Creating a brand is a messy process. If you think you can wake up, make coffee, open your laptop, sit at your desk, and start writing a strategy, you’re mistaken.
I call it a structured mess, one that allows you to experience highs and lows to reach clarity.
Creating a brand is based on little connected bits of inspiration. These can come in many ways, at any time, and in any situation, even in the most awkward places.
I’ve developed many of my best strategies locked in a room staring at the ceiling or hiking at an altitude of 1,500 metres. I admit both situations are awkward; maybe that’s why they work.
Creating a brand is challenging. In a world full of photocopies, coming up with an original thought is incredibly difficult.
Creating a brand should be monetised. I don’t believe in “marketing in the dark.” If the cash register doesn’t buzz or there are no conversions, then it’s simply not working, no matter how spot-on we think the strategy is.
At Quill, we developed the IQ Model, which stands for Insights, Imagination, and Integration. Some of our clients worry we’re going to test their IQ, and we often have to explain.
The IQ model allows us to build future-proof brands. We believe that when you build a brand, you don’t build it just for now, but for the future.
Every brand needs to plant its flag by finding its purpose through unique positioning, storytelling, communication magnets, and consistency. All marketers will tell you this.
I’m not here to give you a lecture in communication. But if you’ve made it this far, that’s great news for me. So let me tell you what makes Quill different and how we apply our IQ model to every project, whether it’s a small piece of content or building a brand from scratch. And how our work resonates with clients in different markets.
It’s a perpetual shift in how we work.
We start with insights. We dig beneath the surface to uncover and unearth the unique truths about the brand, guided by curiosity. We don’t settle. If a piece of information is that easy to find, then everyone else will have their way to it. But once we find those insights, that hidden information, we question and challenge them.
We ask the how and why to arrive at the what. To reject sameness.
Our insights are the third eye that sees what lies beneath the mental iceberg, in the deepest valleys of a brand’s reason to exist.
Then we move to imagination. A world without imagination is a world without innovation.
We imagine by pushing the boundaries of our thinking, setting free our preconceived ideas, and jumping outside the frames. Great ideas aren’t created in a vacuum but outside comfort zones.
We imagine to produce original thinking, experiences, and work that make an impact. Remember the world of photocopies I mentioned?
We imagine the best way to tell the brand’s story.
Finally, we move to integration. Many claim it, we live it. It’s our daily mantra. We integrate to unlock unparalleled growth for our clients.
We integrate people, resources, experiences, tools, designs, and technologies to drive today’s next in a brand’s life.
We integrate
- for brands to wow,
- for products to innovate,
- for customers to engage.
We integrate so we can take your brand from the boardroom to the streets.
At a time and age where we are bombarded by communication messages, and brands struggle to decide who delivers better, an AI algorithm, or a human brain, we at Quill believe that simple is strong.
As Steve Jobs once said, “Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”
Want to know more about Quill and our IQ model? Get in touch: [email protected]. P.S. I check my emails even during vacation days.
By Tony E. Saade, Chief Strategy Officer, Quill Communications
