GOOD BRANDING A GO-GO

INTEGRATED design and communications agency Brio Group talks to BBN about how important good branding is to their business, across its four channels in design, digital, advertising and PR.

Managing director Belinda Vesey-Brown (pictured) says her team ‘lives and breathes branding’ and in this economic climate, now is the time for businesses to get noticed.

“We’re all brand advocates when it comes to representing our brand, whether it be via our blog, engaging in Facebook and Twitter, writing emails or meeting face to face with clients,” she says.

“Our brand philosophy is that a brand should be multi-sensory – how does it look, smell, sound and feel – and it should also have distinct characteristics and personality to set the company apart in the market.

“We provide our clients with a brand manual and a brand story which outlines how to best manage their brand internally and externally.”

Vesey-Brown says taking a clients brand from ‘ordinary to extraordinary’ means the client gets innovative positioning within their market.

“By transforming our client’s brands from ordinary to extraordinary, we help our clients achieve growth, differentiate themselves in their market and importantly, connect with their target market through the most effective methods, which could be digital marketing or social media, depending on their brand,” she says.

In 2009, after eight years of operating as RED-i Design, Vesey-Brown says the company made a strategic decision to rebrand to Brio Group.

“We grew RED-i Design to one of Australia’s largest design studios and due to organic growth and the addition of more technology and strategic-based services to our branding and design mix, like website development, we decided to make the move to re-brand the business,” she says.

“So the evolution of our branding has seen a complete re-brand and we’ve also experienced the re-branding process from the eyes of a client.”

Vesey-Brown says business owners should take a holistic view of their company and its marketing objectives in order to implement the best strategy.

“We recommend that companies look for an agency that considers their brand from a 360 degree view – that is, how their brand interacts within design, online, marketing, advertising and social media environments,” she says.

“It’s also important that your agency considers the needs of the company’s stakeholders because they need to create a strategic plan with the stakeholder’s vision in mind.

“If clients find an agency that supports all of these avenues, they can be assured they’ve got the brand’s best interests at heart.”