Nearly four years ago, when I designed this website and the logo for True Contrarian, I was embarking on my first professional adventure in the world of branding. I thought about the concepts behind Steve's idea and brainstormed ways in which I could convey that aura in a concise package. The backwards C was born and so was the blogging platform on which I'm writing this update now.Since that summer in Boston, I've worked with many people outside of the investing world to develop their personal brands or the branding needed for their businesses. It's not very different from psychology, as branding requires a certain ability to see into a client's soul and pick out the elements that need to shine on first glance. For the financial literacy venture I mentioned in the blog below, I want to communicate the belief that an education in financial literacy and create a large sense of empowerment. I thought about the best way to translate that belief into marketing language and came up with this:
When people see this logo representing the financial literacy course materials I am creating, I hope their main understanding is that an education in financial literacy is necessary for empowering society. A specific spin off the general theme of youth empowerment, this course package will serve as a potential solution for the strife and confusion that many young people feel when taking on adult responsibilities for the first time. After all, most of the power any of us hold lies in understanding. If we understand a concept, it has less of an opportunity to intimidate us. I want the basics of personal finance to be more accessible and eventually, cease to be intimidating.
No matter what industry you are in, I can imagine that you're starting to see how necessary branding is for your business' survival. A recent tech fair I attended in New York was in essence a mirage of brands, appearing one after another in their respective booths. There were too many booths for me to possibly engage with them all, so the booths I stopped at were the ones that I thought presented the most captivating brand packages. Sorting through all the swag I received days later, I struggled to remember my interactions with some of the products where as some were fresh in my mind.
The brands of our businesses serve as a gateway for people's interest and most often speak on our behalf before we even get a change to do so. That's why whenever I am faced with a new idea, whether it's mine or someone else's, I devote a lot of preliminary work to branding. I have little foresight as to where Filiem is going to go, but I am excited about the direct connection my logo draws between financial literacy and empowerment. I look forward to sharing more in the near future.
Best wishes for the upcoming weekend,
Danielle Kerani Oberdier
VP | True Contrarian
www.truecontrarian.com
