"The brand concept...it's a vibe." - Ben Wilson, Director of Strategy

VIA Studio's Director of Strategy gives his insights on Brand Concepts.

Ben Wilson Quote

Using the parlance of our time, Ben’s right. At its simplest understanding, the Brand Concept is your vibe. Who is your organization on an emotional level? I would ask you in our process… “What do you want your audience to 

 about you when they think about your brand?” It must be simple. It must be understandable, and it must resonate loudly with your audience.

First impressions being what they are, it is our job, once a Brand Concept is established, to develop your identity and collateral materials around this concept.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s really that simple, and that important. The concept rolls up all the brand strategy work we do, which is deeply understanding the following:

Your brand pillars, unique value propositions, etc

What adjustments are necessary to realign your brand with changes in the market, or your offerings

The Brand Concept is meant to entice your audience at the top of the funnel, AWARENESS, and make your brand memorable in a significant way that makes a strong impression. 

A well positioned company is not afraid of their competition 

A strong concept is a statement that only you can make, which makes a strong first impression and stakes a claim that your competition simply can’t.



When Louisville Collegiate School asked us to refresh their brand, we landed on the concept of “Limitless”. If you attend the school, or send your child to Collegiate, their world and their options become “Limitless”. Since they did not want us to redesign their logo, we used illustration, photography, and copywriting to build out the concept. The cornerstone of the concept is the photography and the design. We took photos of school kids looking out on the world from behind, out at their future and the possibilities inherent in their education. The design breaks out of their borders, and the copy is very inspirational.

"Limitless" ties Collegiate’s unique approach to education with the results it produces. Collegiate removes the limits. It allows students the freedom to explore different subjects and extracurricular activities in a way few schools can (or even attempt to) match. Collegiate also expands their worldview, and exposes them to ideas, people and cultures far beyond the confines of it’s campus. This approach helps students believe anything is possible, and gives them the foundation to make that belief a reality.


Trees with text, "The sky is not the limit. It's another world to explore."

Louisville Collegiate School advertisement designed by VIA Studio.

Louisville Collegiate School Advertisement

Person facing field with backpack. "The path to courage starts with encouragement."

Louisville Collegiate School advertisement.

Louisville Collegiate School Ad

Diamond photo college of students. "Learn everything. Except your limits."

VIA Studio worked with Louisville Collegiate School to develop a brand concept.

Louisville Collegiate School



Most people remember their first school field trip to the Kentucky Center, seeing either an orchestra performance, Broadway play, or other memorable event. These are the moments that impact us most, to see, hear, and experience the arts and how they move us and impact their lives. The concept was embellished with an identity system that brought all their sub-brands together in an energizing new system.

Can you feel it? Can you hear it? There it is, thrumming through every building, street, lane, and alleyway. The restless, boundless, joyous artistic spirit in our community.

For over 30 years, Kentucky Performing Arts has been tapped into that energy, feeling the vibes, listening to the rhythms and working every day to bring Louisville and the surrounding community the best of the performing arts - from childhood to adulthood and every step in between.

We’re driven by that energy - it’s who we are.

Out-of-home posters for KPA Kentucky Performing Art's Brown Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky.

Promotional poster design for the Brown Theatre in Louisville, KY.

Brown Theatre Posters

Three Kentucky Performing Arts banners with copy, "Come, be moved."

Vertical banners designed for KPA Kentuck Performing Arts.

KPA Banners

Billboard design with man playing guitar with red copy, "Come, be moved."

Billboard campaign design for KPA Kentucky Performing Arts in Louisville.

Kentucky Performing Art Center Billboard

Having a distinct brand concept brings tremendous value to your organization. It is an investment that will last years, and works to accelerate your communication objectives.

It gives your creative expressions a central theme, and guides the development of that work

It gives your internal culture a boost by giving your staff aspirational but achievable brand goals

It saves time and resources in developing ad campaigns, social media content, and other time-consuming marketing tasks

It is tuned to speak directly to your audience, their needs and motivations

It creates value for the company, as a strong brand is one consideration in business valuations

 if you think our approach is a match for your needs.

Positioning Your Company for Differentiation

 at VIA Studio is two components: Brand Strategy and Brand Identity. 

 is a process that helps you find the unique values of your organization and your value to your audience, and defines how you can best communicate that value. 

 is the outward expression of your company, and is crafted from your logo, colors, typography, as well as the rules that govern how they are implemented. A great identity reinforces confidence in and awareness of your brand.

