Build a brand from nothing: research, purpose, positioning, personality and voice, naming, visual identity, messaging, story, experience, trademarks, launch and early brand health, with a running case from Accra.
Free course
With certificateAlready have an account? Sign in
This course teaches you how to build a brand from nothing, step by step, for a business that hasn't launched yet or is in its first months. It's written for founders, marketers, designers and students, and you don't need any background in marketing to follow it.
You'll start with what a brand is and isn't, and how a brand differs from a logo and from a reputation. Then you'll research your customers, your competitors and your category, and turn what you find into a purpose, values, a promise and a position. After that you'll build the brand's personality and voice, find a name and check it in several languages and trademark registers, and brief a designer for the logo, colours, type and photography. You'll write the brand's messages and story, design the experience at every place customers meet the brand, and plan the launch.
Two modules focus on African markets. One covers founder-led brands, small budgets, trust, informal retail, mobile-first selling and names in several languages. The other covers trademarks in Ghana and across Africa through ARIPO and OAPI. The course ends with a way to measure early brand health, a capstone that brings the whole brand platform together, and a toolkit of templates.
A running case follows Efua Mensah and Kojo Asante as they build a new skincare brand in Accra, from the first customer interviews to launch week.
49 lessons
It opens when you finish every lesson. Score 75% or more to get your certificate. You have 2 tries on the same questions. If neither passes, you go through the course again and get 2 new tries.
