Be Like Sherlock
The strongest brands become the natural choice in the minds of their customers. Achieving that requires alignment between values, identity and promise.
During my career, I have designed business cards for sole traders such as driving instructors, landscape gardeners and decorators. I have also worked on a £7 million BP website project involving a team of seventy strategists, designers and developers.
And all manner of projects in between.
Different budgets. Different scale. Consistent approach.
Over time, I realised that the most valuable thing I bring to a project is not so much design expertise, filmmaking experience or technical knowledge.
It is curiosity.
The ability to sift through evidence.
To observe carefully.
To identify patterns.
To spot inconsistencies.
To uncover what is missing.
In short, to think like Sherlock Holmes.
Entrepreneurs often arrive seeking solutions. A new logo. A new website. A marketing campaign. A film.
Yet these are rarely the real challenge.
More often, the problem lies beneath the surface.
Branding, at its heart, is an exercise in alignment.
I think of it as a pyramid.
At the summit sits Mindshare.
The ultimate prize.
The point at which customers stop comparing you with competitors because, in their minds, the decision has already been made.
Consider a runner visiting the sports shop Lillywhites on Piccadilly. They compare Nike, Adidas, Puma, Brooks and Reebok. They weigh up alternatives. They make a choice.
Now imagine somebody walking into Nike Town on Oxford Circus.
The decision has already been made.
They are no longer choosing between brands.
They are choosing between a Nike Pegasus and a Nike Vomero.
In their mind, the competition has disappeared.
They are a Nike customer.
To reach that position, three things need to align.
Values.
Identity.
Promise.
Values define what a business believes.
Identity makes those beliefs visible through names, logos, colours, photography, environments and experiences.
Promise defines the commitment made to customers.
When all three align, mindshare becomes possible.
When they don't, problems emerge.
I witnessed this first-hand whilst working on BP's global repositioning programme in the early 2000s.
Landor had created a new identity. Ogilvy had developed a new vision. BP was moving away from its traditional shield towards the more progressive Helios symbol. The company wanted to be perceived as open, optimistic and future-focused.
The values existed.
The identity existed.
The promise existed.
What was missing was proof.
Existing brand imagery didn't support the optimistic new story.
The evidence wasn't there.
Everything felt hollow.
Late one evening, close to midnight, I was sitting in the London offices of Scient, the consultancy responsible for bringing the new brand to life online.
The following morning, a critical presentation awaited.
Over the previous month, photographers I had selected had travelled across five continents capturing imagery for the new corporate website. My task was to define the visual direction of the homepage.
I was stuck.
Not because the photography was poor.
Because it was exceptional.
There was too much of it.
I remember splashing water on my face and giving myself a quiet team talk.
I wasn't being paid to panic.
I was being paid to solve the problem.
Slowly, my thinking shifted.
Instead of asking which image should appear on the homepage, I began asking a different question.
Why was I assuming there should only be one?
Within minutes the solution appeared.
Three homepage concepts.
Twelve hero images.
A richer and more flexible system.
The problem dissolved the moment I challenged the assumption.
That experience has stayed with me throughout my career.
Whether I am advising a multinational corporation or a sole trader in Bristol, my role remains remarkably similar.
I am there to identify what exists.
What is missing.
What needs refining.
The clues are almost always present.
The challenge is recognising them.
Like Sherlock Holmes, the answer is usually there all along.
You simply need to ask better questions.
