Creative Brand Strategy - Task 1: Case Study & Campaign Proposal
Creative Brand Strategy
26/9/2025 - 22/10/2025 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Qian Guoyi | 0369462
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Creative Brand Strategy / Task 1: Case Study & Campaign Proposal
INSTRUCTIONS
LECTURES
Week 2 | The Brand-Building Process
What is the brand-building process?
Brand building is a strategic process that shapes how people perceive and remember a brand. It includes brand experience, creative strategy, and campaign visual identity.
It represents the lasting impression a brand leaves and how it shapes consumer feelings and behaviour.
A poor experience can easily drive customers to competitors.
Website design should reflect the brand’s identity and be easy to use
Advertising should clearly communicate the brand’s values and personality
Visual elements such as logos, packaging, and social media should evoke positive emotions
Indirect Marketing
Employees are one of the most important brand ambassadors
Online presence and social media interactions greatly influence first impressions
What Is SWOT Analysis?
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning tool used to evaluate a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It helps businesses understand their current position in the market.
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, and it examines both internal and external factors that may affect a business or project.
The Four Elements of SWOT
- Strengths: Internal factors that give a company an advantage over competitors
- Weaknesses: Internal limitations that may reduce performance
- Opportunities: External factors that offer potential for growth
- Threats: External factors that could negatively impact the business
When Should SWOT Analysis Be Used?
SWOT analysis can be applied in various situations, including:
Developing new business strategies
Launching new products or services
Entering new markets
Evaluating the competitive environment
Responding to industry or market changes
SWOT analysis helps businesses make informed decisions in uncertain or changing conditions.
What Is Brand Positioning?
Brand positioning is a strategic process through which a company defines and communicates its unique value to a target audience. The goal is to establish a distinctive position in consumers’ minds compared to competitors.Brand consistency is essential, as it helps customers recognise the brand and understand what it stands for.
Why Is Brand Positioning Important?
Brand positioning is important because it helps a brand stand out in a crowded market.
It clearly communicates the brand’s personality, strengths, and values. When done effectively, it builds strong emotional connections with consumers and increases brand loyalty.
How to Find a Strong Brand Positioning
Step 1: Analysis
Understand consumer needs and expectations
Identify the brand’s capabilities
Analyse competitors’ positioning
Step 2: Create a Positioning Statement
The positioning statement should:
Resonate with the target audience
Be achievable based on the brand’s capabilities
Clearly differentiate the brand from competitors
Step 3: Consistent Implementation
The positioning should be reflected across all brand elements, including brand personality, products, packaging, visual identity, and communication.
Common Types of Brand Positioning Strategies
- Convenience-based positioning: Emphasising ease of use, efficiency, or simple solutions
- Niche positioning: Offering unique or rare products or services
- Problem–solution positioning: Focusing on solving specific consumer pain points
Positioning Statement Examples
- Apple
- Apple positions itself as a brand for creative and innovative users who are willing to pay a premium for high-quality technology. Through innovative products such as the iPhone and iPad, Apple creates value and builds strong connections with its customers.
- Coca-Cola
- Coca-Cola positions itself as a brand that offers high-quality, refreshing beverage choices. Its products aim to create joyful experiences and bring positive emotions into consumers’ everyday lives, always placing consumers at the centre of the brand.
PROCESS
TASK 1:Case Study & Campaign Proposal
1A : Case Study
You are to analyse a well-established Rebranding Campaign of your choosing.
1. Identifying its brand strategy: The Brand Story, Objective & Purpose, Brand Values, Vision & Mission, Target Audience, Brand Positioning.
2. Understanding its brand experience: features and activities.
3. Reviewing its key visuals and the applications: identity and usage from different platforms.
1B : Campaign Proposal
You are to propose a Branding Campaign. The campaign will be for a a glimpse of your choosing and may be conceptualised as a rebranding exercise to introduce a new concept or as a new product line launch.
The suggested proposal outline:
Campaign Description, Brand Story, Objective & Purpose, Brand Values, Vision & Mission, Target Audience, Organizers. SWOTs, Brand Positioning. Furthermore, you are to identify the Brand Touch Points by producing a Customer Journey Map.
Project Theme Confirmation
At the beginning of the project, we conducted a brainstorming session to define our research theme. I was initially more inclined towards skincare brands, as they often have comprehensive and well-established brand systems, such as Aesop. In contrast, Shengxiao preferred fashion brands, believing that they usually demonstrate stronger and more distinctive brand personalities, such as Golden Goose and Acne Studios.
Through further discussion, we realised that skincare and cosmetics brands share many similarities in terms of branding and market positioning, and this type of topic is relatively common in group projects. As a result, we decided to focus on Acne Studios.
Acne Studios presents a clearer and more restrained brand style. Its visual language is minimal, consistent, and structurally coherent, which makes it easier to analyse and develop further. Moreover, this rational and concept-driven design approach aligns closely with my personal preference for simplicity and conceptual design. Therefore, Acne Studios offers greater flexibility and practicality for strategic adjustment and brand development within this project.
This is a SWOT analysis of Acne Studio.
This discussion focuses on developing an event concept for Acne Studios. After evaluating several proposals, we ultimately selected Proposal 1: “Acne Studios: Fragmented Identity” as the final theme for the project.
The concept of “Fragmented Identity” explores ideas of imperfection, multiplicity, and non-linear self-expression, which strongly align with Acne Studios’ brand philosophy. To express this theme, we plan to create a fashion show video that combines a photography exhibition with a runway presentation, merging static and moving imagery into a single visual narrative.
Visually, the project will incorporate collage elements, such as layering, cutting, fragmentation, and reassembly of images. This collage-based approach represents the fragmented and fluid nature of contemporary identity, while also reflecting Acne Studios’ experimental design language, deconstructed aesthetics, and emphasis on structure and contrast.
Through this video-based event format, the project aims to create an immersive visual experience that communicates the emotional depth of the brand. By blending fashion, photography, and moving image, the audience is invited to reflect on themes of identity, self-expression, and the beauty of imperfection, thereby deepening their understanding of Acne Studios’ brand values.
REFLECTION
Through the process of developing the event concept for Acne Studios, I gained a deeper understanding of the relationship between conceptual thinking and brand interpretation. At the beginning of the project, our group used brainstorming as a way to explore possible directions. Each member approached the discussion from different design interests and perspectives, which helped me realise that group discussions are not only about sharing ideas, but also about narrowing down the most suitable concept for a brand.
After comparing different brand categories, we decided to focus on Acne Studios and selected the theme “Acne Studios: Fragmented Identity.” This decision was not based solely on personal preference, but on a careful analysis of the brand’s visual language and core values. Acne Studios’ restrained, rational, and consistent design approach, along with its exploration of imperfection, deconstruction, and multiple identities, provided a strong foundation for conceptual development.
As the project progressed, I learned that a successful brand event is not defined by visual novelty alone, but by how well the concept, medium, and brand identity are connected. By combining a photography exhibition with a fashion show in video form and incorporating collage elements, we aimed to translate the abstract idea of fragmented identity into a tangible visual experience.
This project encouraged me to reconsider the role of design in brand communication. Design is not only about aesthetics, but also a tool for critical thinking and storytelling. Through this experience, I became more confident in my interest in rational, conceptual, and emotionally restrained design approaches, while also strengthening my skills in brand analysis, concept development, and collaborative work.
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