At Tether, we approach CPG packaging design as a complete system. Brand expression, structural form, consumer experience, and manufacturing realities all have to work together. The resulting packaging has to perform at retail, hold up through the supply chain, and earn a place in consumers’ daily routines. Because the package isn’t separate from the brand. In many ways, it becomes the brand.

The 3 Rules of Effective CPG Packaging Design

Across categories – food packaging design, beverage, beauty, personal care – the same three principles consistently separate packaging that earns attention from packaging that gets delisted from the shelf.

Design the system, not the SKU

Packaging that only works for one flavor or one variant rarely scales well. The brand has to remain recognizable across the full portfolio, with a core visual language strong enough to hold together as the lineup expands. The best packaging systems are flexible without losing themselves. Every new SKU should strengthen the overall brand impression rather than dilute it.

Solve for the shelf before the screen

Render-first packaging often looks beautiful in isolation and disappears in the real world. Retail environments are crowded, competitive, and visually noisy. That’s the environment packaging has to succeed in. Consumers scan before they read. Recognition happens quickly, often from several feet away and long before someone picks up the product. The shelf is where packaging proves itself.

Treat structure and graphics as one decision

The silhouette is often the first thing consumers recognize, sometimes before any text or logo registers consciously. Shape carries memory. If the form doesn’t communicate the brand clearly, the label can only do so much to compensate. The strongest packaging systems are built when industrial design and graphic design evolve together from the beginning rather than being solved separately.

Shelf Impact: How to Stand Out in a Crowded Aisle

Shelf impact is less about being loud than being immediately recognizable. A package has to register quickly, ideally from across the aisle, before conscious decision-making even begins.

Most categories converge on visual conventions over time. Coffee tilts brown and bag-shaped. Cleaning products gravitate toward familiar blues and greens. Cereals crowd shelves with mascots and bright color blocking. The opportunity for a new entrant, or for an established brand ready to evolve, is finding the distinctive space the category has left open.

Color blocking helps. Silhouette matters even more. The shape of the package is often the first thing consumers recognize, from across the aisle, under harsh retail lighting, and surrounded by competing products. When a brand’s SKUs share a strong silhouette, they create a unified visual presence that reads as one brand impression instead of many disconnected products.

The other half of shelf impact is context. Packaging has to be evaluated where it actually lives, under fluorescent lighting, beside competitors, and within the realities of retail merchandising. Studio renders and printed comps only tell part of the story. On the shelf tells the rest.

Material & Structure: Beyond the Graphics

The structure of the package – the form, the material, the closure, the way it feels in the hand – is inseparable from the brand expression. A premium product in a thin, hollow-feeling container undercuts itself before the consumer reads a word. A practical everyday product in an overly precious structure can create the same disconnect in reverse.

In snack packaging design, the film and format shape how the bag opens, reseals, sounds, and moves in the hand. In beverage, the bottle geometry influences grip, pouring, stacking, transport, and even how the product photographs for marketing. These aren’t secondary decisions. They’re brand decisions.

Industrial design and graphic design have to move together from the beginning. The label is shaped by the form it lives on, and the form has to be designed to carry the graphics naturally. Tether’s packaging work spans graphic, structural, and manufacturing considerations because separating those conversations often produces packaging that feels assembled rather than fully resolved.

In practice, that integration shows up in the trade-offs. A graphic system may want a tall, narrow front panel for hierarchy, while the structural team needs a wider stance for stability in transport. A material that performs best operationally may not support the color saturation the brand requires. A closure that feels intuitive in the hand may add cost the SKU can’t absorb. None of these decisions happen in isolation. The best packaging solutions are resolved together, against the same strategic vision.

Gallery: CPG Packaging Design by Tether

The projects below illustrate how these ideas come to life across very different categories and scales. Gatorade demonstrates how structure itself can carry enormous brand equity. Awake shows how strong system thinking creates consistency across an expanding product portfolio.

Gatorade Bottle Design

The Gatorade bottle is one of the most recognizable silhouettes in retail. The shape itself carries brand recognition long before the logo or orange cap consciously registers. Consumers recognize it from across the aisle because the structure was intentionally designed to do brand work, not simply hold liquid.

That’s what the strongest CPG packaging systems achieve. The form carries meaning, and the graphics amplify it. For a product competing in one of the most crowded beverage environments in the world, the silhouette became one of the brand’s most valuable assets. Strip away the graphics entirely and the bottle still unmistakably reads as Gatorade.

See the Gatorade Bottle Design Project 

Awake Branding and Packaging

Awake’s packaging system had to solve a different challenge. Rather than carrying a single hero SKU, it needed to create consistency across a growing portfolio of flavors and formats while remaining instantly recognizable as one brand.

