Launching a new brand

Launching a new brand involves deciding what you want audiences to understand, not simply choosing a name and visual identity. The challenge is to make an unfamiliar organisation or offer distinct from existing choices while explaining its practical value. A broad ambition needs to become a proposition that speaks to the people you need to reach. Stakeholder interviews, collaborative workshops and market analysis can help establish that proposition. A consistent narrative, verbal identity and visual system can then express it, while launch activity gives audiences a way to explore what it means in practice.

For the Responsible AI Future Foundation (RAIFF), stakeholder research and market analysis informed a brand focused on helping governments in the Global South build AI systems reflecting their own cultures, laws and priorities. The narrative, "AI is what we make it", positioned RAIFF around action and deployment rather than observation. Its visual identity and sector icons connected diverse priorities through a shared philosophy.

IBM Garage presented a different launch task: the offer already had a name, but needed a value proposition and creative concept to distinguish it from rival innovation hubs. The "Where it happens" campaign used an interactive physical book and browser-based VR to bring prospective clients into the Garage environment. This made the co-creation proposition experiential, drawing in new and existing audiences and helping generate millions of dollars in revenue.