The world is an unreliable place. Blink twice and Trump is in office and a virus creates chaos in our communities and industries. Certainties are scarce. A raw deal, because they are the most comforting thing.
If your twelve year old daughter carelessly opens the fridge and asks to grab a beer, it’s easy to say no. Because you are sure. Being sure leaves space for new things, like creativity. Being sure is the most important currency in life.
For marketers, dozens of brand questions rise each and every day. Personifying the brand helps answering them: how does the brand think? What does it look like, or how does it speak? How does it fit in to the real world? Which problem does it solve? Profoundly answering those questions takes a deep understanding of consumers. Qual and quant give insights. Branding and design agencies lays down the rules in bulky brand books. They help your brand stay on course and more importantly – they make you not waste energy on decisions that were already taken beforehand with the help of experts – they give confidence and leave room for creativity. Because you are sure.
Cut to a PPM for your food brand. Your agency has created this great campaign idea. They’ve sold you a shit hot director to shoot your campaign. A props stylist you’ve never met has gathered props to shoot your food on. In that room, your agency is focused on strategy and creative work. Your director wants to shoot everything hand-held at sunset. Your stylist proposes Nordic Minimalism.
In that room, you may feel a little lonely. Because you probably are the only one that really cares how your product looks. What to do? Personification helps. How would my brand cook? How does my sauce brand fry an onion? What knife would my cheese brand use? Sliced or minced? What time of day does my refreshing lemonade look its best, what lighting does it prefer? Which angle, what camera speed? Does my food look best being prepared, served or consumed?
Essential and recurring questions have often been answered by a visual or sonic identity. A food brand needs a Culinary Identity: a strategy that dictates choices in food depiction. It makes you sure where to go, it tells you how your food stylist should cut the onions. It tells your director which exact moment he needs to capture in magic hour. And it tells the stylist to bugger off with his Nordic Minimalism.
My advice: be sure, before you step into that room. Because you may be the only one that truly cares.
Published in Adformatie
