We are guided by three beliefs:
| 1 | Brands work best when they are responsive and agile, but keep strong guiding principles at the heart of everything they do. |
| 2 | Brands matter – they differentiate, they add value, they provoke interest, and they have enormous social and economic influence. |
| 3 | Brand building is not an art or a science, it is a fusion of both. |
Thought:
Engaging Audiences Through Sports Sponsorship
By: Paul Wood, Account Director, The Brand Union London
Sponsorship has been considered as a powerful execution tool (which no doubt helps to raise mass awareness of a brand), it also presents an opportunity for a brand to better manage its reputation, especially pertinent in a world where reputation governance is an important function within brand guardianship.
A brand will enter the world of sponsorship with an objective; typically – and in the most part historically – to raise awareness. Now however, sponsorship has the ability to deliver so much more; to enhance the reputation of a brand and bring positive association to the values and core DNA which defines that brand. This potential brings with it the importance to define ‘why’ – why a brand has associated itself with a specific event or initiative.
The question ‘why?’ brings with it some imperative considerations; what is the link with the core business and brand strategy? And what is the demographic the brand is trying to appeal to?
Only once the strategic match is realised can a compelling story around the partnership of your brand and the event which you are sponsoring be told. If this is not done then you are simply placing your logo in the environment without communicating why you are there and what you want to the consumer to think about your brand.
Consumers will make up their own mind about your organisation and find synergies with their lifestyles, however the more you can influence this and promote your attributes and motivations, the more your message and ultimately your product/purpose will resonate with the consumer.
Credibility is important, brands now are interacting with people’s life more and more, so it is important that your presence in the environment of sponsorship is neither intrusive nor redundant. The resulting perception of the sponsorship link up with the consumer should ultimately benefit your organisation and the event which you are sponsoring.
By defining a truly compelling message and visual expression your brand will not only create relevance and appeal to your target audience, but also create differentiation in what is a very competitive landscape, where many brands compete for airtime and stand out. A good example of a brand that has done this well is Castrol. A brand recognised for its rigour in analysis, technology and innovation of premium lubricants it has successfully developed a proposition in sports sponsorship known as ‘Winning Performance’. Known for its ability to understand what is takes to win, enables them to credibly enter the world of sport and tell a compelling story through the eyes of that sport and talk directly with their consumers and fans in a relevant and meaningful way.
The ability to achieve a link with your audience does not come as easy as stamping your logo on a perimeter board. It comes through careful consideration of the message you are communicating, the channels of communication you are using and the media you are buying to deliver your brands message.
Once your brands strategic link and visual expression is defined, consistency of the message and expression of that message becomes of paramount importance. How you cascade that message across the different audience types in different markets becomes a challenge in itself. By developing and defining proof points for why that message is relevant to that consumer will help guide local markets to effectively cascade the message in a consistent way and a way which does not deviate from the core strategy, ‘the reason to believe’.
Regardless of whether the initiative is being run centrally or locally, guidelines are imperative. Without clear directions for strategy, messaging, tone of voice, and visual execution, consistency and real effectiveness will never be achieved. As a result your brand will become fragmented as consumers will hold a different perception of your brand in different markets, resulting in an inconsistent representation of your brand.
Sponsorship guidelines are not a duplicate of corporate or other centralised guidelines you may have. Instead they are a guide for how your brand is represented within a specific scenario – how your central brand values are represented through the lens of the initiative or event you may be sponsoring. They allow the integrity of the Masterbrand to be maintained; however flexed to suit a specific requirement.
The guidelines therefore achieve two key objectives; firstly, they provide all marketers and agencies with the strategic intent, the key messages and execution guidance, to effectively and consistently deploy the intended message to your audience. Secondly they inform how the event/initiative relates back to the Masterbrand. Guidelines will help with this execution and enhance the reputation of the Masterbrand through effective deployment.
Sponsorship is far more than just raising awareness of your brand. Simply placing a logo in a break bumper or branding a perimeter board is neither credible nor differentiating. In this instance the message and visual execution will create a negative attribution with your brand. Carefully considering the strategic link, the visual representation of your brand and the event/initiative, your strategy, the messaging and the visual execution of how the branding features will create a positive attribution with your brand.
Approaching this consistently through the use of sponsorship guidelines across all markets will define and positively impact the reputation of your brand.
At The Brand Union we stand by these strategic fundamentals but always seek to push our approach that bit further by creating sponsorship and creative strategies for our clients which challenge convention and break protocol.
We believe that in order to truly differentiate and cut through the noise a sponsorship campaign must truly excite the consumer. A technology company putting its name on the bonnet of an F1 car will not engage their consumer or enhance the reputation of their brand. It is a literal partnership which in many instances is thought up in the boardroom.
