I've been working on a project to re-brand a hotel cum apartment block.  And it's been a disaster of total misunderstanding between the consultants and the clients.

So, to us the branding is a deep thing.  It represents everything the business stands for and it covers how people think, how they behave, how we approach the guests and residents, how we make decisions, what we do to make them feel good, how we decorate the building, what kind of restaurants we put in the building, what kind of uniforms we put the staff in, even the age and cultural mix of the staff, how we greet the guests, what we do differently for guests or residents, what words we use in our communication,s what colour we paint the walls, what kind of signage we use and where we put it and so on and so on through every detail of the operation and communication and interaction with staff and guests. 

It's a mix of psychology, semiotics, graphics and financial analysis.  It's where art meets behavioural science meets interior design meets accounting.

To the client it means a new logo and some new headed notepaper.

So to the client it's an exercise in quick and dirty graphic design.  We the consultants spend a great deal of time thinking and planning and looking at every detail.  One is fast and trivial.  The other is slow and complex.

There's a cultural difference too.  We've been concentrating on getting every detail right and setting into place processes to make sure it happens.  They've been going with the flow and mixing and matching and buying at the lowest possible price at every opportunity.  Value equals cheap.  Quality means cheapest.  Best means cheapest.

We've been talking 'Green' and 'Sustainable' and they've been buying polystyrene cups.

It's going to be a total train wreck.  And it will be our fault.  We're the consultant.  We're the professionals.  We should be able to find a way to get out ideas over to the client.  We knew for ages they were lying to us but we let it ride.  Now it's all going to come crashing down.

And who will suffer?

The Guests and residents.  That includes me:  I live there too.  Shame.