Brand Identity Foundations

After reading the related materials for this discussion post, I realized that after two years in business, my company has virtually no brand. It’s no wonder that my website, business cards, and mailers are essentially useless at driving new business my way. In "Brand Identity Defined," Derrick Day writes “a brand is the result of an unbroken series of consistent gestures, encompassing both what it does and how it does it.” I don’t have a consistent logo or slogan, and therefore I see why it is difficult for potential customers to identify emotionally with what I do.

At the same time, Al and Laura Ries warn in their blog post to “… take your time and find the right slogan to use. And then use it virtually forever.” So while I’m excited to find a new and consistent logo, slogan, and positioning statement, I feel the need to take pause and get it right. The same blog also described the new logo for Yahoo! and how it does nothing to further the brand’s identity or define what the company does.

The official name of my Florida Company is “Mogedo’s Digital Recording Studio, LLC” – far too long in this day and age of internet marketing and difficult to brand. While there is some funny history to the name and who Mogedo is, you wouldn’t know it unless you were a family member or friend of mine. I think that story needs to be told and tied in with the new logo, slogan, and positioning statement.

I am preliminarily considering the slogan: “Your Music, Your Passion, Your Life” which is exactly what Mogedo represents and why the company was started. However, I need to research the slogan and make sure that it (or something too similar to it) is not being used.

Today’s music publishing world is filled with shysters.  I recently read an article that essentially said that no musician in today’s age should pay for studio time. If they are, the company with which they have signed does not believe in their music, is not engaged in producing the best possible product, and is ripping them off. Therefore, my “Internal Culture and Values” section includes my company’s leading ethical principles:

1.     The Music Comes First. This is a description of how I intend to continue to place the utmost focus on my clients’ song writing. A bad song can be well recorded, but it is still a bad song.

2.     Focus on Quality Excellence. The reverse is also true. If a client comes to the studio with an incredibly well composed song and all of the talent to perform it, then they deserve all of my ability to create a masterful recording. A good song can be poorly recorded, and it becomes a bad song.

3.     Legal Integrity. Entertainment business law is a tricky space. There is room for manipulation of artists who know nothing about the music business. Both parties have a need to protect themselves, so I keep my contracts simple, and I always recommend that they have their attorney review it before we begin any work.

Nothing could be worse than taking what should be one of the most creative and enjoyable experiences of an artist’s life and confusing it with misunderstanding or the perception of legal manipulation!