In contrast the further you stretch the articulation and visual representation of your brands core DNA the more you will engage with your consumer and enhance the reputation of your brand. The unexpected and the exciting will engage your consumer and create advocacy for the message you are trying to promote. It is however important to retain and represent the attributes which are unique to your brand, without these the reason ‘why’ is lost in translation.
On Monday 13th February 2012 at 6pm GMT, The Brand Union will be discussing sports sponsorship and the value it can add to your brand with leading industry insiders. You can follow the debate on Twitter – just follow @thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
Deaths in Disneyland
Image © Thomas Czarnecki
Paris based photographer Thomas Czarnecki goes on a metaphorical rampage in Disneyland with a series of chilling photographs depicting the seemingly untimely demise of various Disney princesses. The purpose of the series, according to Czarnecki is to “create something of clash and culture shock between on one side the naive universe and the innocence of the fairy tales … [and] a much darker reality that is as much a part of our common culture and which is provided to us incessantly through the imagery broadcast through TV, cinema and other media.”
Seen and Noted:
Movember
With ambitions of Tom Selleck style facial adornment, the men (and women) of The Brand Union and Ogilvy have teamed up to support Movember, the global movement to raise awareness of and funds for mens cancer charities.
During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo’s, these men raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.
Once registered at www.movember.com, men start Movember 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.
Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking billboards for the 30 days of November. Through their actions and words they raise awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.
At the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas celebrate their gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Movember party or attending one of the infamous Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, for Movember.
RT @OgilvyChina: VIDEO: Monica Lee, MD of @thebrandunion China, weighs in on #brand differentiation & local creative talent #GoLogoChina http://t.co/TupbLBMG
4 days ago.
@thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
John Clang – Being Together (Parents)
“In this series, webcam was used to do live recording of my family in Singapore. The recording was then transmitted via skype to New York City and projected onto my living space. This is how families, dis(membered) through time and space, can be re(membered) and made whole again through the use of a third space, a site that is able to reassemble them together within the photographic space that we call a family portrait.
Drawing upon my own experiences of being separated from my family as a New York-based Singaporean, this work documents and examines our condition of new-wave diaspora – Singaporean families of various races and ethnicities grappling with the same predicament of separation through time and space.
In addition, this is also an extension of one of the recurring theme of my works: the fascination with the expressions of time and space and how we negotiate our human existences within these two dimensions. this work specifically addresses the phenomenon of differing time zones, the different dimensions of our human representations, and how we can finally coexist, albeit in pixilated and two-dimensional forms.”
John Clang
Thought:
You Scratch My Brand, I'll Scratch Yours?
When it comes to marketing B2B services, the combination of ’80s gremlins and one of the country’s most prolific businessmen isn’t exactly an obvious pairing. Regardless, that’s the tactic BT Business has taken with its latest B2B ads. This mega internet communications solutions provider has paired the nostalgic factor of furry mogwais with the current appeal of Dragon Peter Jones, and the adverts have so far enjoyed a favourable reaction from the industry. But it does prompt the questions: is celebrity endorsement an effective tool in B2B branding? What are the pros and cons? And has this Age of Celebrity as Brand changed the dynamic between business brands and their paid endorsers?
When celeb endorsement works
Successful brands are often those that have managed to create a tone, an identity, a personality. Something that elevates them above a raft of possibly commoditised offerings, and often crowded market. There are a number of ways of creating this human identity, but one of the quickest ways of endowing your brand with a personality is by bringing on board a ready-made one.
With its latest campaign, BT Business is reaching out to those entrepreneurial enterprises that are possibly put off by the idea that big fish BT is the dominant business internet provider. Your average owner-run business possibly doesn’t see the national business model of BT sitting harmoniously alongside its own, and BT has been canny enough to recognise this. So, we see Peter Jones brought in to establish a subtle link between BT and the SME. BT wants to be seen as flexible, nimble and exciting, as opposed to stolid, big and unwieldy – and Jones is used to bridge that gap.
And, despite constant assertions that the world is getting smaller, there are still great cultural divides to cross. While management consultancy or office design might mean different things to different people, Michael Jackson is Michael Jackson whether you are in London, New York or New Delhi. At the risk of sounding like I’m advocating Michael Jackson as an ambassador for management consultancy(I’m not), the point is that well-known faces can act as vehicles by which brands can leapfrog cultural boundaries. Consider, for example, the raft of names HP used to support its “The computer is personal again” campaign. Ůber-celebs Jay-Z and Gwen Stefani, amongst others, were leveraged to make a campaign principally aimed at SMEs work on a global level.
When it doesn’t…
So as we’ve seen, when it works, celebrity brand endorsement can support a brand’s identity, help it transcend cultural boundaries and bless it with new aesthetic and appealing associations. But when it doesn’t, the effects can be disastrous. BT Business has been smart enough to select a brand-face who is an icon of reliability and professionalism, aligning very nicely with how the brand would like itself to be perceived.
