Design by Structure and Shaw&Co have taken two Highly Commended award's in the ‘Best Digital Rebrand’ and ‘Best Use of Digital – Professional Services Sector’ categories at the annual Digital Impact Awards Europe 2022.

The Digital Impact Awards celebrates the dynamic, ever-evolving corporate digital communications sector, recognising the very best in creative engagement.  

The project for Shaw&Co sought to reposition the company as a market disruptor offering SMEs a better way of accessing corporate finance advice and services via the new website while also providing assets for the S&C marketing team to use in-house.

Paul Mills, Chief Marketing Officer, Shaw & Co: “To bring our ideas, brand architecture, marketing touchpoints, and client stories to life we engaged with Design By Structure which immediately understood our strategic and creative goals.

“The project was supported by a major investment in our wider digital and data capability to enhance our client journey. This included significant investment in digital real estate such as the upgrading of the group’s CRM, as well as building automated workflows and establishing secure client portals. For Shaw & Co to be recognised alongside established blue-chip organisations is testament to the quality of project delivery and Structure’s support.”

John Galpin, co-founder, Design by Structure said, “We are thrilled about receiving the recognition from Communicate magazine and the Digital Impact Awards judges for our work with Shaw &Co. You need a great client to do great work… and that’s what we got. There was a creative alignment and partnership between us and Shaw & Co from the beginning of this project. And because the team was very clear about the story they wanted to tell and what they wanted to achieve, this helped us accelerate our thinking and helped us do really great work for them”

Structure team: Molly Mitchell, David Davies, John Galpin (co-founder), Erinna Donohoe, Chris Skitch. (Lto R)

There has been much discussion about what the return to work might look like post lockdown and following the call from the PM to get back to work–where he said people are “more productive, more energetic, more full of ideas [sic], when they are surrounded by other people”.

Having read the many articles written on the subject, there is somewhat of a divided opinion on how companies might manage the move back to the office. Some are enforcing a return to the office full-time, while others are embracing a remote workforce. Some companies are considering a four-day working week. So, the outcome of the current six-month pilot of 70 UK companies and 3,300 employees will be very interesting for many–something that felt like an unlikely concept just a few years ago.

The variation in how to work has been a huge topic of conversation for both the media and employers alike. And for companies who are open to having a discussion, and trying new ways of working, there will be benefits and challenges for both parties. For those who have chosen the path of remote working, or a hybrid model, the question remains, how do you maintain a sense of belonging, connection, and culture if people are not in the same place?

Design by Structure has faced those same challenges as a business. How we work changed during lockdown - that is tough for a creative business. We had just moved into our new office in Shoreditch a few weeks before the first lockdown, but like everyone else, we had to embrace the change. During the two-years of lockdown, we managed to thrive and grow, and we didn’t make redundancies or furlough anyone, in fact, we made some new hires to build our team.

The easing of restrictions and end of lockdown saw some of our team members jump straight into returning to the office, while others have been understandably more cautious. But the one thing we all agree on is that some of our best work comes when we are connected. For us at Structure, our sense of togetherness and team culture is so important. So, we decided to practice what we preach, embrace the new opportunities that remote working brings, and moved the whole office from Shoreditch to Seville for a week as part of our rewards programme for the year. If we could make it work from our homes, why not in another city!

Jetting to Seville

So, we set up our base in a co-working space (air-conditioned to the max) in the heart of sunny Seville and it was business as usual.

The benefits of this work trip were incredible, we got to see a city not from a tourist perspective but from working and being part of the city's working rhythm, such as the siestas shut down or grabbing lunch as locals do (we became big fans of empanadilla's). We stayed in accommodation dotted around the city so everyone could have their own experience of the city and working life.

Jamón everywhere!

This working week in Seville was about us, it gave us the chance for immersive in-person work sessions, setting aside time to get out of the day-to-day and discuss as a team the year ahead, opportunities to develop the business and workshops to chat through bigger and more long-term challenges and come to solutions. Our clients have been really supportive of our working trip, and we have noted that two of them are doing the same, so maybe we are part of a new movement?

As a creative business, it was incredible to be able to explore the creative culture the city has to offer–to inspire our creative process. In the evenings we dined out on some spectacular food and finished our Summit at one of Seville's most beautiful hotels with a company dinner.

As a branding agency, we discuss with our clients the importance of nurturing their brands, to think of them outside of simply the identity, but as something that adds value to their business. And so too, you must nurture and care for your team, the people who help you to build that brand and drive its success.

So, now we are talking about making our ‘Structure Summit’ an annual event, to recognise the value our team brings to the business and bring everyone together regularly in new ways and different cities – this allows us to ensure that recognition is truly lived and not just spoken about.

Dining at the Hotel Alfonso XIII

Was the trip a success for the business? Yes, it was, we bonded as a team and continued to deliver our client work. It was a fantastic experience for us as a team but also for us personally.

Finally, Seville is called the frying pan of Spain, and we now know why...we certainly could have done without the daily 40+-degree heat!!!

Walking the famous Seville mushrooms!

NEW CORPORATE IDENTITY AND WEBSITE FOR BERLIN-FINTECH UPVEST

- Making investing as easy as spending money -

Berlin-based fintech Upvest has launched its new corporate identity and website design.

