Unlocking Success: How to Choose the Top Branding Agency and Creative Agency

Have you ever wondered who crafts those memorable ads that you see everywhere? Then be it the recent mysterious ads from CRED that are doing the rounds, the infamous ‘Dimaag ki batti jala de’ ads by Mentos, or Amul’s catchy jingle ‘Amul doodh peeta hai India.’ The firms that are responsible for these catchy (and always hard to forget) ads are known as branding agencies.

These creative agencies are not only limited to creating television ads, but they also take care of all your branding needs – logos, taglines, social media marketing, outdoor advertising, you name it!

And then you wonder–Is branding really that important?

Branding is crucial as not only does it form a distinct identity, but it sets you apart from the other firms in your field. It gives your company a presence, allowing customers to identify you.

Take a look at how easily you can identify Nike’s logo.

Be it their shoes, caps, T–shirts, headbands – literally any of their products. The same goes for their field’s related brands such as Reebok, Adidas, Puma. Even if they are manufacturing the exact same products, you can easily distinguish one brand from the other effortlessly by just looking at their logo!

Other than that, branding involves consistency. As cliché as it may sound, consistency is key and is one of the keys to branding success!

The omni-channel approaches of branding agencies often ensure that the same brand image is portrayed across platforms.

Think of how you see the same ad on Instagram, TV, YouTube – there is a sense of consistency across platforms.

Like previously mentioned examples, these famous ads were created by branding agencies that are on the top!

But, even the best branding agency may not be right for you (we promise we’ll explain why).

So, let’s move on to how you can select the top branding agency!

Work up a brilliant brief

Even the leading branding agencies can face a mountain of challenges when the client doesn’t provide a proper brief (worry not, we know how to navigate through that too).

So, the first tip is to be applied to you – make sure you know what you need from a branding agency.

Which channels do you want to use? What do you want your consumers to think of when they see your brand? How do you want to brand your firm?

Just provide a branding agency with the answers to these questions and let them work their magic!

Creativity – the key ingredient

The difference between a good branding… ah, leave it. We’re going to put the truth out; all branding agencies are creative in their own way.

It depends on clientele, as a particular branding agency may have clients that don’t require a lot of creativity, while some branding agencies may have clientele that require loads of creativity.

If you require 10/10 creativity that truly connects with your target audience, you need to make sure that the branding agency that you choose puts such work out.

But yeah, we at Granth truly think that branding and creativity should always go together (but in the end, even we must bow to the customer’s needs).

Stalk their website, social media handles

By stalking agencies (not in a creepy way) you can extract a lot of details. By this, we mean that you should take a look at their previous clients and industries that they’ve worked with.

Also, checking out the work that the agency has previously done also gives you an idea regarding the type of work that you can expect. It is a huge green flag if the company has previously worked with clients in the same field as yours.

For example, you can check out a couple of the clients that we have worked with (and you have permission to stalk us too).

Take notes as to how they’ve branded themselves

Charity begins at home, so does branding. How a company brands themselves is important, as it is probably the best portfolio that you can get.

Every branding agency out there knows that in order to get those juicy leads, they need to brand themselves, and they need to brand themselves really well. So, a company will invest a good amount of time and effort to brand themselves.

Going through an agency’s website, social media handles can help you get an idea of how a company has branded themselves.

How big do you want the hole in your pocket to be?

We’re not kidding when we say this, but good branding agencies require a good amount of money. And as you may have inferenced, top branding agencies may require loads of money as well.

So, when selecting the top branding agency, you need to make sure that you know how much you’ll have to shell out. A good ROI (return on investment) is essential if you want to make sure that you’re making more money than you’re shelling out.

Size matters (of the agency)

Among other things in life that matter, size is always an important factor. In the case of branding agencies, it kind of depends on your requirements.

While one may say that big agencies have a lot of clients, they also have a lot of employees to cater to their clients as well. Small agencies usually work with small to medium sized companies as handling big clients may overload them.

But again, small agencies charge small and big agencies charge big.

So, judging by the size of your company and your budget, you should be able to ascertain which agency may be the top branding agency for you. Make sure that you prioritize ROI, and that you’re making more money than you are investing.

Conclusion

Picking a top branding agency is not a Himalayan feat. It mainly requires you to pick the agency that’s best for you. And yes, it starts with you giving a proper brief to the agency (please, a good brief is the best that a client can do).

Be it investment-wise, creativity-wise, size-wise, ROI-wise – you need to pick the best fit. Listed above, you have a checklist that once you approve, you can ascertain whether a particular agency is the best agency for you or not.

Good luck with your search for the top branding agency!

(You can save all of the time and effort if you just pick Granth!)