The system solved this through shared architecture: a flexible color logic that differentiates variants without breaking the family, a recognizable mark and character system, and a packaging structure that creates strong retail blocking when merchandised together. Consumers scanning the aisle register the Awake brand before they process any individual flavor.

That’s what successful portfolio packaging looks like in practice, not visual sameness, but a system designed to compound brand recognition over time.

See the Awake Branding and Packaging Project

Explore Our Full CPG Portfolio →

The Future of CPG Packaging: Sustainability & Smart Tech

CPG packaging is evolving along two parallel tracks: sustainability and connected experiences.

On sustainability, many of the easy wins of lighter substrates, simplified closures, reduced material usage have already happened. The more meaningful work now lives in mono-material structures, refill systems, improved recyclability, and right-sizing packaging to actual product volume. Each introduces real design constraints and operational trade-offs. That’s why sustainability works best when it’s integrated into the design process from the beginning rather than treated as a final layer.

On connected packaging, QR and NFC technologies can create meaningful experiences in the right categories of authentication, storytelling, sourcing transparency, or deeper brand engagement. In other cases, they add complexity without adding value. The discipline is knowing the difference.

The underlying fundamentals of great packaging design haven’t changed. The package still has to protect the product, communicate the brand clearly, perform at retail, and feel right in the hand. New technologies and sustainable materials are simply new tools for delivering on those fundamentals.

Most of the CPG brands we work with today are balancing sustainability goals alongside shelf performance and brand expression simultaneously. They expect recyclable structures, strong retail presence, and emotionally resonant design systems to coexist. That intersection of strategy, structure, and storytelling is where Tether does its best work.

If you’re launching a new product or evolving an existing portfolio, we’d welcome the conversation.

Get a Packaging Design Consultation →

The post CPG Packaging Design: A Visual Guide to Winning at Retail appeared first on Tether.

At Tether, we design those moments so the product feels intuitive, durable and ready for the real world. That means balancing ergonomics, materials, mechanics, manufacturing and brand expression from the beginning, not treating them as separate steps along the way.

For sports brands, the best products do more than perform. They become part of the culture of the game.

What Is Sports Product Design?

Sports product design is the development of physical equipment and accessories that support athletes before, during and after performance. It can include hydration systems, sideline equipment, recovery tools, training accessories, carriers, dispensers and other products that live around the athlete and the team.

These products often look simple because they have to be simple to use. But beneath that simplicity is a series of design decisions: how the product is held, opened, carried, cleaned, filled, stored, transported, branded and manufactured.

A sport bottle, for example, is not just a container. It is a grip, a valve, a cap, a squeeze system, a cleaning challenge, a brand touchpoint and a piece of equipment that may be used hundreds of times in demanding environments. A sideline cooler is not just an insulated box. It is a refill station, a team ritual, a piece of brand theater and a product that needs to survive transport, weather, impact and repeated use.

That is where industrial design, mechanical thinking and brand strategy start to overlap. The product has to work physically, but it also has to feel appropriate for the athlete, the sport and the brand behind it.

Designing for Athletes Means Designing for Context

Athletes rarely use equipment in ideal conditions. They are tired, distracted, gloved, wet, rushed or moving between moments of intense focus. Trainers and support staff are often working just as quickly, moving equipment, refilling stations, managing sidelines and keeping teams ready.

That context changes the design brief.

For Tether, this is where the work starts: understanding the actual moment of use. We look at who is using the product, what else is happening around them, what they are holding, how much attention they can give it, and what needs to happen before, during and after that interaction.

Ergonomics, Grip and On-the-Go Use

In sports product design, “ergonomics” is not just a buzz word, it affects the confidence, control and trust for repeated use. If the athlete or trainer don’t believe in it, the product is discarded.

In sport bottle design, the grip area is not just a styling move. It influences how easily the bottle can be held, squeezed, passed, cleaned and stored. The shape needs to accommodate different hand sizes, different grip positions and different use cases without making the product feel overdesigned.

The same is true across ergonomic sports equipment more broadly — the entire ecosystem of sport has to be considered; how does all the supportive equipment interact together? How does the environment of the sideline impact the equipment’s functionality? Handles, latches, spigots and lids all need to be designed around motion. Who is carrying the product? Are they wearing gloves? Are they moving fast? Are they lifting it into a cart, onto a bench or over a teammate’s head after a win?

Those questions may sound practical, but they are also brand questions. Authenticity is the core. When a product works naturally in a high-pressure moment, the brand earns trust. When it feels awkward, fragile or slow, the brand experience suffers.

That is why prototyping and field-testing matter. Prototypes reveal how a product behaves in the hand, on the sideline and in motion. The best design solutions come from observing the athletic environment. Watching where athletes or trainers hesitate, struggle or have created one-off solutions in unexpected ways. Observation is the foundation to any successful sports product solution.

