Important Life Lessons to Use in San Francisco Branding

San Francisco branding: Create a brand identity for a business entity using important character traits--honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty and humility. In business, branding is essential in order to stay ahead. In life, good character traits are essential in living a more fulfilled existence. We are made to believe that in business, good character traits will not get us ahead. But this piece intends to debunk that ill-formed business ideology.  How many times have we heard that in doing business, we should be ruthless in order to be competitive? Some of these ruthless businessmen step on the toes of other businessmen just to stay ahead and instead of criticizing their characters, they are being hailed for doing everything they can to succeed. That ruthlessness is being called grit. The desire to triumph even if they hurt other people is labeled as being ambitious. If they lie to get ahead, they are just being wise and competitive. Well those euphemized character traits will not fly in this generation’s branding. If you are a branding agency in San Francisco, you should create an entity that regular people should look up to. Create a San Francisco branding that spells honesty, integrity, respect, loyalty and humility. In the case of branding agency Ramotion, it develops brand strategies through visual identities. Top branding firms will have different core principles in creating a brand identity for clients. But imagine a brand that takes all the best qualities of a person and put it in a corporate body. 

Nobody wants a person that is dishonest and without moral principles. Nobody wants a friend who doesn’t respect other people. No one wants a co-worker that is not loyal, and anyone who is not humble does not have a place in anyone’s circle.  Branding is actually quite easy. Whatever you want from a person, you put those in your strategy and design, because branding touches the emotion. Every company wants to create an emotive brand.  Gillette launched a commercial called “The Best Men Can Be” tackling the harassment and bullying issues plaguing the world. It was honest. It showed men with integrity—calling out other men for harassing women. It called on men to be respectful. It called on humanity. Gillette is a mostly a brand that caters to men, and it created a brand identity that called on to people’s emotions. For the most part, the ad was praised for calling out the “boys will be boys” culture. But there was some flack over its political tone.  Nike also launched a female-focused ad that called against the notion that women who achieve great things are being called crazy. It ends with: “It’s only crazy until you do it.” The ad indicates that Nike respects women who make history in the field of sports.  Apple’s “Apple at Work—The Underdogs” hits on creativity, hard work and loyalty to the brand—each character uses Apple products. These are all characters that you want in a person, a friend, co-worker and family. So why should those traits be in the brand you create? 

Honesty & Integrity

Honesty is the best policy, they say. And it is true! Honesty is essential in branding especially in this modern world. Branding agencies should put a lot of emphasis on the truth when it comes to their brand strategy. Remember that anything can go viral within minutes—and among the quickest things to go viral are the negative content. So if you have curated a branded lie for a business and just one person caught on with the dishonesty, they could post about it on social media and it could go viral within minutes.  Make it a habit to just create honest branding. This is particularly important when it comes to a business’s web design. A design agency could very well create a stellar product and put it on the website in order to entice customers to purchase it. However, when the product reaches the customer’s hand, it is far from being stellar. Then again, because this is the digital age, the customer takes a photo of the product and brands the business as dishonest in all social media platforms.  Every agency with offices in San Franciso, or anywhere in the world for that matter, should craft a brand strategy that takes pride in honesty and integrity.  

Another important San Francisco branding that is a powerful personality trait is loyalty. Today’s biggest brands continue to make waves because they are banking on people’s loyalty to keep them prosperous. So branding and design firm’s should make sure that loyalty is being injected in the brand and not ruthlessness. Loyalty can just as easily encourage success but without casualty.  The series “Friends” proved that loyalty is an important branding trait when fans went crazy over the couch that popped up in New York as a means of advertising the 25th anniversary of the hit show. The series made stars out of then-newbies Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer.  

There was a time when bragging that “we are the best” is a branding strategy. But this is the modern age, nobody wants a braggart. Besides, if your brand is not what it boasts itself to be, people will just prove your brand wrong online. However, if your client comes off as humble in its branding, then it will create a sense of accessibility. When you create a humble brand, you are essentially selling attainability. The audience will think that they want that brand because they find themselves reflected in that brand because the possibility is spelled out. A brand that insists that it is the best has a tinge of “impossibility” in it just because only a few can actually be “best.” 

When you pattern a brand after an admirable person—a person that is honest, loyal, humble and personifies integrity—you are commanding respect. Everybody respects a good person. That is why every branding agency should strive to gain respect for the brand. And respect is always gained. It is not something that can be doled out randomly.