Branding with Personality

Remember the last conversation you had with your parents about the way you dress and the way you wear your hair? They would label you a punk, a goth, a neo hipster etc. You would then snap back citing how you didn't want to be branded as anything.

"I am a real person with real emotional needs and wants." You would say.

They would secretly be chuckling on the inside as you stormed out of the house and head to your next class or didn't you already know that. But as it turns out being labeled something isn't exactly as bad as it sounds. Let me put it this way. Companies all over the world spend big money to have their businesses fit into some sort of ideal. They say make me look better then my competition or make me seem different. On many levels this is essentially what you do with your own personality. It makes months and years to generate enough press to garner a reputation like that.

So why would you get upset when someone calls you a mod, a rocker, a goldfish. Maybe you would get upset if someone did brand you a goldfish but my point is this. You are a collection of experiences and associations which have been stringed together on a timeline, and now you're something. The whimsical thought that pops into your mind via serendipity may help you to understand but believe me associating yourself with an image is not an easy feat.

FOUNDING FATHERS

Benjamin Tan, Sean Yeap and Ray Ng started The SWOT design group in 1995. As a collective they came together wanting to raise the standards of design in Malaysia. Managing to build their company over the course of the next 14 years, they added more design expertise to make them a more holistic design team.

Today, SWOT has expertise in environmental and communication graphics headed by Sara Siow, styling headed by Patrick Chang and point of purchase and visual merchandising headed by Corinne Quah.

The main market is still in Malaysia but they have done projects around South East Asia, Australia, Spain and India. As technology allows them to work from one central location, the need to set up an overseas office has always been put on the backburner. It has only been of late but their recent venture into the Shanghai market at the start of 2009, has allowed them to become more of a global entity. Their focus? Retail design and brand identity.

BRANDING WITH A TWIST OF LEMON

Unlike most brand agencies Swot preaches the idea of creating brand presence over the availability of pitching a strategy to their clients. At Swot the appeal of approaching their visual production sense comes from their expertise in design. They design solutions for brands in its physical forms. From their name card to the retail shop, Swot manages to instill a sense of affirmation with their branding solutions.

"We design physical shapes and forms for our clients that communicate with their stakeholders. We have definitely built our name in the retail industry for luxury interior design but now as we are offering more expertise in all aspects of design, we find ourselves preaching design with mass market appeal." Says Corrine Quah

I managed to steal ten minutes with the head of Visual merchandising, Corinne Quah. It was sometime after her lunch and walking back to her office that I was able to follow up on afore mentioned expertise in the field. Put her devious charm aside and you will see a professional who not only talks the talk but walks the walk as well. Believe me her strut is really quite something to endear. I asked her to elaborate on the prior mentioned quote, and as if I didn't have enough on my plate; she pulls out yet another rabbit from the hat, then introduces me to the idea behind the SWOT name.

For you cheeky aficionados, yes SWOT comes from the term SWOT analysis. "Our Strength is your Weakness; together we create Opportunities that Transcends to the market," SWOT. But as it turns out the company moniker is a derivative of a much bigger concept. Corinne then explains to me that the reasons behind the company successes rest in the nuances of four words, fanatic, nosy, provoking and fun.

THE WORDS AS DEFINED BY THE SWOT DESIGN GROUP

1) Fanatic - Constantly looking out for brands that want to stand out by means of design, and using that presence (created by said design) to draw out the client's belief in his or her business or product.

2) Nosy - To get to the core of the brand, we must constantly be inquisitive and therefore nosy enough to gather insights that will help in the development of design. Most of the time, we end up identifying design problems which can be solved with our time and energy.

3) Provoking - We aim to create thought provoking ideas that will trigger the clients to think about how to stand out amongst the rest. We focus on unmet needs to create these ideas.

4) Fun - We never take things too seriously as we always want to make sure our staff, as well as our clients, really have fun doing what they do. It can be a long process at times so injecting fun into the process of developing ideas is essential. The result is always something better when there is fun and passion included in the process.