Upvest empowers its B2B finance clients to provide their end customers with any type of investment product. The fintech has developed an Investment-API that can be easily connected to existing backends enabling businesses to build great investment experiences for their end-users – seamless, secure and across international borders.

With a more inclusive investment API approach, encompassing both traditional securities and crypto, Upvest needed a new and distinctive corporate identity to reflect its unique positioning, so the marketing team approached Design by Structure (Structure) with a brief.

Reflecting Upvest’s DNA

Working with the concept of disrupting and democratising the investment category, a strong proposition was leveraged from the strategic insights – One API. Any investment experience.  

This is supported with a succinct and clear TOV and messaging strategy, avoiding industry jargon to ensure clients understand how the investment API will benefit their business.

Creative execution

The colour palette has a defined usage hierarchy, with key colours used purposefully across all comms. Key to the creative is the graphic assets inspired by the Upvest universe, illustrated with a graphic (a transparent circle) – a visual metaphor that represents the idea of a complete solution with endless possibilities. The transparency reflects Upvest’s clear and transparent approach to business.

The circle was abstracted to create four icons that act as product identifiers – savings plan, portfolio, roundup and fractional – each with its own colour assignment.

Structure also developed a portfolio of icons for other comms applications to help with website navigation. Imagery and video play an important part of the new website content, introducing both the product functionality and the ‘Upvengers’ (team members) who bring the business and product portfolio to life.

Speaking about the project, Olga Knyazkova, Product Marketing Manager, Upvest said, “The goal was clear, we wanted to create a new corporate identity and website design that strongly reflects our core brand proposition: making investing as easy as spending money. Structure supported us with their in-depth expertise and hands-on mentality throughout the entire process to really come up with a new distinctive corporate identity. The new design approach is also a perfect expression that we are now ready to enter the next chapter of Upvest’s ambitious future plans.”

John Galpin Co-Founder, Design by Structure said, “Upvest was an exciting brief to work on. The Upvest team had a clear purpose - to make investing as easy as spending money and democratise access to all kinds of investment products. The brand and website were designed to make it clear how Upvest enables its customers to build any investment experience they can imagine with all of the complexity taken care of. We look forward to seeing the growth of investment experiences powered by Upvest’s API"

The results of the 14th Transform Awards are in and we are winners!

The Transform Awards is the only awards programme to celebrate excellence in rebranding, repositioning and brand development in Europe. In another bumper year of entries, Structure has come out on top with a silver gong for our work with Dixa.

Andrew Thomas, publishing editor of Transform magazine, says, “It’s been an amazing year for the Transform Awards. We’ve seen some amazing work. For each and every winner of the Transform Awards, there is a story of dedication, brilliant ideas, creative excellence and strategic craft. We’re very happy that so many of these organisations, agencies and branding professionals have come together tonight to celebrate their achievements in branding, and the quality of branding seen across Europe.”

Huge thanks to the judges and our client Dixa who was not only a pleasure to work with, but who trusted our creative process to deliver a brand system and website that brought its vision to life.

Dixa - Silver - Best brand evolution.

Customer service software company Dixa is on a mission to change customer service for people – making it more personal, intelligent and data-driven.

Time for a fresh start with fresh ideas, we are all looking for the next big thing in our arena. While the past two years has been unpredictable, there has been encouraging news with the relaxation of restrictions and the government encouraging us to end WFH and to get back to some kind of business normal.

With that in mind, our strategists have put together some ideas on trends to consider for the year ahead...

Written by senior strategists, Rob Williams and Martin Reid.

Web3 gets its wings
Web3 is going to change the way brands make themselves known. Where currently brands grapple with monoliths such as Facebook or Google to get seen on their platforms or harness customer data, web3 gives ownership, agency, and transparency back to individual users.

There’s already traction for web3 in creative sectors. Pace Verso invites artists to sell art as NFTs under its brand, while MetaFactory invites communities to vote on fashion lines and to share profits and exclusives with its users.

But B2B brands can weigh in on the fun too. From using NFTs as access passes to digital events or racing to establish real estate in the metaverse, the opportunities are endless. And financial service brands and retailers are of course changing tack to address how to bring cryptocurrency offerings and accommodations to customers (we are seeing our clients pioneering in this space).

This transition to Web3 will probably happen gradually as more people invest in crypto and curiosity peaks. Where customers go, brands will follow.

Even bolder creative
The tools, talent, and time it takes to make great digital creative are vastly improving – accelerated by WFH and the demands for better UX and CX. The upside is that branding can get much braver. Out with the traditional creative formats like downloadable eBooks and in with the interactive slideshow or parallax website. Even brand identities can become richer, more responsive, and even take a life of their own with AI and generative algorithms.

The downside? Standing out from the crowd. As always, the brands that have their strategies and stories straight will go further with their creative than the brands that throw budget at shiny propositions that don’t have much relevance.

Growth of Hybrid events
We’re not out of the woods yet, which gives rise to hybrid models. With many brands and businesses looking to return to face-to-face events, launches, meetings and conferences, a middle ground will need to be found to meet the needs of those unable to attend physically, with those who are eager to be in the same room.

Therefore, hybrid events will grow in popularity, offering a combination of in-person and virtual connectivity. Couple this with the rise of VR and the metaverse, we will see a monumental shift that blurs the physical and virtual, with experiential design that caters for both audiences.

