Bridging the brand perception gap with outside-in thinking

Things are not always as they seem. Often the way the outside world perceives your business is very different to your own perception or, indeed, how you would prefer to be perceived. Until you look outside-in, you may be unaware of the “perception gap”.
 
ICT (Industrial Control Technology) is a 25-year old Geelong-based specialist automation engineering business. The founders have carved an enviable niche in the market between the big multi disciplinary consulting firms and the smaller system integration companies.
 
When a change in operating environment triggered a re-think, ICT looked to DDG as a partner in shaping a forward-going brand and marketing strategy.
 
“This project was flagged as a repositioning across the brand identity to help pinpoint and place the business in a preferred market position,” explains Fred Thompson, DDG’s Creative Director.
 
“Initially we conducted a strategy workshop with the ICT management team to better understand where the business was and where it needed to be,” says Fred.
 
Despite ICT having a thoughtfully-developed (and current) Business Plan and well-documented processes, values and history, there was a strong sense that their market (including suppliers, partners, prospects and competitors) did not perceive the business in the same way that ICT management perceived it – there was a gap. It wasn’t a gaping crevasse but there was certainly some market confusion about what ICT does and what it is capable of. This was recognised as a barrier to ICT winning some of the projects it most coveted.
 
“ICT see themselves as strategic thinkers with an exciting history of fast take-up and integration of new technologies,” explains Fred. “But we needed to know how others perceived the business, so we developed and conducted a survey of ICT’s clients and suppliers to get some data to support our direction.”
 
The new brand development process considered all the inputs from the workshop, the survey, a competitor review and ICT’s well-rationalised brief about where their brand should sit.
 
Client input was critical, as Fred comments: “The ICT team were really willing to put in the time with us to reflect on their business and provide constructive feedback through the development process.”
 
“The result is a fresh, energetic visual identity which updates the previous look and feel of the brand with contemporary colours and a strong emphasis on the ICT wordmark. The use of metallics infuse it with a sense of innovation.”
 
The positioning statement Think. Create. Integrate. reflects the theme of “thinking” which came up again and again during the data gathering. It mirrors the processes ICT are committed to and gives a strong sense of “how” they work. 
 
The new brand has been captured in a gleaming corporate brochure – a glossy, premium production that articulates the “thinking” theme. Imagery of real ICT people supports a narrative around passing down the founders’ expertise to a new generation of ICT professionals, making the ICT history relevant to its very contemporary market offering.
 
“Even before you open it, the unexpected size and format of the brochure hints that ICT has a different story to tell,” adds Fred. “It’s a brave, humanising approach which cuts through the clutter of technical-speak that’s so prevalent in the engineering industry.”
 
Best of all, it’s an approach that ICT can live with because it’s truly how they perceive their business to be … owning that position throughout their marketing collateral (stationery and eventually website) will dynamically close the “perception gap”.