Every now and again, you come across a service that promises to disrupt and change the entrepreneurial landscape for good. Buildabrand (@buildabrand) could do just that. The service provides high quality “strategically correct” branding for your startup for about the same price as domain registration, effectively bypassing what is a traditionally expensive and time-consuming process.
Answer a few questions about your business and buildabrand will provide a selection of brand identities: logos, fonts and so on. You can then apply that branding (after customising it, if you choose) to downloadable graphics, stationery, website templates and even – eventually – merchandise like pens and beach towels. You just pay for the items you order or download. The service requires no creative skills from users.
How does it work? Well, once you’ve entered a bit of information about your company at the “create” stage of the process – your “brand values” – buildabrand’s algorithm will exclude all the brands, including logos, in its extensive (and ever-growing) catalogue that aren’t appropriate or relevant and just show you the ones that are right for your business. You can choose from the selection it gives you, tweak the logo a bit – say, if you want it in a different colour – and you’re good to go.
CEO and design director Justin Champney was formerly head of brand innovation for McCann Worldgroup. Justin brings 15 years’ branding experience to the start-up, but he’s going to need every year: buildabrand must get the algorithm right, because it’s the quality of the recommendations that will determine whether buildabrand stands or falls. If Champney pulls it off, buildabrand has the potential to be one of the most disruptive elements in the start-up ecosystem for years.
buildabrand was formed in 2008 and completed a round of angel investment from a sole investor last November.
Update: a blog post from the company founder here explains a bit more about the service in response to some commenters’ questions.
We have 200 beta invitations for buildabrand for TechCrunch readers, available on a first come, first served basis. If you want one, leave a comment below. You’ll be notified when buildabrand’s open beta launches later this year.
looks neat. getting on the invite list.
i have never seen so many “undercover spam comment supporters” on a tc article.
Yeah, lots of spam in this comment section. This is just a logo wizard. woopty doo. Who would actually use this thing to create a real brand??
Anyone who wants to get a leg up and cannot afford the huge expense the other branding companies charge.
It sounds interesting and I would like a beta invite myself.
HollyM
http://www.thessayist.com
I refuse to believe that I am late to the party.
I want one!
I agree…
Branding is not just a logo.
The logo is just a small part of the whole.
and MyLocator ™ is not a spam robot in any way then? Can I suggest you stop being a troll and go find somewhere else to comment in an non-constructive way.
DouchebagLocator is the king of troll spam.
i have never seen so many “undercover spam supporter comments” on a tc article.
Hi Basheera,
Don’t you think that creating a brand identity in today’s fiercely competitive world of everyday geniuses and startups, is something more than an automated permutation and combination of stock templates?
I mean branding has always been an expensive proposition for an entrepreneur just because of the fact that your success is directly related to it to quiet an extent.
I do not, at all, want to downplay the innovative idea, but it would have comforted me more (as a potential client) if Justin Champney, in the news section, would have talked a bit about some Advertising/Creative whizkid on board more than talking about Java, PHP, Apache, ACS… Isn’t brand building more about creative thinking?
DIY Websites deprive companies of the consultancy and strategy that can earn them a reputation, and revenues. DIY branding seems to be the same trick that (innovative) startups are pulling over people’s eyes.
This is not solving a problem but creating a bigger problem. Allowing anyone to believe they can build a brand on an automated service is misleading. Then again, if you are launching an ice cream van the kids won’t care if your logo is crap, so this idea still looks better than the DIY logos on printers websites.
The design looks respectable, but ironically the logo looks like it had minimal thought behind it. Maybe that is the intention. Stick an icon infront of your logo and that is your strategy. Great? No. Trouble? yes.
I agree. Brand building is about creative thinking and this is a competitive world. Success in your business largely lies in the hands of your brand. Large, successful companies and corporations can spot a ‘vending machine’ logo or brand just like they can spot a cheap website template. Sure, it may look okay from first glance, but there is something very cookie cutter and pre-generated about this method. It really all comes down to the simple rule, you get what you pay for. When you buy your shoes from WalMart, you can’t expect them to take you very far.
Sounds like Frontpage in the good old days for Brands
Would be interested in an invite!
+1 about FrontPage … hopefully this will generate cleaner code and equally relevant branding a bit better than FP98 did back in the day.
Would be interested in evaluating the beta for client sites…
Interesting site. Defiantly keen for the beta
I want a beta invite.
