From the design of a logo to the messaging, font and colours used, it's difficult for many not to view the outputs of a brand strategy subjectively.
However, our unique 'Dupree Process' which was carefully crafted and perfected over a ten year period is built on a framework based around business, marketing and creative principles and modelling, with the specific goal to provide focus and clarity to the process of brand building and the application of branding.
The ‘Dupree Process’ exists to take the irrational subjectivity out of brand building.
"It's not about providing you with lots of ideas to choose from - it's about providing you with a clear, non-subjective 'Inclusive Journey' as to why your brand has been shaped like it has"
Andy Wright, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
The ‘Dupree Process’ is built around an intelligent mechanism that leads to an ‘authentic identity’ through clear, rational strategy.
An approach specifically created to intelligently and strategically develop and build a brand with unanimously agreed hard fact, rather than, as usually is the case – subjectivity.
Unfortunately, subjectivity has entrenched itself into the worlds of marketing and creativity. This has led to an unchallenged culture where ideas and concepts are generated through whims rather than hard fact. Where ideas can ebb and flow depending on assumptive suggestions rather than solid principles.
It is these ‘solid principles’ that the ‘Dupree Process’ provides to help facilitate true creativity and conceptual direction, often lost or watered down in a sea of individual objectives and opinions for the brand.
Ultimately the ‘Dupree Process’ is a collaborative exercise between the client and Dupree International to help deliver the brands ‘Authentic Identity’.
A process that gets to the ‘true nature’ and ‘beliefs’ of the brand, enabling the audience to ‘distinguish’ and ‘identify’ with it and in so doing changing their perception/existing perception and understanding of the brand.
So, we would urge you to reach out to clients we have worked with and are working with to hear how taking ‘irrational subjectivity’ out of the process enabled them to define their ‘Authentic Identity’. Dupree International truly offers a different approach to the norm. As one client admitted, “Straying from the norm can be truly terrifying”. Yet the same client freely admits the ‘Inclusive Journey’ produced an Authentic Identity’ for them that their industry competitors feel genuinely threatened by.
THE DUPREE PROCESS – AN INCLUSIVE JOURNEY:
The shape of the process is quite simple, collectively we need to understand – Where you are now and why. Where you want to be and how do you get there.
Each of these three questions has a set of steps to achieve inclusive and collective agreed answers.
PHASE 1
Meet with the principle project member(s) to:
• Engage in a top-line discussion to explore the project
• Establish an ‘Inclusive Journey’ working party.
EXPLANATION - ‘Inclusive Journey’ working party
This should include ALL key members of your organisation that have a stake holding in the outcome of the final brand. The main components to achieving rational clarity and removing subjectivity is collaborative and transparent discussion and decision making. This process cannot be achieved if the ‘Inclusive Journey’ working party has to re-present and/or update internal stakeholders who have not been an active part of the initial ‘Strategy Day’ process.
Dupree International to conduct ‘appropriate’ research relating to issues that fall out of (bullet point 1) the top-line discussion to explore the project.
NOTE: As brands are primarily based on perception, most of the ‘appropriate’ research will be carried out to help explore and challenge various modus operandi.
PHASE 2
The Inclusive Journey ‘Strategy Day’ to collectively and transparently discuss and debate:
Where are we now, why and where do we want to be?
What do we want to be known for and why?
Defining your Core Values
Examining your offerings
Examining the marketplace
Examining the implementation of branding
Brand perceptions
The above day is intrinsic to the whole brand building exercise. Based around carefully constructed principles, models and exercises we facilitate and participate in the collective engagement to:
Make sure all of the stakeholders are forming the same, cohesive vision for the brand and its journey from the start. And more importantly, why.
Make sure all of the stakeholders get to air their vision, ideas and thoughts on all topics, allowing the working party to collectively take all opinions onboard.
To form a well debated and meaningful set of core values that will provide the basis for articulating the brands ‘Authentic Identity’ and positioning.
Collectively explore the landscape in which your brand will be operating: How things stand at the moment, where you ‘really’ fit in, what ‘actual’ issues lie in your way, Who the industry competition ‘may or may not be’.
Your perceived audience, your perceived industry competition and the perceived landscape you operate in – and how we start closing the perception gap.
PHASE 3
All of the relevant finding and decisions from the ‘Strategy Day’ will be compiled and typed up to create the Strategy Day Report. This will be distributed to all members of the ‘Inclusive Journey’ working party. These must be reviewed by all and any miscommunication rectified before proceeding to step 4.
PHASE 4
Using the Strategy Day Report
This report will form the base of rational clarity to your inclusively agreed, business, marketing and creative ambitions. Dupree international will start to put a face to your ‘Authentic Identity’.
Simply, we will be using our company wide skills to bring alive your collectively agreed, stakeholder vision.
Presenting the brand back to the ‘Inclusive Journey’ working party.
Dupree international will provide A highly creative solution backed up by theory and visually rolled out in practice. We will demonstrate through industry principles and models why your brand looks and sounds like it does. Why, for example a logo looks the way it does. Why, if applicable, your strapline communicates the message it does. Basically, why anything Dupree produce has been created to fit your brands ‘Authentic Identity’ and not down to irrational subjectivity – do you like this one, or do you like that one.
The roll-out will provide clarity on how you start enabling the audience to ‘distinguish’ and ‘identify’ with your brand and in so doing changing their perception/existing perception and understanding of you.
Futureproof your brand today by going through the Dupree Process.
For a chat or no-obligation proposal call Mason Mallett on 01780 757666 or email Mason.mallett@dupreeinternational.com