Brand Switching
Electric vehicles. Reducing single-use plastic. Plant-based food. Exposing supply chain malpractices. It’s no surprise that consumers are shifting to conscientious consumerism, empowered to make the right choice by switching to brands that align with their values around sustainability and social movements.

As the past few years have further accelerated this shift, brands too must now take a hard look at themselves to ensure they are aligning with this movement, as well as progressing the conversation by nurturing these values to support positive change.
A brand’s ability to communicate these values will be critical to building resonance and trust, without being seen as pandering or greenwashing. With nowhere to hide, businesses must assess their entire operations to identify where fundamental changes are required to exist in this new world.

Brand purpose finds its purpose
In the last few years, many businesses went big on expressing brand purpose 
– soul-searching about their existing beyond earning shareholders profit and aligning 
to support or remedy social and environmental issues – only to face criticism of 
green-washing, youth-washing, rainbow-washing, woke-washing etc.

In 2022, brands will work harder on how they communicate purpose – with more precision on solving matters directly relevant to their brand and less focus on lofty language, inauthentic causes and ‘bandwagoning’.

Shared values
Brand collaborations are certainly not a new concept; however, we should expect the rise of collaboration in 2022.

In response to hyper consumer-awareness and conscientiousness, consumers expecting more from the brands they interact with means that false promises and self-indulgence marketing will no longer cut it. For brands to cut through the noise and build an authentic dialogue with consumers, they need to focus on shared values with their target audiences.

As brands look to increase their audience reach further, a shift from competition to collaboration is a clear choice. What better way to strengthen your brand than by finding other brands that share your values, or run in the same circles, and working together to combine your reach as well as giving social proof to one another by linking efforts for the benefit of the end-user.

It’s not just about awareness either, there are many economic benefits of combining efforts. Accenture calculates that successful brand collaborations can decrease logistics costs by as much as 3-4% and manufacturing costs by 5-15%, as well as optimising inventory management.

Reality bites
Here’s one reality worth remembering, brand trust is at an all-time low. According to the ‘Brutally Honest’ report by ImagenInsights, 0% of Gen Z respondents said they’d trust brands in 2022 – because they don’t provide meaningful or emotional fulfilment.

Brands need to work on managing reputations and aligning talk with action, CX with UX, and products with 'purpose'. It takes more than better design to be a better brand.

With the promise of the metaverse to add more ways to interact with customers, brands should focus on sorting themselves out in the real world before expanding into new spaces.

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In our previous articles of this series, we explored how a newly created tech venture’s, brand strategy and visual identity should be curated alongside its business strategy to ensure a clear articulation of its purpose, as well as a unified identity.

In this, the final article of the series, we consider how a startup’s culture and employer value proposition forms the third prong of a well-rounded brand strategy.

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When we think of culture, we often think of the physical elements – namely the office. While physical space is an important aspect of general wellbeing, gone are the days of the startup image – a bootstrapped office space, sparsely decorated with a ping pong table, neon-lit logo, and some mismatched beanbags. Instead, the growth of the co-working/shared office spaces has provided professional outfits to even the smallest of teams. The rise in open-source and freemium technologies has enabled better collaboration and systems.

But culture is so much more than just our working environment.

Culture is the co-collection of values and behaviours of both the employer and the employee. A workplace culture aligns employee behaviours with the Company policy, as well as the purpose of the brand and business. It acts to inform the needs and wants of those individuals who may choose to work there – their attitude, work-life balance, career aspirations and job satisfaction.

So, why should a small startup be overly concerned with its culture? After all, it’ll likely be a small team at the beginning – perhaps two co-founders working closely together on the next big thing.

The answer, simply, is that things will scale at pace. Two people will quickly become five, five will quickly become 10, and 10 will eventually become 100+. When the size of a workforce means that you no longer have direct involvement with shaping an employee’s individual experience, it is critical that structures are in place to ensure consistency and cohesion across the entire Company. And when it comes to recruitment, a Company’s culture is what will set its value proposition apart in the minds of prospective candidates in the race for talent.

So where does culture start? As cliché as it may sound, it always starts at the top.

Lead by example

When building a Company’s culture, first you need to consider your leadership. If you’re hiring into a newly formed C-suite, consider that these people will be tasked with setting an example and embodying the company values.  Do these people’s personal values align with the Company’s purpose and values? Do they exhibit what your Company stands for, in behaviour, integrity and attitude? By placing people into highly influential roles that will set the direction of your Company’s culture, you need to spend the time to make the right choice from the offset, ensuring that you and they are aligned on the vision of the Company you are building.

Culture is more than just our working environment.

Core values

Next to consider are the values of your Company’s culture. These are the fundamental DNA strands that will inform everything you do and should be aligned to both your business and brand strategy. These are often communicated at a policy level, perhaps through job descriptions, role remits, sign-off processes, team structures and internal committee initiatives.

When building a values structure, it’s easier to break them down into categories. For example, you may start with:

• Accountability: How you empower everyone in the Company to own their outcomes, act with authority and autonomy to deliver towards the overall vision.

