Many businesses often overlook the critical importance of establishing a cohesive brand strategy before launching. This oversight results in discrepancies in their brand personality, visual style and tone of voice, giving rise to confused messaging, lack of loyalty and desperate marketing efforts. Page contents Typical start-up prior to launch What does cohesive brand strategy look like in 2025? Signs that your branding may have been rushed How to save a rushed brand identity What about established brands? The importance of brand guardianship Typical start-up prior to launch For the majority of start-ups, the initial focus when launching their business revolves around demonstrating proof of concept, creating a business plan that emphasises projections and financials, exploring potential market entry strategies, managing operations and logistics, conducting market research, and analysing competitors. After addressing these critical business challenges, brand identity often becomes a rush job - with many business owners opting for a cheap and professional logo and their favourite colour(s) for the colour palette - white labelling their way to appearing ready and open for business. The risks of this method include the loss of vital information, meticulously developed through the business plan and market research, through ineffective branding that fails to convey the culture, personality, or motivation of the business. Often, much of the brand-related content is already present in these key business documents. Elements like USPs, a mission statement, brand values, client personas, market research, competitors, and value propositions all play a role in creating a strong and relevant brand identity using the science of brand psychology. Once these key motivators are briefed to a branding designer, we can begin to use specialist principles to extract any pertinent information that can be translated into a brand identity, and a visual language that communicates and connects with audiences on a much deeper level. What does a cohesive brand strategy look like in 2025? A well-defined brand identity is essential for fostering trust and connection with an audience, ultimately driving long-term success. A cohesive brand strategy would begin with a mission that gives the brand it's purpose, a tone of voice that builds trust and loyalty, a unique visual identity that drives brand recognition and a brand story that deeply connects to an audience on a semantic and emotional level. Just like people, brands should grow, learn and evolve. A strong brand should be able to adapt to social, economic and cultural shifts while understanding and addressing what matters to its customers. A great brand is able to learn from mistakes, remains reliable and trustworthy and is open to visionary ideas for its industry's future. Brands of 2025 should ditch the influencer promotion model and focus on establishing genuine connection with their audiences through authentic purpose-driven storytelling. Signs that your branding may have been rushed There are certain indicators that a company rushed the development of their branding, the main one being that the branding fails to effectively convey the brand values, objectives or personality traits, but also includes: Inconsistent tone of voice Desperate and inconsistent marketing offers Lack of cohesive visual identity - varying colours, fonts, and icons communicating different messages all at once Lack of brand recognition within their market Confused messaging Copycatting - duplicating marketing strategies of more successful brands Absence of onboarding and/or brand culture - resulting in high employee turnover How to save a rushed brand identity A brand audit is usually necessary to assess any existing information that is already available for the brand specialist to analyse. They may also want to guide the company through brand personality exercises to validate suitable positioning. This process involves choosing aspirational brands, revising the mission statement to reflect purpose, values, and tone of voice, and transforming these elements into mood boards that visually express some of these concepts in order to determine a style preference for the visual identity. What about established brands? Some businesses may already possess a degree of brand recognition, which can lead to resistance when considering changes to their visual identity. In such situations, conducting user-centred research is advisable to determine whether the audience likes and connects with the current visual identity or other brand elements. If the findings are negative or ambiguous, a complete rebrand is possible and necessary. However, if more than half of the user group resonates with the existing logo, it would be more beneficial to refresh the current visual identity to better align with the brand's updated position and mission. Some brands that have done this very successfully would be BBC, Google and Virgin. The importance of brand guardianship More than brand management, the crucial role of brand guardian entails being the "custodian of the brand," overseeing external communications that represent the brand identity to ensure visual consistency and message coherence as outlined in the brand bible. Additionally, the brand guardian is responsible for observing market shifts and trends, whether social, economic, or cultural, to continually assess how the brand might need to evolve. Websites and digital content require the most monitoring, as they are frequently susceptible to confusion, with numerous voices and an overload of offers and messages that can undermine the brand standards established by the rebrand and audit efforts. Where necessary, guidance may be required to realign all stakeholders with the mission, values, and strategy to ensure all communications remain "on-brand". The brand guardian role can be internal, assigned by the specialist responsible for developing the brand identity after onboarding, or it can continue to be the specialist's responsibility if this option is included in their services. If you are a business wishing to work with a brand expert to rebrand your business or conceptualise your new venture, please get in touch to book an appointment today.

