We often remind our clients that a big part of clear communication comes down to the words you choose. Nonprofits tend to be a little wordy. I admit, in my own writing about the ins and outs of branding nonprofits, I can get a little wordy myself, so I enlisted some help.
This summer, I was taking a stroll through Barcelona with my 7-year-old daughter, Vega, and I decided to ask her a few questions about branding. This isn’t something we had ever really had a conversation about before. I was curious about what she would say and how aware she was of branding.
Vega’s answers surprised me, mostly because she was able to explain things I deeply believe with a whole lot of efficiency. Here’s the full interview transcript. Watch the video on the original post.
The Interview
What do you think a brand is?
A brand is like a company 🏭. If there was no brand then there wouldn’t be a company. So like a brand is like a brand of shoes 👟. So like Nike is a brand.
Why do you think there wouldn’t be a company if there was no brand?
The brand is what makes the company.
What do you think a logo is?
I think a logo is like something that like represents the company and the brand. I think it represents the brand.
What is the difference to you between a logo and a brand?
Well, a logo is maybe like a drawing or like a letter or a number.
A brand is like… I’m the boss right? It’s like my brand, so like I made the brand up. I made all these people to come together to make the things that we make.
So a brand is something that helps you bring people together to make the things that you make?
Mmhmm.
If we look at a clothing store 👗, and I’m the boss, I would be the one who’s bringing all the people together to like make the clothes or like buy the clothes.
Yep, and the brand helps you do that?
Yeah, like a whole community make a store and people earn money 💵 from gathering around.
Why do you think, if you’re the boss and you want to bring people together to make something, why do you think you need a brand to do that? Why can’t you just say, “Come together and let’s make something.”
Because, if we have a store, we can’t just do it all by ourselves 🙄. You know how, we’re not an octopus 🐙. So we can’t just do it all by ourselves 🤷♀️ We need a community to help us. We need more people to help us. It can’t just be like one or two, it has to be like 20 or 10.
So what you’re saying is that brands help you build a community?
Yeah.
If you were to make a brand, what would you want your brand to mean? What would you want people to think when they see your brand?
If I had a company 🙇♀️ and it sold like, medicine 💊, I would probably want people to like know, that like, I want them to be happy 😀, I want them to be well.
If it’s like a pharmacy 👩⚕️, then there would be a little sign thing that’s the pharmacy logo. So it would be that cross (pointing at a pharmacy sign on the street in Barcelona).
Why is it important that you know that the cross is a pharmacy?
I kinda think that the green 💚 represents you being well. Green means like happy 🙂.
So you’re saying colors mean things?
Yeah. If I see, look, a little logo (pointing at another green cross pharmacy sign) like that, then I’ll know it’s a pharmacy.
Right, so it just helps people to be able to identify things quickly.
Yeah.
It sounds like brands are good for helping people identify things, so knowing what a thing is, and it sounds like they’re good for helping people work together to make something, right?
Yeah. Mhmm.
Do you think that there’s any other good use for a brand?
I think also, that brands, they’re just all about friendship 👯, and being nice 😊.
Brands are about friendship and being nice? How?
So like, if you work with someone, with someone that you like know, it’s important to start like knowing the person that you work with. To like know who they are, to then, you can be like nice with them and ok with them. Brands are good for like umm, coming together and like knowing different people to work with.
Alright, I think we’re gonna stop there for now and we can continue later. Thank you, Vega.
OK
This essay is by Deroy Peraza, partner at Hyperakt, a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Originally posted in the newsletter, Insights by Hyperakt.
Illustration by Merit Myers.
The post Branding 101, Through the Eyes of a Seven-Year-Old appeared first on PRINT Magazine.