Branding: the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.
Creating a strong, recognisable identity is important for companies across all industries. A well-designed brand makes a company memorable, differentiating itself from competitors and fostering long-term customer relationships and loyalty. It enhances a company’s reputation and can allow businesses to charge higher prices as customers perceive more value in their products or services.
What makes a brand awareness strategy?
Several key elements work together to create a strong and cohesive brand:
Visual identity
- Logo – a recognisable symbol or wordmark that represents the brand
- Colour palette – specific colours associated with the brand
- Typography – consistent fonts that align with the personality of the brand
- Imagery & graphics – photos, icons, and design elements that maintain a consistent appearance
Brand messaging
- Slogan / tagline – a short, catchy phrase that communicates the brand’s essence
- Mission & vision statements – statements that define the brand’s purpose, values, and future goals
- Tone of voice – the personality and style of communication used in marketing and interactions
Customer experience
- Customer service – the way a company interacts with and supports its customers
- User experience (UX) – the design and functionality of websites, apps, and products affect how customers perceive the brand
- Product / service quality & unique selling propositions (USPs) – customers expect consistent quality and value when a brand can offer something its competitors can’t
All of the above elements should appear at every point of the customer journey, from social media and advertising to packaging and employee representation.
Building brand awareness is more important than ever
In this year’s State of Marketing & Trends Report (HubSpot), it was revealed that marketers are leaning towards authentic, brand-led content. Authenticity resonates with the customer, and building a brand they can trust is key to tapping into this value.
AI has been the name of the game for well over a year now, but when asked about the biggest changes to the marketing industry in the past year, the top two responses were related to brand experiences and brand-led content, even more than using data or leveraging AI.
- 92% of marketers plan to maintain or increase investments in brand awareness in 2025
- 13% of marketers plan to invest in brand awareness for the first time in 2025
Strong brand identity examples
After seeing a really interesting billboard ad design (and then going down a rabbit hole of creative ad designs), I was inspired to write this blog post as a way to showcase some of my favourite brand identity examples. Big-name brands have experimented with deleting or disguising elements of their branding in outdoor advertising campaigns, showing just how powerful a strong brand can be.
Heinz
In this example, food manufacturer Heinz changed its iconic tagline “It has to be Heinz” to “It has to be fries”, removing its logo entirely from the billboard. With a delectable swirl of ketchup (arguably Heinz’s most popular product) and a clever adaptation of its tagline, it’s immediately obvious what company is behind the design.
This isn’t the first time Heinz has made a statement with its strong branding. In an effort to combat street vendors purchasing a bottle of Heinz ketchup and simply refilling it with a cheaper brand of sauce once it was empty, Heinz identified the exact Pantone colour hex for its ketchup formula, adding a strip to each bottle design with the line “Is That Heinz?”. The company also released an Instagram filter that allowed customers to verify the legitimacy of their ketchup without the need for the new bottle design.
The result: 97% of consumers were able to discern real Heinz ketchup from imitations, which resulted in a 73% decrease in non-Heinz ketchup refills and a 24% increase in Heinz ketchup usage in street food restaurants.
Tesco
How many Tesco bags-for-life do you have stuffed in a cupboard at home? That’s assuming you have a local store and it’s your supermarket of choice anyway. Either way, everyone knows what these shopping bags look like.
In its recent campaign, “It’s not a little thing. It’s everything”, Tesco released a TV ad that conveys how food helps us express emotions from gratitude to apologies. Ultimately, food brings people together. Off the back of the ad, Tesco put up billboards featuring their iconic bags-for-life, but with a twist. Its logo has been replaced with five-letter words like ‘sorry’, ‘loved’, and ‘thank’, enforcing the message behind the TV ad. The faint tagline at the bottom right of the billboard really pulls the design together.
To top it off, these bags have even been launched in various Tesco stores across the UK. Does that make them worth the 40p now?
McDonald’s
Arguably the most well-known fast food giant in the world, it’s no surprise that McDonald’s has crafted a universally recognisable brand.
Back in 2020, McDonald’s released this clever ad featuring its iconic red fry box. The yellow rim is immediately telling of the brand, and, without sounding like I eat at Maccers way too much, the depiction of its fries is instantly recognisable (although you need to go and buy a lottery ticket if your fries are actually served looking like that!). There’s no need for a logo or tagline here – the visual is quintessentially McDonald’s. The little chomp in the corner is great, too.
Another example from McDonald’s, which is probably one of my favourite ad designs I’ve seen in a long time, is its announcement for mobile ordering.
In the above example, there may be a McDonald’s logo at the bottom of the design, but did it really need it? There was potentially a risk in featuring another well-known product front and centre (the iPhone), but the design choices here really worked well. With its iconic shade of red, recognisable typography, and clever depiction of a burger, this is obviously a McDonald’s ad.
Take another example below, without the logo this time. Sure, they’re mobile phones, but you don’t even need a second look to recognise that they’re meant to be fries. Once again, the colours and fonts scream McDonald’s – that’s how powerful its branding is.
Kellogg’s
Best known for its wide range of cereals and other breakfast foods, Kellogg’s also released billboards with manipulated versions of its logo. This is less of a disguising act, as the full logo is visible in the bottom right corner, but the bulk of the billboard design features a cut section of the main logo, cleverly playing into slang with “The OG” (“The Original”, if you were confused). Its iconic rooster graphic only adds to the immediate familiarity.
I find it so interesting how companies can utilise their branding to strike immediate recognition in the consumer without the need for a logo or tagline. Sure, these are examples from big companies, so of course, they have strong branding, but they all started somewhere.
It’s not always about building a brand that’s recognisable in every corner of the world. Building a brand that is instantly recognisable to your community can be just as beneficial.
Invest in brand-building in 2025 – you won’t regret it!
