disruptive space, then please get in touch with us. We will welcome you on board for a lasting relationship and assist your brand evolution, helping you grow to your full potential.
Pop us an email or give us a call to talk about a brand partnership with us today.
See some of our latest projects to see what we've been up to recently.