Branding

Researching and planning is key to effective marketing strategy. We use data, insights, our gained knowledge and research born from curiosity to plan inventive, value-drive marketing plans for our clients.

Marketing Strategy

Why Your Brand Deserves a Concept

Many times we are approached to help an organization achieve their marketing goals, but to them, the challenge feels insurmountable. Strategies and tactics have gotten messy or confused for them. Inevitably the conversation starts with these types of comments:

“We’re spending $$ on PPC, but our results have bottomed out.”

“Our competitors have recently upped their game, and now we seem like a weaker competitor.”

“Our offerings have changed or improved, but we don’t know how to communicate them in a way that resonates.”

A big part of the value we bring to our partnerships is structure. We know from our years of experience what dependencies are necessary to get great work done. Showing you how we get there is very important. Leadership teams are rarely comfortable with “trust the process”. Therefore we enjoy building sophisticated roadmaps to help you understand priorities, timetables, and dependencies. This helps everyone understand when you can expect your branding and marketing to function on a much higher level.

 roadmap to shape up branding and marketing is fairly simple and straightforward. It looks like this much of the time, unless we're inheriting existing marketing programs:

➡️ Brand Strategy ➡️ Brand Identity ➡️ Content & Collateral ➡️ Website ➡️ Marketing & Agency Services

This is rarely enough information for communicating to your leadership team, so during our work together, we’ll put together more sophisticated roadmaps. Here are some examples.

Example 1: Two Year Alignment of Multiple Service Offerings

This client had finished a large strategic alignment of their various B2B service offerings, as well as adding a service line that is completely new, requiring a different strategy. This was a two-year roadmap, outlining quarterly priorities.

2021-2023 Road creative agency roadmap chart.

2021-2023 Roadmap

Example 2: Rebrand Internal and External Rollout

In this example, the client had completed a comprehensive rebrand, and needed to understand what it was going to take to communicate to their internal and external stakeholders, eventually rolling in to ongoing marketing and business development.

Sample of a project timeline for a client project.

Project Timeline

This nonprofit client had two very important fundraising events in the fall and winter and had just completed a new brand identity. It was critical to ensure the new identity was deployed with quality before starting an intense marketing campaign. Our audience needed to understand what they were seeing was their favorite events, just modernized.

Example timeline for a client brand rollout and collateral design.

Brand Rollout Timeline

Build it in a spreadsheet or other tool to allow for detail, but then build a simpler one for clarity and simplicity. Less is more.

Priorities and dependencies are critical to communicate.

The plan will always change. Don’t get hung up on dates or timelines that are unreasonable. Communicate in phases or time periods instead of strict dates (unless there is an event that is immobile)

Someone may not be excited about how long a particular phase might take. Don’t change the roadmap for them, especially if a date is unreasonable. Under promise and overdeliver and you will win a ton of trust.


Our strategy team can provide you with an unbiased look at your brand and marketing to give you the perspective you need to make the next move the right move. We provide audits at all levels - high-level, comprehensive marketing audits down to platform-specific social media auditing to SEO audits of your websites. In addition, you receive our hard-earned insights, recommendations and a roadmap or plan to move your forward.

Auditing & Roadmapping

Roadmapping Your Strategic Initiatives



Often when you feel like it’s time to refresh your identity, your website, or any other marketing material it’s because your positioning needs to be elevated in a way that resonates with your audience. This happens for a number of reasons:

Your competition has developed positioning that has made yours either outdated or sub-par

Your company has never developed a Brand Strategy or Positioning

If you’ve been involved in an unfocused logo/identity or website project, it’s likely because the team doesn’t have access to the appropriate Brand Strategy toolbox.

This is a critical aspect of our work, and requisite to building a differentiated and successful brand presence for organizations like yours.

Our work in positioning is a primary focus of our Brand Strategy process. Brand Identity will follow Brand Strategy. In this series though, we want to focus on the foundational elements that are less understood than an identity system.

A well positioned company is a self-aware company.

 You know intimately the aspects of your Brand Strategy, and have the necessary tools to execute impactful marketing with those tools.

. You understand what makes you unique in the market. This is easily seen in the auto industry. A Lexus and a Subaru are both nice cars, but they are important in their own way to their different audiences, and both companies have crafted their brand to focus on those personas.

