Question

Topic: Branding

How Much Does Branding Cost?

Posted by Anonymous on 11/17/2007 at 8:14 PM ET 125 Points
Hi everyone,
I am hoping for some advice. I run a grassroots non-profit organization, and have had services donated by a superb branding consultant, who has created a brand identity for us.
So where's the dilemna?

I'm trying to get an estimate of what the value is of the work that he has donated. Another faction of our organization (the parent organization, if you will) is pressuring us to adopt their logo, which is really quite horrible - in spite of the fact that our consultant has come up with what is undoubtedly a world-class logo and brand identity.
I know that the answer is always "well... it depends", but I wonder if someone can give me a quote for the monetary value of the work that has been done, so I can use this to defend our case against renouncing our branding efforts and starting afresh with this other, crappier logo. Our branding-guru has created an identity complete with logo, lettermark, and colour palette. And really... its fantastic! I know that its "worth" is enormous, but what would it cost?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by wnelson on 11/17/2007 at 8:40 PM Member
    Silly question here...why don't you just ask your consultant what he would charge for the work he donated? If he's really a branding consultant, chances are he's done it before for pay.

    For logo design, complete with color palette, I've seen reasonable work for $300 to $1000 to hundreds of thousands of dollars for Madison Avenue admen's work. For the graphic designer who likes to draw and claims to be "branding consultant," the average is probably closer to $600.

    I hope this helps.

    Wayde
  • Posted on 11/17/2007 at 8:50 PM Author
    ok... lets try to narrow down this range. obviously some companies can and will pay hundreds of thousands, and some self-styled artists will scribble something on a napkin for $0.25, but this work is unlikely to be the product of either.

    This is an actual branding consultant who is the artistic director for an actual branding company - in fact, one that wins quite a few awards nationally (in Canada). So lets try to refine the quotes.
  • Posted on 11/17/2007 at 9:20 PM Accepted
    The value of a brand is whatever you can make it. It's really not possible to place a value on a brand. Further, the brand is more than a name and a logo and a color palette. It's the promise you make to your target audience and all the perceptions they hold about your organization.

    Now, having said that, I would think that something in the range of $50-100,000 is probably reasonable. The problem is that the true value is greater to large brands and organizations than to smaller ones. If you're only dealing with a local brand and a business doing, say, $250,000 in sales a year, then it's unlikely the brand will be worth $100,000.

    On the other hand, if the same brand identity is applied to a global brand with $1 billion dollars in annual sales, then the value is likely to be more like $1 million plus.

    It's not just a function of what a great job your branding consultant has done. It's also what you do with it and how much worse you'd have done without it.

    If you look at what the consultant would charge, again the range is so great that it's impossible to say. But if you put a gun to my head and ask for a number, I'd go with $50-100,000. That's a reasonable weighted average of lots of $5,000 projects and a few million-dollar projects, right?
  • Posted by ilan on 11/17/2007 at 9:24 PM Member
    Its obvious that your definition of "branding" is limited to logos only, and other graphic design gimmicks.
    Real branding and the real value of branding is measured in completely different terms.
    Wayde is right, the value of what you refer to as branding could be determined by asking the designer what he would charge from a "real" client, and not from a not for profit organization.
    The real value of your brand (if you have one) is measured in the way your members respond to you, in the amount of contributions or grants you get, in the impact your organization makes.
    This is not something that you can put a monetary value on, because you are a not for profit.

    Real companies, for profit corporations, measure the value of branding work by something called "Brand Equity", and it is far far away from the price some guy with a Mac charges for his logo design stuff.
  • Posted by Hans De Keulenaer on 11/18/2007 at 6:46 AM Accepted
    We seem to be mixing 2 issues here: brand identity on the one hand, and the development of a house style (logo, color scheme, template designs) on the other. Your question seems to refer to house style.

    The design of such house style that oozes what your organisation stands for is far from trivial. Before going into graphic design, it requires a deep understanding of the organisation and its mission. Often, it requires making this identity more explicit within the organisation who has only a vague notion of it.

    It's always difficult to put a figure. As you say yourself, it depends. But I would value a world class house style design, reflecting your brand identity at 5 - 10 K$ at the beginning.

    After a few years of campaigning, if things work out well, the value of your brand identity should be several orders of magnitude higher.
  • Posted on 11/18/2007 at 1:13 PM Author
    Thank you very much for your responses. This thread got away from what I was really hoping to find out (the cost) but that is entirely my fault in that I made the grave mistake of using what seemed like, but is clearly not, a synonym (value). I do appreciate everyone taking time and energy in responding. It has been helpful.
  • Posted by scott on 12/29/2008 at 2:12 PM Member
    I'm not so sure about branding being so different for NPOs. They have budgets also, some are quite reasonable in fact. We do a lot of work for some NPOs and they are great to work with.

    Branding is branding. True bigger companies may pay more , but they also have budgets and many of those budgets are trim indeed, especially now. Not to mention the many layers of management you will need to weed through.

    As to your question: Take Mad ave, throw them out, take cheap guy working at home, throw them out...the value of building a brand will depend on the services offered but i would say between 20-100k. Here is a good article about it.

    https://www.imageworksstudio.com/client-lounge/articles-tips/setting-a-mark...

    Here is the allbusiness.com answer: https://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/branding-brand-developmen...
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