Are you thinking about digital first when it comes to your branding? Whilst your brand is the first thing consumers notice, how you deliver it can make all the difference. And that means thinking digital first.
‘In the days before the live, fluid nature of the internet, branding was easier to create and control; for example, packaging and print advertising is static, but the internet isn’t. We encounter and interact differently with brands now, we can look up known brands and discover new brands via digital channels and they can’t simply get away with telling us how good they are, or what they do through passive formats. They need to show us in real time, interact with us and keep us hooked. Branding has evolved.’
And yet, in many brand design agencies, brands are still being developed in the same way they always have, with print and broadcast at the heart of any new campaign, and with digital considerations coming last.
At Rawww, we like to look at things from a digital first perspective and interlink this with our overall branding approach. That is, we consider touchpoints in digital and take the time to understand clients’ objectives, the needs of their customers and what we can create to fulfil those needs.
‘A brand is defined by the services it offers and how it delivers them, and this must come across in terms of how they look and feel. By adopting a strong and professionally planned digital first approach, and by looking at the responsive nature of how brands work in a digital space, they’re halfway there. A good brand design team will always approach any new brand design project with a valued set of considerations to ensure a digital first approach that works.’
For us, this means digital media underpins the entire process, and social spaces in particular need to be carefully considered. Each project is assessed individually to ensure a tailored approach, and how we devise and add in traditional media is important too. Other components include:
Style guides and brand books that explain digital applications where appropriate
Appropriate colours, text, typography, typefaces, etc. Optimised for screen and a digital first approach
Responsive design
Flexible design systems: the difference between traditional websites versus mobile first websites
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But does it work for everyone? Emerging brands, such as Airbnb and Uber exist solely due to their digital platform, but even traditional brands benefit. Look at Starbucks. Consumers use this brand face to face, but by developing their digital capabilities, they’ve moved with the times. One of the ways they enhanced and redefined their brand is through their app, which allows customers to order and pay for their coffee in advance – and skip the line when they collect whilst doing so. Simple, yet clever.
Traditional brand strategies just don’t cut it anymore. If you want to truly connect with modern audiences who want seamless interactions and experiences, go digital first.
