Epicom Relaunch Their Very Successful Food Manufacturing Brand

Epicom, a very highly regarded, specialist food manufacturing business based in Navan, Co. Meath, have relaunched their brand to market.

 

 Ipad Epicom Website Wheat

 

Epicom provides a full turnkey, ambient food manufacturing service for the retail market on behalf of their customers, which typically includes global multi-nationals and large exporters.

  

 Ipad Epicom Website Choc

 

Much sought after for their rigorous operation standards and multi-allergen controlled production units, Epicoms’ service includes every aspect of the manufacturing process from new product development, research and development, full allergen control to bespoke quality control solutions and distribution.

 

The real secret of their phenomenal success though lies in the people behind the brand. They are an incredibly skilled team of highly qualified professionals, who are not only very committed to what they do, but are also very friendly approachable. Theirs is an ethos of complete operational transparency with a ‘can do’ culture, of doing whatever it takes to meet their customers needs. 

 

 Ipad Epicom Website Isaac

 

To find out more visit their new website  http://www.epicom.ie

Good & Murray Smith Solicitors Relaunch Their Long Established Brand

Good & Murray Smith Solicitors, a long established niche litigation practice based in Dublin have relaunched their brand to market both on and offline.

 

Goodmurraysmith Website

 

Established in 1895, the firm has an enduring reputation, highly regarded for both its expertise and experience. They service clients in both the Irish and overseas markets with acclaimed success. To find out more visit their new web site http://www.goodmurraysmith.ie

16 Tips to Writing a Hot Design Brief to Get the Biggest Bang for Your Buck

Over the years I have seen a lot of different brand design briefs of all shapes and sizes from the brilliant to simply dreadful, with too many in-between lacking sufficient substance to really get the best potential return for the resources invested. 

 

Why is the brand design brief so important ? This might sound obvious, but you need to know what you’re aiming for to hit the goal ! In short it’s a critical factor in ensuring your brand design project is successful and you get a real return on your investment. 

 

Think who, what, where, when, why and how ? Your brief should be, to some extent, an extension of your business strategy. It should reflect the desired commercial endeavours of your business and provide all the detailed information necessary to understand your business dynamics in depth and should clearly define the results you want to achieve i.e. the commercial objectives of the project. 

 

In many cases over the years we’ve had to write the client brief, following in-depth discussions, questioning and probing, to ensure project clarity on all fronts, which the client has then endorsed and signed off before the project commences.

 

The following are some tips on how, and what to include, to write a great brand design brief so you can get the best return for your money. The questions posed should give you roughly 80% of your brief content with the remainder resulting from and thorough an in-depth discussion with your chosen brand design agency.

 

Upside Down Man

 

1. What does your business/organisation do ?

Be clear and concise, providing as much detail as possible. Avoid industry jargon and don’t assume your chosen brand design company knows your company or market intimately.

 

2. What are your business/organisation goals and why ?

How do these goals relate to the brand design project ?

 

3. What are your primary communication objectives and why ?

Are your trying to create greater brand/product awareness or sell more product ?

 

4. How do you differ from your competitors ? 

Be objective and tangible in the description of your differences.

What are their advantages and disadvantages compared to your business/product/organisation ?

 

5. Do you have industry, market or category insights ? 

Are they up-to-date ? It is essential to share this information with your brand design partners so they can develop an in-depth understanding of your needs. Have you completed formal/informal market research into to your market, product etc. ?

 

6. Do you need brand profiling and positioning work ? 

This will provide the strategic direction for your marketing activities, distinction within your business’s market and drive the inspiration for the creative delivery of your marketing messages.

 

Upside Down Bald Man

 

7. Are you revamping, relaunching your business/product/organisation or launching a completely new product/venture to market ?

If revamping or relaunching, how does your old offering compare with the new ? Does your brand/business/product/organsiation have an existing brand style guide ?

 

8. Who is your primary target market ?

What are their demographics and psychographics ? Describe them in detail.

If you have a secondary market or multiple audiences ? List them in terms of priority.

 

9. Have you considered the text content required for your project ? 

Do you need professional copywriting input ? How many languages do you need and do you need professional translation services ? A printed brochure or website will have an entirely different requirement and writing style to a brand packaging design project. Compile some raw copy where possible, even in short bullet form, to give some indication of your text content requirements.

 

10. Does your business, industry, market or organization have legal mandatory information which must be included in all your communications ?

Does your product or market have mandatory information such as colour coding which must be used in specific ways, on or in, your communications e.g. European egg packaging has EU colour coding for designated egg sizes ? If so, it is essential you provide all this information fully proofed, up front with clear guidelines on usage.

 

11. Do you need commissioned professional photography or illustration ? 

Does your project have specific visual content which should be included ? If so why and what is it ? 

 

12. What is the full remit of your brand design requirements ? 

Does it have a printed requirement (product design, stationery, brochures, display or exhibition stands, vehicle livery, direct mail, packaging, point of sale etc. all of which is your brand collateral) ? Does it have an online marketing requirement (website, ezine newsletter, Facebook presence, LinkedIn presence, Twitter etc.) ? Do you need a branded digital showreel, video or sales presentation using, for example, Power Point or Keynote ?

 

Upside Down Girl

 

13. Do you have industry or market category benchmarks ?

If so what are they ? Are these industry, cultural or category standards ? Your brand design team needs to know as much as possible to understand what is mandatory, what has worked/not worked to date and where they can aim to exceed and excel, to be distinctly different for long term competitive advantage

 

14. Do you need market research or focus group activity to test your new brand design outputs ? 

Don’t proceed with your launch on a hunch or worse still, your own personal preferences. Your personal preferences are not relevant if they don’t mirror those of your target market and even if they do you should still test and measure !

 

15. What is your budget ? 

Your chosen brand design experts need to know what your limitations and budget boundaries are to avoid a valuable waste of time and resources. They need to understand where and how they can achieve the best return for your money. 

 

16. What is your lead time or deadline for launch to market ?

Develop a detailed schedule with key milestones indicated e.g. consultation, concept development, market research, testing, photography, production, delivery and launch to market etc. Be realistic in your expectations. Unnecessary mistakes can be made if a complex project is rushed to market prematurely. Alternatively if the project must hit the market by a critical date then be upfront and honest. Some elements may need to be dropped or postponed to another occasion and a simpler solution offered to meet the deadline.

 

If you need a new name for a product, business or organization most of this information is just as essential for a brand name origination brief too.

 

Tip:

Try not to be too prescriptive on the aesthetic aspects of the brand design brief. You want to get the best out of your chosen brand design team so you need to give them room to manoeuvre creatively.

 

 

Do you have anything else you’d like to add to these tips ?

 

Drop us a line, we’d love to hear your thoughts.