This week’s theme for the Startup chronicles, aka “Why some Nigerian businesses fail,” is prioritisation. We hope that you are both entertained and educated by this story.
There was a founder who hired a boutique agency to create the logo for her startup. The agency gave her a questionnaire to complete and she was asked to name a few brand logos she admired. She said none came to mind.
The agency was reasonably priced and requested a seventy per cent advance payment for five options, with a maximum of five iterations for her preferred design. She agreed and made the advance payment. When the agency presented the five designs, she said she did not like any. She said they looked cheap and did not represent the 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐮𝐦 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 she wanted to build. So, she refused to pay the balance of thirty per cent. Rather, she approached a full-service creative agency.
The full-service agency gave her a bill to design two logos with a maximum of three iterations for whichever logo she chose. However, they requested a 100 per cent advance payment. She accepted the terms and paid.
The agency handed over the logo she selected after the third iteration. She painted the office in line with the brand colours and commissioned signages. On the day the signages were mounted, she said “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠,” so she asked that the signages be removed.
Her friend, a marketing consultant, told her that while branding was important, it was more important for her to start her business. The consultant explained that global brands like Apple and Netflix had refreshed their logos through the years, and she could do the same after her company had been established. She did not listen.
Instead, the founder contacted a foreign agency to design another logo. They gave her a bill in thousands of US dollars and requested a 100 per cent advance payment. Meanwhile, she had taken a bank loan to import business equipment. Since she did not have the money, she decided to convert the portion of the loan she had set aside for clearing the equipment to pay for the logo. She was optimistic that the foreign investors she had pitched to would be on board when the equipment arrived.
Sadly, the foreign investors did not come through. When the equipment arrived, she no longer had funds to clear them. Then, she approached family and friends to raise funding but couldn’t. At the ports, demurrage was mounting. At the bank, interest was accumulating. And at the office, rent was running, but there was no business. The company may be DOA – dead on arrival.
𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
It is good to have a brand identity but the logo design doesn’t ascribe value to the brand. Your reputation which results from meeting and surpassing customers’ expectations through quality products and services ascribes value to the brand. So, get your priorities right!
Furthermore, when you approach an agency with a branding brief, clearly articulate your vision and give constructive feedback. To say a logo “looks cheap” or “is not vibing” is tantamount to not giving feedback.
Originally published on LinkedIn.
