“A brand should evoke an emotional response” - Jason, branding expert and owner of faith-based active wear
This blog is based on this episode of the Born to Fly Podcast.
If you ask Jason if everyone is creative, then his answer is: “Yes. Everyone is creative in their own ways.”
Creativity is not necessarily about the design part. Creating your own brand is being creative. Creating a business is creative. It doesn’t matter in what field you work, fitness, health, finance… If there wasn’t creativity in finance there wouldn’t be such a thing as fintech.
Meet Jason, a creative, serial entrepreneur with his own digital agency(RawDuo Studio) and clothing apparel(Koach). Creativity made Jason into the person he is today. It was something that he embraced while starting up both his businesses.
What is branding?
If you talk to Jason, one thing becomes clear; he connects creativity with running a business. Especially when it comes to branding. What does he mean with that?
“Branding is about defining how you want (your brand) to be perceived. Organize your business based on your promise and be consistent. Good branding is wrapping your brand message into a story. It should evoke an emotional response from your audience.
Use narrative to share your brand history, challenges, success and values. No other brand could copy you. That’s what makes your brand unique.”
Okay, so branding is much more than just a logo?
“Much more! A misconception that people have is that branding is a logo. A logo is kinda like a face. Your face. But your face does not represent who you are. Yes, a logo is important because that’s what people see, but that’s not all of it.”
A great example of branding
It sounds like it makes sense. Even though there are similar fitness brands, like Lululemon or Nike, they are different in their own ways. They have their own vision and connect with people on different emotional values. (If you are curious about emotional values, visit this website).
Then what does a good brand and branding look like? (One without tons of branding and marketing budget)
Jason's brand Koach is a good example. Koach (pronounced like coach) comes from the word ko’ach in Hebrew, which means strength, but Jason deliberately chose to use the English pronunciation. One, his brand is about strength, and two, his brand is about God. A coach gives you strength to do your workout. Something we all need and a way how God can be seen. He wants people to feel inspired. To know “we can do all things through God’s strength,” whether it’s in life or at the gym. That’s his belief behind the brand.
How Koach came to be
One day, Jason was wearing a shirt to the gym that said ‘do everything with love’. It was his outreach shirt of his church. A lady came up to him and asked him what his shirt was about. It led to a deep conversation about faith. She was so inspired. Which in turn inspired Jason, “If a t-shirt like that can bring a conversation up with God then why don’t I start my own brand? That could inspire people, inspire others. That could be fashion being practical as well.”
Even though he had no experience in the fashion world, he did it anyway because he had a strong feeling it was God’s calling. God even gave him the name. And that name made so much sense!
Koach in practice
But just a name doesn’t make a brand. It’s in all activities that you can see how branding is put into practice. Jason makes the brand appeal to people with a certain lifestyle--or who want a certain lifestyle. The people who buy his apparel want to take care of their body (and don’t mind a conversation starter about their faith). Jason sees his body like it’s a church. God is living in you. Therefore you it’s important you make sure it’s healthy. Working out is one way of doing that.
How can that be seen in his marketing?
On Instagram he has different motivational quotes and Bible verses that inspire and motivate people to work out. There’s also different challenges for people to participate in--again a way to motivate people to take care of their God-given bodies. Instead of just a clothing brand, he created a lifestyle for this brand. That’s the emotional aspect.
And does Jason workout himself? Branding is also about your business culture.
Of course he does. Just look at his socials, his workouts are in the stories every day.
Jason's key points on branding
There are a couple of things you should think of when you are building your own brand:
- What do you/your brand want to be remembered as?
- What is the message you want to transmit to your audience?
- What do you never want your audience to forget? Name one thing.
- Consider the emotion you want to evoke with your audience every time they interact with your brand. The audience will maybe forget what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
Once you’ve built your brand, then think about how you’re going to communicate it.
“Be consistent. You don’t want to keep changing your message. What you start off with, keep it as it is.”
What does consistency mean?
“Always share the same brand message, use the same colors. That will keep it consistent. Think of ‘Just Do It’. We all know Nike’s tagline. They don’t even have to show the logo. We just know it is Nike. Because they were consistent with that tagline.” People would know what to expect from your brand when your brand is consistent.
How can you make sure your brand is consistent?
It’s highly recommendable to create and keep a brand book or brand bible. It is a document that contains the brand guidelines. Normally, such a document has some of these elements in it:
- Brand purpose
- Brand mission
- Brand vision
- Brand statement
- Brand values
- Brand differentiator(s)
- Brand colors
If your brand is about happiness and excitement, a darker color doesn’t match that.
- Brand Imagery
- Brand tone of voice
- Brand tagline
- Persona that the brand focuses on
Make sure you have access to this document at all times. It will help you to stay consistent in your message.
Jason's brand agency can be found at RawDuo.com.
The activewear of Koach Apparel can be found at Koachapparel.com.
Make sure to follow the socials!