Materials and Structure Shape the Experience

Material choice is not a finish applied at the end of the process. It shapes the whole product: how it flexes, seals, insulates, cleans, wears, ships and feels in the hand.

A flexible squeeze bottle, an insulated stainless steel bottle and a hard-sided cooler each require a different structural approach. The material affects wall thickness, weight, durability, thermal behavior, texture, manufacturing method and cost. Squeeze bottle design and stainless steel bottle design pull in different directions — one is tuned for flex and recovery, the other for insulation and durability. Change the material and the design often has to change with it.

That is why industrial design and mechanical development need to work together early. A form that looks strong in a rendering still has to survive prototyping, tooling, production and use. A detail that feels elegant on screen has to be manufacturable at scale. A brand expression that looks premium on day one has to hold up after a season of handling, washing, transport and weather.

Good sports product design connects these decisions from the start. The object, the use case, the brand and the manufacturing reality all have to move together.

Case Study: Gatorade Gx

Gatorade Gx was designed around a powerful idea: personalized hydration for athletes across different sports, routines and performance needs.

The challenge was not simply to create a new bottle. The product had to support a broader hydration platform, integrating the bottle, concentrated formula pods and the moment of mixing into one clear, intuitive experience.

Tether approached the design as a complete system, treating hydration product design as a platform challenge rather than a single-bottle brief.

The bottle needed to feel natural across different grip conditions and athletic contexts. A football player may use it quickly between plays with gloves on. A tennis player may reach for it bare-handed during a changeover. A runner, trainer or team athlete may use it in a completely different rhythm. The form had to support those different behaviors without becoming complicated.

The Gx pod system added another layer. The concentrated formula pod had to attach cleanly, pierce reliably and mix visibly with water inside the bottle. That meant the cap, pod cradle, piercer and bottle architecture all had to work together. Personalization could not feel like an add-on. It had to be built into the structure and experience of the product.

The result was a hydration platform that made customization feel simple, physical and ownable. The design helped turn a functional act — mixing and drinking — into a branded ritual athletes could understand immediately.

See the Gatorade Gx Project

Case Study: Gatorade Dunk & Huddle Coolers

Tether also partnered with Gatorade on the redesigned Dunk and Huddle Coolers, building on one of the most recognizable product ecosystems in sports.

The assignment was bigger than updating a cooler. These products had to work on professional and collegiate sidelines, support trainers and teams during active play, perform at retail and carry a visual identity worthy of the Gatorade brand.

Durability was essential. The coolers needed to hold up to repeated transport, weather exposure, field impact and daily use, while staying practical to move, open, refill and clean. Every touchpoint mattered: the handles, the latch, the lid, the spigot, the body structure and the way the brand appeared on the product.

The Quick-Snap latch system was designed for fast, reliable access. Trainers do not have time to fight with equipment during a game or practice. The latch needed to feel secure in transport and easy to operate in the flow of use.

The redesigned rocker spigot improved the hydration experience by delivering a consistent stream while giving users more control. It also needed protection from the realities of the sideline, where products are moved quickly and often handled roughly.

Branding became part of the product architecture as well. Instead of relying on sticker-based logos that can peel, fade or wear down, the redesigned coolers used molded-in branding. That choice made the identity more durable and more integrated, while giving the product a more permanent, premium presence.

And because the Gatorade cooler is part of sports culture, the dunk itself mattered. Lower handles made lifting and pouring easier, protecting the ritual while improving the experience around it.

The result was a product family designed for performance, retail presence and brand memory at the same time.

See the Gatorade Dunk & Huddle Coolers Project

What to Look for in a Sports Product Design Partner

A strong sports product design partner should be able to do more than create a compelling concept image. Renderings are useful, but they are only one step in the process. The real test is whether the idea can move through prototyping, manufacturing and repeated use without losing what made it strong in the first place.

When evaluating a design partner, look for a team that understands the full path from insight to production. That includes user research, concept development, prototyping, material exploration, mechanical problem solving, vendor collaboration, tooling support and brand integration.

Ask how they prototype. Ask how they test. Ask how they work with engineers, manufacturers and internal teams. Ask whether they can protect the design intent when production realities start to put pressure on the idea.

The best partners treat performance product design and brand expression as one problem, not two. They can make a product feel intuitive in the hand, strong in the field, efficient to manufacture and unmistakably connected to the brand.

That combination matters. In sports, products are not experienced in isolation. They show up in the locker room, on the sideline, in retail, in the hands of athletes and in the rituals fans remember. A good product can solve a practical problem. A great one can become part of the story of the sport.

Designing Sports Products as Complete Systems

Sports product design is where performance, brand, manufacturing and real-world use come together. The details are practical: grip, flow, insulation, durability, cleaning, transport, storage and cost. But the outcome is bigger than the object itself.

