Itohan: Building strong brand identities for businesses

Itohan Barlow is the founder and chief executive of Indigo Arya Limited, an outfit that creates value for organisations using creative story-telling.

Itohan told Start-Up Digest that the inspiration to establish Indigo Arya came from the need to build great brands and to address issues organisations sometimes struggle with when trying to present a coherent brand message to the public.

As a result of this desire, Itohan established Indigo Arya Limited in 2014. Currently, the company has two branches in Nigeria and the United Kingdom with 30 full-time employees in both branches.

Since starting the organisation, Itohan and her team have been able to build strong brands for their clients. “We have been really blessed with the opportunity to be involved in building a wide spectrum of different brands which have gone on to do amazing things,” she said.

Indigo Arya has built the Petrogio brand, a retail distribution oil and gas firm based in Mali over the years. It has done a full rebrand and identity for She Leads Africa and also works with Union Bank, helping the financial institution to drive a rebranding strategy at its 100 years celebration.

“We have also worked with creating other brands, which are slowly becoming forces to be reckoned with in respective industries. This year we fully launched our digital arm and have signed up new clients to the family such as Afriglobal Medicare and Supperlotto,” Itohan said.

It has not all been rosy for Itohan as the business has faced some challenges. The Architect turned entrepreneur said that the major challenge confronting her business is getting the employees that understand and appreciate the vision of her business.

But all that is gradually changing as she has begun to find people that now understand the vision of the business.

When asked what the most common mistake she identifies when working with a client on brands, is, Itohan told Start-Up Digest that brand misappropriation or copycat is the common mistakes she sees when working with a client on their brands.

“I think the mistake most commonly made is brand misappropriation or copycat branding. This is essentially when one brand adopts the characteristics of an already existing brand and tries to use it to sell its own brand. In Nigeria, we are notorious for this type of behaviour and for me it’s just a complete no-no. Each brand is different and why miss out on an opportunity to tell your own story by stealing someone else’s,” Itohan averred.

When asked what she thinks brand managers must do when either creating a new brand or reinventing an existing brand, Itohan said: “I think the first thing brand managers must remember is that consistency is key. They also need to have the ability to evolve. Your new identity must be able to adapt in a consistent way on all your brand touch points.”

“The second would be, don’t always be afraid to step away from the norm. Find a space for your brand to sit where it can own its identity and will stand out from competitors. In some industries such as healthcare, there might be more traditional colours such as blue and green, which help with industry recognition for a provider but sometimes being different can help you stand out,” she said.

“The last would be, build your brand from the inside- out. Ask yourself some key questions such as, what is the culture of your brand? What is your tone of voice?, Who are your target audience? Don’t create the visual first and then try and turn your organisation into what the manufactured brand depicts. It will never work,” she added.

Itohan would be having a brand event this month for start-ups and SMEs, where she will be helping to build 50 brands. When asked the plans she has for the event, she said: “We want to get 50 budding entrepreneurs/SMEs/start-ups in the room and make sure they leave with a brand that’s fully set up and ready for business.”

“We will provide each entrepreneur with a brand, PR and digital strategy. We’ll also set up a custom domain name with professional emails (example,  organisation@yourbrand.com). We will create a website for them which offers basic information about their products and services,” she said.

“Each start-up or SME will leave with a logo, fully customised social media pages, printed business cards and an electronic letterhead.

Josephine Okojie