But let’s say they hadn’t been quite so savvy and decided to go with someone with a bit more edge. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, a young rock star-you know, to give the brand some bite, some street-cred, to broaden their target audience and piggyback on some hip qualities. All very well until your hot young brand property is seen falling out of some sordid Shoreditch bar, looking decidedly short of their handbag, marbles and dignity. And overnight, your brand isn’t the cool choice for young professionals, but is embarrassingly unreliable and the centre of a scandal. Not ideal.
If B2B brands are tempted to get into bed with a celebrity name, they must ensure they have carried out due diligence and determined how future-proof that name is. Does the celeb’s personal profile match the brand aspirations? Will the celeb view the partnership as a one-night stand or a long term commitment? Is the celeb’s conduct likely to call the brand’s integrity into question? Have you considered a pre-nup? As they say, when in doubt, leave them out!
A marriage of mutual convenience
When brands do decide to sign on the dotted line and wheel in a famous face these days, we’re witnessing a huge change in the way these tie-ups operate. Today, it’s undeniable that celebrities such as Peter Jones are brands in their own right, overseeing a number of branded offers (in Jones’ case, a book and a TV show with more possibilities, we’re sure).
The era of brands simply borrowing a snippet of the celeb’s limelight is dead. Now, celebrities want to know what the B2B brand will do for them. Don’t think for one minute that Jones’ people had their eyes purely on the pay cheque. No, they’re also keenly aware of what the association with a national institution like BT could do for the Peter Jones Brand in the wider business community.
So what does this mean for you? It means that if you are looking at leveraging a famous face, you must accept that it is a partnership, an exercise in co-branding. Just as you are looking to bolster your own brand with a high-profile tie-up, the people/brands you consider will also want a piece of your brand equity. Tread carefully. The opportunities are wide and varied, but the pitfalls can unleash a number of gremlins upon your carefully-built business brand.
First published in B2B Marketing magazine, June 2007.
Entering the @dandad Student Awards? TBU's Sue Daun is on the jury for installation design http://t.co/6NJmgUQq @baby_pencils @LCCLondon
6 days ago.
@thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
Next Stop, the Apple Train Station?
In a bid to control even more of the customer experience with its products, Apple didn’t just build a store when they entered the gentrifying Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago; they also spent $3.9 million to renovate the adjacent public plaza and attached subway station. Now they are in talks with the Chicago Transit Authority to rename the stop, “Apple Red Line”. While there is much debate around the commercial branding of under-funded public entities, take a look at why this deal makes so much sense for Apple.
Seen and Noted:
Smile Activated Vending Machine
Unilever worked with SapientNitro in London to create a smile-activated vending machine to spread some extra joy at Cannes this year. Globally, the Anglo-Dutch fmcg giant owns ice cream brands including Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s and Klondike.
Using facial recognition technology and AR, the machine tracks a customer’s smile and rates it on a ‘smile-o-meter’. The user can then directly post their image to Facebook and select the ice-cream of their choice.
Ian Maskell, global brand development director for Wall’s at Unilever said: ‘It offers a revolutionary new way for consumers to buy ice cream and, simultaneously, a revolutionary brand experience’.
Seen and Noted:
The Royal Mint Explains the Offside Rule for just 50p
The Royal Mint in the UK has released a set of 29 different 50p coins to commemorate the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in London later this year. Featuring designs submitted by members of the public and depicting various Olympic sports, the collection includes this explanation of football’s oft-confused offside rule.
Thought:
Saving the Banks
Financial institutions were once regarded as safe and secure but in two short years their foundations have been eroded. How can banks regain credibility and begin new, relevant customer relationships?
Banks are defined as ‘institutions for receiving, lending, exchanging and safeguarding money’. It used to be a given that banks were as ‘safe as houses’. ‘You can bank on it’ offered guarantees of security and reliability. High street stalwarts have been serving generations of customers for hundreds of years: RBS (1707), Lloyds TSB (1810), Halifax (1853). Banks were sure. They were strong. They were reliable.
As a foundation, these values became hygiene factors, taken for granted over the years. And upon these foundations, banks built complex – and complicated – products, offers, portfolios and packages. Until the average customer was drowning in a perplexing pile of jargon and products they did not understand nor want in the first place. With a spectacular reversal of fortunes:
British banks posted net profits of £42-bn in 2007. In 2009, it is estimated the tax payers bailed the banks out to the tune of a cool £850-bn. While the UK may be officially out of a recession, bonus culture, bail-outs and a perceived lack of lending continue to plague banks’ credibility.
