Face Your Brand’s Compass
A Brand Compass is a device for transforming brand values into directions for earning trust and confidence from your target audience.
A study by Deloitte Insights in 2021 found that trust is one of the most prominent global marketing trends, and trust is ranked third among factors that help consumers decide which brand to use. A later survey by Edelman showed that consumers are far more likely to purchase from and engage with organizations “they have confidence in.”
For building trust and confidence, it’s common for businesses to list their values; however, the key is actually showing, not telling those values within your brand experience. To address this, Co. Story reinvented the compass as a tool for brands to embody their values in a memorable, strategic way.
Co. Story’s Brand Compass is designed as a very concise yet comprehensive internal guide that identifies the four principles of a brand, providing clear direction for their story and style. With a Brand Compass, a company and its team members become aligned on what exactly their brand stands for and where they are heading, together. By not taking the time to define and narrow down their top four tenets, brands become distracted, scattered, and prone to letting others misinterpret their story.
As brands look for a structure that can represent their values, the most common challenge has been bringing these words to life. Too frequently, these arbitrary and numerous lists of values never manifest into daily practices. The work doesn’t end when you articulate the values: You need to prove them with your actions. Imagine if trite values that go without saying, like honesty or respect, were replaced with creative guidelines for a brand to be succinct in who they are and aren’t.
With a Brand Compass, the four poles are always actionable and applicable. They are constantly referred to for voice, tone, look, and feel: “Which of these photos for social media best aligns with our Brand Compass?” It creates a sense of purpose and an ease to all brand communications that can be easily referenced for making important business decisions: “Who is a good fit for partnership?” If it can’t be backed by the Brand Compass, then it’s not worth your brand’s time.
Brand Compasses are tailor-made — they convey the distinct essence of a brand and its path for success. They are simple by design to make it easy to understand; however, if a brand were to leave their specific Brand Compass at a coffee shop, the stranger who finds it would not fully understand it. Every Brand Compass is unique, like a cipher, and must be presented to a team member or trusted vendor, such as a caterer for your brand’s big event. Once your Brand Compass is explained and instructions are shared on how to deploy it, it becomes clear as day and inspires confidence, collaboration, and cohesion.
