BRANDING THEORY

Our approach to branding is to sincerely examine and properly understand corporate brands, organizations, services, product brands, and products, and to accurately convey the appropriate value for each of them. To achieve this, it requires steady and consistent efforts, rather than relying on tricks or magic. We may start with the basics and sometimes be unsure about trends or competitors’ movements, but we strive to maintain consistency and coherence based on our client’s mission, supporting both theory and practice, and moving forward straight without wavering. With enthusiasm, we carefully cultivate brands to provide experiences that make people want to talk about them. We believe that this type of branding will contribute to the growth of companies, employees, and society as a whole.

Our envisioned branding image

To cultivate a lasting brand, one must face various difficulties in the process of long-term development. It is essential to firmly establish the root of the brand, which serves as the criteria for judgment in times of uncertainty. With a solid foundation in place, the same judgment criteria can be used consistently to respond to various events. This root is the brand identity, which enables us to build the brand straight without wavering by referring back to it in times of indecision. Brand identity consists of a philosophy composed of three elements: mission, which is the social mission and purpose and the promise with customers and society, vision, which is the ideal state that we aspire to be, and value, which are the values and codes of conduct. It also includes the personality of the brand, such as the attributes of products and services, which are the unique characteristics, and benefits, such as functional, emotional, self-expressive, and social benefits. Customers will develop attachment and loyalty to the brand identity.

Image of self-awareness

It is important to understand and find the appropriate target customers who can empathize with the brand identity. This is done by segmenting the market based on psychological variables such as values and lifestyle, as well as behavioral variables such as usage scene and frequency, in order to identify the main loyal and fan customers. The goal is to establish the brand image that these customers hold towards the brand. By creating the formula “Brand Image held by the customer segment ≒ Brand Identity,” the brand becomes something that evokes memories and emotions for customers, and becomes an essential part of their life journey.

Image of understanding others

No matter how much you promote the brand value of your company’s products or services, the brand will not be established unless it is supported by consumers. First, in order to make consumers aware and interested, we seamlessly connect digital spaces such as web sites, e-commerce, SNS, videos, and real spaces such as showrooms, shops, trade shows, exhibitions, workshops, and events to provide a user experience. By doing so, we can convey to customers the essence and direction of the brand that the company is thinking about, form a communication with customers, and gradually establish and expand the fan base by firmly establishing the brand image.In brand communication, it is important to raise the level of the “≒” in the formula “the image of the brand held by the customer ≒ brand identity”.

Image of knowing how to communicate

The role of digital content as a touchpoint between customers and brands has been growing year by year. Therefore, utilizing digital content for branding will become even more important in the future to strengthen the relationship with customers. By creating interactive communication channels in a digital environment where customers can easily provide feedback, brands can accurately convey their identity to the appropriate audience through brand sites, e-commerce, social media, and video distribution, and increase customers’ understanding of the brand.
Moreover, it becomes easier to analyze customer behavior and psychology, which enables brands to improve their services and products. The construction of the equation “brand identity ≒ brand image” in the digital environment is digital branding. Depending on the content, it can lead to customer core development, i.e., loyal customers, and further expand to a wider audience through word-of-mouth.

Our envisioned future branding image