Individuals with powerful personal brands now overshadow faceless business and institutional brands, becoming more influential than the companies and even industries they represent. Page contents The rise of the personal brand How to start operating as a personal brand Establishing your personal brand Do I need help to develop a personal brand? The rise of the personal brand The concept of a personal brand is not new. Celebrities began cultivating personal brands to expand opportunities and to highlight causes important to them. Tech entrepreneurs noticed the value in this, becoming more synonymous for their achievements than the brands they represent, a trend that has extended to smaller businesses where owners are achieving greater success through personal branding than relying solely on traditional business operations. This trend may be due to the increasing ease of self-promotion via direct publishing, video platforms and podcasts, as well as a cultural shift toward consuming more easily digestible information. Successful entrepreneurs understand the importance of humanising a corporate entity to strengthen connections with both talent and customers. For instance, Richard Branson has fifty times more followers than Virgin and has consistently acted as the face of his brand as well as a champion for entrepreneurship. Personal brands, however have evolved. In a world of confusion and disruption, there is so much discord and information, making it difficult for audiences to make "informed" choices. An individual with a personal brand can operate off-script, free from corporate jargon and affect more people through their humanity and personality, rather than simply being the face of a business. How to start operating as a personal brand The most effective way to begin building your personal brand is by becoming comfortable chatting about what you do, this can be achieved by practicing how to talk about your business journey, your origin story, mission, vision, the people you collaborate with or hire, the results you achieve, and the problems you've tackled. Create short videos, seek opportunities to speak on relevant panels, and connect with like-minded business owners to feature in each other's content. Most importantly, let your personality and passion shine through, the more your audience feels they know you and value your expertise, the more trust you'll establish with potential clients or customers. Establishing your personal brand Once you have become comfortable talking about your yourself, your business, your successes and failures and have provided audiences with a recognisable and reliable persona for potential customers seeking your particular expertise, you can start considering ways to enhance visibility. This primarily involves creating a portfolio of intellectual property linked to you, such as demonstrative techniques, books, a blog, talks or workshops, a business strategy, industry insights, or any other niche aligned with your personal focus and business expertise. Do I need help to develop a personal brand? A personal brand has some differences to a business brand, although it may still require some elements of a traditional visual identity, in the form of a recognisable typeface and colour palette, YOU become the logo, ie the symbol of brand recognition. There could be some graphic design needs for creating materials like book covers, websites, and video intros, but the key to building a personal brand is in developing your persona, strategy, and intellectual property, this can be done by you or augmented by a brand specialist to help narrow your niche and full-proof your approach using brand psychology techniques. If you would like to discover more about the psychology of branding and how it can shape the user experience or to work with me direct on your personal branding, please get in touch.

A logo is not simply the emblem under which a company trades, nor the outward facing image that describes what a company does - to customers, it is a symbol that subconsciously connects them to their emotions, desires, loyalties and preferences via the brand identity. Basic level operations If a business operates effectively on a basic level with little branding or personality, it might be challenging to understand the impact of sharing a resonating brand story, guiding core principles, an authentic mission statement and relevant visual tools with which to communicate them. Numerous companies exist at this basic level, such as local businesses that appear to have minimal marketing needs, with a familiar client base and who's regular workload is considered reliable. For these businesses, a logo that appears adequate is often deemed sufficient for maintaining a professional image. However these are the companies at highest risk of being left behind - they tend to operate using out-dated practices, not seeing the need to stay current due to their steady clientele. In the rapidly changing world of enterprise, traditional roles like copywriters, artwork retouchers, and illustrators have become obsolete in less than six months, as AI has rendered many of these skills redundant. This also implies that companies capable of simplifying the user experience and employing more agile business methods to keep pace with rapid advancements can easily capture the market. The dangers of a "lovely" logo design You may be delighted with your logo - it may have been crafted by a talented creative and incorporate concepts that mirror certain facets of your business, however superficial logos are often contrived, relying on a surface level grasp of how to visually represent the business. The risk with such a functional logo is that, despite the effort and creativity involved in its design, it is more likely to fail in connecting with audiences on a semantic or emotional level. This means reduced brand recognition, reduced loyalty and reduced repeat business. A logo contributes to a brand's visual identity, yet the visual identity is just one aspect of the wider brand identity. This encompasses the brand's story, personality, name, products or services, and tone of voice. The logo should therefor be influenced by these crucial elements of the brand identity, as they help establish a deeper connection with the audience. How should a rebrand be approached? Prior to the rebrand of a visual identity, an audit should be conducted by a branding specialist to determine the brand archetype, key personality traits, and guiding principles, along with essential background details that influence the sequence of cognition (shape, colour and content of the logo). These elements of the visual identity will be meticulously chosen for their psychological link to the business's core personality traits and values, ensuring they leave a lasting impact on the target audience. To start your rebrand journey, get in touch with Fiona@roccoco.uk or visit the courses and resources pages to learn more about brand psychology, brand alchemy and how to design meaningful identities that resonate.

