Many brands come and go with whatever the current trends are, but solid foundations require an enduring brand. Examples of brands which have endured over the years are rarer, but equally, these are the ones you know and trust, for exactly that reason.

Over fifteen years ago Montpellier designed a new brand for the Maldives Airport Company. Today it is truly embraced by the staff and the organisation lives and breathes the brand, it has grown in strength and relevance, not diminished over time. As with any good brand identity, it was designed and built on solid research. These are the ingredients to build an enduring brand:

• Every organisation needs a clear sense of purpose. Ensure that the people who work for the organisation understand and are brought on board with a strong sense of belonging.
• Every organisation in umique and the identity must hook into the organisations own personality, it’s roots, it’s strengths and weaknesses.
• The identity and purpose must be so clear, that every subsequent decision or behavior can be measured against the stated goals. It has to be deeper than just a catchy slogan. It needs to be truly believable, a statement of intent.
• Everything the organisation does must build on the identity.
• Uniforms, vehicles, buildings and how they are maintained and visually look are all manifestations of the identity. All project the organisations standards and values.
• Consistent quality must be applied across all mediums, online, in print, on signage. These are all visual things, and this is why design is such an important component in a brand identity. However just as important is how the organisation behaves, both to it’s own staff and to its customers and it’s host communities.

In young and in smaller companies the management of the identity is intuitive. It is a direct reflection of the founder’s mission and values. The organisation is what he or she makes it. However when these small businesses grow into larger orginisations with layers of management and spread across multiple locations, if the brand identity is not strongly understood then the company’s long term interests and objectives can come under attack from competing personalities and sectional politics. It is vital that brand values are enforced, or they can very easily lose their way over time and the organisations, strenghts, individuality and real purpose are lost leading to poor business decisions and cohesive direction.

So as you can see, consistency in attitude, actions and style underlines the organisations identity. These are the ingredients to build an enduring brand. If you want to see the full case study on the Maldives Airport Company’s brand identity click here…