So. I spoke a little bit about the motivations behind our rebranding project, here.
To kickstart the rebrand, the ridiculously talented and creative people we have hired to assist us require a ‘brand guideline’ from us. So we need to identify our brand message priorities (i.e. what do want people to associate our company with first?), and set the tone or personality for our brand.
Our brand message priorities were pretty easy to get down on paper. The hardest part was figuring out the order to put them in, in descending order of importance. In the end, we went with:
1. Our ice cream is the most delicious
2. Our ice cream is handmade from scratch, and natural (no preservatives, chemicals or colourants)
3. We use predominantly local ingredients, in season
4. We are an ethical/environmentally conscious company, both in our practices and the ingredients we source
5. We make innovative and creative flavours and desserts
It makes a lot of sense to me to prioritize the list, because if a new customer glances at our stall, or at our ice cream pints, we need to make sure they’re ‘getting’ the most important stuff first. And with a list like this, our designers will know what has to be biggest and boldest on the packaging, and on our signage.
Next up, brand personality/identity: if The Creamery was a person, what would he/she be like?
The Creamery is no longer a business plan or a dream in my head, it’s a real-life company, and I better understand what that means, and who our customers are, and how this dream actually functions in reality, eighteen months down the line. I don’t think I could have accurately ‘built a brand’ before building this business, it would have been like choosing a career or personality for your unborn child. But that also doesn’t mean that it’s easy, putting my finger on who my little company is, in detailed brushstrokes.
I see a lot of Marianne and me in the brand, which makes sense, since we built it together. But I don’t think The Creamery is simply an extension of us or our personalities. I also don’t want to paint a picture of a perfect person, because perfect people are irritating, and I don’t think we always get it right with our brand, either.
After a lot of discussion, this is the ‘picture’ we drew of The Creamery:
The Creamery is the kind of person people like to be around. The sort of person that makes other people feel good about themselves. She’s cheerful, outgoing, a little feisty, generous and interested in other people. She’s also a bit goofy/klutzy. The sort of person you’d want to do brunch with.
Her character flaws: she’s scatterbrained, and can be too emotional and quick to react. She can also be a bit of a know-it-all. But she is never snarky or holier-than-thou.
***
Tomorrow we are viewing the first round of logo concepts. Cross fingers for us please!
Oh, Creamery darlings, I’m seeing an opportunity here for you to run a little Twitter poll for your customers/fans/secret and not-so-secret admirers to paint the picture they see!!
If the Creamery were a person, she’d be: funky and eclectic; a bit of a collector of rare treasures; someone who lives in an old yet beautifully restored place. She’d prefer a Saturday afternoon planting sweet-peas in an overgrown garden to a Saturday sipping cocktails in Camps Bay. She’d be someone with a cute laugh; sometimes a bit of a nerd, but in a charming sort of way; kinda vintage; dreamy, romantic, playful, adventurous. She’d get herself into scrapes and brush herself off again to live and play another day with just as much gumption. That’s the picture I’d paint.
Lisa, we should have gotten you to write the description, well done! I’m going to link to our facebook and twitter feeds, and see if we can’t get some other customers to share their thoughts, such a lovely idea…