Service looks good!
I’m interested in a beta invite
It looks interesting.
Hello,
May I have one of your invites?
Thank you
Carey
Can I have a beta invitation please?
Hi there, looks really cool but I’m dubious about how the quality will be.
I would love a beta, this is something a lot of my clients ask for.
I am certainly interested in trying their service.
This sounds absolutely fantastic if they get the algos to work. Might imagine using this to build n+1 online brands.
Interested in the beta, sign me up!
I am certainly interested in trying their service.
This sounds a very interesting service.
If there’s still invites, I certainly would like to try it out!
Why is this only available to TechCrunch Europe readers? It’s usually the Europeans that get left out of things, not us Americans.
Interested in an invite here too
Would like to see what it can put together for me, and how close it is to what I already have
Looks interesting. Definitely would like an invite.
Hi – could you put me down for a beta please
Thanks
Alex
I’m interested in seeing how well this works, I have a lot of clients this could work very well for.
Interested!
Sounds like an amazing concept for an often too-expensive process. I’d love a beta invite! Thanks!
Sounds a superb idea, a lot of time saved, would be interested to see how many sites end up with similar logos – They will need a pretty big back catalogue.
Would be interested in a Beta test.
This service looks very cool…
Can i have one invite?
I don’t understand how they build a brand. From your description it sounds like they build your logo. Logo and Brand are not the same thing.
“How does it work? Well, once you’ve entered a bit of information about your company at the “create” stage of the process – your “brand values” – buildabrand’s algorithm will exclude all the logos in its extensive (and ever-growing) catalogue that aren’t appropriate or relevant and just show you the ones that are right for your business. You can choose from the selection it gives you, tweak it a bit – say, if you want it to be in a different colour – and you’re good to go.”
Yes, it looks like a logo creator site that places the artwork on a bunch of templates (stationary, etc.) and calls it a “brand”.
Branding is far more than the visual style of a business and something that needs to be considered with depth.
This is as disruptive to brand creation as the gazillion cheap logo creator sites are to the design industry – meaning it’s not. It’s an inexpensive avenue for those who can’t afford professional services anyway.
Interested in testing the beta for new start-up sub brand of Positive Marketing
Hi, I’d like a beta account as well.
Thanks
great idea. please send me an invite, thanks.
Quite interested….. thanks for this
Interesting idea. But are entrepreneurs interested in letting an algorithm determine something as important as the brand. Shouldn’t it be more personal?
Time will tell i guess… can i get a beta invite?
Thanks
Does it matter if it only costs £50 and gives you something to work from.
I’d be curious as to where they plan to make the real money from by the sounds of it they may be aiming to provide a vistaprint or print.com service in part.
Great service! I would like a invite.
It sounds like it will save a lot of time in getting an initial brand built without having the pain of explaining everything to a designer.
any chance of an invite? pretty please with a cherry on top.
Would be interested in an invite!
Invite Please
Interesting service.
Can I have a beta invite please?
I’d be interested in looking at this too. Thanks.
S
Sounds interesting… care to flick me an invite?
Thx.
Please sign me up for a beta account. Many thanks.
I want an invite. Thanks.
Looks interesting. I’m keen.
The only question I have is whether or not they have methods of insuring that identical brands are not recreated due to different companies having the exact same tone, brand values, etc. Do they?
Would love to check this service out…as lot of startups have resource crunch and this is where it can help out a lot
i think it will suit the work-from-homers… not necessarily those intended on growing too much.
Looks interesting and quite relevant for me at the moment – can i have an invite please!
If I’m one of the 50, I’m in!
Hi,
This looks like a great idea – if they can bring enough variety into the brands that users end up with.
It’s one more example of how the web is making it cheaper and easier than ever to start-up and compete on a level playing field with much bigger companies.
Put me down for an invite please. I’d like to test it for some of my own companies, and recommend it in my books if it’s good!
Steve
I’d like an invite as well, thank you.
Very interested in beta testing this.
This definitely sounds interesting…I hadn’t really thought about fonts & styles being part of my branding.
I would really like a beta invite!
We’ve got new brands coming up soon. Would like to get an invitation
Would love an invite.
Thanks.
Sounds interesting. Would be interested in an invite.
I would like and invite. Please sign me up for the beta! Thanks.
Looks good. Could I get an invite please.
Invite please.