Brand + Identity

Our branding and rebranding services

We help you develop your overall brand strategy, create your brand identity and implement your desired brand launch marketing materials. To learn more click on one of our core brand services below or see our branding portfolio.

Read how we developed a product brand presence for this St. Louis startup.

Our brand discovery and research services

Discovery sessions are conducted to gather requirements, brainstorm, gain clarity, and understand the purpose behind what you do.

• Workshops. We conduct discovery workshops with the goal finding your company’s competitive advantages and differentiators. The number and type of workshops vary from client to client depending on your organization’s needs. Our workshops help you with naming, determine your core brand attributes, develop key brand positioning and supporting messages. Our goal is to build consensus around these branding imperatives.
• Competitor analysis. We conduct a high-level analysis of competitors and benchmark brands in the areas of brand identity, digital presence, and more. This important exercise identifies areas of opportunity and key differentiators for positioning your business effectively.
• Brand audit. We typically do a brand audit when a company is rebranding. We understand some clients can do a brand audit on their own. From our experience, an outside perspective can validate findings and offer additional brand insights. During our brand audit process, we evaluate what’s working and not working. Sometimes a business doesn’t necessarily need a new identity. Instead they need to establish brand systems that refresh, energize and bring consistency.

Our brand strategy services

The need for brand strategy is not limited to Fortune 500 companies or for-profit companies. Any company or institution that is growing needs to develop a brand strategy that will support future growth. We help develop and formalize the core foundational elements of your brand. 

• Brand positioning and messaging. Our workshop discovery sessions help capture your company’s brand attributes, personality, and positioning that distinguishes your company from its competitors. Typical outcomes lead to a tagline and elevator pitch that captures your brand essence. In short, it makes it easier for your sales force to sell more, provides clarity, context and inspires your employees.
• Naming for a company, product or service. Choosing the weak name can hinder your marketing efforts. Through our naming process, we help you find the right name that connects with the people you want to reach.
• Brand architecture. In its most common iterations, brand architecture falls into one of four categories: branded house, house of brands, endorsed, or hybrid. Our team can help you determine the best brand architecture system to help your company grow and market more efficiently.

Read how our rebranding program reframed a business beyond audit recovery.

Our brand logo design and guidelines services

We follow five principles of effective logo design: keep it simple, distinctive, timeless, versatile and appropriate. Using those principles, we employ an iterative brand process to build, refine and repeat this cycle until we reach a solution. We also test solutions along the way. That can be as simple as testing potential solutions with your project team or with a larger group using surveys.

• Logo and visual identity design. We create and present multiple logo concepts during the design phase of our brand and identity process. Our logo presentations demonstrate proof of concept across a variety of potential touchpoints.
  
  We prepare digital artwork for the master logo – including tagline lockup – from which all logo variations are generated. Logo variations typically include color, one color and white versions of the master logo. Finally, we prepare and deliver final logo reproduction files of each logo version for print and digital platforms.  

• Brand guidelines.  It’s important to bring brand consistency, visual and message order, thought and intention to your brand. We formulate brand standards and develop guidelines to ensure consistently for design, style and tone for all communications moving forward. They become the implementation backbone of your brand.

Our brand implementation services

We create the essential marketing materials needed to launch and sustain your brand.

• Brand rollout strategy. We work within your budget to maximize your brand’s launch awareness, reach, and engagement. We help you define your roll out objectives, identity your audiences and rollout sequence. In addition, we collaborate with you to develop your new launch story and rollout timeline.
• Brand systems. Guided by clear brand standards, we create a cohesive visual look and feel for your brand. It also leaves you with a collection of reusable components that can be assembled to build any number of applications. 
• Brand extensions. Whether you’re building your brand or growing your business, Obata helps you extend your brand across print, digital and online communications. From business cards to stationery systems, PowerPoint templates to social media templates, fact sheets to sell sheets, microsites to websites, banners to billboards, our team does it all. Read more about our website capabilities, digital marketing capabilities and building image libraries.

Read how our brand workshops lead to successfully rebranding a 100-year old community bank.

Obata has a long history of building brands. 

Our brand and identity experience in corporate and product branding dates back more than six decades. Obata developed branding solutions for many St. Louis companies.

Corporate brand examples include Emerson, Monsanto, Mercantile Bank and Peabody Energy. Product brand examples include iconic beverage, bread and snack products for Anheuser-Busch, Earthgrains and Eagle Snacks. These product brands include Busch Bavarian, Michelob, O’Doul’s, and Iron Kids.

Other logo and brand identity solutions by Obata