How we develop minimum viable brands to test new ventures
New ideas come from anywhere. The shower, the grocery store, waiting for the bus. Most of them disappear without us giving them a second thought. This is precisely why I encourage everyone I meet to carry a notebook with them everywhere they go. To capture those raw and unformatted ideas before they evaporate into thin air and trust me, they do! Personally, I like grid lined moleskins. If you can’t carry around a notebook, your smartphone will do just fine.
This is also a roundabout way of making my point that great ideas are both endless and a commodity. If we let our minds wander, we can generate literally hundreds of ideas in as little as a few hours. We could cure world hunger, achieve world peace, anything at all really. The reality is that these ideas will most likely never amount to anything more than a fleeting thought dismissed within the nanosecond. Furthermore, it’s incredibly difficult to bring a great idea into reality without the right execution, the right timing, and a disciplined team.
I’m not saying you can’t launch a new business or idea without a solid foundation. You certainly can! It’s been done and done well quite a number of times already. In saying that, the success rate of a new venture skyrockets when all stars align – timing, execution and the right team.
Unfortunately, we can’t help too much in the timing department. If we could, we’d make sure the world was ready for the Mercedes Avatar Concept Car, but it just isn’t.
A venture design studio really comes into play when you need the advice, support and access to an experienced group of minds, purposely built to bring your idea to life – dramatically increasing your startup’s chance of success.
I won’t talk about identifying the right time to launch or product-market fit right now. Instead for this article, I want to focus on the execution expertise we bring to the table and save the augmentation of your team for a post at a later date.
Our approach
We take a strict, three step approach to building a venture through design. And, if you’ve read any of my previous articles, you know that I use the term ‘design’ in quite a broad sense to encompass design thinking and the application of design principles to a multitude of things.
Straight to the chase.
Our first step is to determine whether we believe there’s potential in your idea or not (and if we don’t, we hope you find someone who does believe in your idea, go forth and build an empire and come back to rub it in our faces!). Once we believe in and share your passion for the project, we start to develop your minimum viable brand (MVB) using the process outlined below.
If you’re not sure what a Minimum Viable Brand is, here’s a fantastic article from Harvard Business Review.
Step one: Strategic System
In this step, we work with you through a single one-day workshop to help you (and us!) gain further clarity around your idea. Why it exists, who it serves, what makes it distinctive, etc.
It’s here that we develop guidelines for what will later become your strategic blueprint and the first iteration of your brand strategy. This becomes your internal compass and guides direction until your brand has the space to evolve into its own living, breathing thing.
Step two: Design System
The design system is the development of an identity for your business. It’s the first initial signifiers of the brand developed in your strategic system. It’s something for the market to identify with in the next step. This is a very stripped down version of your branding, your visual and verbal identity and your first tangible asset to live within your brand atmosphere.
It’s not intended to stay in the market (though it might) but it’s something to get you started. Something to get movement and start to build associations and hopefully, hype and consideration for your product or service.
Step three: MVB Launch
Step three is about launching your new venture to the market as quickly as possible. Here, we take the strategic system and your design system to put a foundational campaign together and start to generate some interest in your product. This campaign is not intended to generate revenue, or bring in leads or sell anything. It simply exists to gather valuable, real-time data and insights on how your target prospects are interacting with your MVB.
Do they accept it? Do they understand it? Can we learn anything from them? What can we do better? What’s the most important feedback on the idea to include (or remove) from the development roadmap? And most importantly, is the idea both commercially and culturally viable!
Feedback
During the MVB launch, we dig through the data in real time and prioritise what’s most important to build on next. Is it product development? Is it brand awareness and growth? Where’s the most potential to turn this venture, this blessing of an idea into a revenue generator as quickly as possible? Did we actually find product-market fit like we originally thought? Is the timing right?
The process is simply: Strategise, design, launch, adapt, repeat. Nothing fancy. The approach to each one of those steps is what’s important.
Moving on.
It’s important to note that the purpose of this process is to get you to market as quickly as possible to test, iterate and further define your idea, product or service before you invest truck loads of time and money into product development.
It’s not a concrete set of deliverables or a polished brand book, and it’s sure as shit not something to craft, hand over and simply forget about. It’s a constant process and must evolve and grow in tandem with your business. A big word for that would be concurrently or simultaneously, but I like metaphors.
In summary
They say business is a marathon. If that’s the case, my question is why are we still briefing agencies to build strategies, craft identities and give us back a few documents to go and implement. With absolutely no room built in for the brand to evolve, to find it’s own feet as your business grows beside it. Rebrands are a totally different ballgame – remember, this is for startup ventures.
At the end of the day, strategy, design and craft are all signifiers for the brand your customers are building around our business. A brand needs room to grow and evolve. Our approach to branding does exactly that. It’s been built directly into our process from the very start all those years ago.
If you’re building the next best thing or have an amazing idea you’d like our help to build, I’d love to hear from you. You can catch me at the studio on +61 7 3556 5329 or reach out to us directly at studio@mkrst.co and remember, it costs nothing say hello.
Design serves a much higher purpose than it’s form. Here’s why…
Have you ever thought about why things are, the way they are?
Why do all cars take a similar form and shape regardless of their shared function of simply moving us around. Why are all hammers the way they are and why do we still carry loads of keys around, when technology could help us completely eliminate the unwelcoming anxiety from our lives when they suddenly disappear.
Mostly, it’s because we tend to design things to serve a specific function and the form, or the shape they take, directly responds to the function they serve no matter how complicated, or simplified that function may be.
Don’t get me wrong, as a designer inspired by the bauhaus movement, an enthusiast of classic mid-century styles and an unparalleled love for swiss design, I still very much believe in and practice the philosophy that form follows function which is a design principle historically defined by American Architect Louis Sullivan as;
“It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function. This is the law.”
