2022/11/03 | Written By: Sungmin Park

How do early startups implement branding? Follow our previous episode featuring why startups need branding. In this episode, we will introduce the process and outcomes of Upstage’s brand system renewal.

The Journey of Creating and Branding a Brand

Before we renewed our brand, we reasked ourselves a question. What exactly is a brand, and why is branding necessary?

• Brand: The image customers hold of a company, product, or service.

• Branding: The process of recognizing customer’s impressions and directing them towards a desired path.

One of Upstage’s direct priorities was defining a brand so that customers could recognize “Upstage” before the first product, the no-code/low-code solution “Upstage AI Pack,” entered the market. This is because logo design, product packaging, website, marketing, and all related tasks are important to Upstage branding.

However, before reaching this stage of branding, Upstage focused on forming a consensus with its members, as well as sharing the vision and desired growth direction so future customers could recognize the brand. The starting point was the defining of Upstage. The marketing team and the BX team formed a TF team for branding, conducting a survey to understand and reflect Upstages’ star members' brand images and values.

Brand Personality Survey

Over 80% of Upstage’s stars participated in the Upstage Brand Personality Survey, which derived results by grouping similar submissions and creating individual keywords for each group in order to determine suitable wordings for Upstage.

Q1. If you met 'Upstage' on a blind date, what would be their personality? (What we think of Upstage’s character)

When asked about what kind of character Upstage was, stars came up with an unexpected amount of keywords including consideration, sincerity, and kindness. The conclusion reached was that the point Upstage wanted to emphasize to its customers, rather than intelligence and leadership, was its steadfastness and warmth to ‘make a better world.’

Q2. I, an employee of Company A, after meeting with Upstage employees tell my colleagues that “the company is really OOO.” What word is in the blank? (Brand image recognized by customers)

In this second question, how Upstage wants to be remembered by the public, businesses, and private situations—much like presentation on a blind date—was examined. Words such as 'professionalism', 'superior skill', and 'trust' had a high percentage of mentions.

Q3. When introducing Upstage, what keywords or phrases would you include?

Many stars responded with the keyword ‘AI leaders and experts.’ Furthermore, through several interviews and workshops with external stakeholders, the marketing team has summarized the following aspirations. Combining our internal perspective with the expectations customers have for Upstage, we can express our current image and aspirations in one sentence: “A team of top experts who sincerely use AI to efficiently and conveniently solve and improve tasks and challenges.”

Finding the Upstage Brand Archetype

After organizing keywords from the Brand Personality Survey that express Upstage both internally and externally, our second step for branding was to find our brand archetype. Brand archetypes reflect a company’s image and what type of persona a brand encompasses.

In the past, consumers’ purchase decisions relied on factors such as price, quality, and service satisfaction. However, today, brand history, philosophy, and image have a greater influence on these decisions. This is why it is important to establish a brand archetype.

“Creator” was the archetype with the highest voter turnout for Upstage in the Warrior Star Interview.

<Upstage Brand Archetype Warrior Interview Results>
1st Place: Creator / 64.5%
2nd Place: Magician / 35.5%
3rd Place (Tied): Hero, Sage / 각 29%

“Creators don't follow the laws of nature, instead using tools as they please to make the world a better place. Creator brands influence their customers by presenting the possibilities of the world.”

The following results were derived through these exploratory processes alongside the voices of Upstage members who want to benefit the world with AI. While we struggled to choose keywords that felt more intuitive compared to the words from before, we finalized Harmony, Barrierless, and Frontier as Upstage’s keywords.

Since even just a single word has the power to express the brand, through the process of modifying and refining keywords whilst pondering the best way to express Upstage’s identity, we came up with a final result.

The ‘Sprint Method’ to Establishing a Benchmark for Branding

Over the course of three months, we fiercely built an Upstage-exclusive brand system through various internal and external interviews, surveys, and competitor research. Now, we were ready to take one final step further. ‘One Step More’ was intended to set a reference point for all of our results thus far. In order to achieve this, we needed to examine the background and criteria of choosing keywords once again.

However, due to limited time and resources, an effective methodology designed to acquire the desired answers was required above all else. In order to answer these important issues, we set out on a journey to find our individual answers (upstage-likeness) incorporating the “Sprint” method, where team members had a heated discussion in a short period of time to derive ideas.

The basic rules of Sprint—proper team formation, sufficient discussion with all members, selection of final decision makers, and thorough scheduling using timers—allowed us to select only what we needed from Sprint’s various methodologies.

Step 1: What, How, and Why (15 minutes)

'What, How, Why' is a methodology based on Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circle.’ The premise is simple:

You need to understand and have the ability to explain your purpose for doing business. When a company has strong motives that shine through, customers are compelled to buy products. There are many examples of such outshining companies (ex. Nike, Apple, Airbnb, etc.).

[WHAT] Q. What is your company’s purpose?

• Express the most important aspect for the next five years of your business in one sentence.
  ➞ Result: We create 'AI products' that anyone can easily incorporate.

[HOW] Q. How are you enforcing it?

• What's the secret? Describe the technology and charm points of the company that differentiate it from competitors.
  ➞ Result: Solving customer problems through easy-to-apply AI.