• Communication: Even more critical in a post-pandemic hybrid working world, ensuring communication channels are open for everyone to access team members, leadership, and peers, to facilitate better collaboration and information sharing quickly and effectively.

• Authenticity: Recognising and developing a diverse and inclusive culture so employees feel safe to bring their true selves to work. Having a workspace that encourages freedom and respect of everybody’s identity and working styles.

• Recognition: Is in two parts, recognition of the value being added by an individual through continual reviews, openness on career progression, training & development, and respect - recognising the input and ability of your people. The second part is remuneration – the benefits package that is offered in return.

A leap of faith

When a candidate applies for a role at a startup, they’re taking a leap of faith. They believe in the Company’s vision (if it has been articulated well externally), and they are essentially shunning established competitors or legacy companies that can offer more stability and likely better remuneration. They likely want to be a part of the movement, to build something with you.

While a startup may not be able to fully compete on a rewards package that matches that of a more traditional employer, start-ups combine fewer rigid structures of legacy companies, with more autonomy and better progression.

In addition, there’s something that a start-up can offer as a promise of future remuneration – stock options. Consider then that if they’re helping to build the vision, they should be rewarded when that vision reaches fruition.

 Win the race for talent

While some companies may not consider in detail what their culture should feel like for employees, there is great benefit in doing so. Therefore by,

• effectively communicating why potential candidates should invest their time and effort in your company,
• building an employer value proposition that is both authentic and rooted in purpose,
• retaining employees for longer and encouraging higher levels of motivation and productivity.

These actions can contribute to building your vision at pace.

Culture should be based on designing a mutually beneficial agreement in principle for both the Company and the employee to build the desired outcome that benefits everyone.

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 Structure creates relevant and compelling brands for next-generation tech companies.

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This article was first published in Brands Journal.

In our first article of the series for Brands Journal, we explored how a newly created tech venture’s brand strategy should be developed in parallel with its business strategy, to create a relevant and authentic experience for audiences, deeply rooted in authenticity and a compelling reason for existence.

Armed with this newly developed brand strategy, the next step is to consider how to convey that strategy through a consistent and unified identity.

It’s important to understand what a brand identity is, what it isn’t, and how this differs from brand strategy.

Visual

If you were asked to think about McDonald’s, what would be your first thought? You may start by thinking about the food - a Big Mac, or perhaps a McFlurry. What about if you were asked to think about how McDonald’s looks? Chances are, you’ll envisage the golden arches - the famous ‘M’ is recognised the world over, regardless of language or culture. The McDonald’s logo is one of the most famous examples of an identity element that instantly sparks emotion, resonance, and brand recognition.

In its simplest form, a brand’s visual identity is the collection of all ‘tangible’ design elements that an organisation uses across its touchpoints. The elements of a visual identity can include, but not be limited to, a logo, a colour palette, graphical treatments, illustration, iconography, photography, and typography.

The history of the term originates from branding livestock – to distinguish and differentiate. Developing a brand’s visual identity is the same principle – distinguishing your company from another through a clearly recognisable design system.

In our McDonald’s example, building brand recognition through a single design element takes time – through constant reinforcement, using it across every channel until the association becomes second nature and recall becomes effortless in the minds of the audience.

As a newly developed tech business, it’s unlikely founders will have had the time to build such recognition, even less so if the audience is predominately B2B. There are some instances where tech startups have built a recognisable design element that helped them create recall in the minds of their target audience in a short space of time. Monzo is a good example of this.

When Monzo first launched, one thing stood out (quite literally) about its design language, its bright red debit cards (or ‘hot coral’ as it’s more affectionately known within its community). Monzo’s eye-catching cards sparked conversation – with people asking users what card, and therefore what brand, they were carrying.

Monzo card

When thinking about your brand, a unified identity is key. A consistent identity that spans every touchpoint – web, digital interfaces, packaging, demos, events, etc. Think about where your brand identity will show up – then make it consistent across the board so that people understand who they are interacting with and easily attribute any interaction to your brand.

There’s evidence for why a unified identity will benefit your company. From over 200 organisations surveyed, it is estimated that the average revenue increase attributed to presenting a brand consistently is +23%. But perhaps the most telling is that the negative impact of inconsistent brand usage is the creation of confusion in the market, reported by 71% of study participants [1].

Verbal

Identity isn’t just about what can be seen. It’s also about how a brand sounds, how it speaks and the messages it communicates to its audience about what it stands for.

Developing a tone of voice for your brand is essential to ensuring a standard form of communication, which in turn will help your audiences resonate with what you are saying and attribute this to your brand. You are communicating your purpose, your mission, and your values for your audiences to connect with, so emphasis needs to be placed on the mouthpiece to communicate them effectively.

Focus on how you wish for your personality to be perceived through how you speak (or more likely, how you write). Do you take a pragmatic, professional tone, or are you more informal with zero jargon? Context is key, and there will naturally be flex in how you engage (you wouldn’t speak to an investor board in the same style as a Twitter handle, for example).

Cultivate a tone that is both authentic and truthful to your brand and business strategy, ensuring a set of verbal principles are adhered to, to promote consistency across the spectrum of communication channels. If your brand strategy conveys what you stand for, then your verbal identity is how you express and communicate it with a personality, therefore you must ensure it is reflective of the brand you are building.

When starting out, take time to consider your identity, and all the elements it’s made up of. Ensure that these are captured appropriately in the brand guidelines and that these are protected, adhered to and your people are well versed in them. It’s helpful to have a central figure or brand guardian within the business, to ensure that consistency is maintained when developing content for your brand.

Consistency is key.

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In our final article of the series, we’ll cover internal culture design and employer value propositions while scaling.

[1] A survey by LucidPress / Demand Metric, State of brand consistency.

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 Structure creates relevant and compelling brands for next-generation tech companies.

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This article was first published in Brands Journal.

The results of the 14th Transform Awards are out and we have been shortlisted!

As a strategic branding agency that works with transformative tech companies, we are lucky to work across varied sectors creating beautiful brands in Retail Hospitality, Finance, Retail and Property – to name a few.

Our work creates relevant and memorable brands by telling a compelling story that impacts their market and elevates them within their sectors.

We are very proud of the work we do for all of our clients, but it is especially fantastic to have had this work acknowledged by this year's Transform judges.

We are shortlisted in the following category:

For our work with Dixa- Best brand evolution.

Customer service software company Dixa is on a mission to change customer service for people – making it more personal, intelligent and data-driven.

Design by Structure has taken silver at the Digital Impact Awards 2021 for its creative work for customer service software company, Dixa.

The Digital Impact Awards recognise the cutting edge in digital communications across a broad range of categories including deliverables, social media, and sector.

As a strategic branding agency that works with transformative tech companies, we are lucky to work across varied sectors. Our work creates relevant and memorable brands by telling a compelling story that impacts our clients' market and elevates them within their sectors.

We are very proud of the work we do for all of our clients, but it is especially fantastic to have been acknowledged by this year's DIA judges with an award.

Speaking about the work, Mads Fosselius, CEO, Dixa said, "We started working with a great branding agency in London – Design by Structure – who gave us the confidence and impetus to change our messaging and be far more direct."

John Galpin, co-founder, Design by Structure said, “We are thrilled about winning and receiving the recognition from Communicate magazine and the Digital Impact Awards judges for our work on this project. Dixa is on a mission to help brands eliminate bad customer service forever, something many of us will have experienced, so it was great to work with Dixa to bring its conversational approach to customer service to life online. Dixa is going from strength to strength, closing a Series C round and expanding into the US market... looking forward to seeing what's next from these game changers ”

Dixa - Silver -  Best use of digital from the retail sector

Andrew Thomas, founder of the Digital Impact Awards, and publisher of Communicate magazine said, “Digital has connected workforces, strengthened relationships with employees and kept citizens informed of crucial information amid a changing landscape. It is always so rewarding and illuminating to examine those setting the standard for excellence in strategic digital communications. Congratulations to all of this year’s very deserving winners!”

For tech start-ups setting out on their journey to launch a revolutionary new product or service to the market, the first hurdle is to get investors interested enough to stake you in the game. But going from passion project to million-pound start-up isn’t the end goal, nor an indicator of success. In fact, 70% of upstart tech companies will fail at around 20 months after first raising investment [1].

How do you ensure that your newly formed company thrives, gains further investment, and becomes a household name? After all, if you want to reach that coveted unicorn status (£1billion+ valuation), you'll need to scale at speed, excite the investors, stay disruptive, be a category leader, and of course fight off new competition. All done so that you’re able to map your route to becoming profitable or create enough disruption to one day IPO or sell up to the bigger players.

Search Google today for 'branding for startups' and you're hit with a barrage of articles, thought leadership and some questionable insight on the right approach for creating a brand for your new venture.

A lot of this advice is centred around getting out into the world quickly. Select a name, throw a logo together, build a website and get on social media. And that could work, especially if you have a killer product that can attract and excite an audience. Haste may also show your commitment to your investors as you launch your minimum viable product (MVP) out into the world. However, a speedy approach may cause more harm than good as you find that further down the road you must make obvious U-turns, pivots, or realise that people have little resonance with you as a company because of a distinct lack of consistency.

While branding may not be up there on your list of priorities – when you have a million different workstreams to contend with – you should reconsider prioritising it.

Your brand and business strategies should exist in parallel, which is why it makes sense to develop them together. You’ll likely be surrounded by angel investors and VC-fund managers who will happily advise on business and market strategies. What may be lacking, however, is how a well-curated brand strategy should be used to create a consistent experience to excite and delight your audience. This will contribute to creating long-term success.

Increasingly the boundaries between brand and business strategies are becoming blurred as we delve even deeper into the digital age. Brands exist in the minds of your audience as one ecosystem, no longer separate entities between product/service and identity. A brand is every interaction and touchpoint, from your product interface to how your customer service makes someone feel, from the perception of internal culture to how your brand is portrayed across different channels.

Your brand is the mouthpiece of your business strategy and should be there to create a unified and consistent experience for your audiences.

Consider your position

Considering your competitors is one of the first tasks someone will undertake when thinking up an idea; who else is serving this market, satisfying this need, or solving the problem? How are we going to do it better (or if you’re lucky, be the first company to do it at all)?

Unlike more traditional businesses, a tech start-up may be able to make clear differentiation versus the competition. Many will be disrupting an industry through a radical new approach with tech as the catalyst, versus incumbents and traditional providers. It’s important to map out all the players that operate in the space, as well as considering those adjacent too.

