Your logo, its application, and its relationship to your brand positioning are very important facets of the agency's overall brand effort. This is especially critical for advertising and design firms, who want not only to present a cohesive, consistent brand image, but an aesthetically pleasing one as well. Your agency's identity is a pure example of the kind of work you produce. Prospects notice when it does not measure up.
For that reason, once you have discovered your brand essence and distilled it to a memorable brand positioning statement, your agency should conduct a corporate identity audit. Every facet of your agency's brand identity must be examined and measured against the new brand effort.
Select an audit team. This should be the same team who conducted and compiled the discovery research and played a leading role in developing the brand positioning statement. They are already heavily vested in the brand-building process. Or blend in some new agency employees to freshen the existing team.
Their job is to draw up a list of measurements for whether the corporate identity elements support the new agency brand. The audit should assess whether each element establishes and supports the agency's brand promise, how well it does so, whether it needs revision or should be completely recreated, whether the present identity carries established historical value or equity that should inform a new identity, and whether the agency name itself needs to be updated or revised to reflect a new brand focus.
Identify and review each element of the agency's brand identity. Examine the existing logo, digital and print stationery, business cards, signage, website, social profiles, email signatures, and all other customer-facing materials against the new agency brand. Use a rating system to note which elements support the brand well, which need revision or the addition of the positioning statement, and which should be redesigned.
One useful exercise: collect printed samples of your identity materials and tack them up on a wall alongside screenshots of your digital presence. Gather employees to comment on consistency, harmony, and whether the materials deliver a recognizable message and image. This method works equally well for new business prospecting materials and anything related to client or prospect contact.
Assemble a report recommending changes or redesign.
When you have determined what design effort will be needed to align your overall identity with the brand, write a creative brief. Provide brand-aligned input for the redesign or creation of an entirely new identity package. Emphasize the brand and its objectives. Detail all the items of the package to which the new identity must be applied. Then assign a creative team to develop the new identity.
While you are reworking your identity package, ask the audit team to review all the other elements of the agency's marketing communications. Look at everything from the design of your office space to your social media presence, from internal forms and email templates to how the agency answers the phone. Create a checklist you can use for regular brand check-ups. Share it with employees and ask them to flag anything missing that they think belongs on it. Your brand should be reflected in everything the agency touches.
To vest the entire organization in ongoing brand development, hold periodic update meetings. These do not need to be lengthy. Fifteen minutes to review progress and take suggestions is enough. Keeping the full group involved builds the kind of internal ownership that makes a brand launch feel like a shared accomplishment rather than a directive from above.
The agency that cannot brand itself convincingly has a credibility problem the first time a client asks for help with theirs. Do not let that be your agency.