The right product can make an athlete’s routine easier. It can help a trainer move faster. It can make a brand more visible, more trusted and more memorable in the moments that matter.

At Tether, we design sports products as complete systems: physical, functional, emotional and commercial. We bring together industrial design, brand thinking and real-world execution to create products that feel natural in use and meaningful in context.

If you are building a sports product that needs to perform in the field, carry the brand and make it through manufacturing with the idea intact, we would welcome the conversation.

Talk to Our Industrial Design Team

The post Sports Product Design: Building Equipment for the Real Moments of Play appeared first on Tether.

Key Takeaways

• Beauty branding agencies play a critical role in developing unique identities through storytelling and strategic design, fostering consumer loyalty and engagement.
• Effective brand positioning in the beauty industry requires a blend of creativity and data-driven insights, ensuring that brands meet consumer needs while standing out in a competitive market.
• Understanding target audience insights through market research and social media engagement is essential for tailoring branding strategies, enhancing brand visibility, and fostering loyalty.

Understanding the Role of a Beauty Branding Agency

In the competitive beauty industry, branding agencies are essential partners in co-creating unique brand identities. They create a verbal and visual language, with elements like colors, photography, and typeface to create emotional connections with consumers, fostering loyalty and brand building. Some agencies act as brand archaeologists, uncovering and refining a brand’s core identity to inform their strategic approach and ensure that every element aligns with the brand’s essence.

Strategic design and storytelling are central to a beauty branding agency’s work. Crafting compelling brand stories and impactful creative design, these agencies cultivate consumer trust and enhance brand visibility and market presence. They create brands that tell stories, engaging consumers on a deeper level. A comprehensive beauty branding agency often includes beauty public relations and media relations as part of their offerings, helping brands boost visibility and credibility through targeted communication strategies.

Beauty branding agencies excel in working with both startups and global mega brands, as well as established brands undergoing transformation. They balance internal brand development with consumer perceptions, ensuring effective brand creation and transformation. For established brands, agencies refresh the brand with new elements while preserving its unique value and equity.

These agencies develop creative strategies over many years, offering valuable brand-building insights. This approach ensures branding efforts are both innovative and aligned with market trends and consumer expectations. Digital marketing is also crucial for building brand visibility and engaging customers online, integrating channels like SEO, social media, and paid ads. Partnering with a top beauty marketing agency and top beauty branding agencies ensures sustainable growth and a strong market presence, especially when considering the expertise of various marketing agencies, including more top marketing agencies, the best beauty marketing agencies, and top beauty marketing agencies.

Crafting Unique Brand Positioning in the Beauty Industry

Crafting unique brand positioning in the beauty industry blends art, science, and creativity. Leading agencies use data and analytics to make informed decisions and identify market gaps with a focus on refining a brand’s story and enhancing its market positioning through comprehensive audits and competitive analysis.

A successful brand strategy considers the brand’s vision, target audience, and market positioning. This ensures the brand meets consumer needs while standing out in a crowded marketplace. Tether’s work with  Tatcha, emphasizing unique product benefits like skincare that nourishes from the outside in, illustrates effective market differentiation, focused on delivering exceptional results. Brands like  Dime Beauty  and  Beekman 1802  are prime examples of successful, differentiated positioning, each leveraging their unique heritage and values to stand out in the beauty industry.

Competitive analysis is critical for brand positioning. Understanding what other beauty brands offer helps agencies differentiate a brand’s products and services, ensuring it stands out to consumers. This analysis, along with insights into consumer and competitor perspectives, enhances overall market strategy. Additionally, understanding different product categories allows agencies to tailor brand positioning strategies to specific segments, ensuring campaigns resonate with the right audience.

In today’s beauty landscape, a strategy-driven approach supported by creative direction and innovative marketing can significantly boost brand visibility and consumer engagement. When developing a brand strategy, it is essential to consider e-commerce platforms and digital presence, as these channels play a crucial role in online consumer engagement and purchasing intent. Tailored brand positioning strategies, including paid search, can achieve measurable growth and success, whether for skincare brands, wellness brands, or lifestyle brands through a creative strategy.

Target Audience Insights for Effective Beauty Branding

Understanding your target audience and target audiences is crucial in beauty branding. Market research:

• Reveals consumer preferences
• Identifies emerging trends analyzing consumer behavior:
• Uncovers growth opportunities
• Allows beauty brands to tailor their offerings to meet specific needs.

Creating detailed buyer personas helps visualize the ideal client, enabling brands to address their needs and challenges more effectively. Understanding your audience’s specific preferences and consumer values allows for marketing strategies that capture the audience’s attention and resonate deeply, fostering loyalty. For example, consumer shifts towards sustainability can inform product development, aligning the brand with current values.

