Develop a plan to create, build, and maintain a brand for a fictitious company.

Best Practices for Brand

Scenario

You are a communications professional and have been recently hired by Java Been to assist the company with developing branding guidelines. The company not only needs you to create specific brand elements, but it also needs guidance on building and maintaining the brand. Java Been faces a great amount of competition, and its customers have various options by which to obtain the same product or service. Java Been, therefore, has asked you to help them communicate to the public why their business is the one customers should choose. You explained that this distinction is something that goes beyond simply price or location, and instead is informed by a business’s brand identity, which represents the company’s personality—detailing who the company is, what the company’s values are, and the company’s mission. Java Been is interested in investing the time to develop a strong brand identity, to attract new customers as well as create a strong customer base that frequents the business. To assist you with the branding guidelines, Java Been has provided you with their company profile.

Directions

You were recently hired by Java Been to assist the company with developing branding guidelines. The company not only needs you to create specific brand elements, but it also needs guidance on building and maintaining the brand. Mary Geer and Jay Sorth started Java Been three years ago, and since then, the company has grown tremendously. In the beginning, Mary and Jay focused their attentions entirely on ensuring their company would survive. Now that the company has grown, Mary and Jay want to shift their focus to recreating their brand identity and defining a brand strategy for the café. With the brand identity, the café can consistently communicate its values and personality, build loyalty and trust among its customer base, and differentiate itself from the competition. To assist you with the branding guidelines, Java Been has provided you with their company profile.

Specifically, you must address the criteria listed below.

• • Creating the Brand: Mary Geer and Jay Sorth stated that they need assistance recreating a brand identity for Java Been. Specifically, they would like you to help them define the brand’s personality, recommend improvements to the company’s logo, develop a tagline that aligns with the brand’s identity, and assist them in planning how to gain buy-in from Java Been’s internal stakeholders. As you create Java Been’s brand, be sure to address the following:
    • Define the key elements of the company’s profile that you will incorporate in the brand identity. Be sure to explain why these elements are important to the brand and how they align with the organization’s mission.
    • Describe the brand’s personality. Be sure to explain how the personality will define the company culture. In crafting your brand’s personality, you might consider the brand voice and emotional impact of the brand.
    • Provide recommendations to improve the current logo. Be sure to justify how your proposed recommendations will more effectively communicate the organization’s brand. For example, you might consider the colors or font used in the logo.
    • Develop a tagline that provides the audience insight into the organization’s brand. For example, consider the company’s values, personality, or desired experience for its consumers.
    • Explain how you will gain buy-in for the brand from the organization’s internal stakeholders, to develop brand ambassadors.

• Building the Brand: Now that you have created Java Been’s identity, Mary and Jay have also asked for your assistance in determining how to communicate the brand to internal and external stakeholders. They explained that they would like your help in defining their company culture and then developing a product-launch strategy. In addition, Mary and Jay want your help in monitoring consumer attitudes, to ensure Java Been can respond appropriately. As you build Java Been’s brand, be sure to address the following:
  • Define the product launch strategy, justifying how this strategy will uniformly update and communicate the company’s brand identity across all channels. As you define your strategy, you might consider the following:
    • Which channels might you use to communicate the brand?
    • What is your timeline to launch the brand and update all representations of the brand?
    • What are the goals of your launch?
    • How will you test or practice your strategy?
  • Explain how you will monitor consumer attitudes toward the brand and remain flexible to make adjustments to your approach.

• Maintaining the Brand: Mary and Jay are pleased with your work creating and building a brand for Java Been, but now they need your help to ensure that the brand is consistently communicated, and that the integrity of the brand is maintained. They would like you to assist them in developing specific brand guidelines, and they want your advice on how to communicate the guidelines across a variety of communication channels. As you develop a plan to maintain Java Been’s brand, be sure to address the following:
  • Develop brand guidelines that employees must follow with internal and external communications. Be sure to justify how these guidelines ensure the organization maintains a consistent voice. For example, is there a specific font or color that should be used when producing materials, or are there variations of the logo that will be used when communicating through different channels?
  • Explain how the brand guidelines can be applied to a variety of communication channels, to maintain the integrity of the brand.