“When you try to be all things to all people,
you become nothing to no one.”

Sometimes positioning is public, and sometimes it drives your creative headlines. Positioning can be thought of as your “brand promise”. It’s a straightforward sentence that encompasses who you are, what you do, and why.

I’m going to draw a line in the sand: That the snarky advertisement that gets attention and wins awards for ad agencies ain’t good positioning. That’s an ad campaign. Sometimes snark and cleverness are useful and sometimes not, but even Big Ass Fans (the snarkiest name in the business) has a straightforward positioning: “Comfort Solutions For Your Home or Business”.

Any major advertising expense needs to have a brand strategy that has been well executed as its foundation.

Brand Strategy is the work necessary to define your place in the market. This work typically focuses on:

, optimally turned into Personas, defining their motivations

, especially if you have multiple brands or confusing offerings

, uncovering your unique value proposition(s) and authentic brand attributes

t, revealing the inner essence of your brand, and a guiding light for ongoing branding and marketing efforts

We’ve refined and codified our Brand Strategy process to be a leading focus of our client projects. Our 

 are a linear process, and always the first phase in any branding work that we produce. I’m not exaggerating when I say this work is critical to your ongoing success in achieving your marketing goals.

Successful brands are value-true, carried forward by stakeholders and align perfectly with the products and services for the audience they serve.


In this Brand Strategy series we will continue to break down the components of our process to help you understand how to build a brand presence that is the perfect fit for your organization.

We’ve been building this tradition for quite some time now...

Happy holiday season and welcome to our 11th annual Holiday Gift Guide! Below are our team’s carefully selected gift ideas for everyone on your list this year. We hope you enjoy browsing our guide as much as we did creating it.

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If you're anything like me, a good night’s sleep consists of remaining cool all night long. Buffy's breeze comforter is a temperature-regulating, plant-based comforter designed to keep you cool and comfortable throughout the night. 


Buffy Breeze Comforter

A small, woman-owned business based in Southern Indiana whose specialty is natural, soy candles that are phthalate-free, toxin-free, and carcinogen-free. My top holiday scent recommendations are: Holiday Spice, North Pole (for my peppermint lovers), and Pine + Bergamont.

Kozy Kandles

I would much rather receive an experience than a material gift. Cooking at Millie's offers a range of engaging cooking classes and date nights that allow you to learn new skills in a "home kitchen" environment. Check out their event calendar for upcoming offerings and classes! 

Cooking at Millie's

KRM is a non-profit organization that provides a wide variety of services to refugees resettling in Louisville. When my family came to the United States as refugees, we were connected to many people from our home country because of KRM — and that was just one of the many services they provided us. I can't say enough about how impactful this organization is. Please consider donating/getting involved this winter to help refugees resettling to our Louisville community.

Kentucky Refugee Ministries

We're so lucky to have a bakery that makes some of the best bread in the country right here in Louisville. You can't go wrong by bringing someone fresh (Pugliese) bread as a gift. But, if that feels weird, grab an assortment of their pastries and maybe even a pint of the Louisville Cream x Blue Dog ice cream instead. AH.

Blue Dog Bakery & Café

All the skincare lovers out there need Green Eclipse.

This facial scrub will make your skin look and feel fresh, hydrated, and glowy. In my opinion, it's hard to find a soothing exfoliant — but this one does it for me. Plus, you're supporting an eco-conscious and vegan-operated brand. Grab a 4oz jar for less than $20!

Green Eclipse

Best tumbler I have ever used. It keeps my coffee hot all day, my other one keeps my water cold all day. They won't spill if knocked over as long as the sliding lid is closed. 10/10 would recommend.


YETI Rambler 20oz Tumbler

Air Maxes are my all-time favorite type of sneakers. Comfortable, sporty, stylish. With a wide variety of styles and colorways, these sneakers work with just about any outfit or occasion and are sure to get you compliments.


Nike Air Max Sneakers

My favorite local record shop. The perfect gift for any music lover or audiophile in your life. 


Guestroom Records Gift Cards/Merch

Whether you're someone who grew up reading comics or who just wants to know how it came to be that every other movie that comes out is an increasingly obscure superhero, this madman's journey through reading (nearly) everything Marvel has ever published is an enlightening and entertaining work of criticism. 

