58. Flag it up

58

FLAG IT UP

The nature of your brand can dictate the kind of building that you need for your business. If people are prepared to travel to you, wherever you’re based, then your location is less important than the space and structure you need.

The idea The Sarva Iyengar Yoga Institute is led by Sheila Haswell and her business partner Ally Hill. As yoga teachers they set up a business and travelled with cars and trailers carrying their equipment from class to class. They used village halls, church halls, schools and even a modern church building. In the meantime, they were searching for a suitable place to conduct their yoga classes. Their need for the right building, which had the right facilities and the right atmosphere for the Sarva yoga brand, was more important than the location.

They found the perfect place, a former factory built in the 1930s, a light airy space with lots of windows, wooden fl oors, a large car park for visiting students, and space for an eating area, changing rooms, offi ces and rooms for therapy sessions. It was set back from the main road heading out of town, and diffi cult to spot if you didn‘t know exactly where you are heading.

Sheila and Ally had a simple but effective solution. They printed their logo on purple fl ags and put them up the fl agpoles where they could be seen from the road. New visitors driving along the long

straight road could spot Sarva early enough to indicate, slow down and turning through the narrow gate.

It’s a sign that clearly but gently says, “We’re here!”

In practice • Of course we can look things up on Google maps, and use StreetView to look at the building online, but a branded fl ag in a corporate colour is easy to spot in real life. • Flags symbolise celebration, as well as territory. They’re an inexpensive, underused addition to the branding toolkit. • You need permission to put up a fl agpole, and a branded fl ag is regarded as advertising so before you fl y one check with your local council.