How do you turn a business A Brand? Well, a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to unpack the answer to this question. You know the tropes,
“It’s what’s said about you when you’re not in the room”
“It’s the way someone feels about a company”
“It’s the outward projection of a business – the way it looks, speaks and behaves”
“It’s what makes it recognisable or different from others in the market”
Theory is helpful, but nothing beats seeing it in real life as the so-called “maths and magic” of branding actually happens. The challenge I’ve found throughout my career, and which I’ll touch on in the conclusion of this piece, is that the case studies we observe and learn from are so often the exception, not the rule. The exceptions are the brands that connect deeply to people and merge seamlessly into culture. The rule is that most branding initiatives are a constant uphill struggle towards differentiation, recognition and trust. And that’s ok, it’s what makes the work fun and interesting. But it’s good to know, accept and roll with.
Now, let’s continue because the best deep dive of “branding in action” that I’ve noticed recently is DeVOL’s docuseries on Discovery+, For The Love Of Kitchens. At first glance, it’s pretty niche programming, with each episode following members of the wealthy leisure class as they gussy up their vast kitchens and fret about splashbacks. But once you’ve accepted that the 1% are gonna 1% and that if money doesn’t buy happiness, it certainly buys you a Carrara marble butler’s sink, then the lessons in branding really start to emerge.
The series is led by Paul O’Leary, the “OL” half of DeVOL, and his partner Helen Parker, Creative Director. In the show, Paul, who started the company in 1993, often refers to the early days as being characterised by slow starts, flying under the radar, and nearly going broke. DeVOL kitchens were beautifully made and timeless in design but only those “in the know” knew it.
In the early 2010’s things started to shift. Helen Parker, who had been with the company since 2004 as a kitchen designer, stepped into the role of Creative Director. She spearheaded the design of their London showrooms and, most notably, their Grade II listed 16th-century water mill “HQ” in Leicestershire. She developed the art direction for how the kitchens are styled and shot once installed in customer homes. And she trains the teams who work directly with clients.
On the face of it, you could dismiss Helen’s contribution as not much more than fiddling around with a bunch of antique terracotta pots and Amalfi lemons. But what she clearly has is something more valuable and critical to the success of any brand – insight and taste.
Let’s get a framework going. Mark Pollard’s Four Points will do nicely.
Whether Helen had a version of this mapped out on the back of an embroidered linen napkin, we’ll never know. But what the two seasons of For The Love Of Kitchens shows without question is that it’s Helen’s innate eye for styling, photography and service that sells class to the British, and Britishness to the Americans. It’s her strategy that elevates Paul’s kitchen business into a fully formed and globally successful brand.
Now, let’s be real. There’s a reason why DeVOL makes great telly as well as a good branding case study. Turning a great business with a high quality product and wealthy customers into a brand is easy, or at the very least straightforward. Especially when someone like Paul puts his trust in someone like Helen. But most brand leaders rarely, if ever, get to apply insight and taste to such a fabulous proposition. I mean, we can’t all work for Collins. That’s the exception. The rule is that most of us are charged with projects that are far more subtle or complex or practical. The rule is that the businesses with the money to spend on branding are generally in unsexy sectors like finance or telecomms, or they’re B2B, or they’re large, distributed multinationals. Or all of the above. There’s perhaps even an argument to be made that iconic brands are rarely, if ever, built by agency teams but I think I’ll tackle that bombshell another time.
Regardless, just because there’s rules doesn’t mean we have to play by them. While I might never get to work on a luxury kitchen brand, For The Love Of Kitchens reminds me that insight and taste can take you, and any client you’re working with, a long way. They can empower you to be creative and imaginative; they can give you the conviction to push ahead and achieve that “maths and magic” which turns businesses into a brand, a product into a feeling.
My Ultimate Brand Strategy Workshop Guide is available now with 25% off using code SYT. 80 pages of everything you ever wanted to know about locking a group of people in a room for four hours without getting arrested at the end of it.
As always, thanks for reading, subscribing and supporting my work. More soon, Cx
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