All of the Marvels: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told

Full disclosure: my partner owns this business, but I don't think any of your friends and family members with little ones will mind when they finally have a place to relax and let their kids run around when it's too cold for the park or they just want to drink some coffee. Check out the gift cards and gift someone a set of play sessions!

Glow Worm Play Cafe 

Georgia's Sweet Potato Pie Co.

A clothing store from an artist who does handmade garments and accessories like mufflers, hats, ties, bags, scrunchies, and masks. The designs are pretty and are a nice gift for gifting something playful and quirky.

Steff & The Playground

Open Spaces has products that help with organization and storage. I got some of the bins and baskets during the shift from college to full-time work when I was doing a complete overhaul of my room and they’ve been really nice and sturdy so far.

Open Spaces

Maí Accents has a whimsical vibe with products ranging from jewelry, pottery, and clothes — but mainly crafts that are created for a variety of things. Since it’s hand-crafted, items are very limited, but the designs are one-of-a-kind for each craft she makes.

Maí Accents 

This book takes a deep dive into the code and hardware behind the classic 3D first-person shooter.


Game Engine Black Book: DOOM Edition

Looking to take your kayaking (or other small watercraft) to the next level (eg, the OCEAN)? You're gonna want one of these!


Waterproof Handheld 2-Way VHF Marine Radio

Tame the rat's nest of cables on your desk with this cheap-but-useful cable organizer.


Heaviest Cable Organizer

Anything from anywhere in Westport Village — they have over 40 locally-owned boutiques, restaurants, fitness studios, and services.  If you get a chance, be sure to attend any of their live events while grabbing dinner on a patio or browsing the shops. So much fun!

Westport Village

If you are a family of tweens, teens, and young adults, portable chargers have a tendency to disappear. Having more than one on hand is a necessity.

Portable Chargers

As someone with a few hobbies that involve gear that I'd rather not lose, I had the idea this year to get some stickers printed to put on said gear. This is a way to be funny, but also to not confuse ownership if I let someone borrow something. Sticker Mule regularly runs specials (50 stickers for $29!), so get on their mailing list and wait for the deals. 

Sticker Mule Stickers

Any guitarist or synth geek in your life would appreciate this amazing distortion pedal. You're playing a lightning bolt! 🤘 Their other products are equally as interesting and innovative.

Gamechanger Audio Plasma Distortion (Pedal or Eurorack)

As my career evolves, I look for professional development opportunities through outside organizations. The Bureau of Digital is for leaders in our industry. I'm happy to say I've developed more through this organization than pretty much any other I've been involved with. If you or someone you love is advancing in their role and would value a resource to help them achieve their goals, the Bureau is it.



Bureau of Digital Membership

"Superior LED Christmas bulbs that look just like vintage incandescent". For those of us who get our holiday stuff out in September and don't stop until the new year, these high-quality, low-energy-use lights shine. Every aspect from the plug to the shine is amazing. Also, their branding, marketing, and packaging are ✨ lit ✨. The box smells like pine when you open it! 

Tru-Tone Christmas Lights

For the film lover in your life. Criterion is "dedicated to publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements." Streaming is all well and good, but nothing beats the incredibly immersive experience that is the Blu-Ray, 4K Criterion treatment of a favorite film. My first? Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Find a favorite film for a friend in their ever-growing collection.


The Criterion Collection

Yousician and a Casio SA-76 Keyboard. Get back to the analog and make some music this winter. I never learned to properly read music or play songs when I was young, but I've had great success as an old man with "Yousician" - an app that teaches you how to read and play music on a number of instruments. I've used it with guitar and keyboard, but the cheapest (and most fun) option is the workhorse Casio SA-76 keyboard.

Yousician 

Might get made fun of for this one but I am tired of buying ferns to hang on the front porch every year and then them dying... I do not have a green thumb, I can admit that. A one-time purchase, bust it back out in the spring, and let her hang sounds IDEAL.


Hanging Fake Fern 

An intro to stained glass class at Preston Art's "leads students through the creation of the example project. Students will cut, trim, shape, and solder their own stained glass! All supplies included!" 


Stained Glass Class  

I took the intro to meditation course at Earth & Spirit Center and loved it. I've since let it slip, but I would really like to bring mindfulness and meditation practices back into my daily routine. This class sounds perfect — "In this class we will explore the science of stress, resilience, & mindfulness as it supports our personal wellbeing by understanding and practicing the Pause for our Resilience."

