Brand Design — Is It a Product or Company?

Which is the master brand: the product or the company? In the case of MedaCube — an automated medication dispenser designed and manufactured by PharmAdva — the answer turned out to be product as the master brand. Yet how was this determination made?

Jonathan Sacks, CEO of PharmAdva, hired IDU Creative to conduct a series of branding exercises for both the company and the product, including brand development workshops, product and company naming, and design of the logo and visual identity.

The goal? A clear definition of the target market and brand foundation concepts. Everything was on the table, and a team of 10–12 key stakeholders, led by David Wright of IDU Creative Services, participated in the workshops and exercises.

After defining the brand concepts for the company (including brand essence, brand promise and brand personality), the company and product names were examined. This entailed a number of brainstorming sessions and research on trademark availability, competitors for similar names and web URL availability. Finally, visual identities were created for both the company and the product which were designed to be complementary to each other, as well as standing alone as unique brand identifiers.

The research and development process showed that for the defined target market, the product had more marketing relevance than the company, so a set of logos were developed presenting the product as the master brand. This approach was carried through on the product, marketing materials and advertising. A separate set of corporate identity materials for the corporation (e.g., letterhead, business cards, PowerPoint templates) were developed which did not include the product.

Next up? Refreshing and rebranding the PharmAdva website and social media sites to follow the “product as master brand” marketing strategy.