Let’s look at Wise (formally TransferWise) as an example. In the past, transferring money abroad was limited to a few expensive routes, such as traditional banks who would add a hefty markup fee as well as setting their own exchange rates. There were also wire transfer companies in shops across the country, again setting their own rates/fees. Both would take a long time to transact.

Wise looked at a different way to do this, using technology as the enabler. It was able to offer a simple, small fee and a near-perfect exchange rate, relying on a network of accounts across the globe that would hold money and pay locally when someone requested a transfer via their website, and later, smartphones. The speed and cost reduction were game-changers.

Take the time to understand your position in the market – ask yourself who you are serving, why they need you, how your product/service is better and why they should believe you.

Are you the disruptor within the mainstream, or are you revolutionising by creating a new category entirely? Knowing which space you occupy will make it easier to communicate to your audiences and for them to connect with your brand on a deeper level.

Focus on the ‘why’

It may come as no surprise, but companies that succeed in creating a standout brand all have one thing in common. They start with a ‘purpose’. Simply put, your purpose is your reason for doing what you do. It’s what you stand for, and what your customers can expect of you.

This may sound obvious but being clear on what your purpose is from the outset enables you to make strategic business and brand decisions. It acts as the central lens through which all decisions can be viewed.

Create a clear and authentic purpose to act as your foundation on which your entire brand ecosystem can be built – what you set out to do, why you’re doing it and how you will benefit all of those who interact with your brand. In turn, this will allow you to understand which values are fundamental to your brand.

Aligned values

Belonging is innately human. Being a part of something, a community, a tribe. It makes sense then that as consumers, we buy into brands that we feel mirror our values and beliefs and shun those that don’t.

In the age of hyper-transparency where there is nowhere to hide, poor brand behaviour can be exposed with a tweet. Therefore, a company’s values are the driving force in creating resonance. Baking your values (which should be authentic, meaningful, and born out of your purpose) into your business strategy means that customers and prospects can see your authentic self. They can then decide whether theirs align with yours – making a conscious decision to engage with your brand or not. Over time, this will continue to strengthen (or not, if values aren’t lived up to), to create loyalty with your audience.

Starting out, it may be hard to decide who you want to be as a company and a brand. And that’s ok. Your values will evolve and grow with you. For now, set realistic but truthful values - a set of guiding principles that your brand stands for and everyone can aspire to.

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[1] www.cbinsights.com/research/startup-failure-post-mortem

In part 2, we will cover visual and verbal identity (including naming), and how we continue to build our brand ecosystem.

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This article was written for and first published in Brands Journal.

Corporate finance experts, Shaw & Co has launched its new brand suite which was created by Design by Structure. The new work supports its ambition to position the company as a ‘disruptor brand’ in the corporate finance market.

Shaw & Co is on a mission to democratise the corporate finance (CF) market, often seen as an impenetrable and inhuman world for SME businesses, making it more accessible, open, and transparent – helping them to achieve greater outcomes for their businesses.

The brief

Founded by former GB cyclist Jim Shaw, Bristol-based Shaw & Co wants to make CF more accessible and has taken a more human and emotional approach to this brief.
By understanding how important people’s businesses are to them and focusing on the emotional drivers, the brand is offering a more differentiated business service.

Having already conducted a deep dive into the Shaw & Co brand, its Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Mills approached Structure with a brief to develop its proposition, positioning, TOV, visual identity, brand guidelines. In addition, the agency was asked to deliver a website, illustration style and both client and brand vision films.

Speaking about the brand work, Paul Mills, CMO Shaw & Co, said: “To support our ambitious growth plan, our brand needed a major rebuild to re-articulate our value proposition and competitive positioning. We’re winning bigger deals; we have a very loyal client base, and our net promoter score is 80+ so it was the perfect time to transform our brand strategy. The pandemic gave us the opportunity to conduct internal and external research to understand how our employees, business partners and clients valued the brand. We got some fantastic insight which allowed us to start building something that was different, authentic, and disruptive.

Mills continues: To bring our ideas, brand architecture, marketing touchpoints and client stories to life we engaged with Structure who immediately understood our strategic and creative goals. There has been a very strong synergy between us and Structure which has enabled the project to be delivered at incredible pace. We have been brave and let all of the creative decisions to Structure which has ensured agility and a strong end-result that everyone at Shaw & Co is delighted with.”

A different approach to the CF sector – simple, clear and human.

For SME owners their business is a very big part of their lives. So, the creative strategy pivots on the human touch – simple, clear, and human. Structure looked to Shaw & Co’s clients to tell its brand story, using film to bring it to life, with people talking about their business challenges and how Shaw & Co has helped them.

This human approach runs throughout all comms touchpoints supported with language and messaging that is simple and clear, and using no industry jargon.

Driving Ambition

The brand’s new proposition is based on how Shaw & Co enables its clients to achieve their greatest business ambition – whether growing, funding or exiting their business – ‘We turn your ambitions into greater outcomes’.

The creative story brings to life the value the brand creates for its clients, Structure visualised and verbalised it by putting the spotlight on client success stories.