"As a team, our designers are encouraged to explore design and be shamelessly courageous in providing uncompromised solutions. We create designs that influence the way the client operates his or her business; impacting their customers in a positive way. Serai Satay Bar in Pavilion takes a traditional Malaysian product and turns it into a new age snack. The bar serves delicious satay in a modernized setting, making the experience of eating satay more enjoyable and comfortable." Says the industry seasoned veteran.

A PLACE IN THE MARKET

Being a branding agency which focuses on design has brought with it its fair share of competitors. Competition comes from multinationals, companies from different industries and even design firms. However being that they have fourteen years of experience behind them, SWOT employees would prefer to think of the company as being in a unique position rather then in an actionable one. HOORAY for positivity! They take pride in learning as much as possible about their clients so as to offer a more personalized service. The outcome is often likened to world class design solutions.

"To address unmet needs that no brand is addressing is always what we stand for and when we do achieve it, we go beyond the norm." says communication graphics head Sara Siow.

When Sara led me around the office she wasn't trying to champion the SWOT approach or entice me with their elaborate former glories but rather she thought it more important to introduce me to the design team. The real people behind the campaigns she cites. I was a bit skeptical of her seemingly rehearsed speech so I asked. "Why not tell me more about what you do?" She puts me in my place and counters with a response that is oh so fitting of their company handle. At SWOT, they present a united stand and shape their opinions to emphasize the importance of the time and effort put into learning about the clientele and their respective businesses so as to better develop custom solutions to already existing brands. And to do this they need to be part of a common entity. Forgive me for the negativity I associate with the industry for I am just an impressionable twenty something. So there she stood damn certain that I would write an approving article about a company I knew very little about. All the same I think I was sold.

IT'S A LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Swot doesn't seem to be slowing down or so I think to myself as they begin to tell me about their future plans, where they been and how they got to where they are today. Fourteen years ago three friends had a vision. It was a vision which was forged in the Malaysian way. From the onset Swot has proposed the "dare to become" spirit of doing things. They openly share ideas with clients without the expectation of returns. They assure me it is an integral part of their philosophy. They promise me that this was the case fourteen years ago it is the case today and will continue to be a part of their ideology for years to come.

So now that we have been better acquitted they play the instruction by example card and tell me more about their work. I knew we had to get there eventually! I play the inexperienced journalist while thinking to myself "it must be magic to watch these professionals work." Needless to say I wanted to listen to everything Sara had to say.

"The C Club campaign was formulated because of an unmet need that the client wanted to address. The unmet need being how to reach out to the masses with a brand that has always been perceived as too luxurious. As jewelry is often associated with indulgence, we attempted to recreate this association but for food. The key insight was that The Carat Club customers spend many hours at the store and would expect food to be catered to them regardless of whether it was a luncheon or tea. So the idea of the C. Club came to mind. It was to stand as an F&B outlet that allowed it's consumers to experience the outlet as if they were indulging in something universal. As a client, The Carat Club are mavericks in their own right, which made it easier for us to propose original ideas/designs that would have been met with resistance by any more conservative party."

The visit to the office proved more then beneficial to this article and not to mention my professional side. They were more then welcoming, which only made my departure all the more difficult. Even as we parted ways I felt the walls of SWOT exude its parting call. The employees have something to be proud of, as I am sure the people who work there will tell you, they didn't just build a brand of their establishment they built an experience.With advantages such as mobility of our work force, network of partners around the world especially in the growing markets of China, Vietnam and India, they are confident and ever ready to explore new markets & ventures. They have a front row seat to the spectacle of their growth. From a design point of view they are spreading organically to become a design hybrid company one that encompasses all aspects of life.

Design is often viewed as an aesthetic, but it is so much more than mere beauty. At SWOT, the philosophy is that everything they touch, use eat and see can and should be designed because at the core of design is the belief that it improves your way of life and that is what they want to share with you.