For Brand Equity Blueprint™ clients
Your brand questionnaire
The written brief your Brand Equity Blueprint™ is built on.
This questionnaire captures your firm’s goals, buyers, competitors and ambitions in your own words. Stuart Crawford uses your answers to build the creative brief for your project, so the strategy and identity start from what you know about your market, not from guesswork.
About 30–45 minutes · One person, with input from your partners
Start here
Complete your brand questionnaire
Answer in as much detail as you can. There are no wrong answers: specific examples, frustrations and ambitions are more useful than polished statements. If a question doesn’t apply to your firm, say so and move on.
Why we start in writing
A brief that’s written down is a brief that holds
Most branding projects begin with a call. Ideas get discussed, nobody writes them down, and three weeks later the work is judged against memories of a conversation. We start with a written brief instead.
Writing your answers takes a little more effort than talking, and that is the point. It forces the decisions a call lets you postpone: who you want to win, who you’re compared with, and what you want buyers to believe about your firm before they meet you.
Your answers become the reference point for everything that follows:
- Positioning: the argument for why a buyer should choose your firm, built from your own view of your market.
- Visual identity: design decisions tested against the audience and ambitions you describe, not personal taste.
- Messaging: the language your partners will use, drawn from how you describe your work at its best.
If an answer needs more depth, Stuart will ask. Front-loading the detail now is the quickest route to concepts that land first time.
Where this fits
The Brand Equity System™
Every engagement follows the same three stages. This questionnaire is the first step of the Blueprint.
- 01Diagnose
Brand Equity Audit™
A free, three-page written diagnostic of your positioning, identity and visibility, typically within two working days.
- 02Build: you are here
Brand Equity Blueprint™
The core brand strategy, identity and communication tools for one brand. £7,500, paid upfront; typically 4–6 weeks from cleared payment. Your questionnaire answers form its brief.
- 03Govern
Brand Equity Partnership™
Ongoing brand direction, creative support and implementation once the core brand is in place. £18,000 for six months, paid upfront.
Questions
About the questionnaire
Why is this a written questionnaire instead of a kick-off call?
Calls invite digression. Written answers demand clarity, and they give us a precise record of your goals to measure the work against from day one. If anything needs discussing, we’ll follow up once we’ve read your answers.
How long will it take to complete?
Most clients spend 30–45 minutes. It’s worth doing in one sitting, when you have time to think rather than rush.
What happens after I submit it?
Stuart reviews your answers and comes back with any follow-up questions. Your answers then become the creative brief for the strategy and identity work. The Blueprint typically takes 4–6 weeks for one brand, beginning when payment clears.
Should my partners or team be involved?
If they have a say in the final decision, yes, but don’t complete it by committee. One person should own the questionnaire and gather input from stakeholders beforehand. A brief written by everyone tends to say nothing.
What if our leadership team disagrees on direction?
Say so in your answers. Disagreement is useful information. The project still needs one decision-maker, usually the founder or managing partner, to settle the final direction so the brand stays coherent.
Is this the same as a logo design brief?
No. A logo is one part of the system. The questionnaire also covers positioning, buyers, competitors and messaging, because the identity is built on the strategy rather than the other way round.
Why do you ask what to avoid?
Knowing what your brand must never look or sound like is as useful as knowing what it should. It rules out the clichés of your sector early, so the work goes further, faster.
We don’t have any existing brand materials. Is that a problem?
Not at all. Starting from a clean slate means there’s nothing to work around. Answer the questions about your ambitions and your market, and skip the ones about existing assets.
What if I don’t have time to give much detail?
Short answers mean more follow-up questions, which slow the project down. A little extra detail now saves rounds of revision later.
I run more than one business. Do I need a questionnaire for each?
Yes, unless the businesses share the same audience, positioning and personality. Each brand needs its own strategic foundation, and one brief for two businesses tends to serve neither.
Can we change direction later?
Revisions are included without a fixed numerical limit within the agreed scope. A substantial change in direction is reviewed separately, which is another reason to capture your thinking fully now.
Who owns the work at the end?
On final approval, you own the final approved files. Third-party licences, such as fonts, still apply.