Design Management - Understanding the Client Company and Industry - Essay Example

?An or introduction In this project, were given an RFP that sought to redesign corporate identity and strategies for Invest Toronto, which is one of Ontario Business Corporations founded in 2008. The objective of this project was to demonstrate value to its shareholders and stakeholders, while operating as an arms-length development corporation within public policy framework. Through redesigning the logo and using marketing strategies, and actively engaged formative research to get insight into the company and to help ourselves define the problem. We adopted different research methods and tactics that could avail the best information on specific needs of the research. Mostly we focused on qualitative and quantitative research on our client company, and conducted competitor analysis to get a better understanding of the client company and the industry. Furthermore, we adopted Psychographic research about the company’s value, color theory, and competitor analysis to get insight into the problems of current company’s logo and strategies. In addition, we carried out case studies to find out how other companies successfully approached similar projects and how they obtained the best results. Project overview- According to the 2010 annual report of Invest Toronto, the logo is “The fresh, modern and energetic branding that will serve and invest as well as the story teller for our vibrant city.” However, we found that the logo has heavily focused on visualizing the city of the company rather than express the company’s values or objectives. A logo for a brand represents and distinguishes itself from others as an image, and the right corporate identification makes it easier for the company to achieve its business objectives. The right consumer experience with a corporate identity helps them to choose the company when it comes down to a decision. Therefore, setting up a clear and positive corporate identity especially for a company in its earliest stages of development, such as Invest Toronto is very important. To achieve this, the company requires a corporate identity that reflects its value, ethics, future and principles, and one that gives a strong positive visual experience of the company. Since among the company’s objectives and roles is attracting foreign companies to Invest Toronto, the logo should be understood by people from different cultures and give a positive image to them as well. We also conducted research on the client company, and found that there was lack of consistency in terms of brand identity. The use of different background logo colors in different social media might confuse viewers and alleviate planting of a clear visual representation of company to its audiences. Thus, when creating a corporate identity, there should be a strong, clear branding system and marketing strategies that expose the company to the public more. Description of the client company Invest Toronto is the primary business, sales and marketing corporation for the City of Toronto and was organized by Toronto City Council in September 2008, Invest Toronto's initial Directors Board was confirmed by Toronto City Council on February 24, 2009. There are fifteen board of directors since the company is at the starting stages it has about thirty employees are under Renato Discenza the CEO and President of Invest Toronto. The city is the sole shareholder of Invest Toronto and the former has set up the business objectives for the company, which corresponded to its interests. Precedents/ case studies 1British Columbia Lottery Corporation: The rebranding of the British Columbia Lottery Corporation in 2011 was one of the most recent successful rebranding measures similar to the rebranding of Invest Toronto, since British Colombia Lottery Corporation is closely connected to Provincial Government of British Colombia since its establishment. Considering the requirement of understanding gambling industry, the advertising agency, Cossette, had to look into the Government, media, and public review to fulfill the mandate of the project. The new logo aimed at making a strong connection with the company products, promoting credibility, and developing internal strategies. The main objective was that the new corporate identity to clearly define company’s role and responsibility while representing the entertainment services they provide to the public. Finally, we able to establish Cossette’s strategy of approach to the project as the agency described in their explanation strategy. Through balancing the product essence and the objectives of the company in a new branding strategy enhanced clear communication with the target audiences and led the project winning an award. 2 Province of Alberta The challenge of the Province of Alberta, Canada is that branding objective involves identifying and increasing the positive reputation of this province. This is for the purpose of keeping locals interested in remaining within the province, and to encourage people nationally and internationally to visit, dwell, work, and invest. The province had a need of defining and representing themselves beyond Canadian gas and oil, and creating a positive reputation and an effective pro-active management by rebranding the province’s identity. In this project, a strategic positioning was required to instill a positive and clear brand image. The Branding agency had to bring numbers of local, national, international stakeholders into an agreement under a politically charged condition, and to approach effectively the project, it conducted a global online and focus group research to reveal a huge divergence of audiences’ views. As a result, the branding strategy led to creation of an inspirational slogan and brand promise of “Freedom to Create. Sprite to Achieve”, this involved a process of unifying divergent and multiple objectives as well as nullifying criticism. This brand strategy was expressed into an extensive identity system through the consideration of varying situations of ambassador brand adoption. They also launched Albertan Stories,which is a social media campaign. We found that this project was worth looking at, since Alberta is one of the competitors of Invest Toronto and it was a successful in terms of finances and graphics. The ambassador branding resulted in the reduction of the budget burden and taxpayer scrutiny even though there was complexity when working towards the conclusion and solving of the problem. Moreover, it was valuable since various institutions share one brand; it multiplies the positive energy that would be brought by one. Materials Materials, Processes and technical information -Cost of the printing and paper material for stationary: since the paper cost and printing cost varies depending on the paper and its size, this will affect our approach to the project since the budget is limited and stationary designs should be consistent over the years and keep reprinted. - Considering the company is owned by city of Toronto, there might be a chance that a decision of the company has to get confirmed by the city and there might be restrictions like the new logo should work with other current city of Toronto logos. This might delay the progress and approach to the project - To finalize the design, we have to test our design on the actual materials that we are going to use. If the signage takes too long to produce, it might be a factor that delays the time line of the projects. Therefore, it is important for us to discuss it with the signage company ahead of the project and schedule ourselves properly so that a delay does not arise. This also applies to other printing jobs. Read More