Why Brand Authenticity and Visual Content Win Hearts

In this webinar, Dane Storrusten shares the most important principles when it comes to creating a visual content strategy. As creative director of the NFL and founder of Gridiron Labs, Dane is no stranger when it comes to building brands across diverse industries.

Don’t miss out on any great actionable ideas and real-world applications shared during this presentation!

If you’re saving the video for later, here are some highlights as food for thought.

Dane starts with the vital principle of Brand Authenticity and what it means to him.

The brand is a living entity that requires maintenance, constant effort must be put into building authenticity.

It’s much more than a buzz word and should be a true reflection of those inside the company. A common mistake is that companies look to customers for a brand definition. Though they can help to validate a brand, a brand must start from within the company.

Next, Dane examines the importance of Personality, Voice, and Tone.

How do we use it as part of positioning a brand? A big part would be aligning all aspects of the business - be it the talents, sales staff, or a social media marketing team, everyone needs to be on the same page.

Humanizing a brand and developing its personality and character traits is a great way to shape brand messaging and brand voice. Try out 3 simple activities that the NFL uses to monitor their brand and see if everyone is on track. (We won’t spoil it for you here, you should check out the webinar.)

Understanding and communicating the long-standing and defining traits of your brand’s personality, while being able to adapt your tone to changing environments is essential to visual content success.

The final step is putting it into practice in a Visual Strategy.

Dane emphasizes on using what is available, not every piece of visual content needs to be highly produced and polished, especially when it comes to demonstrating Brand Authenticity.

At this point in the webinar, you’ll find some social media accounts to follow for inspiration. These brands have struck a balance between consistency and evolution, embracing user-created content and distinctive hand-drawn graphics.

How do all these concepts translate to real-world applications?

Dane provides deep insights using case studies of the NFL Network and its transformation, the NFL Fantasy Football, and the NFL TNF Promos. If you’re interested in marketing and sports, you will love these examples!

In these case studies, Dane focuses on the practicality and efficiency of work to keep up with the volume demands of visual content. Find out how the NFL managed to not only innovate their tone through visual language but also lower costs and reduce their dependence on laborious 3D design work.

As a bonus...

Simplify your marketing efforts with 6 tried and tested tools that cover everything, from workflow to live event coverage. (Again, we’re not spoiling this for you.)

Brand authenticity and visual content go hand in hand, and the ultimate goal is to “peel back the curtain” of your business and let your customers feel like they are part of something real. In this sense, there is no one size fits all as every brand is distinct it what it offers, but just remember to keep the messaging regular and consistent.

If you want to get all the details of how to apply this to your brand, check out the webinar, and stay tuned for some interesting questions during the final segment.