Lyset
Carmen Draghici
Co-Founder
What does branding mean for a young entrepreneur?
If our parents didn’t understand the benefit of branding because, in Romania after communism, it was all about direct selling, and it didn’t matter how you looked but rather that you had the product, young entrepreneurs, those of us aged 24-30, are in the category where we experience branding daily. Every day we leave the house, we experience branding. And I believe we no longer have any excuse not to understand it. Because now we choose from a multitude of products. Now the product no longer holds the power. I mean, if you make an innovation, a super ingenious product, to be truly innovative. But otherwise, I think the younger generation has no excuse not to understand the benefits of branding by looking not only in Romania but also at how those brands have grown in other countries. I don’t think there’s anyone who would come up with a name, not to mention a brand, that looks dull. That doesn’t pique any interest. You don’t choose it because you don’t pick it up, or if it’s online, you look at it and change it if you don’t like how it looks. And I think that’s the direction we’re heading. I believe that anyone who will do business from now on must rely heavily on the emotional benefit they bring to customers. Because the rational benefit buys emotionally and justifies it rationally indeed, but they’ve paid by the time they justify it.
How do you choose a branding agency?
I would say that the branding agency should rearticulate the vision, mission, and values, but they won’t see that the first time. I would wholeheartedly recommend them to look at the agency’s portfolio, to pay attention to the first meeting with the agency where they will see all the steps leading to the creation of that visual identity and to look at how the benefit is explained and how the agency understands the niche they operate in. That’s also very important. For the agency to understand the niche they are in. Who their end customer really is and how we reach them. Because there is a very major difference between how the visual identity should look based on the market you operate in. There’s a big difference. Class, the average income of your end customer, and so on. And I believe these are the most important.
What is the branding process?
Looking at anything we buy, as we all buy something daily, we buy based on something. We don’t just buy products because everyone has products. Everyone sells a product. Well, through branding, you can make that product stand out and automatically attract customers to you. And if customers come to you, they make sales for you. They increase your turnover. They increase your profit. And practically, I believe that’s the magic of visual identity. You reach the turnover because your customer can go through and understand the emotional benefits. Because if I don’t innovate, I don’t see how else you can really differentiate yourself in such a competitive market where we don’t just have Romanian brands. We have many international companies that come with a lot behind them. And I think it’s possible through this wonderful tool called branding.
What was branding for LYSET?
I consider it to be the most important thing we did for our startup. It was, you know when kids are little and you give them a little push from behind to give them momentum to ride the bike? That’s what branding was for us. We didn’t even listen. At one point, we had given up saying how much the branding process cost. It was pointless anyway. But it was, and I say it now, the best thing we could have done at that time. It started from a simple catalog. Even though we didn’t start the collaboration immediately after the offer was presented, I remember coming out the door and saying, “Alex, okay, we don’t have it now, we’ll stop everything we’re doing. We’ll take a break for a bit, do what we’ve been doing until now, and when we have it, we’ll come back here, and here’s where we’ll do it.” That’s what happened. Two months later, we started the process. It wasn’t madness; that’s why I think it was a matter of, I like to say, wisdom because it really was, it pushed us from behind.