[WHY] Q. Why do you think this purpose is important?

• It defines the core existence and timeless values of our company. Even if we pivot, launch a new product, or enter a new market, our Why does not change.
  ➞ Result: Making the world better with AI—Making AI Beneficial.

All of Upstage’s stars shared the mission and vision above; the answers came easily. Their optimism for Upstage’s mission, ‘Making AI Beneficial,’ alongside the belief that this mission can be realized with Easy-to-apply AI, ascertained the power of clear branding.

Step 2: Personality Slider (30 minutes)

In this next step, we noted two distinct characteristics and moved sliders with the consideration of our company’s personality, identity, and image. We compared the results of 6 participants, determining the average point and defining the following five brand personality types.

[Elite / Mass Appeal]

➞ Elite: Upstage is a B2B—business-to-business—company, rather than a company that caters to the general public, so we do business for a specialized Focused Target.

[Serious / Playful]

➞ Serious: Similar to the character above (Elite vs. Mass Appeal), Upstage appeals to customers with seriousness and professionalism. Our services and external communication activities must achieve reliable results. Companies with a ‘Playful’ disposition are closer to targeting their ‘Mass Public.’

[Rebel / Conventional]

➞ Rebel: Upstage is not afraid of new tasks and adventures. Rather than follow the existing customs and regulations, we lead the market with our own. We are closer to the ‘Rebel’ personality, familiar with slogans such as “I pave a path that no one has ever taken, placing customers on the world stage.”

[Friend / Authority]

➞ Friend: This personality was the hardest to discern. It is important to carry a sense of authority in order for us to make the world better with AI and extend the benefits of AI to the world. However, breaking barriers between customers and company is important to us for familiarity between our audience. As a B2B company, we decided to take a step closer to the ‘Friend’ personality, mixing perspectives so we can operate our business based on expertise and clarity while also embracing diversity with a broader mindset.

[Mature, Classic / Young, Innovative]

➞ Young, Innovative: Upstage upholds a culture based on trust, autonomy, and sharing. Challenge and creativity are the driving forces behind Upstage’s growth. While it has the ‘Young’ personality, thereby learning from tradition, it can also make bold decisions when tradition interferes with innovation.

Step 3: Reference Point Matrix

To model the baseline matrix methodology of step 3, first draw a 2x2 matrix. On the x-axis, “Classic” and “Modern” denote whether traditional industrial models are inherited, while the y-axis sets “Expressive (restrictionless expression)” and “Reserved (refinement of expression)” as reference points for tone and manner. The interpretation and results collected from the Sprint participants is shown in the image above.

Upstage presents an innovative business model that breaks away from the traditional industrial model to create new value. This attribute appears consistently throughout Upstage’s image: As a leader in the AI industry, we keep in mind that we are a trust-based information communicator and service provider. Therefore, our tone and manner must be calculated thoroughly and, through elaboration, deliver to the public and our customers a consistent voice and story.

Step 4: Reframing Core Values

Through the results above, in this final fourth step, we took the time to think through our previously established core values once again.

[Aspects considered while remodeling our core values]

1. Placement Order

Although ‘Genuine’ and ‘Harmony’ were initially placed as the top core values through the brand image survey, we want to emphasize ‘Smart’ and ‘Frontier’ as our foremost values, conveying that we do not rest on our laurels as a leader in the AI industry. Therefore, we have revised the placement of these values.

Although 'Genuine' and 'Harmony' were drafted as Upstage’s initial core values through the brand image survey, the foremost core values we wished to emphasize were modified to 'Smart' and 'Frontier,' conveying our determination as a leader in the AI industry. Therefore, we have revised the placement of these values.

2. Upstage-likeness

We aim to express Upstage-likeness in an enhanced visual and verbal manner. Based on an interview with Upstage stars, who were asked about what came to mind when they thought of Upstage, we have incorporated images of ‘rockets,’ ‘Space Exploration,’ ‘MacGyver,’ ‘solid ground,’ ‘horizontal,’ and ‘voyage’ into our core values.

3. Reflecting Sprint Decisions

Keywords such as Rebel, Young and Innovative, and Modern, selected extensively from the Sprint results, are reflected in the re-establishment of our core values.

Upstage Brand System Establishment Result

Upstage's brand system, established after multiple efforts, consisted of four total stages. Each systematic stage contributes towards Upstage’s ultimate goal: the mission.

• Way: The perspective an Upstage Star should carry. Corresponds to Upstage’s ‘Work Ethics’ and ‘Mindset.’

• Core Value: A principal for achieving a company’s mission and vision. Further serves as a promise with customers.

• Vision: The ideal goal for a brand. Also an objective that must be realized to complete its mission.

• Mission: Why a brand should exist. Brand philosophies and values that will not change over time.

The ‘Upstage AI Pack,’ set to officially launch in the second half of this year, is an all-in-one AI solution personalized for customers.

We hope that our mission in ‘Making AI Beneficial’ will reach many people through our efforts in branding. Furthermore, we hope this content served as a good insight for those considering brandings for their own startups. In the upcoming episode, we will share with you our rebranding experience from a brand design perspective.