The ‘debranding’ trend - why audience matters more

There’s no doubt the power of technology and design software is rapidly increasing. But instead of leading to more complex designs and brand identities, we’re seeing the opposite - simpler, clearer logos and visual assets. They call it ‘debranding’, and it's a very popular approach in contemporary brand design. But what’s driving this move towards streamlined designs? And is the name ‘debranding’ accurately describing what’s actually going on for audiences and internal teams?

First things first. Let’s unpack the term ‘debranding’...

Market trends are notoriously fickle. But it looks like the debranding trend is here to stay. And with it comes a host of questions about the role of branding in the digital world. There are lots of definitions for ‘debranding’ around. But essentially, it’s the process of removing elements from your visual identity to simplify your brand and appear more personal. The idea is that a ‘debranded’ identity will perform better on social media, as it’s more aligned to a ‘mobile-first’ approach to digital design. But here’s the thing: stripping your brand back to its bare bones isn’t guaranteed to make it feel more modern or convert droves of new audiences into advocates for your organisation.

The truth is, ‘debranding’ is actually a catchy internet term that’s telling a portion of a bigger story: The power of designing brands to be audience-centric.

What do we mean by ‘audience-centric’?

You may have heard this term before, or something like it - and it certainly doesn’t feel that groundbreaking or new. But the thing is, audience-centricity is taking on a whole new meaning in the world of Web 3.0. Our audiences are no longer passive consumers of a one-way brand conversation. They now have the power and the platforms to tell us exactly what they think, and exactly what they want from us. The brands that are truly audience-centric are the ones that are listening - and adapting.

It’s about changing the idea of ‘brand’ from a tightly-controlled version of the story an organisation wants to tell…into a platform that audiences can use to get what they need from that organisation.

If we take it back to our ‘debranding’ buzzword, that means making brands both easier to digitally activate and easier for audiences to engage with. You could say that debranding is just one of the ways we’re seeing companies respond to this world of two-way communication between organisations and the public.

Here are some examples of how audience-centric brands behave…

Destination brands are taking a community-first approach

The best way to amplify the reach of a destination brand is to generate community buy-in. When as many people as possible love and use your brand, it’s bound to be seen by more of the right audiences. That’s why an actionable destination brand is one that is easily used by the wider community and local operators.  

The brand could contain:

• A strategy for sharing community-generated content 

• Assets that are freely available for operators to use, and and easy-to-understand guide for applying these assets

• Brand design that works on programs like Canva, which are user-friendly for all levels of design experience

• Typography and colour palettes that have been assessed against accessibility standards, to make sure that more people can easily read your message

The key thing is to look at any brand with a useability lens, instead of just an aesthetic lens. Brand needs to do more than just look good. It needs to make life better for the people that use and interact with it.  We always work with the community when building a destination brand, and purposefully look at what challenges the brand could solve for them. 

While many destination brands are built to centre the needs of visitors, we believe any brand that relies on the energy or expertise of local communities should help make life better for them too. And in a more tangible, immediate way than simply ‘growing the visitor economy’. Whether this be featuring compelling local stories around town, as we did for our recent project for Northern Grampians Shire.

…or investing in local operators and businesses, by boosting their stories through brand social media channels, as we did as part of our Shepparton & Goulburn Valley brand activation plan. The difference lies in looking at your brand as a tool for serving the community.

Not-for-Profits (NFPs) understanding the role of brand in fundraising

Brand is often a complicated topic for the internal teams of NFPs. Fundraising teams can feel constrained by the brand, and like it gets in the way of them converting more donors. The marketing team can get frustrated when the fundraising team goes off script. And then suddenly, instead of getting everyone aligned behind the same message, your brand is driving your teams further apart. 

The problem is that NFPs have to speak to several audiences with quite varied behaviours and goals. In this case, an audience-centric brand is one that can communicate to all of its audiences, on the level that makes sense for them. 

Very Special Kids is a great example of an organisation that acted to make their brand more audience-centric. They provide holistic palliative care for children and young people across Victoria. Their work is incredibly important - and highly sensitive. Their brand has to talk about children facing life-limiting conditions and with the same brand, advertise upbeat fundraising events. So we added a toolkit of assets to their existing (and well-loved) brand to help them cover all the different stories they needed to tell. The result is an audience-centric brand that’s easy for all the internal teams to use to help their audiences get what they need from the organisation.

Let’s change the buzzword

Don’t get us wrong, debranding is catchy and visually satisfying. (Don’t you just love a slick logo redesign?) But we’re looking to get a new conversation trending: Audience-centric branding that’s purposely built to do good for teams, organisations and communities.

If you want to learn more about how to improve your audience-centricity, get in touch today.