FOUNDATION, IDEATION, DELIVERY, OPTIMIZATION
Smith Kroeger’s FIDO Branding Process is a multistep approach to creating, strengthening or clarifying a client’s brand. Based on the Latin word “fidus” (meaning “faithful”) the FIDO Process is a purposeful, but flexible, branding methodology. It’s suitable for establishing new brands, retooling existing ones or making more focused brand refinements.
FIDO is evidence-based and provides unique and actionable insights about a brand’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of competitors and aspirational industry leaders. It also examines relevant audiences and shows how the brand’s values, voice and messaging can best align and engage with them. Ultimately, this leads to well-reasoned and long-term plans for sustaining and optimizing the brand.
Smith Kroeger’s FIDO Process involves four areas: Foundation, Ideation, Delivery and Optimization.
FOUNDATION
Like building anything that lasts, developing a solid brand begins with laying a strong groundwork. The Foundation step of FIDO cultivates a comprehensive understanding of the client, its needs and the current state of its brand (or the traits and values that will embody a new brand). This includes researching the client’s industry and its competitors, as well as any aspirational brands that could provide additional insights.
The key deliverable for the Foundation step is the Brand Report. This is an in-depth slide deck that gathers all research and analysis, providing actionable insights based on the client’s needs. After completing this report, it’s presented to the client for review and feedback, and then edited to ensure alignment with project expectations. Once finalized, its insights are communicated to the creative team using a Creative Brief (see Ideation step).
IDEATION
After laying a solid foundation, the Smith Kroeger account manager is responsible for translating the insights from the Brand Report into actionable directions for the creative team. A Creative Brief is drafted, detailing how these findings can be applied to the specific creative work requested by the client. For projects requiring multiple deliverables, separate creative briefs are written.
Creative work is reviewed internally with the entire team during the concepting phase to maintain alignment with the Brand Report and Creative Brief. The account manager is the client’s advocate during this phase and ensures the deliverables in progress meet all needs and expectations. Upon completion, the team meets again to organize the deliverables into a presentation, establishing the narrative and rationale behind the proposed creative concepts. Depending on the project, this may include a range of options (logos or taglines), or a single deliverable for review and revision (brand guide, video script, etc.). Following client feedback, further work is completed for the branding engagement.
DELIVERY
The Delivery step of the project includes providing final deliverables to the client in their required formats. If needed, the team will speak to the rationale of the finalized creative work. This phase also includes any immediate implementations of the deliverables as indicated in the original project description. These can include media placements, presentation materials for client use, the creation of usable templates or any other method of deployment.
OPTIMIZATION
The Optimization step is a reflection of the ongoing partnership Smith Kroeger fosters with its client. Depending on the branding work created and implementations completed, Optimization can take many forms. For any media campaign (traditional or digital), this can include the development of appropriate creative specs to fit different advertising formats. It may also extend to the creation of supplemental branding material, such as the development of a brand family for any related client products, services or initiatives.
Your account manager serves as an ongoing strategic partner, regularly working with you in to provide support, strategize new ideas or simply helping you stay ahead.
KEITH COUNTY CLIENT SPOTLIGHT
THE PERFECT PLAN TO BUILD A RELEVANT
AND MEMORABLE BRAND IDENTITY.
Alisa adores the outdoors and spends as much time as she can hiking and camping. She’s a creative at heart, which accounts for her moustache tattoo. She also spent two years in the events industry managing venues (sadly, all of them indoors).
Family, music, autos and websites are Robbie’s passions. On weekends you’ll find him with his wife and daughters at a car show or other community event. If there was such a thing as a model-car-building convention, you’d find them there, too.
