Your Corporate Identity

So you’re in the process of either (i) starting something up, or (ii) re-moulding yourself into something you think you ought to have been from the start but for some or other reason didn't do from the start. That means you’re looking to look a certain way, feeling to feel a certain way…

The first thing you do, essentially, is you start thinking logo. Then you start thinking tagline, by-line, motto, you choose a catchy phrase that somehow describes what you do, who you are, and so on. I personally have no truck with taglines. I don’t think they say much. It’s way too easy to mess up, and then it’s sitting on all your nice expensive stuff, right there for everyone to see, which invariably leads to much embarrassment down the line, when you and your company has grown up and you have that “I ought to have known better” feeling.

Let’s use a quick example: you start yourself a courier company. You get a logo with a bee carrying a package, with all the appropriate little lines to indicate speed, zipping around, getting that delivery done lickety-split. Your tagline reads: “A-Z, eesy as can bee”. Get it? Bee? (by the way, that ‘Z’ is pronounced ‘zee’, as in the American ‘Z’, not ‘zed’ like the SA version. Personally, I think the Yanks have this one right. We say Ay, Bee, Cee, right, not Ay, Bed, Ced. So it should be ‘zee’, not ‘zed’. But I digress…)

Some companies have used their taglines to great effect, of course. See if you can identify these (and mail me if you want the answers):

• Today. Tomorrow. Together
• One tool, a couple thousand uses
• Saving you time, saving you money, putting you first
• A diamond is forever
• A mind is a terrible thing to waste
• Between love and madness lies Obsession

Some known, some not so known. Now, see if you can identify some companies from their logo’s (again, mail me for the answers – as if you’ll have issues with these):

Is there a point to be made here? I think there is. And that is why I rely more on the power of an image when branding your company than I do on a catchy phrase.

You’ve decided that you’re going to do it, now what do you do? Well, here is what we suggest. The standard stuff is logo, business cards, letterheads…yes, yes, but there is so much more. Here are the standard (and not so standard) items we’ve created for companies:

• Logo
• Business Cards
• Letterheads
• Compliment Slips
• Invoice / Quotation Books
• Email Signatures
• Pamphlets / Brochures
• Website
• Web Banners
• Vehicle Branding
• Signage
• Branded pens, magnets, keyrings ...