Apply the Ice Cream Principle Here: Your Branding Process

This is not a dessert piece. It’s a reminder to keep your branding in-house, and out of dinner conversation.

An allegory for the process by which individual feedback gets diluted, the Ice Cream Principle is Eli Altman’s way of telling us to use discretion when seeking advice. 

In no uncertain terms, the Creative Director of A Hundred Monkeys and author behind ‘Don’t Call it That’ told his readers where to take brand-related questions. Off the table.

Summarised in the best-seller’s chapter, ‘How to Ask Friends’, his directive is clear: don’t.

Back to Ice Cream 

If you ask ten people for their ice cream preferences with the caveat that they all have to agree on a flavour, logic dictates that their answers will be chocolate or vanilla. Every. Single. Time.

This is not because ice cream popularity reflects mass consensus or flavour hierarchy. It’s because groups of people don’t agree on what’s cool or interesting. They agree on what’s easy to agree on.

Now to Branding

Let’s apply the Ice Cream Principle to the branding process with an agency.

You’ve had the Brand Immersion workshop, seen mood boards, explored creative territories, navigated email trails, and meditated on presentations pitched over pastries and takeaway coffee (yes, we spoil our clients). With the end of your branding project in sight, you arrive at the feedback stage.

It’s at this point that your decision-making process matters, according to Altman.

You can:

A) CC your friend, Doug, who had a brief stint in marketing back in 2014

B) Run it past your neighbour, Sarah, who ‘has a really keen eye for design’ OR

C) Limit the feedback loop to a selection of key stakeholders within your organisation

Much like those accommodating the group majority in the ice cream outing, Doug and Sarah, though well-intentioned, aren’t likely to be envelope-pushers. Even with marketing experience, or a proclivity for Canva.

A critical step in defining your brand’s direction, the feedback stage demands selectivity. 

Extending far beyond trending tastes and neighbourhood popularity, the ‘where to from here’ phase can’t cater to the interests (and biases) of those residing within options A or B – even if they form part of your target audience. Rather, it should reflect your brand’s vision, inspiration, and the market within which it operates.  

The Crème de la Crème

The hotel restaurant catering to the whims of its diverse guest portfolio is unlikely to be one you’ll write home about.

In the absence of direction, its menu featuring Asian entrees, Australian-inspired mains, Greek sides and Sri Lankan desserts is an amalgamation of dishes unlikely to make Broadsheet or Michelin’s radar. 

And though Brisbane’s Hellenika might not make hospitality headlines, it does make sense. 

Unapologetically Greek, its menu, drinks list, interior, and playlist – all paint a very clear picture. A Greek one. And whether we’re more into arancini than halloumi, that’s irrelevant. What they offer is what they embody in every aspect of their branding. 

Their secret lies in their signature ingredient: personality.  

Food for Thought

With too many cooks in the kitchen, you’ll either end up with something safe or saturate the market with yet another boring brand. Reserve input to those with skin in the game? You’re cooking with gas.

Unique to your brand, your ‘why’ is the creative spark that makes it unique – and most people will stifle it with a vanilla frame of reference. Not because they lack flavour, but because yours isn’t on any menu they’ve seen (if it is, skip to ‘Contact Us’ below). 

If you’re settling, trust a generic point of view. If you’re looking to inspire, create something remarkable. And in case you needed to hear this today, you were probably right the first time.