Telling Your Story Through Branding

CESA 7September 2, 2009

Live YourStory

Your brand is a story.

Live it inside.

Tell it well outside.

And people will pull up their chairs for a listen.

Much more than an ad

campaign, web site or

tagline could ever be, the

brand story is the core

truth of who you are,

agreed to by all inside,

and used to open

conversations with those

outside who need your

services.

What’s your story?

Rethink—a fresh take on connecting with your customers

Telling Your StoryTelling Your Story

Imaginasium guides organization leaders through measurable change

and wins followers inside and out by aligning their brands through

strategic communications.

We concentrate our efforts on uncovering each client’s authentic and

unique brand narrative and bringing it to life. Then, we help them inspire

and align every storyteller charged with delivering on it, from board room

to switchboard, and build the tools — the Form — that help Story.

Our Story

Branson on Branding

Brand

Audiences

How do you feel?

“The idea that business is

strictly a numbers affair has

always struck me as

preposterous. For one thing,

I’ve never been particularly

good at numbers, but I think

I’ve done a reasonable job with

feelings. And I’m convinced

that it is feelings — and

feelings alone — that account

for the success of the Virgin

brand in all of its myriad

forms.”

A

B

CD

E

Fluid Brand

Brand

Audiences

How do you feel?

It’s outside the old traditional

thinking of consistency in

building a brand.

Instead…

It drives for consistency of

response with a wide variety

of audiences.

A

B

CD

E

Who are you?

Why are you here?

How are you unique?

Who cares?

Why do I care?

What’ll keep me engaged?

Fire up the custodian as well as the superstar.

Telling Your Story

Assignment For Imaginasium

Provide brand and communication tools to achieve:

Greater name recognition with a wider audience

Deeper connection with current audiences

Align staff, board and internal team with a brand promise

Key in RFP: Raise name recognition, especially about work services

Uncover Your Story

Core Findings from Discovery and Materials Audit

ASPIRO is a family, and an outlet for fun, support and feeling

comfortable. ASPIRO is not a place.

With many levels of support and opportunities for the target

population and families, ASPIRO has a unique role in the

community.

The greater community does not know about ASPIRO or

make the association between name and brand attributes.

Uncover Your Story

Core findings from Discovery and Materials Audit

The organization’s mission, vision, and core values are lived

passionately by board members and employees.

ASPIRO, like many organizations, has a strong internal voice,

but is hit or miss when targeting external audiences.

Outsiders current perceptions make it harder for us to reach

target audiences with reasons they should care and motivating

them to take the desired action.

What Did We Uncover?

ASPIRO is much more than a place. But it’s also more than the

services provided or work done. It’s more than the people who

work, volunteer and visit.

ASPIRO thinks differently, focusing on abilities or strengths and

giving each person an opportunity to succeed.

ASPIRO Is A Movement

It’s important to reframe the way we, as internal audiences, think

about ASPIRO. And then we will create the way external audiences

see ASPIRO.

You should speak passionately, and be always relevant so the

target audiences are inspired to join this cause, actively participate

in propelling the mission onward, and become emotionally tied to

a common success.

Define Your Story

Steps toward your unique Brand Position

Identify Key Strengths

Translate Key Strengths into “Unique Selling Propositions”

Find the flip side: What is your audience “buying?”

Boil all of that down to the ONE THING that will make

ASPIRO’s brand unique to the marketplace

Defining the Story

USPs(Unique Selling Propositions)

UBPs(Unique Buying Propositions)

Position

When given thetools, opportunity and

support, every

individual–no matter

the challenge he/shefaces–will find

success in life.

Self-

sufficiency

OpportunityHappiness

A Future

Unconditional

Support

Confidence

A sense of family

Opportunities

to build

confidence and

independence

Progressive

adaptive

solutions to

challenges

Commitment to

exceeding

expectations

Actions that

dispel mythsComplete/whole

life focus

When we work together, erasing preconceived notions of what’s

possible, and have the tools, support and opportunities, then no

matter what challenges a person faces, he/she will find success.

Brand Positioning Statement

Brand Promise

How it should be used:

Replaces the use of the mission statement (currently used to explain the logo)

Used with the logo as a sign off or separate as a statement of purpose

Does replace “Reach. Connect. Achieve.” as part of logo for external audiences

Doesn’t replace “Reach. Connect. Achieve.” within ASPIRO. It will remain as a

internal rally cry that is based off of the mission statement

InternalExternal

Develop the story…tell the impact you want to achieve.

“This is what we want to change…the difference I want to

make…and here’s how we’re going to do it.”

Tell it to real people.

Personal relationships, engaging…two versions.

Make sure you can live it.

Strengths, USPs, UBPs, Position.

Telling Your Story

Who are we? (2-page short story with a scintillating plot line)

Then, boil it down…25 words…10…5…or just a verb).

THREE WAYS in which we are unique to our “clients.”

DRAMATIC DIFFERENCE.

State the ONE great & dramatic thing that distinguishes us from the others. 25 words or less.

Who are “They?” Explain competitors (25 words). List 3 distinct “us vs. them” differences.

Try it on the team. Fight it out.

Try it on a target. Friendly & skeptical

Try it on everyone else. (A starter cross section).

Telling Your Story – Exercise

The

Experience

Design the

Experience

Involve all departments

Chart the touchpoints

Avoid Kmart

Pursue Disney, Starbucks, SuperBowl

Think like John Deere

It’s All in the

Packaging

Sight

Hearing

Touching

Smelling

Tasting

Start asking a few

questions around your

organization.

And then listen.

You’ll identify potential

trouble spots…and

opportunities.

Are you aligned?

Boardroom to the Switchboard involvement

Explore…organization, geography, competition, audience

segments, brand emotional & rational perceptions of

employees/families/ industry/community.

Identify what winning looks like (Goalposts)

Wish/Granted…impact the operations

Basic Tenets…Start at the top, every opinion counts, show how

they fit, win hearts & minds, train for change, tell the world (long

term), stay brand focused.

Establishing Reality & Desire

Getting buy-in

1.] What’s the challenge?(The assignment)

2.] Whose perceptions matter?(Target audience)

3.] What’s going on?(Research)

4.] What do people think?(Current perceptions)

5.] What are you really?(Facts)

6.] What should people think?(Desired perceptions)

7.] What will you tell them?(Value propositions)

8.] How will you speak?(Tone, brand, delivery)

9.] What’s the rally cry?(The one thing)

10.] How does it look to the world?(Creative direction)

11.] How’d it do?(Measurement of success)

The 11 Questions

Your brand is a story.

Live it inside.

Tell it well outside.

And people will pull up their chairs for a listen.

CESA 7September 2, 2009

Live YourStory