Must Watch! How Brand Design and Brand IPization Play the “Strongest Voice” of Business Empowerment

Must Watch! How Brand Design and Brand IPization Play the “Strongest Voice” of Business Empowerment

▲ESAC Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

In today's competitive business world, the power of branding cannot be underestimated. Brands are not only the identity of enterprises and products, but also an important medium for establishing emotional connections with consumers and conveying values.

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Brand Design

The Importance of Brand Design

In the field of brand building, brand IPization and brand design are gradually becoming core topics, how do they affect business development and how should they be effectively implemented? In this issue, let's review the in-depth answers to these questions given by He Yongqiang, Director & Design of Elephant Sculpture Art Company(ESAC), in the previous live broadcasts of the show.

He Yongqiang Design Director

14 years in the amusement industry

From enjoyment to creation

The role of brand vision in business

In shopping scenarios, whether it's buying goods or going shopping, the factors that people pay attention to include product quality and price, while brand image and IP are also extremely critical. Because when you don't know the product or brand, brand image is the first impression, and it is an important factor to attract and impress consumers, and people are visual animals.

▲ESAC Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

Brand design is the comprehensive creation and packaging of a brand through design means from brand fonts, colors, logos, super symbols to supporting graphics. This enables consumers to quickly identify products and projects in the market, and more accurately reach brand awareness, which in turn allows consumers to like and have emotional resonance, i.e. brand trust and loyalty.

Brand awareness in the current state of the market 

In the Chinese market, the brand awareness of investors and customers is often not strong. Mr. He said that in the process of serving many customers and projects, he found that in the early stage of the project, most of the time and energy are spent on site selection, project selection, construction and decoration, space equipment procurement, etc., while the important part of branding design is often ignored by investors.

In fact, a good project should be brand first, all the operational actions are for branding services. But very often, due to the busy opening, will be put in the space to build the energy and other aspects, and ignored the brand design.

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Brand Design

Design references for brand IPization

▲ESAC Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

In the current and future market, brands tend to be IPized, IP means traffic, IP image is the image of brand intellectual property, the storage of cultural value, the visual externalization image of brand concept and value, and the free image spokesman and soul of the project. IP branding makes the brand and project more youthful and meets the current demand of entertainment and amusement industry.

Then, the following are generally used in the direction of design:

Product Branding IP

Taking m-beans and Michelin tires as examples, we analyze the charm of IP-based product branding. m-beans' unique image of colorful chocolate beans is closely linked to its brand, and consumers will immediately associate m-beans with the brand as soon as they see these colorful beans, which is not only based on the product itself, but also on the IP image it has carefully created.

▲Image Source Web

Michelin Tire's cartoon character “Bebiden” is also deeply rooted in people's hearts. This cute white tire man image makes it easy for consumers to associate it with Michelin Tire's high quality and innovative technology when they see it, which gives the brand a unique emotional value.

▲Image Source Web

In the current market, the problem of homogenization of IP image design is becoming increasingly serious, and a large number of brands are using common elements such as animals and cartoon characters, etc. The IPization of products can create unique IPs based on the characteristics of the products, which is a high-quality path for brands to break through the homogenization of competition.

Founder IP-ization

▲Image Source Web

KFC and Lao Gan Ma are typical examples of founder IPization. The image of Colonel KFC has become an important symbol of the KFC brand. His kind smile, iconic white suit and bow tie convey the tradition, reliability and deliciousness of the brand. This deep integration of the founder's image with the brand has given KFC a high degree of brand recognition worldwide.

▲Image Source Web

For Lao Gan Ma, the brand printed the image of its founder, Ms. Tao Huabi, on the product packaging. Ms. Tao's simple and tough image matches the brand spirit of Lao Gan Ma, conveying to consumers the brand's concept of integrity and quality first. This way of integrating the founder's spirit and philosophy into the brand through IP creation injects the brand with unique charisma and is a valuable direction for brand IP design.

Brand name and brand name IP-ization

▲Image Source Web

Xiaoming Tongxue and Wangzai Milk are classic examples of this direction. The brand name “Xiaoming Tongxue” has a strong affinity and sense of image, and by visualizing it as a cute and energetic student image, it further strengthens the brand's emotional connection with young consumers.

▲Image Source Web

The image of the little boy of Wangzai Milk is a household name. His big eyes, bright smile and iconic red clothes are closely linked to the brand name and have become the core visual element of the brand.

grafting of cultural matrices 

When a brand encounters difficulties in finding the right direction for its IP image, cultural mother grafting is a highly innovative approach. Take WeChat Pay's launch of electronic red envelopes during the Chinese New Year as an example. Sending red envelopes is a custom with deep emotional connotations in traditional Chinese culture, especially during the Chinese New Year period, when almost every household participates.

▲Image Source Web

WeChat Pay skillfully captured this cultural matrix by launching the e-Red Envelope feature at this special point of the Spring Festival, combining traditional culture with modern technology. This initiative quickly triggered a wave of universal participation, which not only allowed a large number of users to accept and get used to using WeChat Pay in a short period of time, but also made WeChat Pay's brand image in the minds of users closely linked to the Chinese New Year red envelopes, a cultural imagery of joy and reunion.

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Brand Design

The process of full brand design

Strategy phase: brand positioning and analysis

Good branding begins with the strategy phase, which involves developing the positioning of the brand and the project. Through market analysis, research and analysis of similar projects and competitors, the brand's own characteristics are explored. 

You can use a simple way to communicate with the client, so that the client can use three words to describe the biggest difference between it and the competitors, advantages and so on, such as brand history, founder, product features, market area and other aspects of the advantages, so as to sort out and excavate the brand positioning.

▲ESAC Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

4FUN Kunshan, a strategic cooperation with Elephant Sculpture Art Company(ESAC), was established with the idea that in the busy city, people are busy with work and study, and they are eager for happiness, innovation and endless fun, and that leisure and entertainment is a relaxing agent in the tense rhythm of life.

Starting from the brand definition, 4FUN integrates a four-dimensional brand matrix of food, fashion, fantasy and fun, corresponding to four functional modules - bar area, billiard area, VR experience area and digital sports area.

▲ESAC Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

Visual externalization

After the brand positioning is clearly defined, the brand content is carried through visualization. The brand LOGO, concept and other copywriting content is presented in the design style favored by the target group, which brings consumers closer to the brand and enhances the affinity.

Introducing products and spatial environments

▲Grand Orient Wax Art Case 『4FUN VIS DESIGN』

Once the brand system, planning and vision are established, it is important to channel them into the product, space and environment. This is also emphasized in the space before the preparation and decoration of good brand planning and design reasons.

Many customers in the pursuit of cost-effective, save the cost of decoration there is a misunderstanding that the effect of the brand design input is not intuitive, in fact, the brand design is from the early visual highlighting the atmosphere of the space and brand tone, rather than relying on expensive and luxurious decorative materials.

Brand empowerment and whole industry chain output

After completing the brand planning, visual design and space introduction, the brand design also has to do a good job for the customer from 0 to 1 after building the brand structure from 1 to 10, that is, brand empowerment and the whole industry chain content output. Including pre-opening space materials (posters, hanging flags, decorative displays, etc.) and promotional materials, as well as post-opening event materials, gifts, cultural and creative products, etc.

Brand IP is critical to business empowerment

There is no absolute best brand IP

The key lies in finding the most suitable

and target market