Brand strategy and identity
Brand strategy and identity that holds together everywhere your name shows up.
Your brand has to work on your website, in your ads, in the press and on the side of a truck, which only happens when the strategy and the identity are built together and the partners who'll use it next are involved from the start.
What's included
Here is what a brand engagement can include.
Every project is scoped to what you actually need, so a refresh might use three of these and a full rebrand might use all of them.
Research and discovery
We interview your leadership, customers and staff and review your competitors, so the strategy rests on what people really think of you.
Positioning
You get a clear statement of who you serve, what you do better than the alternatives and why that matters to the people you're trying to reach.
Messaging framework
We write the core story, the proof points and the tone of voice your team will use in every channel.
Naming and brand architecture
When you need a new name, or need to sort out how a parent brand, its programs and its products relate, we work that out before any design begins.
Visual identity
This covers the logo, color, typography, photography direction and the supporting graphic elements that make the brand recognizable without the logo.
Brand guidelines
We deliver a working guide that your staff and outside vendors can follow without having to call us.
Launch assets
We design the first set of materials the brand needs, such as website templates, social profiles, sales materials and signage.
Internal rollout
We help you introduce the brand to your own people before the public sees it, because staff who understand it will carry it further than any campaign.
How it connects
A brand is only finished when it's working in the channels.
Most branding projects end with a guidelines PDF and a handoff, after which a different firm has to interpret it for the website, another for the ads and someone else for the press materials. Because Drystone's web, paid media, PR, video and content specialists sit on the same bench, they're part of the conversation while the brand is being built, so the identity is designed for the places it will actually live.
How it runs
Every brand project moves through four stages.
- 01
Discover
We start by listening to your leadership, customers and staff, and by looking hard at the competitors you're measured against.
- 02
Define
We turn what we learned into positioning and messaging, and you approve the strategy before any design work begins.
- 03
Design
Our identity designers develop the visual system from the approved strategy, and you review it in real applications rather than on a blank page.
- 04
Deploy
We deliver the guidelines and launch assets, and the web, PR and media partners pick the brand up directly so nothing gets lost in a handoff.
Who it's for
This work fits organizations at a turning point.
- You've merged, been acquired or brought in new leadership, and the brand no longer describes who you are.
- You're expanding into new markets or services and need a brand that can stretch to cover them.
- Your brand was built for the company you were ten years ago, and it's holding back the company you are now.
- You're a nonprofit or healthcare organization preparing for a campaign, a new facility or a major announcement.
We work with companies, nonprofits and healthcare organizations across Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Most of our brand clients come to us because they want the strategy and the design done by senior people, and they want the website and launch handled by a team that was there from the start.
Questions
Here are the questions we hear most about brand work.
How long does a brand project take?
It depends on scope, because a refresh of an existing identity moves much faster than a full repositioning with a new name. We'll give you a stage-by-stage timeline with your proposal, before you sign anything.
What does brand strategy and identity cost?
Cost follows scope, so we don't publish a single price. After a conversation about what you need, we send a written scope and quote before any work begins, and the number doesn't change unless the scope does.
Do we have to change our logo?
No, and sometimes the research shows the identity is fine and the messaging is the real problem, in which case we'll tell you so and scope the work accordingly.
Who will we actually work with?
A GoodYou Marketing lead manages the engagement from start to finish, and the strategists and designers doing the work are senior people from our partner firms, whom you'll meet before the project starts.
Can you help us launch the new brand?
Yes, because the website, PR, video and paid media specialists who'll launch it are already on the bench, and most clients carry the brand straight into a new site or a launch campaign with us.
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