Model explaining organizational context of brand from Mission to business tactics.

One of the model which helped me to understand how a brand comes in between an organization's mission and its business tactics. It helped me to understand how an organization's mission, value, and vision related to each other.

reference: 'Brands and branding' by Rita Clifton and John Simmons

Three steps to create a belief based brand.

Vision, Mission and Values

Before looking for ways to represent Arzoo’s vision, I wanted to know about what is vision, mission and values of an organization?
Vision- The reason for being, based on recognized and unrecognized customer needs or desires. An audience statement, the vision articulates the brand’s aspirations, frames its long term ambitions and essentially captures its point of view of the world.
Vision is the synthesis of a set of organization beliefs, woven in to a statement of how the world should be.
Mission- A statement that describes how the vision can be accomplished, embodying practical business goals. It is ambitious yet achievable over time, and generally reassessed as markets change and company grows.
Values- the tenets that guide organizations relationships- with employees, consumers, the media and so on- there by capturing the spirit of the brand and forcing the vision and mission. In the same way that individuals moral and ethics form their behaviors, core values remain constant in the face of changing marketing strategies.
Once you establish a set of belief as a team, they will probably need refining, developing and synthesizing. Go through the second round of setting our beliefs, but this time prompted by the following questions.
1. What kind of world do you believe in?
2. What kind of right and wrong can your charity adhere to?
3. What statement of how you work makes you different?
4. What statement of how money will be used makes you different?
5. How will the world be better if you succeed as an organization?

reference: http://www.mission-minded.com/
'Brands and branding' by Rita Clifton and John Simmons

Putting brand in context

A brand is far more than a visual symbol and memorable tagline. It anchors the mission and vision, operating principles and tactics of an organization. Internally, the brand is central to all decisions, actions and values, thus enabling employees to deliver the brand promise. The internal and external messages about the brand tell the same story and be seen as part of the same narrative, and they should relate to the following,
Value- the organization’s core beliefs, what it and the brand stands for.
Behavior- how the organization interact with internal and external stake holders
Positioning – what the organization wants stakeholders to think about a brand.
Identity- name, logos, visual standards, verbal themes.

Second meeting with Tarun

The structure of Arzoo become more clear now. But there were some missing points still. The Second meeting with Tarun showed me a proper way to go ahead. After the research so far, it is time to analyze the data I collected. Some points came up in the discussion that would help me to go ahead.
1. What should be the tone of language you should speak to your customers? To supporters? As well as the volunteers?
2. How colours, images and typography will help to speak that language?
3. How much consistent you can be for portraying Arzoo? And what are the ways?
4. What are the keywords you should speak when converting Arzoo’s vision in to visual?

Identity?

As my brief was creating an identity I had to look in to visual identity, logo, and brand identity and a bit about branding also. These are some reference that I think helped me to decide how should I go head with the project.
“Visual identity is a part of the deeper identity of the group, the outward sign of inward commitment, serving to remind it of its real purpose.”- Wally Olins.
A logo is a visual representation of your agency comprised of your name and any graphical element that appears with the name
“A brand is a result, not tactic” –Lucas Conley, Fast Company
Brand is what you stand for. Brand is the experience.
A strong brand,
1. Creates an affinity for your agency among your target audience
2. Ensures loyalty
3. Minimizes competitive threats
4. Creates confidence, risk- reduction, simplicity in decision- making and time savings
5. Enhances the self-image of those who associate with it.
6. Brand is what you stand for. And it is the experience you create in customer.

An identity is made up of three fundamental elements,
1. Visual system- the mark, logotype, typographic system. Color palette and imagery.
2. Personality- Values, Attributes and Associations
3. Functionality and behavior- The integration in to business and brand strategy, as well as any interaction.
A brand identity is expressed in a thumbprint of a symbol or icon, representing all that the organization, product or service is. As such, the identity is rarely experienced out the context from the brands expressed values, attributes or associations. As it relies on the experience of the brand as a whole to build brand equity.

So when I look in to Arzoo’s identity, I was almost sure I don’t need to create a new visual identity for Arzoo. As it is already rooted in Arzoo’s system. So what is next?

The heart and the soul

This is too late to write something about Sulekha, the founder and coordinator of Arzoo, her life is dedicated toArzoo. Inspiring, hard working and down to earth i could say. I was quite surprised to see her enthusiasm and energy to work towards what she wants, something that so many young people missing today.
She and some of her friends together found Arzoo after Gujarat riots 2002. Since then she has been working with the children to educate them, play with them, to build a communal harmony among them, and helping them overcome the fear they have gone through. Now with her continuous efforts she got Arzoo registered as an NGO. Still she is constantly working with the local women as well as the underprivileged children.