Brand workshops are a great way to define a brand. And they’re fun.

They’re not one of the official steps of the branding process (Research, Positioning, Identity, Experience), but they are a great way to uncover what the brand should be. Make sure you include all of the brand’s stakeholders. They are most often members of senior management and key marketing / brand managers. Don’t get carried away with participants. If you have more than ten people in the workshop, the less creative it will be and the participants won’t feel as comfortable contributing their thoughts.

The information you get from the workshop is only as good as the questions you ask and the exercises you complete. Here are a few of my favorites to get you started:

• Start the session with a review of your target market. Have a life-size cut out of this person and call-outs of the things that are important.  Discuss and document what they need and expect from you.
• Pass out auto, fashion, food, and entertainment magazines and have each person cut out images that describe your brand. Do the same to describe your customer. If your brand already exists and you will be re-defining it, do this for your current brand and what you want the new brand to be.
• Have all of the participants write a phrase on a 3×3 post-it note that they would like their customer to say about them. Combine them all on one wall.
• Ask questions that don’t relate to the product/service but everyone can relate to:
  • If the brand were a food/drink, what would it be and why?
  • If the brand were a car, what would it be and why?
  • If the brand were a person, what personality characteristics would you use to describe it?
• What about your brand will create an emotional connection to your customer?
• Why does your customer care about you?

What exercises and questions have worked for your workshops?