What Startups Can Learn from Iceland’s Strong Brand Identity

Strategic planning and branding are integral to establishing a company’s identity and reputation in the marketplace it is targeting. Startups often neglect this extremely important area, focusing instead on more immediate needs such as getting their idea off the ground and securing enough funding to afford staff, gear and materials—completely valid.

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you, however, that establishing a brand identity early can help create significant opportunities for a startup, from seed and growth funding to customer acquisition and retention to positioning for a future merger or acquisition.

Noah Ross and Mel Weinberger specialize in helping startups that are looking to establish a brand identity and major brands in transition looking for a refresh.

“Iceland is the perfect venue to talk about branding because it’s a country with such a strong brand and a strong sense of identity,” said Noah, who is a Partner and Executive Creative Director at Launchpad Advertising, which was recently acknowledged as one of INC. magazine’s fastest growing companies.

While it is true Iceland’s identity is very clear, the startup community in Iceland often laments the struggles with establishing their brand voice and launching brand and marketing initiatives, particularly when attempting to reach foreign markets. However, the Startup community is rich with local experts and marketing entrepreneurs like Thoranna Jonsdottir and Runa Magnusdotir who are making marketing consulting accessible to startups on both a small business and personal/executive brand level. Startups and entrepreneurs within Iceland can lean on these local resources to help determine their core message, identify their target customers and create an emotional connection to the startup’s product and service.

“Iceland, by and large, is a very unique, very special place,” Noah said. “At the end of the day, people are going to relate from what they feel, and for me, I’ve traveled to a lot of places where you feel different things, but few that inspire with the strong sense of pride and fierce independence of Iceland – a country that produces music, literature, fashion, and even landscapes like no other place on earth. Also, the puffin is delicious,” he added.

It’s this same confluence of creativity, independence, resourcefulness and exceptional ideas that can propel Icelandic startups and entrepreneurs to success as we’ve seen in recent months with Plain Vanilla, CLARA, FAFU, Mobilitus and others.

“The reality is that every startup is fragile. Having a community of likeminded peers who support you makes you/ it stronger,” said Mel. “That driving force and individual expertise, when pulled together across teams, is unstoppable. It might be as tangible as getting coffee and guidance once a month, or going to a perspective-changing conference, but it’s also the intangible thread those events that leave behind that is so necessary–and that’s the most enriching, invisible part. I think Startup Iceland is helping to create a rallying point and backboard for the community that is invaluable,” said Mel.

Mel, who is active in the startup scenes of Austin, Texas and New York City knows brand both from the agency and entrepreneur perspective, as the founder and CEO of Fit Steady, a startup in the health and fitness sector whose tagline is “Finally, an easier way to get fit” and who won first place during Startup Weekend Austin in 2012.

“[Fit Steady] started from a passion for fitness that led me to become a personal trainer,” said Mel. “From that vantage point, I became a sounding board for my friends about all of their insecurities and how challenging it was for them to find the right path. How many times have you walked into a gym only to stare in longing confusion at all the machines and hop on the treadmill again? How many different diets have you tried? Why is it so hard to navigate our personal paths to health & fitness? So I set out to make it easier. I’m trying to make things better by making personal fitness more accessible to the average person.”

Mel reinforces the easy fitness message throughout the Fit Steady brand experience, from searching for a coach to incorporating easy-to-implement fitness tips in the company blog. The company’s mission and passion is very clear.

Noah and Mel will make a joint presentation centered around brand identity with the Startup Iceland audience on June 4th  at Harpa and will participate in Unconference  as well as hold “Office Hours” at Háskólinn Reykjavík on June 3.