The making of a brand: Crêpes Parfait
Welcome to the making of a brand: Crêpes Parfait. We’d like to share with you the making of a brand, the Crepes Parfait brand model and the methodologies we’ve achieved while learning about our new business and watching our brand grow!
Lets begin by thanking our friends, family, neighbors and colleagues for all your ongoing support and feedback throughout the entire process of building our brand. This conceptual process has been a long winding road which has evolved into an amazing path we will cherish for a lifetime!
How do we begin the making of a brand?
On a warm afternoon in 2012, we asked ourselves this very question. We had very little experience with brand conception but knew a few key fundamentals: our brand had to appeal to anyone and everyone; our brand had to embrace the essence of our business model and products; our brand had to be unique, fun and alive! The making of the Crepes Parfait brand has now been defined and we’re ready to go.
Finding The Best Branding and Design Agency
Faced with many ideas we needed translated quickly, we partnered with the expert advise of a local Washington, DC agency: The Neurobotic Transmission – a creative consultancy owned and operated by Tada Burke – a Creative Director with over 20 years experience in the branding and design industry.
Tada Burke has an impressive client list which includes: Discovery Channel, AOL, PBS, Ogilvy Public Relations, Foote Cone & Belding, Bloomberg, Human Rights Campaign, Atlas District, DC9, Red Palace, Rock N Roll Hotel, Current Sushi, Vegetate Restaurant, Citronelle Restaurant, SMWM Architecture, Supon Design Group, Grafik Marketing Communications, Studio Spark, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, plus many more!
Some will also remember Tada as the Art Director for While You Were Sleeping magazine and the Publisher of DC PULSE Magazine here in the District.
Tada advised us on many areas we were in need of: from the small scope to the larger scale, “bigger picture,” of the overall brand strategy. We were extremely happy with his expertise and knowledge, and how seamlessly he educated us on the importance of our brand.
Brand Strategy
We feel our brand is unique because we have focused our energy and commitment to the quality of a product that has yet to be explored in our target market. Through many iterations of analytics, research and discovery, we’ve built our brand from the ground-up to compete with the best of any existing brand in our region.
As a result, we believe we have built a brand that will stand the test of time!
What’s In A Name?
Choosing a name for your company at the conceptual stage of the making of the brand, is one of the single most difficult tasks when starting a new business. There are many techniques and strategies to base from, however we chose to not focus on areas we felt were too cliché or contrived.
Our product is unique to our target market and we are confident, without doubt, that we’ve created the perfect traditional and modern crêpe recipes within the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia mid-atlantic area.
Here are a few names that crossed our minds quickly…
Crepes magiquesCrepes authentiquesL’enfant crepesBonnes crepesCrepes sublime- Crêparfait
Crepe du jourCrepeologyCreperiestismCrepespertiseCrepistaCreperiel crepe realCrepephiliavuCrepionadoCrepetisanCrepistLes crepes- Crêpetastique
CrepesionadoCrepes chateauxOoh lala crepesEpicurian crepes
Fig 1. Crepes. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org ©2005 David Monnaiux.
crêpes
parfait
Wait For It…
♥ Voilá: CRÊPES PARFAIT™ is born!
- We have many products—not just one;
- We have many delicious crêpe recipes—from sweet to savory;
- We wish to share our entire line of crêpes with foodies from all over the world;
- We believe our original crêpes to taste absolutely perfect!
Definitions courtesy of Merriam-Webster.
Grammmmatically Correct?
We contemplated many “compound words,” or, “Portmanteau” words, and also the technical French word, “Parfaites.” Our agency conceptually advised to use the term, “Parfait,” as a globally (and American-use) recognizable word for branding and marketing strategies. Of course, we may have been slightly concerned that consumers would confuse the term, “parfait,” with a small dessert made with cream and fresh fruit 
However, we are confident that when our customers visit our crêperie and taste our wonderful crêpes, they will truly embrace our vision and the brand name we have introduced into the public! Voilá!
Creating A New Identity And Logo
Many people have eaten crêpes at restaurants, cafés and exclusive crêperies, but they have never had a mobile crêpe. For example, at a restaurant one might assume that a crêpe is generally a dessert-based item filled with sweets and ice cream. At a bistro or café, one might assume that a crêpe is generally a savory breakfast or lunch menu item filled with delicious meats and veggies.
