Every Brand Touchpoint Tells a Story
Beyond a brand identity system is the way it is experienced, the ways in which it exists in and engages with the world. This could be anything from a billboard to a website, a business card to a social post, or even a greeting as you walk through the front door. Every interaction is a reflection of the brand, yet each touchpoint shows a different aspect of the brand’s personality.
The key to successful brand cohesion is understanding the intent behind each of these touchpoints and allowing the brand to adapt accordingly. While some aspects like a uniform should maintain consistency and reinforce the brand directly, other elements have more freedom to be reinterpreted. Regardless, each piece should feel like an extension of the same core brand.
Website as a Brand Touchpoint
The website is often the first most meaningful, and informative, interaction with your brand. It should establish who you are, what you offer, and what makes you different. Unlike your social feed, the website is not intended for conversation. As a source meant to inform, its purpose is to establish the brand while prioritizing user experience.
Mecha Noodle Bar quickly and clearly establishes a bold and welcoming tone, and that they offer a melting pot of the best Southeast Asian cuisine. The experience feels considered without letting visual clutter and personality (or any one source of influence) overshadow the website’s primary purpose.
Social Media as a Brand Touchpoint
With social media, there’s an opportunity to engage, react, and participate with your audience, showing personality in ways that more formal touchpoints can’t. Content can be much more immediate, like a conversation that feels more human.
For example, a hospitality brand with its own unique voice will sound like itself whether announcing a new item or interacting with the local community, allowing for a more personal touch.
In-person Experience as a Brand Touchpoint
As mentioned in our ‘Tiny Details’ post, “Brands aren’t just built on one big idea. They are built through hundreds of tiny moments and details that add up.” Every detail is an opportunity to bring the brand to life through the physical space—signage, entryways, and wayfinding—to how a guest feels as they walk to their table and with every staff interaction. These are ways in which the brand goes beyond just the visual; it is contextualized, experienced, and remembered.
Collateral & Apparel as a Brand Touchpoint
These are the small artifacts, the matchbooks, chopsticks, stickers, hats, and apparel one collects to remember or show off your brand. While these items can surely promote the brand, they can also have a life beyond the in-person experience and take on new meaning outside their original environment.
Marketing Materials as a Brand Touchpoint
Marketing materials often have a relatively short window to make an impression, so clarity and recognition are key. Visuals may look great and represent the brand well on their own, but paired with a compelling message, brands can share more of their own voice and personality, helping to establish the brand in a larger sense.
Every touchpoint exists to tell its own story, allowing brands to expand and evolve. A strong brand isn’t consistent to a ‘T’, but one that has room to breathe and express itself in different ways.
As a boutique hospitality brand agency (and restaurant brand agency) focused on brand strategy, brand design & development, and beyond, Box Eight can help you shape and share a cohesive brand across every touchpoint.
