It's all about "The Presentation"

I think that it might be worth explaining to you guys what it is that I do for a living as it might be mentioned on during Friday Night Confessionals.

For 15 years I have worked at various Investment Banks including: Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and my current employer. I know nothing about the business of Investment Banking, as I work in a "back office" (non-client facing) environment. Back office employees can range from the copy center staff to our Legal and Compliance department.

The department I work within is Corporate Communications & Marketing. Here is a very brief run down of what that is comprised of:
• Internal Communications – communication to be distributed within the firm.
• Public Relations – media and press issues related to the bank.
• Marketing – assists in branding trade show booths, giveaways, events, etc.
• Events and Hospitality – organizes client events on behalf of the bank
• Creative Services – This is where I earn my keep

Myself and two other persons on the creative team, work with all of the aforementioned team members, front and back office staff to assist with the following:
• pitch books & presentations. I am a Microsoft certified expert in Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• posters
• html based invitations
• brochures
• collateral and credentials
• designing giveaways (t-shirts, towels, etc.)
• advertisements

The importance of any design team is that everything to be presented, via any consumable must
1) look professional and 2) maintain the firm's brand identity.

Every company has a specific look and feel. For instance, Playboy uses a playful bunny on their models while in King Magazine you will see someone's badonkadonk scattered every where. Both are are men's magazine that use sex to sell, but they use a different approach.

In our banking environment, branding is stripped of polar emotions and is focused on color and design elements. The team members in Internal Comms, PR, Events, etc all create content, but the design team is responsible for making it palatable for a targeted audience.

The important thing you should know about branding is that EVERYONE is a brand, not just (in)famous celebrities, but YOU! When you walk into an office, everything from your hairstyle, clothing, choice of shoes & purse conveys something about your personalty to your co-workers and to your boss. What do you think you are saying to them?