Driving success through the power of strategy and design

It is not only in economically uncertain times that marketeers often rely on performance-driven tools to increase sales. But that alone is not enough to persuade consumers to buy time after time. Systematic and successful branding is also crucial. Branding is an investment that retains its value, because it largely determines the purchase decision. At MetaDesign, the company firmly believes that the perfect interplay of strategy and design is what makes brands truly successful.

The brand agency was founded in Berlin in 1979 and now has eight offices around the globe. Since 2008, the brand experts have also been active in the Chinese market, with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. MetaDesign has furthermore been part of the global communications network Publicis Groupe since 2013.

The agency thus has a very international perspective on brands but at the same time a deep understanding of local conditions. Rome-born Mauro Marescialli, MetaDesign's Managing Director in China, has lived and worked in Beijing for 25 years, speaks the Beijing dialect fluently and is therefore deeply familiar with Chinese culture. Sally Anderson, Group Creative Director, has also lived and worked in China for more than 10 years and knows the Chinese culture in corresponding detail, as well as the fast pace of the rapidly developing Chinese market.

On May 26, 2023, MetaDesign celebrated winning the prestigious "Red Dot Agency of the Year" award with a special exhibition "RED, DOT & SPICY" at the DEST GALLERY in Shan Kang Li, Shanghai. The exhibition showcased more than 15 award-winning brand projects from a variety of industries, including work for leading automotive manufacturers, tech companies, and food & beverage providers, among others, and provided behind-the-scenes insights into the strategy and creative processes for the implementations for both nationally Chinese and world-renowned brands.

In the course of the "RED, DOT & SPICY" exhibition, Modern Advertising Magazine, a leading marketing medium in China, spoke with Daniel Leyser and Sally Anderson about branding.

Modern Advertising: How do you think creative design can help strengthen a brand?

Daniel Leyser: First of all, design is always one of the central aspects when it comes to the further development and thus the success of a brand. Often, the step a brand has to take in order to be well positioned for the future is rather the adaptation or further development of one or more crucial details on the design side and not necessarily always a grand creative gesture. The latter is certainly more attention-grabbing, but both require an equal amount of creativity, but above all sensitivity, brand strategy know-how and I would also say experience. Because whatever the design solution for a brand looks like in the end, it has to function as a system, represent the company and its values, and carry the brand on all levels.

Modern Advertising: We all know that MetaDesign is a creatively driven brand strategy consultancy. What specific services does MetaDesign offer for brands?

Daniel Leyser: In one sentence: MetaDesign is the first port of call for really all brand-related topics. In over 40 years of existence, we have had the privilege of working for almost every well-known brand. Our service portfolio includes strategic consulting services developed over many years, covering topics such as brand positioning, brand architecture, brand messaging etc. We are also holistically positioned in the area of brand experience: whether the development of a classic brand design, the creation of branded spaces or digital products. In doing so, we develop brands with and in innovation technologies such as AI or the MetaVerse. Anything that is conceivable as a brand expression can be designed by us. I could name countless works by MetaDesign that I am proud of. If I had to name two recent projects, they would certainly be Volkswagen's global brand identity or the rebranding of Jing-A, which was created here in our Beijing office.

Modern Advertising: Can you give us some insights on the projects displayed?

Sally Anderson: When we worked with Jing-A, our common goal was to develop a consistent visual system for the brand across markets. The challenge was, in the rapidly evolving market, to give a company that was growing rapidly, at the same time a consistent brand identity that had a real recognition value. Despite all the pressure to change, it is important not to leave such a development to chance, because otherwise it can be risky for the business.

Audi, on the contrary, was concerned with a brand localization strategy and its implementation for the Chinese market. This was not a simple exploration of the global strategy, but a careful adaptation of it, done with a lot of care. This is reflected in the design, where, among other things, we visually equated the Chinese typography with the English one, or in the image style, which we expanded to include subtly integrated Chinese elements, based on the global look and feel.

Modern Advertising: Currently, many brands focus purely on sales figures, but neglect brand building. What does MetaDesign think about this?

Daniel Leyser: If a company has no real competition, which is almost never the case, however, there is nothing wrong with focusing entirely on sales performance. Once a brand has competition and there is product homogeneity with little price differentiation, the brand is simply decisive. When consumers are faced with a similar offering, it's primarily about branding and which brand leaves an imprint in their minds and aligns with their values.

