Slides from my guest lecture at USC Annenberg School for Communication on Brand Experience as a career path.

1. Brand Experience Design
Alicia Nagel | KAA Design Group

2. AGENDA
• One Path to Becoming a Brand Storyteller
• KAA Design Group
• A Definition of Brand Experience
• Case Studies
• Some Careers Involved in Brand Experience

3. ONE PATH TO BECOMING A BRAND STORYTELLER
• Education
– Boston University : Advertising / Anthropology
• Work Experience
– Small Advertising Agency : Hub Strategy
• A Little Bit of Everything
– Big Ad Agency : TBWAChiatDay
• Print Production Artist
– Multi-disciplinary Design: KAA
• Brand Storytelling
• Traits I Feel Help Me Become a Brand Storyteller
– Artist
– Therapist
– Visual Communicator
– Problem-solver

4. KAA DESIGN GROUP
• Multi-disciplinary Design Firm: 4 Studios
– Architecture, Interiors, Landscape
– Specialize in private residences
– Growing portfolio of mixed-use and hospitality projects
– Brand Experience
– Operates with other disciplines as well as alone
• Brand Experience Projects Include
• Identity: Logo, Stationery, Website
• Marketing Materials: Brochure, Portfolio, Postcard
• Signage & Wayfinding
• 3-D Modeling
• Brand Experience’s Role in Our Projects
– Define the Story
– Keep Efforts Inline with the Story
– Communicate Brand Story through deliverables
www.kaadesigngroup.com

5. DEFINITION: BRAND EXPERIENCE
• What is a Brand?
• Essence
• Who you are
• How is that Brand experienced?
• Through Touchpoints
• Personal Brand as example
• Company Touchpoints
• Identity / logo
• Physical space
• Language
• Service / Interaction
• Name

6. BRAND EXPERIENCE DESIGN: THE DELIVERABLE
• Examples of Brand Experience Deliverables – Multiple
Touchpoints
• Style guide for using an identity system
• Masterplan for campus
• Restaurant Concept
• Name, logo, color palette, interior space, lighting, menu, uniform,
the whole package
• Website

7. BRAND EXPERIENCE / STORYTELLING TOOLS
• Internal “Hot Group”
• Focus Group
• Brand Audit / Questionnaire
• Experience Keyword Map
• Brand Promise
• Creative Brief
• Imagery
• Matrix
• Brand Book / Story
• Artist Renderings
• Materials / Tangibles
– Packaging
– Samples

8. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer
BRAND EXPERIENCE PROCESS
• Needs: Concept Goals:
– Communicate the Four Disciplines
– Keep Customers Engaged
– Non-limiting Promotion Experience
• Can be used all year
• No religious, seasonal, gender affiliations
– Mailable + Cost of Production
– Showcase Talent
• Process
• Internal Email Survey
• Hot Group
• Inspirational Imagery

9. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer

10. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer

11. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer

12. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer

13. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer

14. CASE STUDY 1: KAA Holiday Mailer
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Prioritize Goals
– Define a budget from the beginning
• Don’t just tell a story, tell YOUR story
– Compared to last year’s
• Push the creativity
– Patterns
– Inspire Recipient’s Creativity
• Limitations can make you innovate
– Packaging

15. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
• Needs
• Process
– Brand Audit / Questionnaire
– Experience Keyword Map
– Brand Promise
• Deliverables
• Define Story
• Refine Existing Logo
• Define Visual Language
• Website

16. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity
Brand Audit / Questionnaire
1. What business are you in?
2. What is your company’s mission? What are your three most important goals?
3. Why was this company created?
4. What differentiates you from your competition?
5. What are your firm's strongest qualities or attributes?
6. If you asked your best clients why they value you, what would they answer?
7. What are the "nuances" that define your style and identity?
8. What mythic or psychological archetype does your firm embody?
9. What are your core competencies?
10. What is your firm's "personality"?
11. Who is the target audience you want to reach?
12. Who is your competition? Is there a competitor that you admire most? If so, why?
13. How do you market your product and services?
14. What are the trends and changes that affect your industry?
15. How do you want to be perceived 5 years from now? 10 years?
16. How does your company measure success?
17. What values and beliefs unify your employees and drive their performance?
18. What are the potential barriers to the success of your product or service?
19. If you could communicate a single message about your company, what would it be?

17. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity
Experience Keyword Map

18. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity

19. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity

20. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity

21. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity

22. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity
Brand Promise BRAND PROMISE
CLIENT: BlueWater Equity Partners
Visionary Real Estate Investment. Tangible Results.
BlueWater Equity Partners has the knowledge and experience to offer stability and
reliability, and the passion and drive to exceed expectations, including our own.
We truly are a partner in real estate investment – we share the risk of ownership by
having a significant portion of our personal assets allocated to each project. You
can't get much more invested than that. We offer our investors a unique
opportunity to invest in properties they otherwise wouldn't have access to,
providing superior returns and all the benefits of real estate investment without
hands-on involvement. With BlueWater Equity Partners as the active operators, our
investors reap the benefits of our experience and intuition. This is not your average
business relationship – we measure our success together.
So what's in it for us? This is our passion. Our drive. Our Raison d'être. We live for
the challenge and draw on our decades of experience to continue our formidable
track record. Blue water is where the most promising opportunities lie. As
experienced and astute guides we make them attainable. We thrive on the
challenge, intrigue, chase, testing of our skill – out here, we are at the top of our
game.
BlueWater Equity is the partner that does all the legwork while our investors call
the shots. We are committed to continuous communication, dedicated to an open
dialogue designed to maximize results candidly and efficiently. We set out into the
blue, growing, achieving, moving upward, together.
BlueWater Equity Partners is ready for the next challenge, the next test, the next
opportunity on the horizon. It is fixed in our gaze and we are steadfast in our
pursuit. Get onboard.

23. CASE STUDY 2: Bluewater Equity
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Meet In Person
– Brand Audit Resistance & Confusion
• Business Partners With Differing Visions
– Now there is only one

24. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s
WE ARE A BRAND, NOT A CHAIN
• Needs
• Tell the story
• Define the brand
• Process
• Site visits
• Hot Groups
• Inspiration Imagery
• Deliverables / Tools
• Brand Book
• Brand Elements /
Design Elements

25. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s
• Brand Book

26. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

27. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

28. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

29. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

30. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

31. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

32. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s

33. CASE STUDY 3: Mastro’s
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Brand Experience – a constant presence
– Architecture and Interiors-focused meetings are enhanced by
regular Brand Experience presence
• Defining the Scope
– Try to get the client to voice budget limitations asap

34. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
COMMUNICATING THE STORY
• Needs
• What is my story?
• Process
• Client meetings
• Hot Groups
• Imagery
• Deliverables/ Tools
• Brand Vision
• Name
• Logo
• Brand Color
• Brand Book
• Business Card, Shopping Bag,

35. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
BRAND BOOK

36. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
• Brand Book

37. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
• Color Palette
• Materials Palette

38. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily

39. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
• Architectural Artist Rendering

40. CASE STUDY 4: Caroline Lily
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Getting Inspired By Location
– Relevant Color Palette
• Brand Book as Investor Tool
– Conceptual / Graphic Business Plan

41. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon
Selling Not Just an Architectural Design But A
Lifestyle Story
• Needs
• Paid Pitch: 3 Architectural Firms
• Vision for Estate
• Process
• Hot Group
• Artist Renderings
• Imagery
• Deliverables / Tools
• Brand Book
• Materials / Tangibles
• Presentation Boards

42. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon

43. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon

44. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon

45. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon

46. CASE STUDY 5: Beauvallon
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Engage the Client: Interactive Presentation
– Using mood lighting, music, wine, cheese, materials, gifts,
unexpected details to help the client envision the experience
– Success of Storytelling
– Clients responded more to a story of their experience than to a
description of the product

47. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
Translating a Brand Into an Identity and Campus
• Needs
• School Masterplan: Landscape, Signage & Wayfinding
• School Logo, Athletics Logo, Coat of Arms
• Stationery System, Marketing Matls., Style Guides
• Brand Experience Process
• Site Survey
• Focus Groups
• 3-Phase Books: Identifying Themes, Inspirational Imagery,
Goals Matrixes, Artist Renderings
• Deliverables / Tools
• Vision Imagery
• Materials / Tangibles
• Phase & Implementation Documents

48. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
School Logo
Athletics Logo
Coat of Arms

49. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
School Masterplan: Landscape,Signage & Wayfinding
• Deliverables: Phase 1, 2, 4
• Phase 3 is Design Development
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 4:
Final Deliverable

50. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
Phase 1: Needs Assessment and Vision

51. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
Phase 2: Design Concept Exploration

52. CASE STUDY 6: Chadwick School
INSIGHTS GATHERED
• Engage Key Client Representatives
– Approval by Board
• Engage Client in Creative Process
– In progess presentations
– Stick with your idea and be convicted

53. Some Careers Involved in Brand Experience
• Graphic Designer
• Architect
• Advertising – stratey & creative aspects
• Marketing / PR – in-house or agency
• Interior Design
• Landscape Design
• 3-D Modeling & Animation
• Web Developer
• Photographer
• Copywriter
• Product Designer
• Consultant