Following on from the Ashley House strategy post in this news feed in mid-November last year, and as part of a series of posts about the rebrand that I led at The Design Portfolio in May 2011, the above diagram is the outcome of the Brand Crystalliser methodology that encapsulates the fundamental characteristics of the Ashley House brand.

The Brand Crystalliser is based on a type of brand consulting methodology widely used by top-tier brand consultancies. The particular variant or 'strain' of the Brand Crystalliser is inherited from Dragon's Ellipse Analysis, which I learned during my time with the business brands division of the company (now Dragon Rouge).

The Brand Crystalliser featured above is the outcome of a workshop that I structured and ran. The workshop day was coordinated and supported by The Design Portfolio and involved the senior managers of various divisions at Ashley House. Before the workshop I put together a questionnaire that was completed by the participants in advance and provided a springboard for the various exercises during the day.

The workshop itself was comprised of various brand personality exercises, a variation of the Brand Bullseye (which I learned while working with Allen International) and, finally, the Brand Crystalliser. The Brand Bullseye enabled us to find a broad range of values, attributes, benefits and personality traits which we distilled to one or two of the most important of each using the Brand Crystalliser. The Brand Bullseye also delivered a core brand DNA, which doubles up as a positioning line and describes the scope of work of the business.

Without going into too much detail about how each component relates to the Ashley House business it suffices to say that the combined content describes a unique brand character with a strong sense of purpose and a singular ambition that drives the brand's core messages.

Click on the image above to view the Brand Crystalliser as entered in my portfolio.