A brand is an identity that a marketer creates for consumers to be able to differentiate, and identify a product, a service, and a good design is essential for this identity. The very essence of any good brand design, however, is its core, and the value it brings to its customers, say experts at the BW Future of Design Awards 2019.
“What (brands) are dependent on is their DNA,” says fashion designer, Manish Malhotra says, adding that a brand ought to first understand its ethos of what it wants to be, and who it wants to cater to, and then come the aspects of design, talent, and storytelling.
In agreement with this insight is Shiva Subramanian, Founder, Connect Ventures who notes that it is important to know where a brand comes from, what it stands for, the value that it creates, and the functionality it brings in. “But more than anything else for me anything to do with branding is to take responsibility,” he says, adding, “If the value proposition is right, everybody will respect what is it that you’re doing.”
Atul Khanna, Founder of Tooltech Global Engineering also points out, “A brand is the amplification of the truth. It is not a veneer,” while adding that one should first focus on the product, then its values, and then eight senses, and the brand comes in at the end. “(The Brand) is the corollary of all this,” he notes, while describing the eight senses as the five senses that human beings already have, and the three more being - Does design drive sales? Is it completely recyclable? And lastly, is it aesthetic in the wider sense?
Dr. A. Velumani, Chief Executive Officer, Thyrocare Technologies is of the opinion that sometimes, design itself becomes the brand, While citing hair oil brand, Parachute, as a suitable example, he says, “Everything in today’s world is designing. Design makes a desire, and, the desire translates into a transaction.”
Subramanian also cites Tata as a brand that has stood the test of time because of the value it creates, compared with brands that created an illusion of a brand without the responsibility, or the ability to actually create value. “That is why you see so many brands fizzle out in three years. When you see a Tata, they have a brand for a long time. They haven’t fizzled out because they have a soul behind the brand that stands for something.”
Velumani also explains that it is essential for a brand to have both - a good product, and a good design. “A good product, well-designed, otherwise well-designed alone will not sell… Both are very important,” says Velumani.