Social media is crucial for gathering audience insights. Feedback from social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok ads refines marketing strategies and product offerings. Using visually appealing content, such as high-quality images and engaging videos, is essential to capture the audience’s attention and motivate viewers to take action. Engaging with your audience through beauty tutorials or user-generated content can drive sales and enhance engagement. Brands like  Dime Beauty  and  Beekman 1802  have successfully used these tactics, including paid social and influencer marketing, to build community and trust through social media strategies.

The Power of Storytelling in Beauty Branding

Storytelling builds emotional connections and creates a unique brand identity in beauty branding. Narratives centered around shared values and experiences connect consumers to brands on a deeper level. A memorable, shareable brand story can distinguish a brand in the competitive beauty market.

Social media marketing uses visual storytelling through high-quality images and videos to craft a distinctive brand identity in the world of social commerce. QR codes on packaging can provide deeper insights into the brand’s story, enriching the consumer experience. The Body Shop, for instance, uses scent branding to form emotional connections through recognizable fragrances, demonstrating the power of multisensory storytelling.

Compelling narratives are crucial for distinguishing a brand in the beauty industry. Effective storytelling enhances brand visibility and inspires customers to embrace the brand’s values and mission. A resonant brand story fosters a loyal community and drives business growth.

Naming and Logo Design Essentials for Beauty Brands

An impactful name and logo design are essential for establishing a beauty brand’s identity and building lasting market equity. The logo, as the visual cornerstone, conveys the brand’s identity and values. In the beauty sector, logos must resonate with the target audience’s emotions and expectations to build loyalty.

Key components of a successful beauty logo include color choice, typography, and symbolic representation. These key factors create a visual identity that is both recognizable and meaningful. Innovative logo designs reflecting a brand’s unique story and values significantly enhance customer recognition and recall.

For instance, a logo’s design elements include:

• Color palette, which can evoke specific emotions and associations
• Typography, which conveys personality
• Symbols and icons, which further reinforce the brand’s message and values Effective naming and logo design create a strong first impression and foster a lasting connection with consumers.

Packaging Design: Making a Strong First Impression

In the beauty industry, packaging serves as a silent brand ambassador, creating crucial first impressions. Consistent packaging design fosters brand recognition and loyalty. Distinct, high-quality packaging enhances a brand’s visibility, especially in crowded retail environments or online shopping platforms.

Eco-friendly packaging is increasingly important as consumers become more environmentally conscious. Brands adopting sustainable packaging solutions can improve their image and appeal to these consumers. Innovative designs, such as built-in applicators, also enhance product functionality and appeal.

Tether’s work with  HairStory  exemplifies striking packaging design that stands out. Focusing on visual appeal and creative direction, packaging elevates a product’s perceived value and influences purchase decisions. Effective packaging strategy ultimately increases sales and fosters brand loyalty.

Case Studies: Successful Beauty Branding Examples

Examining successful beauty brand branding examples, including award winning brands, offers valuable industry insights. Brands like Dove and Fenty Beauty use storytelling to foster belonging and celebrate diversity. Their campaigns highlight the power of inclusive, relatable narratives in connecting with consumers.

Tether’s work with  Dime Beauty  demonstrates how the theme of affordable luxury balances exclusivity with approachability. This strategy has helped Dime Beauty resonate with a broad audience, enhancing its market presence. Client testimonials and case studies from agencies like Tether reinforce their expertise in beauty branding.

These examples underscore the importance of a well-crafted brand story and strategic marketing for success in the beauty industry. Learning from these case studies allows beauty brands to adopt proven strategies and elevate their branding efforts.

For instance, some agencies develop a distinctive identity to attract lifestyle and beauty brands, such as Beach House, which uses a relaxed, coastal-inspired brand image to appeal to clients seeking a premium, lifestyle-driven reputation.

Partnering with the Right Beauty Branding Agency

Choosing the right beauty branding agency is crucial for standing out and conveying your brand’s core values. Aligning agency capabilities with specific brand goals ensures desired outcomes. Agencies with a proven track record, like  Tether, provide valuable insights and effective promotion strategies.

Experience in the beauty industry is vital for formulating successful marketing strategies. Beauty marketing agencies that understand beauty consumer behaviors can tailor campaigns to capture the target market’s attention and help clients grow to increase sales with beauty products. Effective collaborations with top beauty branding agencies often start with a one-on-one consultation to define beauty industry marketing objectives and align clients’ strategies.

A successful partnership combines creative vision with strategic branding techniques tailored for the beauty industry. Choosing an agency with a comprehensive suite of services and a history of successful outcomes helps beauty brands achieve scalable solutions and drive business growth, supported by a dedicated creative team.