The Technique
We here at Crépes Parfait break down barriers of misinformed foodies and wish to help spread our love and knowledge about traditional and modern crêpes! The mobile crêpe is a very specific and modern food item that’s easy to master and even easier to consume. Some have compared mobile crêpes to: ice cream cones, burritos, tacos and folded pizza! Check out the video below to see how crêpes get folded…
Fig 2. How to fold a mobile crêpe
As you can see from the video above, the crêpe is folded in half, then into another third to form a cone-shaped pancake with a slightly domed top. From this point, the crêpe is placed inside a paper holder for portability and the toppings all rest inside the cone. Pretty neat huh?
The Shape
The distinctive shape of the mobile crêpe is a very easy to remember triangle (we were lucky). The three sides of the geometric polygon were a perfect metaphor to enlighten and consolidate (strengthen) our brand’s tagline: “Sweet, Savory, Authentique!”
Fig 3. The triangular shaped Crêpe with a very important brand tagline
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
The Typeface
We’ve learned that a custom typeface is exclusive and critical to your identity. But we were on a very tight budget and time has not been on our side. What’s the next best thing? Discovering a typeface that is nearly identical to what we were envisioning! Our agency chose a font that was in script form and contemporary. We wanted the letters to achieve maximum readability without sacrificing any style points. We think you’ll agree we’ve made the right choice!
Fig 4. KG Always Good Time, a handwritten font by Kimberly Geswein
The Wordmark
Putting the pieces of the words together wasn’t very tricky at this phase. Now we had a name, a typeface and even a tagline. We’re very close! We chose to have our letter spacing very specific and the tracking and leading was truly important to us. Our agency consulted us with many different variations and great explanations attached to them all.
Fig 5. Wordmark (word marque)
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
The Brandmark
The mark. The icon of the Crêpes Parfait business. Our mascot. We’ve combined all the elements above and have merged them together into an icon we feel is fun, happy, energetic, symbolic and easy to remember. Our agency initially introduced the iconic brandmark as, “Mister Crêpe,”—and as time went on, somehow, Roberto began to call it, “Mon Cheri,” and so Little Mon Cheri was born!
Fig 6. The “Little Mon Cheri” Brandmark (brand marque)
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
The Fullmark
Putting it all together—we now have our full brand mark! We went through a ton of iterations and finally came to the agreement of our final logo. Crêpes Parfait has now become real. All ideas and concepts have been brought to life, given thoughtful meaning and we have been inspired by this entire process!
Fig 7.1 Fullmark Spacing DRAFT
Fig 7.2 Fullmark FINAL
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
The Crêpes Parfait full marque consists of the iconic happy crêpe, “Little Mon Cheri,” who is eager to be your chef and griddle you the most delicious crêpe you’ve ever nom-nom’d. He/She is fun, lively, professional and loves his/her/its job!
Brand Elements, Applications and Treatments
A brand doesn’t just need to be attached to some sort of design and applied. A brand must co-exist with many different elements and come to life! Our brand consists of a few fundamental treatments: formal black pinstripe chef aprons, a black bow tie, a black chef’s beret, shiny copper metal, copper foil, stained wood and distressed countryside stucco wall paint.
Fig 8. Brand Elements
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
We will gladly upload plenty more photos soon. At the time of writing this blog article, we have many elements and applications we are still working hard on. Stay tuned!
The Customer Experience
Our overall concept for the CRÊPES PARFAIT™ brand was not to just sell food—we wanted an engaging customer experience where people could embrace and take the enjoyment with them. Our concepts began with vague ideas which led to broader ideas which ultimately translated into the creative concept people have learned to love:
Fig 9. Service Window Concept
Copyright ©2012 The Neurobotic Transmission. All rights reserved.
Fig 10. Service Window “Crackle” paint technique with Elmer’s glue.
An intimate and engaging window experience reminiscent of the old French countryside, with delicious aromas in the air, and a view of the exclusive chefs preparing your food while you anxiously await to satisfy your cravings!
Merci
Thank you for reading a brief history of the making of a brand and our initial brand development. We hope you enjoyed learning about the making of a brand (as much as we did). There are many great years ahead and we look forward to connecting with all of our customers!
(Our t-shirts were printed by the cool dudes at the DC Shirt and Print Company in Takoma Park, MD. Be sure to tell ‘em Crêpes Parfait sent ya!)
Sincerely,
Mounir Elhilali, Executive Chef/Owner
Roberto Catanuso General Manager/Owner
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Tags: Branding, Design, Food Truck, Marketing, Maryland, Restaurant Industry, Virginia, Washington DC
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