Half of the success of a Corporate Identity project is knowing the company/brand. How do you talk about something you don’t know anything about? Take a look at McDonalds, for example. What do they do? They sell food. What kind of food? Cheap food. What kind of cheap food? American food that people can buy and with little to no wait – they can even drive right up and take their food to go. They’re kid friendly. They have cartoonish mascots (Ronald, Hamburglar) and have happy meals. Their colors are bright and bold primary colors (red and yellow).
Copy and paste this questionnaire into your blog, filling in the answers. It’s important to fill out this questionnaire in as much detail as possible, because this will be what you refer back to when designing your corporate identity.
1) What is your business?
A personal item locator
Why is this important: It’s important to know what the company officially does. That might sound obvious, but sometimes it’s good to have it laid out there.
2) Describe your business in one sentence.
We allow individuals to find personal items that they have misplaced just like mom would.
Why is this important: This helps to get us closer to the nature of your business, and may also help inspire your slogan.
3) Who is your target audience?
People of all ages, mainly kids and teenagers that always misplace their stuff and ask their mom where it is.
Why is this important: You need to know whom your brand is talking to. If you’re talking to children, it would require a completely different visual language than if you’re talking to mothers, teenagers, athletes, bankers, corporate officials, doctors or handymen.
4) Who are your competitors?
Personal Organizer companies, GPS locators for items that have an GPS in them (like a cell phone)
Why is this important: It’s vital to know your competition. You need to know who they are, how they run their business and what makes them successful. If your company is no different than your competition, what would make anyone leave them to come to you? Especially if they’re established and you’re new.
5) What makes them better/worse than your product/service?
My product is not available yet whereas there are a bunch of different organizers people can buy to help keep all of their belongings in order and to prevent them from losing anything. My product could also go along with the personal organizers because it doesn't keep them organized, but instead it finds what ever has been lost. So when people misplace the items that should be in the organizer, they can use my product to find it. The GPS system is not very useful unless all the individuals items have GPS locators on them which would be a lot of work, so it would only be helpful in finding a cell phone or another device that already has a GPS inside of it.
Why is this important: You need to know what your company is and is not, what you have in common with your competitors and what do you have that is unique? If you see a weakness in their corporate design (such as an ugly website), this is also a place where you can make yourself look better. Also, is their target audience any different than yours?
6) Do you currently have an identity? (This is more for companies that are already established and you’re just revamping the logo/corporate identity. If you have a new company or product, skip this question.)
Why is this important: If you’re an established company with a well-known logo, you may not want to deviate too extremely from it.
7) (If your answer to #6 is no, skip this question) What do you like about it and what don’t you like about it?
Why is this important? Even if you plan to change the logo entirely, it’s good to keep an inventory about what specifically worked and didn’t work about your previous design in order to inform the new one.
8) How do you want your image to be seen in two years?
I want the product to be well-known and have a good name for itself. I think it will become very successful.
Why is this important? This is something that you will have to portray in your corporate identity.
9) If your company was an animal, what animal would it be and why?
A chimpanzee because monkey's are one of the smartest animals.
Why is this important? Your company may or may not benefit from a mascot. If it’s for children, a mascot character might be something to consider. But even if it’s for adults, the answer to this question might help generate ideas.
10) If your company/brand was a person, who would it be and why?
My mom because she always has the answers to everything and always knows where everything is.
Why is this important? A brand is perceived by consumers almost like a person who is representing your company. You trust them, communicate with them through advertisements and purchase, you can be disappointed in them, etc. The corporate identity is the face of that person.
11) If your company/brand was an object, what would it be?
A small handheld with a screen that showed where the misplaced object is.
Why is this important: Might give you ideas.
12) If your customer was a cartoon character, who would it be?
NEED CARTOON CHARACTER
Why is this important? Cartoon characters have exaggerated characteristics. Identifying the general stereotype of your customers might help give you ideas.