Banks and what they have stood for are under redress, and what we see now is a banking industry in a quandary. Curiously, in an effort to re-engage with their alienated customers, we’re seeing bold claims by banks of building close relationships with their customers, a move we believe to be precarious unless it is underpinned by a major overhaul of their products, processes, systems and most importantly, their antiquated cultures. Regaining trust has to be the first priority before they can expect to ‘have a relationship’ with their customer.
That’s not to say that a bank cannot enjoy a lasting and mutually-respectful relationship with their customers, but to be credible they need shore up their shaky foundations with reassurances of trustworthiness.
Understand what motivates your consumer
With apologies to the learned professor of motivational studies and a bit of creative license, Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs model offers some useful considerations alongside some of the advice we give to clients in our emerging markets.
Put simply, Maslow uncovered that humans are motivated to achieve their highest potential through satisfying a series of needs, graduating from one to the next in pursuit of an optimal state of being. Performance coaches understand what motivates individuals to ascend towards self-actualisation, and use this to their advantage. And so can savvy brand managers.
Had Maslow read for a commercial degree and mapped his celebrated motivational intelligence to brand modelling, his Hierarchy of (Brand) Needs may have looked something like this:
At the bottom rung are a number of basic consumer requirements that a brand also needs to meet in order to exist. As one moves steadily up the hierarchy, however, consumers and brands tend towards self-actualisation, where the brand has advanced up the scale from ‘deficiency needs’ – base requirements for functionality – to ‘growth needs’ – psychological and emotional needs.
So, to revert to the case at hand, if your pyramid Needs Model accounted for the needs of a typical bank consumer, undoubtedly Safety, Stability and Reliability would be found on the bottom rung – base requirements for a bank to exist.
Growth forces – whether market-related, socio-economic or legislative – propel a consumer upwards once lower tier needs have been satisfied. In mature economies with established competitors, these base values become commoditised, and we saw bank brands differentiating in the realm of the emotive on the ascending tier: perhaps service and convenience [Natwest, for example] or technology and innovation [First Direct],with Maslow’s pinnacle tier Esteem: relationships [UBS] and status [Coutts].
But the world – and this model – has been turned on its head.
As Maslow contends, if a lower need is no longer met, a consumer will reprioritise his needs and revert to a former state until such time as the environment stabilises. And we think bank brands should pay attention.
It’s time to get back to basics
Applying some advice we give to ‘less stable’ emerging markets, the basic principles apply here ever more today. Starting from the bottom up, banks need to address what consumers want and deliver those components that lay the foundations for trust in a simpler, more authentic way. Banks need to stop saying what they do and begin doing what they say.
Functional factors are more directly meaningful: Re-examine processes and systems, pare down complicated jargon and say it simply, be straightforward and transparent with what you do, strip back complicated products and look to the opportunities technology offers in re-engaging customers. Give your customer what they understand.
Only once a consumer is assured of your credibility – your base values of trustworthiness – will you be able to woo back shy customer and commence a real relationship that is in fact a partnership.
Seen and Noted:
DFA Award 2011 announces the winners…
The ‘Design For Asia Award (DFA award) was created to honor and acknowledge innovative projects that have the potential to enhance the quality and vibrancy of people’s lives in the region.
In 2011, Our very own designer from The Brand Union Singapore Jieni Liew, together with associates from her University, Mr Alvin Ng & Ms Jesvin Yeo took home a Silver Award for their efforts on Choi! Touchwood an engaging guide book that takes you on an interactive journey of Chinese Traditions, Superstitions, Myths and Taboos through the streets of Singapore.
Seen and Noted:
Absolut Elyx
Vodka brand ABSOLUT have released this video short showing the distillery process used to create their recently launched ABSOLUT ELYX.
The result of a decade’s worth of innovation and perfection, ABSOLUT ELYX is a handcrafted super premium vodka, each batch being overseen by the master distiller and tasted and approved before being bottled. Using traditional distillery techniques including an authentic 1929 copper rectification still, and hand selected wheat, the result is a “fresh clean and silky smooth” premium vodka.
Watch the video after the jump
http://www.media.absolutcompany.com/Products/Flavours/ABSOLUT-ELYX/
Seen and Noted:
Own a Colour and Save a Life
Dulux has launched a website initiative with Unicef in which users are asked to buy one of the 16.7 million colours that a smartphone screen can display in order to help the charity
Through the website ownacolour.com, the public, for a donation of at least £1, can put their name to their favourite colour and see themselves featured up alongside famous donors.
TBU London's JR LIttle tells @TheDrum how General Motors turned around the brand & posted record profits so quickly. http://t.co/hdK9KfdI
5 days ago.
@thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
Chromatic Typewriter
US artist Tyree Callahan has converted an old 1930′s Underwood Standard typewriter into a ‘paint machine’. Applying oil paint to each key, the resulting landscapes are somewhat surreal but not a million miles from the rest of his work.