While the new brand work conveys both the functional and emotional side of the story, the creative solution continues the distinctively human approach across all elements, launching into the marketplace with a disruptive green colour palette, supported with vibrant accents, to create stand out in a sea of corporate blues.

The approach continues with a bold typeface to reflect ‘big ambition’ and a handwritten typeface to suggest human interaction. Hand-drawn devices (arrows, underscores etc.) will also be used throughout brand comms as emphasis points to hero key messaging.

Speaking about the creative, John Galpin Co-founder Design by Structure said, ‘You need a great client to do great work… and that’s what we got. There was a creative alignment and partnership between us and Shaw & Co from the beginning of this project. And because the team was very clear about the story they wanted to tell and what they wanted to achieve, this helped us accelerate our thinking and helped us do really great work for them’.

Delighted to share our latest news about our success at the Transform Awards 2021, which are a global celebration of brand development, reputation management and rebranding.

As a strategic branding agency that works with transformative tech companies, we are lucky to work across varied sectors. Our work creates relevant and memorable brands by telling a compelling story that impacts their market and elevates them within their sectors.

We are very proud of the work we do for all of our clients, but it is especially fantastic to have had these projects acknowledged by this year's Transform judges, with a gold and a silver.

John Galpin, co-founder, Design by Structure said, "We have worked with some amazing high-tech brands over the last two years and it's great to see our hard work being acknowledged with these award wins. We are all absolutely thrilled and already looking forward to next year's Transform Awards".

LendInvest - Gold -  Best Visual Identity

Formaplex - silver - Best Visual Identity

Andrew Thomas, founder of the Transform Awards, said.“Despite the challenges of Covid this has been a record year for the Transform Awards. The changes Covid has brought aren’t just economic. We face a major recalibration of the way we relate to the brands, the businesses, the organisations that touch our lives. We have an unprecedented challenge ahead of us, but the work entered in the Transform Awards highlights, once more, the strategic insight and phenomenal creativity of the agencies and in-house teams.”

- Tivian relaunches with a new name and identity-

Tivian (an Intelligent Experience Management (XI) platform) has relaunched with a new name and brand identity created by Design by Structure (Structure).

Previously known as Questback for Enterprise (EFS), Tivian uses advanced analytics and cutting-edge AI technology to help companies capture and act on insights from their employees, customers, and the market. The platform approached Structure earlier this year to develop a new positioning and strategy, brand identity and brand guidelines & system.

The rebrand work is part of Tivian’s vision to innovate the industry, moving from passive experience management (EX) to proactive, intelligent experience management (IX) – it is reshaping the category.

To bring the platforms ambition to life, the new logo draws inspiration from mathematical formulas with the use of square brackets. They encapsulate Tivian’s important combination of its people, its insights, and its expertise. These three elements together help its customers to unlock opportunity in their business by enabling them to be connected to every employee and customer, listening, learning, and improving – delivering the best experiences and driving competitive advantage.

‘Intelligent experience management (XI)’
Following an in-depth market analysis of the business and building out a robust strategic framework, Structure unlocked the expression for the brand, revealing the new positioning and tagline, ‘Intelligent experience management’.

This captures Tivian’s move from passive experience management (XM) to comprehensive XI and its commitment to helping its clients capture and harness experience data to drive business listening, deeper insights – enabling better decision-making.

Speaking about the work, Frank Møllerop, CEO of Tivian said 'We were on a mission to reinvent our category, our brand identity and look & feel. The work led by Design by Structure delivered a platform for us to differentiate ourselves and push boundaries in our market that hadn’t moved for several years'.

Before:

After:

Kaya VC, a venture capital fund, has launched its new brand identity created by Design by Structure.

The VC has changed its name to Kaya, to better reflect its modern focus, and decided to support the name change with a complete rebrand. Previously Enern, the new €72 million ($80m) fund focuses on start-ups in Prague Warsaw and the wider CEE region.

The fund has invested in 27 companies, more recently investing in B2B marketplaces, healthtech and blockchain. In total, the assets under management (AUM) is €250m, with this fund being its fourth. There had been a natural shift in the business focus, from investing in wind farms to SaaS companies, which is behind the VC’s move to rebrand.

‘Invested in you’

The company moves forward on a mission to nurture early-stage businesses, empower bold entrepreneurs and help realise founders’ ambition. Following the decision to rename and rebrand, Kaya approached Structure with an end-to-end brief, covering, strategy and positioning, brand & visual identity, website design and brand guidelines.

The collaborative process built on Kaya’s initial vision, introducing an in-depth market analysis and a robust strategic framework. Unlocking an authentic and original expression for the brand, the new positioning and tag line, ‘INVESTED IN YOU’, demonstrates Kaya’s unwavering support for founders, and their belief that the journey to enduring change is achieved by committing to meaningful, long-term partnerships.

This is further illustrated in the brand’s colour palette, with three vibrant colours reflecting the brand’s core values – Candour, Fortitude and Responsibility. While the design system utilised a dynamic triangular configuration to reinforce themes of collaboration, flexibility and resilience  –  building blocks that bring Kaya’s philosophy to life in different applications.

To complement the new palette, the agency employed a dynamic typeface, using bold weightings to emphasise key words and phrases. This is evident on the website where it is used to dial-up messaging in a clever way, placing emphasis on specific words to create sentences within sentences, and also as a device while scrolling through the website, with both techniques guiding readers to see ‘we are invested in you’ in bold text.

