Building a healthy brand starts with bringing together a clear vision and product that fits your customers’ lifestyles. Today, customers are more interested than ever in how products contribute to their overall health and wellness, or the improvement of the world around them, which is why building a robust brand starts with designs for health inside the office and out. Everyone from fast food chains (now offering healthy menu options) to consumer goods (like TOMS® One for One model) is embracing the idea that consumers prefer to engage with brands that are improving the collective community in a meaningful way. No matter what industry you’re in or what products and services you offer, you have the opportunity to leverage campaign designs for health that showcase how your company is making a difference in your customers’ lives.
To highlight how your products contribute to a healthier lifestyle or community effort, we have compiled a list of three brand design guidelines to get you started.
1. Check in with your brand promise:
One of the easiest ways to promote goodwill is to ensure your brand promise clearly expresses what customers will get – or be able to give – by choosing your products. For example, organic grocery store Trader Joe’s has outpaced mega competitors such as Whole Foods and Fresh Market thanks to its private label’s earnest brand promise: “Trader Joe’s private label products promise great quality fare for exceptional, everyday prices. We taste everything before we put our name on it and offer only what we feel is extraordinary.” Customers feel confident purchasing Trader Joe’s products because they receive great quality, healthy products for a price that fits their lifestyle. Check in with your own brand promise and ask yourself if it expresses a clear value proposition to your customers that will make them feel good investing – or even indulging – in your brand.
2. Visual housekeeping and designs for health:
If you already know your brand delivers exceptional service or quality, make sure your visual elements reflect that same level of confidence. In this instance, we literally mean ensuring your team designs for health. Choose colors, fonts, UX layouts, and images that capture the essence of what’s best about your brand. For example, when most people think about the insurance industry, they may not immediately think of healthy lifestyle or community involvement, but corporate giant Nationwide Insurance nails the important brand balancing act between commerce and community. In addition to ad campaigns that highlight how their services give customers peace of mind and financial security, the corporation routinely showcases their work funding the Nationwide Children’s Hospital and their commitment to corporate responsibility. Each of their brand campaigns – whether it’s via media, digital, email, or print – use visual designs that highlight, link, and reaffirm these efforts. Their emphasis on simple, clean creative elements and straightforward messaging creates consistent alignment with their brand promise and visual assets. These visual reminders help your customers understand that their purchases are contributing to something beyond themselves and deepens their brand loyalty.
3. Create four campaign designs for health:
Put these principles into action by committing to four campaign designs for health this year because there is nothing more important when building or refining a brand than consistency. Every marketing initiative your team invests in won’t necessarily promote a sense of health or wellbeing, but one health- or community-focused effort each quarter creates a consistent reminder that will forge a link between your brand and your customers’ lifestyles. When these campaigns are reinforced by your typical, day-to-day visual and marketing elements, this link becomes stronger and more substantial. Over time, customers will begin associating your brand style guidelines with your products and the positive impact they have on their communities and lives. Great examples of this continuous affirmation are Coca-Cola’s holiday campaigns. Each year, Coke spends time around the holidays highlighting their product’s ability to build communities, bring people together, and spread joy. These feel-good, community campaigns echo the ads and efforts they run year round, with extra emphasis on how Coke makes the world healthier and happier. Even when those ads aren’t running, customers feel the positive effects of this positive brand association.
There are many ways for your brand to promote designs for health, forge links between your community and your products, or emphasize how your products stand out from the competition. Let us help you brainstorm ways to highlight these links as you plan for the second half of the year and kick off the new year with customers that are engaged, healthy, happy, and committed to your brand.
