We know that we live in an era where many brands around the world are looking to reinvent themselves to survive in the market. Perhaps your market strategies that worked perfectly for you 6 months ago are not adequate for this quarantine season. It is happening to all of us, that is why we want to contribute with our grain of sand with the advice of Daniela Castiblanco, Art Director of Somos Gracias, those responsible for creating the image of Ammaterre.
How was the creation process for Ammaterre branding?
Every process starts with good chemistry, when I met Stefanía there was a connection, so that's the first thing, being able to have a good feeling helps a lot the process, the Ammaterre brand was very gratifying, I think we each learned a lot and in my studio @gracias_company (Instagram) we were very happy contributing to this beautiful, responsible and human brand.
In the case of Ammaterre, do you think it was easy for us to find that branding that identifies us today as a brand?
It is never easy, each brand is a different world and represents different challenges, there is always a judicious process to follow, if we do it it is very possible that it will be a good job, as for Ammaterre specifically it was a teamwork with Stefanía, our incredible illustrator Angelica del Valle and the team of Gracias Co.
How long does it take to create a brand image?
Well this is very variable and depends a lot on factors, for example with Ammaterre we work for a year and although I don't know how to say the time for sure it takes the whole process if we have a minimum so that we can develop a brand consciously and judiciously and this is 3 months, the process is not to do something nice and fast, but to work in communication so that it is coherent and pertinent with the objective we have with the logo and the brand universe.
How do you help the client to define the personality of a brand?
In principle there is a meeting where the client generally exposes everything about his business, he tells us about the model, the products, his previous findings and even the stories behind the inspiration to develop it, so with that information, more research that we do about the consumers of this type of products, trends, competition, we can begin to decant the information that works for the communication strategy that we call soul-brand and that guides us in creating the backbone of the communication of that brand. as well as that DNA inside.
What do you consider to be the main pillars for creating a brand?
1.Being clear about the business model, our own clients are not always clear about the entire business model and when explaining how it will work, doubts and needs arise about having these aspects clear so that the people who will work with us, consume our products or access our services they can clearly understand.
2.Base of communication, we must understand that we must have a communication strategy, many times this is tied to a commercial calendar (mostly) or to positioning objectives, then from the soul-brand that helps me when a future brand is born, up to the constant communication that I am going to have with my consumers.
3. How do I speak? This part is very important because we consider that brands are like people and just as we have similar tastes with other people and we begin to relate to them until they become our "friends" and we have a special way of talking to them that make us feel identified then, brands must speak and have a position and show it so that they can also find those people who identify with them, big brands do not sell products they sell "ideas".
4. Aesthetics, and well as we say that a brand speaks in a way, it also looks a certain way and if they are beautiful they will contemplate it, the subject of beauty is immense and subjective, but it matters a lot, that's why creating beautiful brands help us pay attention and embellish the message with visual harmony.
In these times of pandemic, what do you recommend brands do to reinvent themselves?
Undoubtedly, this moment of confinement has shown us the scope of the digital world and the innumerable possible interactions that exist through platforms that we previously did not consider so important in our day to day, so we must take advantage and create strategies through these channels and take advantage of them at maximum.
Would you support brands in these times of crisis to drastically change their graphic image or stay exactly the same?
It never hurts to reinvent yourself, and if necessary I think it is the perfect time, many people are consuming many things and we have more time to pay attention to what is happening, so taking advantage of what I said earlier. It could be that a change is something profitable, even with or without crisis you have to think well about the reason why I want to make the change and if it really is necessary, sometimes it is an issue that is not solved with changes in the brand but rather from internal structures, commercial strategies or communication strategies, then one may be looking where it is not.
How can a brand know that something is wrong with its branding?
I think there are several factors that show us when something is wrong, maybe people do not understand anything about the brand, there is no fund with which I can identify myself or a cause, maybe also the messages I am sending are confusing, and well from the form there may be no legibility, and not having enough versatility to be able to adapt to different forms of applications. This in terms of the logo, and maybe if all this happens, my "brand" is not yet a brand, because the brands are built by people, a logo is not a brand or a complementary graphic or colors are a brand, because when people appropriate our messages, colors, shapes and make our icons their symbols, that's when we can say that we have a brand.
From where does Daniela Castiblanco gets so much originality in her designs and photos?
It has been a great process that started at the university when I took charge of the photos in my portfolio, I think I have a good eye, but apart from that I always have an intention, and as a designer I have different bases in terms of concept, composition, color , shape etc. so I can use design thinking to be able to communicate and unite everything I have learned. Even so I think my personality counts a lot, I always want to take risks and try new things, even if they are difficult if I already have them in my mind I look at how they can be make it happen, that's the other thing is not only having good ideas but also being able to carry them out.
Tell us how you handle creative blocking and give us some tips
The truth is that when I am very blocked what I do is let go of what I am doing and I do something that I like so as not to think about it anymore, for example I see a series, a movie of those that do not make you think so much, and well before this isolation, I also hang out with friends and started talking about other things. I think the worst thing you can do is to force yourself to get "creativity" out of where you don't have it because that's the way life is one day you get a thousand very good ideas and others you can't think of one, and it's normal so don't always push yourself read, study hard, and if you don't give that part so much, team up with people who can contribute to your process, it doesn't matter if it's to go for a coffee and talk about nonsense for hours.
We live in a time when all brands try to survive one of the biggest crises in the world, but we can never forget that there are no impossibilities. If the brands have the dedication and the right support, they will always find a way to reinvent themselves, we cannot duck our heads.
If you want more information about branding and how to re-invent your brand image during quarantine, we invite you to follow the Somos Gracias team on their Instagram account @gracias_company.