Embracing Resilience Meditation Course

These past two years, time has felt even less real than usual, and I love that I can let everyone around me know just how real time feels with these socks. (Gaudmother is a textile experiment led by Britt Rodriguez that challenges the idea of work under capitalist standards.)

Gaudmother Time Isn't Real // Enjoy Yourself Socks

I'd buy pretty much anything Isa Beniston (the artist behind Gentle Thrills) makes, but this tea towel is a top pick for sure.


Gentle Thrills Cowgirl Boot Tea Towel

I've had my eye on this whimsically wonderful piece by Jadie Hanley for way too long! It's the perfect gift for all the witchy art lovers on your list, but you really can't go wrong with anything Jadie makes!


Ecclesia Sleeping Moon Necklace

Learn something new together! Payne Street offers introductory "Try-It" classes that walk you through the basics of pottery throwing before letting you go wild on the wheel. They're even BYOB, if you'd like to make it a fun holiday date night.  

Payne Street Pottery Classes 

Who wouldn't love a whole growing season's worth of fresh, local fruits and veggies? Some farms allow you to split your own share with another household, making it a great gift that will keep on giving. Local options with awesome missions include Black Market or Hope Community Farm, or check out options all across the state at KY Proud.  

CSA Share 

Another gift to keep the spirit of the holidays alive well into 2022! Der Bauernhof is a local flower farm that will deliver beautiful, locally-grown seasonal bouquets every month during the growing season. 

Monthly Hand-Delivered Flowers 

House of Tulip works to provide zero-barrier housing to trans and gender-nonconforming people in New Orleans.

House of Tulip 

Bvlbancha is a collective that works to support Indigenous populations in a variety of ways - including a shop.

Bvlbancha

Imagine Waterworks is a powerhouse Mutual Aid network.

Imagine Waterworks

I have been a hot yoga practitioner for 20+ years and can honestly say it has made a huge impact on my life - physically, mentally, and spiritually. I love this studio and the yoga instructors are fantastic!

Bend & Zen Yoga

Love this local store that has something for everyone, especially that hard-to-buy-for person on your holiday list!

Work The Metal 

The cure for blood cancer is in the hands of ordinary people. Be The Match is a global leader in bone marrow transplantation. Learn how you can donate, either financially or be a stem cell donor. 

Be The Match

Pick up a pack of cheap, wifi-enabled light bulbs that don't need any sort of additional hardware - just the bulb and the app. You can control the color of the bulb from your phone.


Wyze Color Bulbs

This device grills, air crisps, bakes, roasts, boils, and dehydrates all in one device. We've used it a ton since getting it and it has made dinner an easier time.


Indoor Grill & Air Fryer

If you are into gaming and have either a PC or Xbox, you need to check out Game Pass. It gives you access to a ton of games, like Halo and the new Age of Empire, for one monthly cost.


Xbox Game Pass

Culture

Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide 2021

Welcome to the new world of remote work! YOU’RE ON MUTE! How many times a day does that happen now?

Well, I can’t help with the UX of Zoom or Google Meet, but I can help you make your Zoom calls far more interesting than that fake beach scene background Zoom lets you use (if you pay them).

I’ve recently fallen in love with OBS Studio. It’s an open-source live streaming software package, but if you peek behind the curtains, it can be so much more. So, in the interest of making the world more interesting, let’s have a Zoom call soon and see what you can do with your webcams!

You can create multiple “scenes” and easily switch between them, so for all the ideas you might come up with, you can easily use all of them in one conference call.

Step 3: Let’s get creative! Here are a few options for making something interesting.

OBS allows you to integrate graphics, videos, multiple camera sources, text, and more into its viewport, and more importantly, using that viewport as a webcam source. So break out your brand standards guide, and follow along!

Remember your design fundamentals. Less is more, but make it interesting!

Here are some examples that you can use, and a 

Example 1: The “Business Card” (simple)

Jason Clark

Journal Entries

Why Your Brand Deserves a Concept

Roadmapping Your Strategic Initiatives

Positioning Your Company for Differentiation

Holiday Gift Guide 2021

OBS Studio Tips & Tricks: Super Cool Webcam Options

Charitable Giving Guide 2020

Holiday Gift Guide 2020

2019 VIA Studio Highlight Reel

2019 Holiday Gift Guide For Web & Design Geeks

Typography in Design

Personal Projects