Thought:
Engaging Staff in Tough Economic Times
Our daily lives are flooded with negative economic reports in the media. Conversations amongst friends, colleagues (and often even strangers) about the tough economic climate are rife. We have all been told to fasten our belts and ‘vas byt’ as it seems (that for a while at least) times are going to remain tough. Retrenchments are imminent, with some of our largest global players announcing massive staff cut backs. Citi Group has announced they will be retrenching over 52 000 staff members by early 2009, the second largest job cut by any US company to date. Back at home, things aren’t much better. According to Statistics SA the biggest job losses have been in the mining sector, where 32 000 people were relieved of their duties in the third quarter of 2008. With all this unease, where does this leave our staff?
Staff (and good staff at that) are the biggest asset to any business especially in tough economic times. One cannot ignore the impact that this global recession is having upon them. Each and every company needs to take heed and pay special attention to their staff and the uneasiness they all feel. Whether it’s retrenchment or just the threat of it, we guarantee that on the whole the global workforce is nervous, and rightly so. The Brand Union does not purport to have the answers to the global crisis, but what we can advise you on is the importance of engaging your staff in these times.
Honesty is in fact the best policy
The first piece of advice we offer is open and honest communication with all members of the organisation. There is nothing more damaging to a team’s morale than speculation and rumours. Once rife, they become more destructive than you can imagine. By trying to bury their heads in the sand you may do more damage than you think. Engage with your staff and report on the current situation within the organisation. Make them aware of possible changes and don’t be afraid to report on the positive and negative. As the old adage goes, honesty is the best policy. By empowering your staff (with information relevant to their position) you immediately ease the burden of the unknown.
Lead by example
Now more than ever you will realise the importance of having strong leadership in place. During these times your organisation requires that your leaders stand fast and convey a message of confidence. Take time out of your busy schedules to chat to staff members, point out the positive areas and shift attention away from negative. You need to focus on the brand and its longevity.
What is a brand?
A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, and the ugly and the off-strategy. It is your best and worst product. It is your best and worst employee. It is communicated through award-winning advertising as well as those ads that somehow slipped through the approval cracks and sank anything riding on them. It is your on-hold music and the demeanour of the receptionist who puts the valued client or prospect on hold. It is the carefully crafted comments by your CEO as well as the negative buzz by the water cooler or in chat rooms on the internet. Brand is expressed through written, audio and visual content. It is interpreted through emotional filters every human being has – where anything can happen. Ultimately, you can’t control your brand. You can only hope to guide it.
Brand Engagement
Brand Engagement is the process of entrenching the brand, its values and ethos throughout the depth and breadth of the organisation, including, most importantly, your people. In a nutshell it is encouraging your employees to ‘live the brand’ and creating the appropriate ‘infrastructure’ around them to enable them to do so. This means they eat, breathe and sleep the values that your brand conveys, but more importantly, truly believe them!
By sharing information, staff become empowered and can correctly convey the brand to internal and external stakeholders. All businesses should have a brand engagement process in place, with tough economic times beckoning, the benefits of this process will be evident. The Brand engagement process ensures that the organisation stays true to the brand values, which if already entrenched, will serve the company well in tough times.
Many companies spend millions on creating a well executed marketing plan but do not always consider the company’s most important touch point – their staff. Employees are very powerful and can influence a purchasing decision in an instant, and even more so create brand perceptions that are far-reaching
In order to convey correct brand communication to staff, the organisation’s values need to be clearly defined and communicated to staff. One must understand that this process is on-going, included in the induction programme for new staff and refreshed annually for existing staff members. These values should be reflected in everything that staff do.
A brand is not only about a logo or an ad campaign, it should be reflected in: training, recruitment procedures, top management communication, customer engagement reflecting the company’s ethos, to name but a few. If instituted correctly this process (and the values they convey) become a natural way of ‘being’, with the brand being channelled through every touch point in the organisation.
Simply put, brand engagement has its roots in psychology- the basic tenet being: get your staff to buy into your brand values, feel good about them and most importantly believe in what your brand is saying. It is important for companies to ‘walk the talk’ with their staff – i.e. be consistent in the messages they convey externally and internally.
Companies that got it right
Cast your mind back a number of years, when Volkskas, Trustbank, United Bank and Allied Bank merged into the entity we know today as Absa. Absa got it right. Management was honest in their communication with staff members, taking away the dangerous speculation that so often surrounds this type of deal. The staff were aware of the number of positions available and the attempts that were being made to accommodate as many staff as possible within the new Absa Group. There was a silent confidence amongst employees as they had a clear understanding as to why changes were taking place and the context in which these changes needed to occur.
Think too about popular brand Vida e caffé. What comes to mind? Fun, energetic, efficient, confident, up-to-date? These are all brand values that have been translated through staff members ‘living the brand’. Brand Engagement is an empathetic process that permeates through the organisation from top down.
