Technology Alliance Leading to the Future

Even today, with the advancement of various technologies, many social problems still exist in the world, such as economic disparity, environmental problems, educational issues, food problems, and gender disparity. In response to these issues, initiatives such as the SDGs are beginning to be recognized by consumers, regardless of whether they are in developing or developed countries, and awareness of these issues is increasing worldwide.
The concept of Creating Shared Value (CSV), in which companies realize both economic and social value by addressing social issues in their commercial activities, was announced by Harvard University Professor Michael Porter and his colleagues in 2011. Philip Kotler, a professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the father of modern marketing, also advocated Marketing 3.0 in his book published in 2010, and sees the value of companies in making the world a better place.
Global companies such as
GE, IBM, and Nestle have recognized the relationship between social action and corporate performance and have begun to incorporate CSV into their management. An SDG management survey of 637 domestic companies, including listed companies, by Nikkei Inc. in 2019 revealed that companies with higher SDG deviation values have higher market capitalization growth and operating profit margins*1.

Starbucks, which operates 28,000 stores worldwide, has made a tremendous impact on consumers around the world by announcing that it will eliminate plastic straws by 2020. Meanwhile, there are also examples of multiple companies working together to develop activities of social significance. Nissan Motor and J Oil Mills are working to save energy by supplying each other with the electricity and heat energy they need at their adjacent Yokohama plants. By working together in a larger framework, multiple companies can develop activities that achieve greater results than would be possible with a single company. The time has come for these activities and the companies that engage in them to gain recognition from investors and general consumers.

*1 Dec. 2, 2019 Article: First SDGs survey released, an important stock investment perspective / SDGs “corporate watchdog”: top groups are also financially strong

Company A, a major materials manufacturer, has succeeded in developing a new material that offers superior performance in terms of low environmental impact when processed, safety for factory workers, and cost. The company was seeking to brand a future-oriented technology alliance based on this material.

This new material, which has multiple advantages, has the potential to be processed by Company A’s customers and introduced to many companies regardless of industry, creating a demand large enough to be seen everywhere in our daily lives.
Bravis was chosen as a partner to achieve Company A’s goal of “creating greater business and making the greatest possible contribution to society.

At the start of the project, we conducted a study of the new brand. In addition to interviews with company A’s development staff, we also studied existing brands in the same industry, benchmark technology brands, and other brands in different industries to determine how the new brand would impact the company and society. In addition to interviews with Company A’s development staff, we gathered information from existing brands in the same industry, benchmark technology brands, and activity-based brands in other industries to explore the direction the new brand should take.

The project began with repeated discussions with the client based on the information gathered, Company A’s corporate philosophy, and medium- and long-term management plans, to narrow down the direction in which the brand should go. Next, brand naming was developed to embody the brand for the several directions that were narrowed down. The development was conducted from various perspectives, including differentiation from existing brands in the industry, expression of the characteristics of the technical alliance, the situation when the brand name is actually used, and the functionality of the name itself. From these, a wide range of naming ideas were proposed, including those that expressed the value of the technical system, those that focused on its social significance, and those that emphasized the impact on the recipient. A unique idea that simultaneously expresses the value of the technological system and the social significance of the system was selected for the naming, in consideration of the current trend of increasing interest in social initiatives. After the naming was finalized, the logo design, which could be called the face of the brand, was developed along with the elaboration of the concept. As with the naming, more than 50 logo proposals were designed by in-house designers, taking into consideration the value and social significance of the new brand, differentiation from existing brands, and actual usage scenarios, and carefully selected logos were proposed to express the new brand image and functionality as a logo. Furthermore, since the logo is expected to be used by various cooperating companies as the Alliance’s logo in all kinds of scenes and catch the eyes of many people, guidelines outlining the rules for logo use were also created to build a consistent brand image with a unified feel.

We were able to create a strong, unified brand by developing the brand concept, naming, logo development, and guidelines in an integrated manner, taking into account Company
A’s DNA, the value of the new brand, and market and social trends. Although the Technology Alliance brand has only been in existence for a short time, the new brand’s social significance is expected to strengthen its presence in today’s world, where social activities are beginning to be evaluated on a global scale.