As referenced in an article by Smashing Magazine
To paraphrase in our own words. Form is traditionally referred to as how something looks, how it feels, its characteristics, it’s uniqueness, can we make it more appealing through design, can we make it easier to use, can we design it so the user doesn’t even have to think about how to use it. This is design, in form.
Function is all about how it works, what makes it work and what makes it useful which is part of the entire design process. If we can use design thinking to improve functionality in the development of products, objects and their core characteristics rather than simply the use of design in form, we are presented with the opportunity to build far superior products that are both easier to use and to understand.
To summarise, if a product or piece of commercial design looks beautiful, but is unusable or lacks purpose, it does not follow the philosophy and is a complete waste of time. For example, giving a flying bat the form of an arm instead of a wing does not follow the function of a flying bat.
So, if the development of a product’s functionality directly influences it’s form, would it not make sense to allow a team of designers to assist in the development of its functions in the first place? From the very beginning?
The answer is yes. And a resounding yes!
And not just for objects or products, I believe you can apply these principles to design better businesses and of course, better brands.
History has already proved that this approach works and you’ll almost always get a far better, simpler and more purposeful product as a result by applying good design practices, earlier in the lifecycle of a product. Bringing designers into the conversation at the beginning allows you to shift from the chronological process we drift toward when building something to a more lateral thought process and approach to the problem.
When you work in this way (more laterally), you begin to unlock opportunities to co-design the solution, or the function with the form. You create the ability to design beauty and experience while building functionality at the same time. The result? A recipe for successful design.
Next time you’re working on a new venture, a new product or your up against a new challenge that needs solving. Try and bring your designers in as early as possible. It’ll do you (and your product) the world of good.
Break your Advertising V-Card: Getting the most out of your agency.
As a business owner, with every decision, no doubt at some point you’re asking the questions. How long will it take? What’s the cost? And what resources do we need?
This may elicit a very complex spreadsheet, project timeline or list of new requirements for resources for the task to be achieved. In some cases, partnering with an agency can feel like a natural extension of your team in order to fulfil the endeavours of your business at a much more effective cost.
From the minute we leave our homes, we’re instantly being flooded with information, content and some good, but also some very bad advertising.
Which makes competing in any market for such a small percentage of share in your customer’s mind can be very difficult, time-consuming, overwhelming and for some, very expensive.
But it doesn’t have to be, you just need to find the right partner with the right advice to help you find somewhere to start.
Unfortunately, in a lot of industries, there are individuals or organisations that paint an ill-picture for the majority of service providers with poor execution, blow-out of initial budgets or an un-promisable understanding of what you want to achieve in your business.
With any organisation, your clients choose you based on your story, why you exist and what’s in it for them. Which begs the question, are you telling the right story?
We’ve put together some tips for a few things to remember when hiring an advertising agency, so you don’t get caught up in something you can’t break free from. Hopefully, these tips will help you have a more meaningful and prosperous relationship with your agency partner.
Be clear on your budget and actual spend.
Your budget will always be the cornerstone of a decision, particularly with advertising so try to be as transparent as you can on what you can budget for your creative and media spend. It’s up to the agency to let you know what they can and can’t do within that budget — if their response doesn’t sit well with you, find another agency that aligns more with where you’re currently at in your business.
What if you don’t know what to spend?
List what you want to achieve out of your advertising and prioritise it. From there you’ll be able to establish a list of goals and reasonable outcomes. However, as a rule of thumb and depending on the health of your business, around 7–10% of your gross revenue would be quite a nice and healthy budget to get you moving towards some real results.
“I don’t know what I’m asking for, but know what skills I don’t have”
Ask if the agency will provide you with a workshop. This is a great way of establishing a relationship, but more importantly provides you with the opportunity to gain insight as to how an agency can help with your business, especially if you’re unsure on where to start. Remember, the insights and materials you gain from a well-run workshop won’t go to waste as you can use the information internally to better your own processes. A great workshop will draw out what you want to achieve and what your new business goals. For example, it could be that you need a better digital and social marketing strategy put in place to boost user engagement for your products, or you might need to run an integrated campaign for an event you’re trying to launch, or maybe you need to go right back to basics and find the true essence of your brand to better understand the value that you offer your clients.
Ensure to have a totally transparent and honest conversation
Firstly, if you’re the business owner, lose the ego and be ready to be vulnerable. A good advertising agency isn’t trying to trick you up on what you’re not doing — but there to help you plan and implement what your business might be able to achieve at every stage in the buyer’s journey to create a better and more memorable experience for your customers.
Ask questions about any technical terms, write them down and use as a reference for future use. Request reports and data on a consistent and accountable time frame. For example, each Monday of the week or the last business day of the month.
Consistent reporting of the data captured will help you to make better decisions and provide you with the insights you need to scale and grow your business.
This will ensure you have a trusting an open relationship with your agency if they’re representing your brand — you want them to be telling an honest story and that comes from your willingness to trust their creative process.
Clear briefing is essential.
As the client, you may have an account manager who will work collaboratively with the strategists and the creative team on an internal brief based on your discussion. The creative brief is a critical document in the creative process that links the client’s expectations with the agencies creative.
Talk about some bad outcomes that could happen from a bad brief and that spending the time to get a creative brief right is time well spent because it controls the creative process. A lot of (most times) times though, a client won’t ever see a creative brief. It really depends on how clear the problem is stated in the beginning.
Using an advertising agency is an excellent way to supercharge your brand story. You open a door to an expert team with skills and capabilities that helps you stay ahead of the curveball (and your market) without the expense of finding, hiring and managing an internal team of your own.
Want to know more?
Get in touch, the coffee’s always on us…