Take a look at their website, if you click on the staff tab a pop up refers to them as ‘the heart of Vida’. They’ve got it right! Never is there a truer analogy. Without great staff living your brand, there is no great brand.
In short, we cannot prevent tough times, but we can advise on a protection plan for your organisation. Whatever your company size or budget, do not lose sight of your most important asset- your staff! Invest in them as they, by living the brand inside out, will determine the future of your company!
Seen and Noted:
The Ruins of Detroit by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre
Beautiful Decay of an abandoned empire
http://www.marchandmeffre.com/index.html
Thought:
Branding is a case of context
By: Gary Bryant, Executive Director Consulting Services
One of the most common misconceptions many businesses have is that the message is the brand. That is, the assumption that the ad campaign and its supporting communications and brand are the same/interchangeable.
I prefer to think of branding as ‘creating context.’ The message is then delivered against the backdrop of this context. And so, a brand is the perception or reputation that exists in the mind of your target consumer and conditions your consumer on how to receive the message. Branding sets the scene, if you will, and the message is the script.
For example, imagine Tata and not Toyota had launched the Prius motor vehicle with its breakthrough eco-friendly motoring technology. Would the vehicle have been as successful with Tata’s mark on its sleeve? Arguably not, as the perception of Tata is nearer that of a low-priced, cheap & cheerful entry level car. But launched on Toyota’s stage, however, the vehicle has been perceived as highly credible and well received. This is no happy accident, but because over the years. Toyota has built a reputation for engineering excellence, consistent improvement, value for money quality and assured reliability. This reputation did not merely arise from its advertising – with the strap line ‘Lead
the way Toyota” – but was built through the management of its consistent staff interactions, the performance of its vehicles, the delivery on its promise, the quality showrooms and strategic sponsorships. It was built through the careful and coordinated ‘context’ that the brand orchestrated across a variety of media. While the benefits of building a great brand and creating the correct context should be quite obvious, one of the most important is the leverage a brand provides; the added clout if you will.
By investing in the brand and creating appropriate context, the effectiveness of your messaging, advertising and communications campaign – and, by extension, your budget – is greatly enhanced and the chance of your targeted consumer actually acting on your message is substantially improved. Thus your campaign spend goes the extra mile over that of your competitor’s with an inferior brand.
Establishing and building this brand is an ongoing task that requires meticulous attention to all aspects of your business. This process starts with where your brand is, followed by a shared and inspirational view of where it needs to go. Only then can you plan how to achieve this vision and, just as importantly, how you lead your customer on this journey. A clear brand strategy enables this process and guides interventions along the way.
Design plays an integral role in creating this context and nobody put it better than Paul Rand who describes a logo as providing “the pleasure of recognition and the promise of meaning.” It is not the be-all and end-all of branding, but it is the flag bearer of everything to come.
The visual language associated with the identity should continue the conversation. If your business also features a built environment, these same design cues need to be carried through in a consistent manner. Finally, your people need to deliver the requisite service that resonates with the brand vision. What would kulula air be without their zany air crew and their fresh, irreverent approach to in-flight announcements? Of course, the list of touch-points is vast but each needs to be considered in terms of how it contributes to creating the correct context for your brand.
Receiving your ethically sourced, environmentally-friendly Body Shop cosmetics made from organic hemp and recyclable ingredients in a standard government-issue plastic bag would undermine everything the brand stands for and ultimately damage the carefully cultivated context The Body Shop has created.
So, the primary job of branding is to create context and it should in no way be confused with the message. Ideally a business should engage with “context specialists”, brand consultants, to create the long-term vision for the brand if it doesn’t already exist and use these brand partners on a consistent basis to manage and design the brand touch-points and experiences. There has never been a better time to begin this process; as the world that emerges (hopefully soon!) from this crisis, we will be faced with a very different market from the one we know as people re-evaluate their values and beliefs and commonly held views – businesses will therefore require a whole new context in which to sell their goods and services.
Thought:
Going Global
Published by: Admap
By: Rosi McMurray, Head of Consulting The Brand Union London
Brands that want to become global must develop characteristics that can transcend cultural origins and be tailored to suit local markets, while maintaining consistency.
Consumers are used to labelling brands as big, small, local and global. While superbrands such as Coca-Cola, Visa and McDonalds are expected to have presence in every continent, small, local producers proudly promote themselves as different, individual and personal. But, is it always easy to identify which group a brand belongs to? Are global brands completely distinct from big brands operating in fewer markets? Or should we see all successful brands on a sliding scale?
In the BrandZ Most Valuable Global Brands report, there are four groups of brand types. If we take the top 50 brands, we can create two groups where the brand is in more than 50 countries.