Rebrand of London marketing and media agency, reimagining and redefining their brand identity. Using the brand alchemy method, the ideal rebrand was crafted to relaunch this full service London marketing agency. Collateral London Working in collaboration with founder Maini Singh and using the Roccoco Brand Alchemy method, we transformed the personality by closely examining its values, mission, and vision. Alongside highlighting the expertise of Collateral London's contributors, I aimed to infuse the visual identity with Maini's distinctive, innovative approach to marketing, web development, and media. The bold and contrasting colour palette was designed to visually embody the brand's unique character and perspective. Roccoco handled the brand identity, web design, and the development of all physical assets and templates as well as an in-depth brand bible. As a result of our partnership on this rebranding effort, Roccoco has now been added as a primary contributor for brand expertise for Collateral London.

Brand specialist and creator of the brand alchemy method, Fiona Hamilton has worked with many purpose driven lifestyle brands. Lifestyle brands One of the best parts of my job is working with entrepreneurs, helping them to focus their ideas to get the very best out of their brand identity. Using the Brand Alchemy Method, I guide them through an auditing process, co-creating a brief based on the findings. This ensures they receive the best from me and their final branding. Collateral London Rebrand of London marketing and media agency, to reimagine and redefine their brand identity. Using the brand alchemy method, the ideal rebrand was crafted to relaunch this full service London marketing agency. View project D'Arcy's wine bar Interior design, renovation, brand identity, website and strategy for West Sussex based wine bar D'Arcy's. This business was in need of a full service branding from very first concept to completion using brand alchemy. View project Upham Inns Complete rebrand of Upham Inns group and their collection of pubs with rooms. The Roccoco brand audit and alchemy method was used to identify key attributes required to portray the new brand identity. View project MY Beauty Treatments Unique and spirited boutique beauty salon in London owned by Medine Yegit. Their exclusive, non invasive beauty procedures are revered by clients, which made it a easy to elevate using the Roccoco brand alchemy method, creating the perfect branding to reflect their expertise. View project Beeble Honey Whisky Having already had the logo designed, Beeble were in need of brand development. Using the brand alchemy method I aligned their values and personality attributes with their business positioning, creating a new look and website. View project Millands Home Lifestyle and interiors blogger and creator of the interior personality development course, Millands Home based in Cornwall was in need of a website and full brand identity. Watch out for our regular collabs. View project Silver Magazine Magazine identity for Brighton's Title Media and their latest over 50"s magazine. A full magazine template including editorial layouts we created as well as media packs and associated marketing materials. View project Earthkind The Roccoco brand audit and alchemy method was used to create the identity, strategy and development of the refill station and zero waste organic shop Earthkind. View project At Home Estates Rebrand of estate and lettings agent to make At Home feel more like a lifestyle business, developing a meaningful branding to convey a homely and welcoming approach that would match the teams' heart and spirit. View project

Using the Roccoco Brand Alchemy method and working closely with the marketing director and web developers from Collateral London, we repositioned this umbrella brand and it's fourteen pubs with rooms to better represent the business as part of their long term growth goal. A lifestyle vibe was established to better resonate with the users and showcase some of the beautiful features that the sites benefit from. Upham Inns Using the Roccoco Brand Alchemy method and working closely with the marketing director and web developers from Collateral London , we repositioned this umbrella brand and it's fourteen pubs with rooms to better represent the business as part of their long term growth goal. A lifestyle vibe was established to better resonate with the users and showcase some of the beautiful features that the sites benefit from. Focusing on the draw of the countryside and the many wonderful pursuits available across the South of England, I was inspired to create bespoke illustrations that communicate each pub's offering - this allowed us to create collections on the website to help filter guests through the booking system based on their favourite pursuits and making the sales process and tracking simpler in the process. Roccoco was responsible for the brand identity, UX design and the creation of all tangible assets and templates.