A few years after we launched Impact Productions, we began marketing the tagline “Live Branding Specialist” to help set us apart from the myriad of event suppliers turned “production companies” around the time of the dot com heyday. Unlike a lot of those dot com companies, the phrase stuck, and since then it’s become our signature, our niche, our differentiator.
So what does “Live Branding” mean?
Well, unfortunately, it’s not an easily definable noun that’s easily pigeonholed. Live Branding is an intangible process. More to the point, it is an experience, and it’s different for each brand and for each audience…but let’s start with the core principles of Live Branding:
Focus on the Audience. Audiences are everything. Reach them and call it a success. Fail, and explain to the CEO why the company spends a lot of money on a fruitless meeting every year.
Engage the Senses. Yes, this means sound and lights and video and graphics and live entertainment. It also means a deliberate, strategic mix of them – a plan for the overall flow of the presentation, and how it supports the goals of your event and company.
Deliver A Clear Message. Live meetings are full of stimuli…noise, if you will. Live Branding pushes the non-essentials to the side and amplifies the important themes.
Make the Connection. Live Branding stays with your meeting attendee; it doesn’t get left behind like a hotel towel. It accomplishes this by providing a multi-sensory vehicle to answer the all-important question, “What’s in it for me?” Live Branding, when done right, generates a deep connection with each member of your audience – your clients, employees, shareholders – resulting in the creation of brand champions.
Live Branding is hard work because it isn’t formulaic. Each corporate event has its own goals, settings, and audience. Each company has its own culture. Live Branding takes all that into account to deliver an engaging and memorable experience; one that goes home with you—not just because it’s stuck in your brain, but because it’s relevant to you. Because your audience is ready for it, receives it, processes it, understands it, appreciates it, and believes in it.
I coined the term Live Branding years ago and it has guided my craft ever since. That practice has made my clients’ events and meetings more successful and I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned. So stay tuned and let’s explore The Power of LIVE together.