The first category is brands that are seen as truly universal – ‘the borderless global brands’. But not all global brands have a completely abstract origin. The second group is brands that are global but have a distinctive provenance and home country- ‘country rooted global brands’. There are 18 brands in the top 50 that are in fewer than 50 countries. Multinationals are defined as brands that operate in 20-50 countries. The final group is ‘the predominantly national brands’, which are active in fewer than 20 markets.
By looking at the great global brands, we can identify traits that are universal across all successful brands. This, in turn, allows us to get to grips with whether the biggest global brands really are completely distinct from the brands in the multinational, national and even local categories.
Global brand origins
Over half of the borderless global brands are technology brands such as Google, Amazon, BlackBerry and Nokia. These brands operate and communicate largely in the ‘global web space’, which is, by its very nature, universal. This first group contains brands that have a functional need to be seen as truly global. For example BlackBerry, which wants consumers to feel they can access mobile content anywhere, or Visa, which similarly wants people to understand they can use their credit card globally. Ubiquity is at the very heart of the borderless global brands group.
Unlike the borderless global brands, country-rooted global brands are still seen as tied to their market of origin. Two-thirds of the brands in this category are American. Coca-Cola, McDonalds and Disney are all still strongly associated with a sense of living the American dream. While this is part of the overarching sentiment these brands convey, there are different flavours of provenance. Apple plays on the liberating values of the intellectual and creative West Coast. Likewise, beauty and fashion brands Louis Vuitton and L’Oreal play on their French heritage of high life and luxury.
A clear provenance and country of origin gives brands the distinct advantage of authenticity. For many of the brands in this group, the ability to play on provenance becomes fundamental to the brands’ promise, through both the rational and emotional associations of the location.
Creating a clear dividing line between global brands and those that operate as multinationals in numerous markets is not always possible. The generally accepted definition of 20-50 markets for multinationals encompasses a wide range of brands and is, in fact, a fairly arbitrary line, with brands such as BP and Vodafone both falling into this group. If some of the multinationals moved into new markets, such as Africa, they would quickly switch into one of the global groups.
This group could be called the ‘aspirant global brands’. Few can doubt the ambitions of companies such as Tesco and Santander to become truly global players, and both are making the transition to become global organisations. This is particularly evident in their ability to learn how to understand and adapt to their target audience in different markets.
Santander has had to deal with the serious challenge of integrating a number of well-respected UK brands with significant heritage into the universal brand of Santander. Reassuring customers through a well-managed transition process was important. Research conducted before they entered the UK market showed that a more formal approach to the City would enhance their reputation. By undertaking this research and by taking the time to understand the marketplace, Santander has been able to rapidly establish itself as a powerful force in retail banking.
Predominantly national brands.
The largest brands that are also predominantly national come from large markets, such as China, India and the US. For these companies, there is less of an incentive to expand globally as they already have big domestic market to grow within, before they need to consider the case for global expansion. Some, such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MBNA, are showing signs that they wish to pursue international business and must consider how well their brand and national heritage will travel in other markets.
There is an obvious benefit for businesses outside the US wanting access to major US businesses, to use service providers such as Bank of America Merrill Lynch. For sectors such as retail, the motivation for consumer in different markets to be interested is less obvious.
Consumers are influenced by the desire to buy ‘local’ and we may see more local products appear in the next year or so, particularly in the FMCG sector. But this is another ambiguous term. How local does a brand need to be to earn the label? For food and drink, the link to local is particularly entrenched. For some consumers, supporting local brands is a socially responsible thing to do, as it supports, local employment and communities, reduces the environmental impact of unnecessary travel and preserves local traditions.
“How local does a brand need to be to earn the label? For food and drink, the link to local is particularly entrenched. For some consumers supporting local brands is socially responsible because it supports local employment and communities”
Local brands play on the association with heritage, artisanship and craftsmanship. While visibly local brands are still growing in the food and drink sector, other traditionally local industries, such as Shetland wool in Scotland, appear to be declining. With cost still a major consideration for both consumers and businesses, we have seen any brands move production to the most economically viable location. In doing this, they lose the local-quality connection, but may be in a stronger commercial position to expand into new markets.
Brands are all on the continuum of choice. Understanding your audience on a global basis might sound like a challenge, but it is vital to appeal to a wide range of consumers. Brands must also develop characteristics that are capable of transcending cultural origins to connect with a global audience. It is essential that companies recognise the difference between markets and tailor their brand accordingly, while keeping a recognisable level of consistency.
Tony Palmer, chief marketing officer at multi-national Kimberley Clark, once said: “There’s no such thing as a global consumer- ultimately, people buy locally.” Embracing the nuances of individual markets and audiences is important.
There are six key elements. Companies need to focus on dynamism, flexibility, authenticity, clear positioning and target audience, as well as a strong corporate culture, and great brand experience.