Summary

In summary, elevating your beauty brand in 2025 requires a multifaceted approach that includes understanding the role of a beauty branding agency, crafting unique brand positioning, and gaining insights into your target audience. The power of storytelling, impactful naming, logo design, and innovative packaging are all critical components of successful beauty branding.

By partnering with the right beauty branding agency, you can leverage their expertise and strategic vision to navigate the complex beauty industry landscape. As you embark on your branding journey, remember that creating a strong emotional connection with your audience is the key to long-term success. Listen to your gut as well and trust your instincts when choosing a beauty marketing agency.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the role of a beauty branding agency?

A beauty branding agency is essential for developing a unique brand identity that emotionally connects with consumers, thereby increasing customer loyalty and brand visibility. Their expertise is crucial for standing out in a competitive market.

How can storytelling benefit my beauty brand?

Storytelling can significantly benefit your beauty brand by fostering emotional connections with consumers, ultimately creating a unique identity and enhancing visibility through relatable narratives. This approach not only engages your audience but also makes your brand memorable.

Why is packaging design important in beauty branding?

Packaging design is crucial in beauty branding as it establishes the first impression, boosts brand recognition, and elevates perceived product value, ultimately impacting consumer purchasing choices.

What should I consider when choosing a beauty branding agency?

When choosing a beauty branding agency, prioritize their track record, client testimonials, industry experience, and how well they can align with your brand’s specific goals and values. Ensure they can effectively support your unique vision.

How can I effectively position my beauty brand in the market?

To effectively position your beauty brand, leverage data and analytics to identify market gaps, conduct thorough brand audits, and analyze competitors, ensuring your strategy aligns with your brand vision and resonates with your target audience.

The post TIPS FROM A <span style="text-decoration: underline;">TOP BEAUTY BRANDING AGENCY</span> TO ELEVATE YOUR <strong><em>BRAND</em></strong> appeared first on Tether.

The key thing to keep in mind is it’s not really about you. Founder’s stories aren’t biography. They are stories that create an emotional connection with your audience, so be sure to keep the focus on that connection. Audiences love to hear about your struggles and how you overcame them, but at the end of the day, they also need to be able to connect your story to how the brand adds to their lives.

It’s also crucial to tell a story people haven’t heard before. You’ll see a lot of brand stories that are essentially, “I saw a problem and came up with a solution.” OK, great. That’s capitalism 101. Or, “I got burned out from corporate jobs and quit to start a business.” Good for you! But that’s a pretty common story. “I became a new mom and started looking at the world differently.” This is indeed a profound and relatable epiphany, but also one that’s thrown around often. These storylines are a good start, but they need additional details or some kind of twist to make them stand out.

One of our favorite founder’s stories is the origin of Beekman 1802: A New York power couple flames out in a recession, moves to a farmhouse in Upstate New York and finds purpose and inspiration through kindness and connecting with their neighbors. Ready to hear more? We haven’t even mentioned what they sell yet. (It’s skincare, btw.) This story compels because it’s about values that are shared by good-hearted people — and there are a lot of those people out there (thankfully).

Another great founder we’ve had the privilege to help craft her brand story, Vicky Tsai of Tatcha, launched her brand with an incredibly compelling story. Vicky’s story is about a trip to Kyoto, where she encountered a geisha and was captivated by her elegance, beauty and tradition. (This is an extreme simplification. You can read the whole thing on Tatcha.com.) Notice this story isn’t really about Vicky — it’s about her journey, and she invites you to join her in discovery.

True, it’s hard to top these stories. (And you may not need to — not every founder’s story needs to make it into the brand.) Ask yourself a few questions about your origin: Is it relatable to your audience? Does it bring to life your brand’s values? Did your brand go on a journey that others would like to join? And does your story set you apart? The answers can tell you a lot about what makes your brand special.

These are the kinds of questions we ask during our immersion phase, where we get to know everything we can about the brand and the people behind it. Paired with research into the competitive landscape to find what other brands are saying — and, more important —what they’re not saying, we can determine what’s truly differentiating about a brand. We also take into consideration the whole brand story, where we create the foundation for all the creative work that follows. This includes components such as mission, promise, characteristics and values. After we’ve crafted the brand story, we get to work defining the brand’s voice and tone, which we infuse into key messaging components that bring the brand story to life and start to create that emotional connection with the audience.

In this context, a founder’s story is just one possible chapter among many. The question to ask then is, “What is the best way to bring the brand to life?” If the founder’s story isn’t a good fit, there are many other creative and compelling ways to get the job done. (We have loads of ideas in that department, too.) But in the right circumstances, your founder’s journey from inspiration to market can inspire your audience and make them love your brand even more.

The post HOW A <span style="text-decoration: underline;">FOUNDER’S STORY</span> CAN HELP YOUR BRAND <strong><em>CONNECT</em></strong> appeared first on Tether.

