Everyone in the business world is talking about AI. But you don’t have to be for or against it, says branding expert Tom Livingstone, who explains how to harness the best of it for your company’s branding journey, as well as lean into human talent and creativity when needed.Your business is ready for a rebrand. But before you approach an agency, you need to prepare a branding proposal to give them the best chance of delivering on your vision.
This sounds like a lot of work, but using AI for parts of it means it doesn’t have to be.
Just don’t go all out on AI. The businesses that get the best results aren’t using ChatGPT or Claude for brand vision – that’s the human part. Instead, they’re using AI tools to communicate their thinking. The bigger decisions, the strategic and creative ones, remain very much human.
AI is great, but it isn’t replacing the branding process. Instead, it’s making the middle bit better. Think of it like this; the beginning part, the creative thinking, still belongs to you and your team. The end part still belongs to your business; which are your discussions with the agency as you move forward.
But what AI does is take care of the middle bit, the communication of ideas.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Start with the human process
Before you use AI to create your branding proposal, answer the following questions about your business using your human muscle:
Who is your customer?
What problem is your business solving?
Answering these questions comes from understanding the people who buy from your business.You, the founder, may already be your ideal customer. If so, you’re in a strong position because you understand the frustrations and motivations behind the purchase. If you’re not this type of founder, spend time talking to your customers. Not just sending surveys, but having real conversations. A survey can tell you what someone thinks but a proper conversation, whether through a call or in-person meeting lets you dive deeper into their thinking.
2. Use AI for the middle part
Now you’ve done the bigger creative thinking and have properly spoken to your customers. Next, turn to AI tools to do the heavier lifting on the easier bits. Use AI to research branding agencies that are a good fit and to write clear and professional briefing documents. Instead of having humans spend days on this, AI can do it in mere moments.
3. Use AI to communicate your vision
A founder may have a clear picture in their head about what they want to create, but trying to communicate internal thoughts to an agency can be a challenge.Use AI to create basic images or videos, for example, that give the agency a rough, yet clear idea about what you want. This saves time for everyone and is more likely to help them get to the finish line quicker instead of going back and forth with ideas that are off the mark.
4. Avoid using AI in brand creation
AI may be good at taking from what’s already out there online, but it’s not great at genuine, original creation. Our business once worked with a recruitment agency client that wanted to rebrand into something between Soho House and Range Rover. AI wouldn’t necessarily come to that conclusion, instead it would look at industry comparables. Real creation is still very human, and comes from personal tastes and experience, while AI tends to take the logical route, sharing what has already been.
5. Use AI to research
If you’re entering a competitive market, AI can quickly identify competitors, analyse positioning, highlight trends and save you days of research time.Remember that once you have all that information, you can use your human thinking to determine what sort of brand you want to create as a result, as AI will recommend what is already out there.
6. Remember the balancing act
Use AI to take care of the unoriginal work; the competitor research, the creation of the proposal document, etc. But keep the parts that truly define your business for yourself, and you and your team’s creative, out-of-the-box thinking. You have your business vision; who your customers are, what they want, views on your marketplace and where you think your business is going. Keep that in your human hands, and let AI do the rest.If you can remember one thing, it’s this; let AI communicate your brand vision instead of replacing it.
Everyone in the business world is talking about AI. But you don’t have to be for or against it, says branding expert Tom Livingstone, who explains how to harness the best of it for your company’s branding journey, as well as lean into human talent and creativity when needed.
Your business is ready for a rebrand. But before you approach an agency, you need to prepare a branding proposal to give them the best chance of delivering on your vision.
This sounds like a lot of work, but using AI for parts of it means it doesn’t have to be.
Just don’t go all out on AI. The businesses that get the best results aren’t using ChatGPT or Claude for brand vision – that’s the human part. Instead, they’re using AI tools to communicate their thinking. The bigger decisions, the strategic and creative ones, remain very much human.
AI is great, but it isn’t replacing the branding process. Instead, it’s making the middle bit better. Think of it like this; the beginning part, the creative thinking, still belongs to you and your team. The end part still belongs to your business; which are your discussions with the agency as you move forward.
But what AI does is take care of the middle bit, the communication of ideas.
Here’s how to do it:
