During the Business Immersion Program (BIP), we focused a lot of time on branding in many different aspects. Coming into BIP a lot of us thought that branding meant a logo, but we quickly learned that is not the case. Branding refers to the perceived image of a company, product, and service. This is shown in a brand through its logo, fonts, colors, slogan, mission statement, and other things that are built into a certain company. We all had the opportunity to create our own personal branding guide for ourselves, which we applied to our Top Five Clifton Strengths Presentations.
We also all had the great opportunity to meet and listen to James Kennedy IV ’16. He was able to share with us a ton of valuable information regarding branding because of all his different experiences working for many companies as a designer, including Nike. James started the session by explaining what exactly goes into a brand, and how there is so much more besides a logo that people consider. He eventually explained to us the 3 Circles of Brand Positioning. We learned that this diagram helps to explain three main things. The upper right circle represents what the customers’ needs and values are, the upper left circle represents the customers’ view of the value that a company provides, and the bottom circle represents the customers’ view of the competitor’s value. James then explained what brand identifiers are. These are the name, logo, slogan, typography, photography, packaging, and product design of a certain company. To conclude the session, he left us with “it takes 20 years for a brand to build its reputation, but only 5 minutes to ruin it.”
Lastly, I would like to give a big thanks to Cassie Hagan and Bryan Biddle for making the Business Immersion Program possible and giving all of us this valuable experience. I also want to thank all the alumni and guest speakers who took time out of their day to speak to us and teach us useful skills that we will be able to use in the rest of our lives. Finally, I want to thank all of the donors who made this program possible through their generous donations.
Photo 1 – James Kennedy ’16 presents on brand positioning.
Photo 2 – James Kennedy ’16 with the BIP group.