Sally Anderson: It is a crucial question whether companies, when their sales figures do not develop as desired, immediately freeze budgets for brand development or act exactly the opposite. The first is usually the case. In my opinion, companies that want to be successful within the next 5 to 10 years must invest in their brand, regardless of the general conditions. It is important to understand that systematic brand building is essential for business success and that the investment of time, money and effort in the subject is absolutely worthwhile. Those who ignore this run the risk of paying a high price. This not only affects short-term profit losses, but can even threaten the very existence of the company. There are numerous negative examples of this from the past.

Modern Advertising: There is a very interesting trend that increasingly more brands in China and abroad changed their logos in a simpler way or more streamlined form, what does MetaDesign think about this?

Daniel Leyser: The reasons for this trend are understandable, as from my point of view they are primarily of a pragmatic nature. Simple logos are easier to adapt to different media and are more scalable, especially in digital media. Moreover, this minimalism seems to have taken hold as a kind of global commons sense in terms of aesthetics, because minimalist design usually stands for clarity, modernity, etc., values that many companies try to occupy and thereby express in this way. The flip side: a logo often has history, origin, there are sometimes good reasons why it has a certain design complexity, which in sum also gives it character. One risk can be losing this character and joining the mass of generic logos by following this trend. This is where designers have to be very sensitive when it comes to adapting existing logos. Simplicity is by no means the only way to succeed, and above all it is not always the right way.

Sally Anderson: This development is primarily technology-driven. In the digital world, flat design is a fundamental design principle. There are very different reasons that can lead to such an implementation, combined with very different objectives. With the logo update we designed for Taobao, for example, we explicitly wanted to make the brand appear younger and more attractive to the younger generation. At Volkswagen, on the other hand, the reason for a flat design was, among other things, to correspond to the product design, which offers neither conceptual nor formal space for a three-dimensional logo.

Modern Advertising: How to transform a brand in the face of digital disruption? How to get started on transforming brands?

Daniel Leyser: One could certainly write a book on this question. I will try a short as possible answer: start by identifying the nature and extent of the digital disruption in your industry. Analyze the changes in consumer behavior, new technology trends, and how competitors are responding. This will provide a foundation for understanding what needs to change about your brand and how. Then define your digital strategy. This involves determining which technologies will best support your business goals, how they can be integrated into your operations, and how they will improve your customer interactions. Consider what makes your brand unique and valuable to your customers. In the face of digital disruption, this might need to evolve. To make the most of digital opportunities, invest in the necessary technology and skills. This might involve purchasing new software, hiring new team members, or training existing staff, because a brand isn't just about external perceptions; it's also about internal capabilities. Constantly monitor and adapt: Digital trends change quickly, so it's important to monitor your industry, competitors, and customer behavior regularly. This will help you to stay ahead of the curve and ensure your brand remains relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape. Be ready to adapt your strategies as needed. As you expand your digital presence, ensure your brand remains consistent across all channels. Take advantage of one of the benefits of digital channels and integrate real-time feedback into your processes. This will help you to continually refine and improve your brand. All in all, digital transformation is an iterative process that never ends, because digitization is advancing inexorably. Years ago, people were already talking about "always beta" in terms of the state of brands. That is still an apt description.

Modern Advertising: How is MetaDesign responding to the challenges of AI technology tools?

Daniel Leyser: It will certainly fundamentally change the work of designers. But also, that of all other professions involved in the brand development process. In my opinion, there are still no really successful cases of AI-driven branding. But we are currently experimenting intensively in this field. We have set up a project to develop a brand, as far as it is currently possible, primarily with the help of AI tools. I can't go into details, but our initial findings are: AI can increase the quality of brand development processes, but only under competent curation of brand experts. Our work will not become less, but different. In the current early phase of the implementation of these tools, it will be a matter of processing data in such a way that the AI can work with it, analyzing the results obtained again and again, interpreting them in order to optimize the data processing on the basis of this and in turn achieve better results. Humans and machines must first agree on a common language, and this is a two-way learning process. It will be important that the automation of many processes does not become an end in itself, but rather contributes to the factors that people can also bring to processes in the long term, namely creativity, empathy, courage, and that more freedom is created for these factors.