Milestones in a well-organized branding project

A well-organized branding project is a process in which each stage has its own decision-making gateway, and progression to the next phase is dependent on the acceptance of the completed stage. This approach reduces the risk of failure and organizational chaos and significantly increases the likelihood that the final visual system will address the company’s actual needs.

Step 1. Kick-off.

The first milestone is the kick-off, where the workflow is defined: a time to organize, why we’re doing branding or rebranding in the first place, how we’ll evaluate progress, and who has the authority to make decisions. The goal is to set the project so it doesn’t get bogged down in opinions and preferences, while also avoiding organizational disruption. The result of this step should be a short document with business and image goals, a detailed scope of work, budget, and schedule. One approach is to use the ASCIK matrix, which defines who is responsible for the project (A), who supports it (S), who must be consulted (C), who should be aware of the project (I), and finally, who will ultimately approve it (K). Establishing the process and the points at which the client will be involved in the process is also crucial. This is also a good time to establish current client-agency communication tools – so that the agency can operate according to plan, and the client has comfort and control over the process. Dedicated project management platforms, such as Monday, are available for this purpose, allowing progress tracking.

Step 2. Audit.

The second milestone is a brand audit in the context of its actual market performance. This stage aims to define the actual problem and answer the question of whether the problem lies in a lack of brand recognition, an inappropriate brand image (in the case of CPN – a brand with high recognition but very low reputation), poor market evaluation of products/services, or pricing. A brand audit should allow us to understand the brand’s positioning against competitors, identify strengths worth preserving for the future, and identify areas worth improving.

An audit typically consists of:

1. Brand communication analyses, i.e., analyses of pre-rebranding communication materials, including the logo, brand code identification, packaging, informational materials, digital and social media activities, and unique assets associated with the brand – to ensure they are not lost during the change process. If perception studies exist, it is worth including them as a solid point of reference.
2. Competitor analyses: their positioning, communication, and the brand signals they use.
3. A formal and legal audit is also important: verifying the rights to names, logos, packaging shapes, and elements that the brand considers “its own.”

The result of the audit should be a document describing the initial situation along with conclusions and recommendations on what the brand should consistently continue, focusing on what is actually blocking its development – ​​because a good rebranding improves and organizes, rather than changing everything “at all costs.”

Step 3. Brand identity and positioning.

The third milestone is defining the brand strategy, defining the brand’s role in the business and in the minds of the target audience. This step translates the audit observations into a coherent set of decisions: who we are building the brand for (who are our customers and opinion leaders), what value we promise, what we base this promise on, what tone of communication is credible, and how the brand should be understood throughout the organization. Workshop methods are particularly effective in practice, as they allow us to “arrange” the brand in the minds of stakeholders in a shared and understandable way. Tools derived from design thinking help map needs, barriers, and use cases, while storytelling organizes the narrative: who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and why this matters to the customer. It’s worth recalling the difference between identity and image: identity is what the brand wants to say about itself, while image is what the market actually sees and feels. The goal of the process is to bring these two elements as closely together as possible.

In the context of positioning, the tool of axes, sliders or feature maps is often used: the key features for the consumer, resulting from the audit, are placed on opposing dimensions (e.g. “technological – human”, “premium – accessible”, “traditional – modern”) to illustrate the desired position of the brand and differentiation from the competition.

The result of this step is a brand strategy document encompassing positioning, the promise, the reasons why consumers should believe in it, and the brand values. After this goal, the team should be able to answer in one sentence: “why should the customer choose us?”

Step 4. Positioning concept and creative directions.

The fourth milestone is creative directions and prototypes, the moment when the strategy begins to “live” in form, not just in words. This stage often reveals a practical difficulty: presenting identity and positioning “in isolation” can often be abstract for decision-makers, because most people think in images—and it’s easier to feel and see something than to deduce it from a description. Therefore, it’s worth combining the strategy with several creative concepts expressed in different ways: in style, language, visual codes, and mood. This isn’t about logo variants, but rather different ways of telling the brand’s story and building its recognizable codes.

Market benchmarks work well in this step – examples of styles, linguistic solutions, and visual directions that help clarify what we mean and aspire to, as well as a list of elements to eliminate, as the acceptance and elimination method significantly simplifies decision-making. The result of this step is the selection of creative directions.

Step 5. Brand creation.

The fifth milestone is the proper creation of key brand elements: logo, color scheme, key visual (KV), composition principles, and, in many industries, packaging and basic sales media. This is the stage where the creative direction is translated into a specific, recognizable set of brand signals and tools that will be used by dozens of individuals and subcontractors. A well-executed step culminates not only in project acceptance but also in confirmation that the solution works in basic scenarios: in small sizes, in a digital environment, in print, on various backgrounds and media.

Step 6. Brand book and color proofs.

Once the creative line has been approved (in practice, this means selecting the name, logo, color scheme, and visual style for the brand), it’s crucial to create a brand book and approve the final color scheme. This step must also take into account production practice, so approval of color proofs is crucial: before the company begins the materials creation phase, reference samples for key media (e.g., various types of paper, foil, packaging, signage, and paint) are agreed upon with the client and contractors, and colors are defined in key CMYK, RGB, RAL, and PANTONE notations. The goal is to avoid situations where “the same” color appears differently in each channel and on each medium.

Step 7. Material design and rollout.

The seventh milestone is the transition from initial creation to implementation, i.e., adapting the brand’s KeyVisual into materials. Prioritizing touchpoints (i.e., touchpoints in terms of importance to the brand’s customers) when choosing the design sequence is crucial: defining the sequence of what must be implemented on day “0” and what can be implemented in subsequent weeks. Only then does the actual design and adaptation begin: information and sales materials, packaging, social media branding, digital branding, event elements – everything that builds the brand’s customer experience. The result of this step is a complete set of materials ready for production, implementation, or publication, in line with the brand’s launch plan, which secures budgets and reduces operational chaos.

Step 8. Codification, i.e. brand guide and design system.

Codification is a crucial step for future brand consistency. Codification involves developing a set of guidelines that allow the brand to operate without the ongoing support of a branding agency. The brand book (developed in step 6) typically focuses on issues related to the logo, protection fields, variants, and critical uses of the graphic symbol – what is acceptable and what is not. The brand guide is a broader and more detailed document: it describes, through examples, the principles of building a consistent brand style, includes templates and patterns, and a description of visual principles with application examples. A design system is a document typically created for digital solutions. Its purpose is to organize knowledge through the construction of components, modules, libraries, and consistency principles for interfaces and formats. Proofs and production specifications complete this section, ensuring consistency in implementation. The result of this step is a structured package that truly “transfers” the brand to the organization.

Step 9. Training and implementation supervision.

The final milestone is training and the adaptation process, because even the best system will quickly “wear and tear” and lose its impact without implementation within the organization. A practice that works is online workshop meetings with graphic design teams, marketing teams, or the client’s agency, during which the rules are not only discussed but also walked through typical tasks: what to do when the format is unusual, how to select images, when it’s permissible to break the rules, and who approves. In many projects, it’s worth establishing a several-month supervision period, during which the branding agency verifies, for example, the initial market executions once a week, helping to correct errors before the brand “dissolves into daily compromises.”

At this stage, the role of a typical branding agency usually ends: further marketing communication is taken over by an advertising agency or internal marketing teams, which – having already developed branding guidelines, tools and principles – can build campaigns without the risk of losing consistency.

Successful branding is a process that results in clients positively responding to the implemented change and positively impacting sales. From the marketing team’s perspective, a process is successful when it is completed within the budget and on time. Achieving this goal requires close collaboration between the client and agency teams, with a focus on shared success.