The brands we love most get that. So they invest in building powerful emotional connections with their consumers. And one of the most effective ways to do it? The ‘motion picture’.

Video is the most viscerally charged of all brand storytelling mediums. It inspires and evokes. Prods and provokes. Simplifies the most complex subjects and celebrates the loftiest ideals through a masterful blend of imagery, audio, pacing and tone—all grounded in your unique brand aesthetic.

A focused, concisely edited video engages more of the audience’s senses. It can instantly convey the spirit that drives your brand. Reinforce what you stand for. Showcase the passion and people behind your efforts–the how, why and who of all you do–more powerfully than a block of text ever could.

It can serve as a rousing manifesto—a soulful statement that shares your higher purpose with the world. Provide a more engaging way of relating your origin story. Introduce a powerful rally cry that galvanizes and inspires internal teams across your organization. Or offer your most passionate advocates the narrative they need to tell their friends all about you.

A well-crafted brand video delivers a powerful emotional wallop. One that inspires a passionate reaction. And ignites consumer action.

Providing people watch it.  

How can you make sure that happens? By serving up the ideal ‘chapter’ of your story to the right viewer. At the right moment. In the right channel. With a sensitive, rigorous focus on the kind of empathetic storytelling that shows viewers your brand thinks and believes and feels and acts a lot like they do. That they’re each an essential part of your extended brand family.

The richest brands encompass more than a single plotline. They’re defined by an ongoing succession of relevant, inspiring stories shared across various mediums; an interwoven tapestry of related narratives, each illuminating a distinct aspect of your who, how, what and why. Video storytelling is an integral thread in your story tapestry. Its capacity to deeply engage the senses and touch the hearts of your audience is unrivalled. 

We, as humans, crave encounters that make us feel. A well-considered brand video reminds each of us just what it means to experience this world—our existence—each living moment—in a more immersive way that passes through our eyes, our ears, our senses …and directly into our hearts.  

From the very beginning, Tether’s creative work has utilized video to reflect a relentless pursuit and mastery of effective brand storytelling. We understand that every brand has a tale all its own. And we constantly evaluate how we can best help share the right chapter of that larger story across every consumer touchpoint. Through design. Messaging. Packaging. Collateral. Online engagements. And empathetically conceived, expertly crafted brand video content.

We invite you to sample the personality of these brands through just a few brief examples from our ever-expanding portfolio.

Room to Read — Mission

A visual statement of the difference we’re making.

Jimmy John’s – Manifesto

The guiding principles that inspire our actions.

Tatcha — Founder’s Story

The who, how and why of our unique origins.

Swans Island – Brand Promise

A legacy in the making.

Sold — Rally Cry

Product becomes purpose.

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But what makes a great name? A lot of things, actually, some readily qualifiable, others a bit less so. But they all share some common ground. A best-in-class name should build on your brand DNA, reflecting your characteristics and nodding to your customer promise. It should help differentiate you in the competitive landscape and generally be kept as short as possible.

A great name should have stopping power and memorability, spurring consideration and staying with people well after they encounter it. It should engage and inspire your audience/s, understanding their motivations and starting to create an emotional connection with them. It should reflect where you are now and where you want to go, allowing for growth beyond current product offerings and customer bases. It should also sound good when spoken and look good when written out or rendered as a logo.

Finally, a great name should start to tell a story. Whether it’s one of everyday utility or game-changing possibility, the best names pull us in with the promise of something more. Something that piques our interest, satisfies a fundamental need or simply makes us feel, more than we may even fully understand. Few names check all these boxes, but the most successful aim to cover as many as possible.

Getting to that great name is equal parts story-craft and science — at least, the strategy and research side of science. At Tether, our process starts with the soul of your brand and ends with a name rigorously conceived and vetted to capture the heart of your audience. With a lot of steps in between. We begin by immersing ourselves in your brand: who you are, what you do, why you do it and what sets you apart.

We work together to understand your goals. We survey the competition, looking for white space and points of differentiation. Next, we assemble a cross-functional team and brainstorm names — A LOT of names — spanning different territories (more on that to come). Then we review and ruthlessly edit our long list, identifying top contenders, making refinements and adding more 
options to the mix. And finally, we check for potential conflicts via Google, URL and USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) searches.

So what about those naming territories? All our naming exercises start by going wide, exploring a broad swath of options, from close in to completely unexpected. To guide us in the process, we concentrate on three distinct and ultimately differentiating territories. The first is Descriptive, names that communicate what the brand is/does in a simple, direct manner, like Netflix, Vitamin Water and Whole Foods. Next, Suggestive options evoke relevant associations but don’t describe the brand — think Apple, Tesla or Facebook. And finally, Coined names are invented words, which often borrow elements of relevant existing words and act as an empty vessel to be imbued with meaning, such as Xerox, Kodak and Lululemon.

