Cole Lawson recently worked with internationally renowned photographer Jonathan Glynn-Smith to help build a client’s corporate image.
Known for his work in the fashion industry, Jonathan is an expert at building recognisable consumer brands through powerful and emotive imagery, and he applied this philosophy to capture the essence of our client’s corporate brand with just an image.
“The key to telling the story of a corporate brand is through their people,” Jonathan said.
“Spending time with different people within an organisation you learn what makes up the fabric of the business and what its culture is built upon.”
Cole Lawson spent a week with the photographer, capturing people and assets in busy metropolitan areas in Brisbane and Sydney as well as the arid Northern Territory outback.
Cole Lawson’s Director of Client Services Cortney Thomson said the most important lesson from watching Jonathan work was seeing how he interacted with his subjects in the lead up to, and during, the shoots.
“Jonathan makes a point of engaging with the people he works with and understanding the purpose in their actions and the intentions behind their activities,” Ms Thomson said.
“The result is not just a powerful image, but an image that captures the pace and the movement of the brand and it’s an image that supports all the work we do as marketers and communicators.”
Here are some of Cole Lawson’s top tips for developing a powerful corporate brand:
- Try not to have any great expectations of what the brand look and feel is going to be before you’ve undertaken the process. Let the exploration of the people and the culture guide the brand.
- Don’t fake it. If you really want to show your stakeholders what your business stands for, then use your business and your people in their regular environment. The sincerity will say more than a thousand words could. The best way to ensure consistency is by being honest.
- Don’t force it. An amazing image will have no purpose if it doesn’t compliment your message, so don’t use an image that doesn’t make sense. Well-articulated content will be essential to support the image.
- Live it. A brand must be realised through its people, and this must come from the top. Make sure a new corporate brand is realised through good internal execution.