Part of the power of a brand is that it marks your company’s presence in the world. There are a lot of things that business owners don’t think about that actually hurts their brands. For instance, this van behind which I am stopped appears to really filthy. This “filthy” van belongs to a catering service. What subliminal message is that sending?
Upon closer inspection, what has really happened is there is some sort of window covering adhered to the glass and when the wipers are used, it actually rubs off the green paint, which is causing the illusion of the van being “filthy.” Even though the van is not “filthy,” at first glance it is, which is pretty much the same thing as if it were actually “filthy.” In the planning of this branding process, the designer did not take this possibility into consideration, therefore they were not prepared for the outcome of having a set of rather evil looking eyes staring out of the “filth” at the driver behind the van.
Paying attention to the details – especially details that aren’t actually in there at the moment, but could appear at a later date – while branding your business is key to creating a successful, long-lasting mark.
Sometimes, things are unforeseen. But the simple question of, “What will the wipers do to this window covering?” could have resolved the answer before the window covering was ever applied. Sometimes, you gotta consider the stuff that no one has considered and while a lot of people would exclaim that considering the unconsidered stuff is impossible because… it’s UNconsidered, it isn’t impossible. Using powerful questions like, “Is there something I am missing?” and “What affect could happen that I have yet to see?” and “What other messages could I possibly be sending with this mark, color, style, shape, font, etc?” can open the door to the very issues that have yet to be considered.
