Where is Brand Identity Design Play as Major Role in Brand Equity and Customer Equity

Brand resides in the mind and heart of every customer. Brand’s visual identity with its good and genius design is the point of entry to the market as to what Walter Landor had quoted.

I also agree with Tom Watson, the chairman of IBM, said “Good design is good business.”

But there is going to be a greater challenge after the Logo has existed to the public. Brand influences decision for customers to buy. Therefore, brand must be treated as an investment rather than as a cost. Hey take it this way, good design make good decision for customers to choose in the store shelf.

Bart Crosby, principal of Crosby Associates said “Brand, like children, need to be fed up and nurtured in order to grow”. Physically, financially, socially, and mentally need to be supported. And not just about having a child and left alone.

As customers make their quick decision in choosing a brand in a store shelf, brand owner hopes that the future purchase should be his instead of others. So how to make this happened? A strategic brand identity development must be holistically designed and coupled with Customer Equity as means to create a brand’s future revenue. Therefore, one must has the vision to create these means (design) to cater Customer Equity needs.

Customer Equity consists of three drivers:

1. Value Equity: What the customer assesses the value of the product or service provided by the company to be

2. Brand Equity: What the customer assesses the value of the brand is, above its objective value;

3. Retention Equity: The tendency of the customer to stick with the brand even when it is priced higher than an otherwise equal product;

The means of good design, as the point of entry, lies in the brand equity driver. Logo is a little factor within this brand equity but play as a major part. It creates perception, association, positioning, and emotions. Other factors that complete this brand equity is brand awareness, brand associations, brand loyalty and perceived quality. All factors must be strategically communicated through an integrated marketing communication strategy.

Developing a logo for sure is an investment that must be considered seriously. A proven and tested framework of brand identity development (logo with its implementations) is an important factor to begin. From 100%, 80% is the analysis itself, 10% is the “the best way to create the future is to create it”, Alan Kay, Computer Scientist—in designing the imagery, and the rest of 10% is the graphic design initiatives.

My writing is not to turn down graphic designer where their specialization only takes the 10% of the total work, but to encourage graphic designers to know and think in the same perspective with the analysis. Otherwise, design without analysis and rationale considered being irresponsible. If you are lucky enough, this irresponsible design can only be bought with low amount of money and teaching the clients in a bad way, the keep asking to lower your pricing, and think that brand is a cost not an investment.

The other drivers above, the value equity and retention equity must be taken to the account in away of developing customers’ esteem and loyalty such as CRM (customer relationship management), community programs, and any other creative programs that enhance customers’ stickiness to a brand. I am not going to cover these two drivers in a more detail explanation. But creative vision in brand identity design implementation must also consider this part (the two drivers) of brand touch-points.