How do you know when you’ve landed on that perfect name? Ultimately, only time and your audiences’ response will tell, but using the criteria above will never steer you wrong — plus it’ll help take much of the potentially derailing subjectivity out of making a choice. And if you’re thinking about consumer testing, do so thoughtfully. Simply asking people which names they like most is a recipe for vanilla, as people are naturally averse to the unexpected. No test group, for example, would push Tesla or Lululemon to the top of the list.

Instead, survey a well-screened audience, asking them to share what associations they have with your options, how they line up with your brand attributes and what kind of positive sentiments they evoke. With these insights in hand, you’ll have the data you need to pick a name — and send your newly christened brand out into the world with confidence and promise.

Here are some examples of brand and product names Tether has created:

Tatcha

A memorable coined name for a skincare brand devoted to sharing the ancient beauty secrets of Japan.

Popwell

A healthier take on soda from Sparkling Ice: flavored carbonated water boosted with prebiotics, vitamins and antioxidants.

Persona

Customized supplements formulated to meet a person’s unique wellness needs.  

Vima / Rev

Performance-enhancing strobe training glasses (Rev) from a brand (Vima) committed to reimagining the limits of performance.

Vella

A new kind of serial storytelling designed to connect people with their favorite content, the authors and like-minded readers.

Luvo

Better-tasting, better-for-you frozen meals cooked up to elevate health, sustainability and deliciousness.

Ably Apparel / Filium

Breakthrough technology (Filium) that makes natural fabrics virtually stain- and odor-proof by a brand (Ably Apparel) ready to revolutionize the industry.

Mello

Chocolate infused with relaxing botanicals from the treat makers behind Awake Caffeinated Chocolate.

SH/FT

Boundary-breaking, style-forward footwear from Columbia designed to take people and the brand into all-new territory.

Nexii

A first-of-its-kind construction enterprise dedicated not only to bettering the category but the world we live in.

Opus One Curia

A private, members-only club for select customers of this venerated California winery.

Consumer Brands Association

A reimagined identity for the consumer packaged goods trade organization formerly known as the Grocery Manufacturers Association.

Need a name for your brand or product? We’d love to help. Contact us at newbusiness@tether.com.

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Our collective experience creates magic. We are multidiscipline storytellers from the beginning to the end, building whole worlds out of an idea.

In this New Year, we wish everyone the desire to create a habit of doing one thing that helps many. Of saying one kindness that will better the next few days. Of remembering that we are one, we are many.

This drawing made by the hands of Tether is a Palimpsest: a work of art or document that has many levels of meaning that build on each other.

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As we work with our clients on revising and updating their brands to better reflect the market and competitive landscape, we got too busy to look inward. Our quickly created identity from almost fifteen years ago served us well and reflected who we were and became. But, as our agency evolved and our offerings became more distinct, we felt a bit uncomfortable slipping into that dated dress or suit of clothes every day.

So we did what we had to do to make it happen. We created a brief for ourselves. We allocated a budget. We gave ourselves a timeline. We laid out the deliverables once we created the new visual identity, website, proposal templates, employee materials, templates, etc. And we even assigned a full team to this internal project; creative director, designers, writers, developers and an account person. Away we went with a flurry of creativity. Did we continue our prioritization of this important endeavor? Well, kind of, sometimes. Yes, client work took precedent at times (well, a lot of the times). But, we kept at it. And it happened. We were self-critical. We tried to be good clients to ourselves. Yes, we did go over budget and it took way longer than we had predicted. But, we have a big smile as we put on this new face to the world every day.

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Beyond diversity training and education what else could we do? What was within our skill set and ability to effect change immediately? That’s when we landed on the concept of DesignLab. The brief to ourselves was to create a curriculum for junior and seniors in high school that would create awareness of design and advertising as a possible career path. Our goal was to work with diverse high schools and help grow the next generation of creatives. Our vision; to inspire students to study design or advertising so they could join our world of creativity. We started with Garfield High School, a Seattle-based school known for supporting the arts. We worked with a high school consultant to make sure we approached our curriculum in a relevant manner before partnering with administrators and teachers to set up our program.

DesignLab consists of an initial presentation by Tether creatives that highlight ‘what we do.’ We show the journey from initial creative idea to finished brand identity and all the exciting consumer touchpoints; websites, apps, retail stores, events, advertising, products, etc. Next steps include a series of sessions with the students where we walk them through the fundamentals of design and use our creative process to mentor them to create their own personal brand; logo, graphic elements, colors, etc. After their final presentation to us and each other, we gave them each a certification of completion along with stickers of their final personal brand.

We are now working on standardizing our curriculum and then making it accessible for any school or community organization to download and use in their communities to create awareness of design as a potential career path.

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