The Expert: Michael Johnson Dissects 3 Top Brands

Discover how branding expert Michael Johnson applies his definitive 5.5 Steps to three well-known brands

Branding expert Michael Johnson (@michael_johnson) set up his company Johnson and Banks in 1992 and over the years has carved out a niche redesigning brands. His work focuses on brands that “do good” and his previous clients have included Duolingo, the UN Climate Change Conference, the Royal Academy of Music, and Shelter. In 2017 he was awarded D&AD's highest honor, its gold President’s Award.

His book, Branding In Five And A Half Steps, outlines Michael’s fail-safe system for rebranding, which he explores in this video, by using three well-known brands as case studies to apply them to.

Michael's 5.5 Steps

1. Investigate: Discover the brand's market position.

2. Strategy: Build a brand narrative.

2.5. Bridging The Gap: Apply the narrative to all areas of the brand.

3. Design: Create a brand that looks great.

4. Implement: Apply the design and narrative.

5. Engage Or Revive: Take the brand into its next chapter.

Patagonia

As a fan of brands seeking to improve the world around them, Michael was drawn to using Patagonia as one of his case studies. The brand was created in the seventies by US climber Yvon Chouinard, who originally created hiking boots but then began to change their design when he realized the product he was selling was ruining the environment. From then, the company has had environmental activism at its heart and in the 1980s, they pioneered “slow fashion” by turning recycled bottles into fleeces. Michael recognizes Patagonia as a brand that has “has turned environmental activism into a marketing approach.”

In terms of Michael’s 5.5 Steps, he says that step one, investigation, was done very well at the start of Patagonia’s journey – and that Yvon Chouinard used his passion of protecting the environment to carve out a niche with the products he sold. This meant that as his brand became more purposeful and he became better aligned with his ethos and strategy, applying step two. “If you get your story straight it’s incredibly helpful because once you get in the direction of where you want to go, it can be incredibly powerful,” says Michael.

London Underground

A proud Londoner, Michael tells the story of the London Underground logo redesign, which came about at the turn of the 20th Century: “They thought that their blue words on a white background weren’t strong enough, so added the words against a red background to ‘punch out’, and add impact.” Edward Johnston was commissioned to design a new twentieth century typeface, and with his type, the logo began to be adapted until we arrived at the incredibly well known logo we see today. Michael says that Edward Johnston’s type is seen as “an early example of a corporate typeface.”

In terms of the 5.5 steps, Michael says that step three, the design of the brand was well thought out, which in turn meant that step four, the implementation of this design was well directed and received. Step five, engage or revive, has been used throughout London Underground’s branding history, as it’s been known to collaborate with different artists and graphic designers throughout the years to experiment with fun designs to adorn the tube and its posters and tube map covers. Michael sees these projects as hugely successful, as it means that mundane morning commutes, along with corporate materials, have felt more playful, and that the brand has, despite its age, continued to feel fresh.

Apple

Michael loves the fact that Apple have always taken the view that, “research will only guarantee mediocrity and guarantee whether you’re going to offend someone”, explaining that they've always done exactly what they want through being "canny marketeers." He uses the iPod as an example of this: although there were other MP3 players on the market when Apple released the iPod, they created a product that was much easier and more enjoyable to use. With Steve Jobs’ ideas and Jonathan Ives designs, Apple was able to beat out major market competitors. Michael comments that through their design innovations, the pair “found a way for people to have a relationship with their computers.”

What Apple have done very successfully, according to Michael’s 5.5 steps, is step one - investigation: “What they’ve always been genius at is looking hard at a market and finding gaps, or even understanding how to extend the gaps that someone else had found.” When it came to strategy, (step two), “they defined what they stood for with words” throughout their campaigns, and spoke to a certain person who related to their narrative. He says that most importantly their use of step five, Engaging and Reviving, has been their biggest success, so much so that “they can just put an Apple symbol next to a word, and that’s enough.”

Did you enjoy this video? If you’d like to learn how to create your strategic branding concept from start to finish, don't miss Michael Johnson's course Contemporary Brand Identity: Using Verbal and Visual Branding.

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