Defining the Brand Environment

In order to successfully bring the shaving toolbox to market, the brand environment needs to be established from the very beginning, and an identity needs to be clear to ensure consistency in the message being conveyed as well as too secure an emotional connection with the consumer. The identity of the brand has been developed through looking at the basic functionality of the product, who the designer is as well using my Pinterest boards to give inspiration. The essence, values, personality and proposition have all been brought together in the 'brand onion' diagram above which clearly displays key words and phrases that encompass what the brand will put across. At its core, the brand will be 'masculine', 'minimalist' and 'traditional', which are all elements that make up the fundamentals of what will be consistent across all products and imagery. The values of the brand then include words such as 'authentic', 'hand-crafted', 'convenient', 'personal' and 'practical' which are all elements which are important to the brand and the consumer and defines the behaviour of the brand. It's personality is then 'manly', 'old school', 'rugged', 'straight to the point', and 'strong' which demonstrates how the brand would be described if it were a person, therefore giving it a distinct tone of voice, this was developed through some of the attributes of the designer himself which will be carried across to the brand. Finally the proposition or promise, "To men with beards who value tradition and masculinity, 'the brand' offers a convenient, precise and old school approach to the sculpting and up keep of facial hair", encompasses many of the other elements within the brand onion and clearly states all together how the brand will benefit the consumer specifically. All of these elements make up the identity of the brand, and so everything it does will relate and make sense to what is included within the brand onion. This will be developed further through imagery, packaging, marketing and communications to further cement a USP that separates the brand from what is already on the market. Developing a brand identity also assists in refining the direction the brand will go down, and to expand on this I created a mood board below to give a sense of some elements I think reflect the essence, values and personality of the brand to be able to visually start to understand who the brand might be.

These images, textures, colours and words reflect a vibe which encompasses the things written within the brand onion, they are not specific or set in stone, however they give an idea of potential visuals and the route the brand is headed. The vibe is masculine, simple and rugged and this mood board has begun to separate the brand from some of the other other styles on the market which were considered in the last post, such as the 'hipster' style which doesn't fit quite so well with brand identity of a more minimalist and drawn back approach. This will gradually get developed over the coming weeks as competitors are analysed, trends are researched and the consumer is brought to life, as all of these elements will influence the final approach the brand takes for optimal success.