Values that give your brand character.
Brand values describe the character of your brand: how you think, act and communicate. They determine the feeling people get when they come into contact with your organisation. Good brand values are more than loose words on a poster. They become visible in your design, audible in your copy and tangible in how you treat customers and colleagues.
We define brand values that match who you are and who you want to be. In a session, we explore the personality of your brand and the feeling your audience should get. Then we choose three to five values and make them concrete. What does a value mean in practice? How does it sound in your copy and how does it look in your imagery? And what do you deliberately not do? That way your brand values become a practical tool for everyone who works with your brand, from designer to customer service.
Exploring
We look at what your organisation already conveys, in behaviour, communication and appearance. We gather input from the people who make decisions about the brand and, where needed, from employees and customers.
Brand personality
In a session we define the personality of your brand. If your brand were a person, how would it behave? What feeling do you want to evoke in your customer? This leads to a first selection of values.
Making it concrete
For each value we describe what it means, what you do and what you deliberately do not do. With examples for copy, imagery and behaviour, so everyone shares the same interpretation.
Applying
We translate the values into your tone of voice and the criteria for design. That way they form the bridge between strategy and the execution in identity, website and communication.
What strong brand values deliver
Character
Your brand gets its own personality that people recognise and remember.
Benchmark
For every choice in design, copy or campaign, you can check whether it fits who you are.
Connection
Employees recognise themselves in the values and bring them to life in their work.
Usually three to five. With fewer, it is hard to give your brand a rich character; with more, the values become too general and nobody remembers them. Better a few sharp values that really give direction than a long list that applies to any organisation.
Core values are often about internal culture: how you want to work and collaborate as an organisation. Brand values are about how your brand comes across externally and what feeling it evokes in customers. In practice they often overlap, and that is a good thing.
We make sure both are aligned, so what you promise is also reflected in how your organisation works.
We translate each value into design choices. A brand that wants to be reliable and down to earth calls for different colours, typography and images than a brand that is playful and innovative. In the brand concept and the visual identity, we test every choice against the brand values.
They also play a big role in the imagery: which kind of photos suit your brand and which do not?
Through the tone of voice. In it, we define how your brand sounds: formal or personal, businesslike or warm, short or elaborate. With concrete examples and word choices for your website, social media and emails. Those agreements are included in your brand guidelines, so everyone who writes for your brand uses the same tone.
Yes, for example if your strategy and positioning are already clear but your brand's character is not. Still, they work best as part of a broader brand strategy, together with your positioning and mission and vision. Then they form one coherent whole.
By making them concrete and recognisable. When employees are involved in defining the values, they recognise themselves in them more quickly. Examples of behaviour that belong to each value help too. We can also translate the values into internal materials, such as an onboarding presentation or visuals for the office.