5 Reasons to invest in proprietary brand imagery
Your brand’s integrity should always be front of mind and it’s important to create distinction not only in your brand’s actions, behaviour and voice, but also in the way your brand expresses itself visually.
All too often we see the same stock imagery from campaign, to social, to website. This homogeny blurs the boundaries between brands, particularly within sectors. You only have to glance at a handful of financial services brands, and you’ll see the same glass skyscraper facades and overhead shots of remote landscapes. So how can audiences be expected to make distinctions and invest in brands when brands are not really investing in themselves.
There’s also a misconception that a business’s brand stops at its logo. While a logo is crucial in the visual identity architecture it cannot be expected to be everywhere all the time. Some of the most successful brands are more generally recognised for their broader visual identity. Headspace humanises its brand expression and charms its audience with joyful illustrations while Spotify has its duo-toned people imagery. While both differ, they give us a subconscious feeling of what to expect from our brand experience and it’s that feeling that initiates and sustains connection.
Naturally some businesses are not so interested in expanding their brand visual language further than logo, fonts and colour palette and it can be tough selling proprietary upwards in an organisation.
So here’s 5 reasons to help build a case for change.
1. Be true to your brand
When you’ve worked hard on establishing a brand strategy that authentically reflects everything that your organisation is and stands for, it would be remiss to express that foundation with stock imagery that everyone else is using. Your brand imagery should genuinely reflect the nature and sentiment of your strategic foundation. It should be motivated by your brand personality, governed by your brand values and synonymous with your brand expectation, purpose and promise. Without being literal, the job of proprietary brand imagery is to convey the feeling of what your brand is about to the audience, giving them visual reference points to identify with.
2. Carve your own niche
Creating a proprietary brand image is your opportunity to be distinct from your competitors. All too often we hear businesses expressing a reluctance to buck sector trends, which inevitably leads to them disappearing into a sea of sameness, while making it evermore difficult for audiences to make an initial choice on who to engage with. How can audiences be expected to believe that a brand has a unique approach or offers them something different when they look the same as other organisations. Belief in brands depends on whether that brand’s expression of itself resonates with audiences and validates the content in the brand’s messaging. So strive to create a visual expression that genuinely reflects who you are and confidently stands apart. That way you’ll capture imagination as well as attention.
3. Buck the trend
If you’re determined to stand out, then it’s important to understand how the competition is expressing itself and what visual trends are predominant in your sector. Survey your competitor landscape and look at patterns that are prevalent. Is there a proclivity for using the same kind of corporate stock photography, is everyone showing up in grey and blue, is there a lack of creativity in the use of typography? Gaining a better understanding of what others do gives you the advantage of knowing exactly what not to do, to create distinction and define an authentic visual language to connect with your audience.
4. Be provocative
Always approach your brand imagery with an open mind. You may have established that there’s homogeny in your sector but that doesn’t stop you being subliminally influenced by it. Delve deep into the foundation of your brand strategy and extract key aspects that can motivate visual cues for your brand imagery. If your values define your behaviour as being bold, courageous and dynamic then so should your brand imagery. Embrace the wider world of image creation, computer generated imagery (CGI), bespoke photography, illustration, graphic imagery and typographic design. Don’t be afraid to make a visual statement with your brand imagery. Aim to inspire your audience, challenge their preconceptions and establish a new and exciting dialogue that strengthens the belief in your brand.
5. Own your space
Showing up in your brand’s true colours demonstrates confidence and self-belief. The connection with audiences becomes more genuine and perception of what makes you unique all the more impervious. However, it is essential to maintain the integrity of your brand imagery to ensure its visual and conceptual deployment remains consistent. Set standards and guidance on how to create new expressions and evolve it progressively within your overall brand framework. Governing the development of brand imagery means it can grow intelligently and sympathetically to its conceptual foundation therefore retaining original audience recognition while also having the ability to break new ground in untapped markets.
Fundamentally, investing in proprietary brand imagery is about making an authentic statement about who you are and what you offer to clients, that stands apart from your competitors. It should ensure that when your logo and messaging isn’t present, audiences still recognise your brand. But ultimately, it should open a different kind of conversation with your audience, one that resonates and builds belief.