John Galpin, Co-Founder Design by Structure, said, “Kaya was an exciting brief to work on. The client is as proud of its past as it is passionate about its future, so we wanted to reflect this transformational moment, and capture the new energy and spirit that will not only drive Kaya forward but will support intrepid founders on their journey to create enduring change.”

A Q&A with Fara Darvill, Growth Director

Why is the rise of the CGI influencer significant for brands? Building brands is big business and influencers have become an important part of brand marketing campaigns in the past decade. While influencers are not a new concept, in the past brands looked to the influence of global performers and movie stars, then reality TV in the 90s and social media in the 00s created the next-gen of influencers and a new kind of 'celebrity.' These were ordinary people with no perceivable talent just the willingness to talk and share.

And for a long time, brands enjoyed successful relationships with influencers – a post from a Kardashian on Insta could lead to a sell-out product in hours, and in the UK, it was the same with Zoella in beauty and Mrs Hinch has done wonders for cleaning products. Influencers power grew and they knew it.

The key to a successful relationship is that an influencer must be aligned to the collaborator brand’s values... And therein lies the rub.

Things started to turn sour in the last few years with influencers not being authentic in their posts, being caught out by not really using the products they endorse or obviously staging their posts – à la blogger, Scarlett London's disastrous Listerine promo – which is a turnoff for consumers, who aren't afraid to voice their disdain.

The big issue with collaborating with influencers is that they are real people who have real problems, which, if exposed, can leak into the brands they are promoting. Real people make mistakes that can ultimately cost their brand partner a lot of money if they do something that could tarnish the brand’s reputation.

Influencer 2.0
CGI-animated influencers cut this risk because they don’t exist! They can’t be caught in compromising situations or have their personal opinions used against them. They can be completely controlled, creators can choose every aspect of their personas, how they sound or look, even where they are.

Virtual influencers are gaining follower traction – Lil Miquela has 1.6million and has collaborated with Samsung – they are reliable (they don’t have personal problems) and offer a sanitised reassurance to brands that want to collaborate with them. But more importantly, brands can create their own versions of the perfect influencer and build it into their brand world.

Having control is the holy grail for brands that invest a lot of money in an influencer. The influencer can be 'perfect'. Brands can align their values and the influencer can 'live' those values consistently to support the brand's integrity and expectations.

While it may be a significant shift right now, watching what happens next with this type of influencer is going to be really interesting. Is perfect going to be enough?

-The Power to Act -

Avrios, a Fleet Management Platform (operating across Europe), has launched its new brand suite created by Design by Structure.

Avrios is pioneering the future of fleet management software. Powered by AI tech, it integrates data, automates processes and provides its clients with real-time insights to improve their fleets – from fuel and mileage to leases, repairs and CO2 emissions. This allows clients to understand the true costs of their fleet, as well as the impact it has on social and environmental factors – therefore enabling changes such as environmental footprint and sustainability programmes. The SaaS is empowering its customers to make changes that ultimately make an impact on their bottom line.

The brief was a full end-to-end project, the new brand work includes strategy and positioning, visual identity, website, illustration style, TOV and brand guidelines.

The design process involved an in-depth analysis of the business. Insights from both the brand's customer service teams and customers informed the strategy, bringing two vision statements to light, ‘The true cost of ownership’ and ‘The power to act’. Both are activated through the brands comms messaging.

The art of illustration
A key project objective was to introduce fleet management services to a wider audience, not just direct customers but the people who use their vehicles. To support this goal, the agency introduced illustration (characters and icons) as an integral part of the creative story – using smiling faces on human characters to express the brands approachable and friendly values.

George the eagle, the brand's illustrated mascot, has had a complete redesign to dial up his approachable, fun and friendly characteristics. He will appear across external communications as a helpful guide.

All of the illustrative work is supported by a new icon portfolio. The icons have multiple applications across all comms touchpoints, they help to support messaging and key information points.

Speaking about the work, Richard Brooks, Avrios, CMO said, “Design by Structure has been a great partner in this project, the creative output has been really excellent, and they really took time to understand our business. We are super happy with our new vision pillars and look forward to driving forward with these over the coming months and years.”

As a strategic branding agency that works with transformative tech companies, we are lucky to work across varied sectors creating beautiful brands in Hospitality, Finance, Retail and Property – to name a few. Our work creates relevant and memorable brands by telling a compelling story that impacts their market and elevates them within their sectors.

We are very proud of the work we do for all of our clients, but it is especially fantastic to have had these projects acknowledged by this year's Transform judges.

We are shortlisted in the following categories:
For our work with Formaplex - Best Visual Identity
- Industrial and Basic Materials Sector.
For our work with LendInvest - Best Visual Identity
- Property, Construction and Facilities Management Sector.

During a year that has been so difficult for us all in the creative industry (running projects remotely and so many meetings via video calls), it is incredible to be nominated in the sectors we strive to make a creative difference.

"Despite the challenges we face, the Transform Awards 2021 still managed to grow... we saw a fabulous range of agencies, companies and brands enter." Andrew Thomas, Transform Awards.

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be able to attend an actual event but, whatever happens, we are looking forward to the big night in May.