Amy Blunden [ design journal ]

[ Reflections:  Ideal Identification, Competitive Advantage and Brand Valuation ]

In this week’s material, the three concepts that stood out to me were ideal identification, competitive advantage and brand valuation.

I found that identifying ideals is somewhat daunting at outset- often, we’re beginning with intangible feelings and subtleties. That can make it hard to pinpoint the ideal precisely. From the feedback I received, I think that extracting ideals is a process of refining vision. I felt that I had the right idea with my brand ideals for my tea industry brands, but I just needed to keep refocusing and refining my vision until I harnessed the essence of the ideal.

Competitive advantage was another concept that stood out to me. It makes sense that in the competitive business world, it would be advantageous to be keenly aware of what your competitors are doing. The competition helps shape and prime the market for all of the brands in an industry, and those who are nearest to your target market, are the ones from which you can glean the most knowledge.

The third concept, brand valuation, was a new term for me. While this concept is probably the most foreign to me, it is definitely a practice that I could benefit from. Quantifying the value of a brand in financial terms gives the brand and its designers power in the eyes of a business. It backs the so-called intangibles with numbers, which can give your campaign much needed leverage.