Speaking to the OFM Business Hour, Meyer, who has been a brand specialist for almost 20 years, says to understand the direct impact which brand management has on a company’s bottom line, one needs to understand what a brand is first. “A Brand is not just a logo, it’s the A – Z of your business; every little detail of what one sees, hears, feels, smells.”

In her explanation of what a brand is, she includes it as what a person experiences when they do business with another business – it is not what a company does, but it is how a company does it.

She states that brand management holds the power to influence how people perceive your business and what they identify your business with. The brand will influence equity in the marketplace. “If you position your brand as a premium brand and that is the way it’s perceived by people, you can, of course, charge a premium rate for your services,” explains Meyer.

When asked how has OFS Smart Repair’s brand evolved from when it was established to today, she replies: “People have a pre-conceived idea of what a panel beater is, they think of grease and dirt. Over the years we have worked to change this narrative. When my father established OFS Smart Repair in 1984, there wasn’t a proper look and feel, not even a logo. Now, the company has been shaped and molded into what it is now.”

OFS Smart Repair is under the leadership of Meyer and her brother, Gysie Pienaar, as the Managing Director.

She put emphasis on the importance of social media presence for any brand because it is a great platform for companies to communicate with their audience. “Social media has played an important role with OFS Smart Repair and I Love Bloem, as we have been introduced to people we would have never been able to reach with traditional platforms,” Meyer says if one can grasp how social media works, wonders can be done for their brand.

“There are many facets of brand management, strategy, brand identity, the four P’s – Product, Price, Place, Platform,” adds Meyer.

Walking us through how ‘I Love Bloem’ apparel wear was established, she explains that it started as a campaign for OFS Smart Repair, then it turned into merch for OFS staff, and after that, it got a life of its own and became a parallel brand to OFS. “A T-shirt is such a clever way to brand your business because essentially it is like a walking billboard and you can communicate so much about your brand personality with something as simple as a T-shirt.”

The specific year, when I Love Bloem was born, she wanted to do a collection about who they are and where they are from. “We are of course very proudly from Bloemfontein, so our T-shirt had to speak to that. The T-shirt design is inspired by the late Milton Glaser, an American graphic designer who designed the I Love New York logo. I knew that this was something that was going to get people talking, whether it was something good or not, but it will start a conversation.”

When concluding, she touches on ways to diversify a business. “It is important to establish equity in your brand. People need to know who you are and what you stand for. For us, we are a brand that is known for being stylish, innovative, smart, and witty and that is when we went to apparel wear. There wasn’t a disconnect because people knew we were stylish so of course it’s completely legit to buy a T-shirt from a panel beater.”

OFM Business Hour