It is never easy to understand whether an existing brand mark is in line with its brand strategy.

The brand mark – as visual and textual device – is the main communication tool aimed at conveying a brand identity, since it is the ‘’catalyst’’ of the values of a firm or product.

The brand mark, which constituent parts range from the naming to the logo, can no longer be only a symbol that fulfils basic tasks like distinguishing the transmitter or identifying a property. Today, it can and must be a tool able to fulfil the most critical functions, like evoking a personality or increase a brand’s value.

In view of such importance, Univisual defined a model to verify the points of strength and weakness of an existing brand mark, in relation to its potential performances.

Ikonium™ – the name of Univisual’s proprietary model – consists in a diagnosis that is carried out in desk mode, and analyzes all the conceptual, textual and visual elements of an existing brand mark. In fact, the scope is to analyze the distinctive features and evaluate consistency with the identity strategy of the represented brand, providing a review of the communication and evocative performances.

PURPOSES

Analysis of value and emotional performances

Feedback on the proper complementary of existing connotative codes

Check of the existing criticalities for juridical-legal protection

OUTCOME

- Rationalization of the points of strength to preserve
- Identification of the criticalities and improvement areas
- Indication of any corrective interventions

IKONIUM PRINCIPLES
The appraisal is based on the ‘’dissociation and complementarity’’ principle of the elements that constitute the brand mark in object and their evocative autonomy.

In fact, the elements that constitute a brand mark must be thought independently and seen as complementary to one another to build, together, the –visual and textual- code that makes a brand tangible, with the purpose to properly convey pre-established values.

Dividing the brand into the single components that constitute it has the goal not only to obtain a brand featuring the best complementarity between all the connotative codes that make it up, but also assigning specific functional tasks which are different for each single element, amplifying the brand’s communication and identification strength.

This way, it is possible to verify the specific strength of a brand, analyzing each element as an independent component as well as an integral part of a whole.

The seven ‘’key elements’’ of a brand analyzed by Ikonium™ are:

1. Values
The brand equity defines the center of gravity to which the brand must refer and, focusing on a brand-oriented plan, it is necessary to analyze the product or corporate characteristics, transforming them into distinctive values for the brand.

2. Naming
The name of a brand is the first identification element of a brand mark and its structural analysis is essential to verify if the conveyed values can support the potential performances of the brand in the long term.

3. Payoff
The payoff completes the verbal identity of a brand mark and is often important to support a brand positioning. A payoff can be descriptive or evocative. The choice of the modality to adopt depends on the type of naming and also on the brand’s identity strategy. The payoff is a statement, a declaration of intents that, if well-conceived, becomes by law an actual extension of a brand name.

4. Logotype
The logotype is by definition a ‘’particular typographic layout of the naming’’, meaning the letting that composes it.

For example, since the lettering connotes a brand mark, impressing it even more in the mind, is becoming more useful to confer its own typographic font to a brand, specifically conceived in order to become a distinctive and distinguishing component of the same brand.

5. Colors
Colors are typical inter-linguistic codes: they catch the attention, convey information, create long-lasting identities and they are chosen for their influence on the consumer/user.
The use of a specific color in the brand mark not only fulfils specific logics of perceptive association, but constitutes a distinguishing and connotative element.

6. Symbol
The symbol is the figurative element of a brand mark (generally called Logo), defined according to its typology of visual representation. In fact, an original, coherent and evocative symbol constitutes a unique and impacting identification tool for a brand. A symbol with emotional contents becomes an Iconbrand™.

7. Legal
The intellectual property of the brand mark and its legal protection ensure it as intangible financial asset. Pending law suits are currently increasing in number, a sign that the methods according to which they are designed and protected are not suitable for the modern market. The review of the documentation used to register a brand mark becomes a critical factor for the firm, in strategical terms.