Traveling Through Branding: My Mastery Reflection Journey

Uncovering What Really Matters

When I jumped into Week One of Digital Storytelling and Branding, I quickly learned there's more to branding than cool logos 🎨 and clever slogans. The "Three Little Questions" assignment was eye-opening 👀. I had to answer three simple yet powerful questions for This Is It Soul Food: Who are you? What do you do? And why does it matter? Sounds easy, right? Nope! 😅 It challenged me to get to the heart of the company. I narrowed it down to family-owned, authentic soul food dishes, community-focused, and then I had to make it catchy enough to stick. On a personal level, crafting my brand attributes pushed me to clarify who I am professionally, what sets me apart, and why anyone should care. I also learned how vital it is to highlight specific points that set a brand apart from competitors, like how This Is It Soul Food is steeped in legacy and genuine Southern hospitality, distinguishing it from trendier competitors. The exercises completely shifted my thoughts about branding. My take was less fluff, more substance, and more creativity.

Building A Bold Brand Voice

Week Two was all about bringing the brand to life 🌟, which stretched my creativity. The assignment was to create a PechaKucha Presentation of 20 slides, each just 20 seconds long ⏱️. Let me just say seven minutes has never felt shorter! For This Is It Soul Food, I had to pinpoint the brand's exact human personality traits, which was fun. I chose traits like genuine, warm, confident, and relatable, similar to the friendliest neighbor on the block. Then came my favorite part, comparing the brand's voice to a well-known character. At first, I struggled a bit, but I landed on Queen Latifah 💁🏽‍♀️ with a little brainstorming help from ChatGPT. It made perfect sense. She is bold, authentic, approachable, and someone you can trust to feed your soul (pun intended). I used Canva to put it all together. The project challenged me to be concise, clear, and visually engaging with every slide. This week showed me how giving a brand a human personality makes it much easier and way more enjoyable for people to connect emotionally. I never knew branding could feel so much like storytelling 📖.

The Power of Storytelling

Week Three was storytelling heaven ✨. The assignment, "Your Company's Brand Story," had me create a super concise, two-minute digital story for This Is It Soul Food. First, I dove into identifying the brand archetype using an online tool that matched my company with the "Guy/Girl Next Door" archetype. It immediately made sense because the restaurant is approachable, friendly, trustworthy, and deeply rooted in community 🏡. Once I understood the archetype, the emotional heart of the brand clicked into place: nostalgia and comfort. People don't just come for the delicious soul food 🍽️. They come for a taste of home, family traditions, and memories. Creating the digital story was exciting and challenging because I had only two minutes to compellingly capture all these warm, fuzzy feelings. It taught me how to pack a punch emotionally and connect quickly with the audience, something I'll use professionally. If you are curious to see how it turned out, check out the video I created:  🎥.

Crafting A Strategy That Works

Week Four combined everything I'd learned into one big, real-world challenge 🌎 of creating a detailed Written Brand Strategy Paper. Let me tell you, this was no quick task! It felt like I was actually preparing a presentation for This Is It Soul Food's CEO and board of directors 👥. I mapped out each brand component in an outline first. I analyzed why the name "This Is It Soul Food" works perfectly, dove into the logo design, and crafted a fresh business card that truly captures their unique essence. Digging into brand messaging, I revisited the "Guy/Girl Next Door" archetype to show it naturally fits the restaurant's welcoming, approachable vibe. The market research was intense, but Full Sail's library provided helpful information 📚. By the end of the research paper, I felt like a branding pro 💪🏾. Of course, I am still learning, but I am armed with a solid plan and newfound confidence. This experience proved how essential deep strategic analysis and storytelling are in building brands people genuinely love and support ❤️.

Assets For DMP