The word comes from the Old Norse word ‘brandr’, which means “to burn,” which refers to the 4,000-year-old tradition of branding livestock. Since then, branding developed over the years, from farmers claiming their land, to artisans claiming credit for their goods, factories claiming their wares, and businesses claiming their products and stating they were superior to others.

We’ve changed what we brand, how we brand it, and why we brand it. In the twenty-first century, branding is all about establishing ownership, and not just of property or goods. It’s about taking control of what the business stands for, acknowledging your weaknesses, and obtaining consumer trust and confidence by your messaging, behaviours, and actions.

At the turn of the twentieth century, technology started to change daily life, giving us a hint of what the future could bring. The historic and inspirational flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903 became the epitome for the era’s forthcoming invention, ingenuity, and imagination.

At the turn of 20th century, the world kicked off with the birth of many famous corporations that would go on to become globally revered brands. Coca-Cola (established in 1886), Colgate (1873), Ford Motor Company (1903), Chanel (1909), and LEGO (1932) were all pioneers, trend-setters, and brand-builders. These brands were ahead of their time when they were first launched; they each offered something to the market that hadn’t existed before, and made such an impact due to being backed by the stand-out and individual brand messaging of each brand. They were innovative and pioneering, establishing them as market pioneers right away.

It’s important that as an event professional, you understand the basic workings of branding as it will be something you constantly refer back to throughout your career.

For this assessment, you will be creating your own set of brand guidelines.

The guidelines will be for your fictional company, event or brand, and should include relevant sections from the previous seminar. You should choose whichever sections you think are most relevant to your event, as your guidelines do not have to include every single one, what’s important is that the guidelines are collated well and show thorough depth of understanding of the topic.

If you have previous graphics, design, or marketing experience, you are welcome to use whatever programme you are most comfortable with to create your design assets, including a mix of Adobe Suite programmes. If you are newer to design or have little to no experience, or don’t have access to paid software we recommend using Canva to create your main assets. You can sign up for a free account, and there is an introductory video made by Canva here which shows you an overview of the programme.

Canva has a wide range of pre-made templates that you can change, tweak, and improve on. They will act as a foundation for you to gain inspiration. The software is very easy to use, so we recommend just diving in and having a go, but there is also a host of tutorials here to get you started if you are a visual learner instead of a ‘doing’ learner. There are also lots of community-made tutorials that can be found on YouTube if needed.

If you are struggling for creative juices, Pinterest is a great place to look at other creative work and get inspired by others designers. You can make an account and search for graphic design, logos, or typography in the search bar.

For this assessment and every assessment you upload on this course, please include your full name in the file name when you save it as well as the assessment name/topic. I.e: JOHN SMITH – BRAND GUIDELINES