Whatever the size or reach of a brand, there are universal factors. The product itself needs to be excellent, so there is a guarantee of consistent quality. The brand needs to be appreciated as valuable by both the customers and its custodians, who influence marketing and branding decisions. Finally, the benefits and values of the brand need to be clearly communicated, understood and remembered by the target audience.
Perhaps the most salient factor for the most successful brands is the promise of consistent quality. Whether it’s a business or a consumer making a purchasing decision, they want to be sure in this world of endless choice that their decision is the right one.
Every year, the BrandZ list changes, influenced by a huge variety of factors, from trends within sectors such as technology, to the size and location of brands. It is logical to conclude that all successful brands are on a continuum between local and global superbrands. They have more characteristics in common than dividing them. Successful brands depend on universal branding principles, which are as applicable to Coca-Cola as to your local food producer.
Seen and Noted:
Time by John Clang
Image © John Clang
We’ve featured his work before but loved this latest series by photographer John Clang. In his own words, ‘Time’ is “a series that involves recording a location, to show the passing of time in a montage style. There is a sense of intimate intricacy of how time moves, and how people, albeit in a different time, are actually closer to one another and traveling in the same shared space.”
There’s something fascinating in the realisation that so many stories are shared through space and John’s work captures those stories captivatingly.
Anytime! RT @Design_Week: Thanks to our voxpoppers @jackrenwick17, @magpie_studio, @carterwongthink and @thebrandunion http://t.co/h0koRnXr
6 days ago.
@thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
1960′s Tesco at the Goodwood Revival
Photo © Press Association
The 2011 Goodwood Revival – a celebration of classic motor racing, presented visitors with a full size 1960′s replica Tesco store, complete with 60s versions of famous brands (thankfully just the packaging, not the contents, was from the 60s).
Seen and Noted:
Moussy Pop-Up Opens in New York City
Iconic Japanese fashion brand moussy opened a pop-up store in Manhattan’s trendy Meatpacking District last month.
Conceptualized by the moussy visual design team in collaboration with VP+C and The Brand Union, the new boutique concept is created around the confident and fashionable attributes of the moussy girl lifestyle. The store features domestic touches of artisan-inspired furnishings and weathered vintage and rock and roll with a modern flare.
The store at 72 Gansevoort & Washington is open daily until November 27th.
Thought:
Economic Down-Turns Need Not Be Brand Down-Times
A “challenging year” is what CEOs say in the intro pages of leaner annual reports on the back of a difficult one. The same can be said for – and said by – outgoing coaches in closing press statements, presidents in State of the Nation addresses, all summed up with that singularly expressive South African word I’ve recently acquired: Eish. Indeed, it has been a difficult and undoubtedly challenging year to date. And it’s not over yet.
With the falling rand, soaring inflation, declining investor confidence, rising fuel fees, crumbling house prices and the power crisis, it’s undoubtedly a tough time for brands in South Africa. Not to mention Brand South Africa. Having done business within these borders for years, I note a discernible air of trepidation from stakeholders – and I use that term to refer to everyone invested in the local market – everywhere.
But taking a macro view as CEO for a global branding agency, what I see is not unique to South Africa. No country or brand is immune from what is looking to be a global economic affliction right now, as consumers are forced to pinch their pennies, count their krone, their reubels, their rands, and brace themselves for what is a tough ride ahead.
But, risking charges of nescience and a stiff British upper lip, I believe it need not be all doom and gloom. While economic recessions are inevitable, brand recession need not be.
How so, when a credit crunch sees consumers everywhere cutting back on discretionary spend, packing padkos instead of stopping at Wimpy, and questioning brand value more than ever before? Famously recession-proof, not everyone has the luxury of being a luxury brand – though the winds of change have been blowing through the streets of Sandton too these days.
There’s no single remedy and we don’t propose to have the answers. I too am party to the same data and media reports as you and can’t profess to being an expert on macro-economics nor soothsaying – both of which can be as reliable as the BBC’s weather reports.
But, in this climate of uncertainty, a considered and well-thought through, well-founded approach to building brand equity is the best antidote to the affliction of consumer cut-backs.
Some more pictures from our #BrandTalks event with Sean Fitzpatrick, Toby Southgate, Ben Moore & Matt Lorenzo http://t.co/EdysGyTe
6 days ago.
@thebrandunion
Seen and Noted:
Making Future Magic: iPad light painting
The offices of Dentsu London & Berg have released this short about the process behind their awesome 3d model light painting using stop motion and an Ipad.
This film explores playful uses for the increasingly ubiquitous ‘glowing rectangles’
that inhabit the world.
Seen and Noted:
Flag Carriers & Nation Branding
In light of the recent shutdown of Qantas, a reminder of how important national airlines are to the national brand.
Thought:
Meeting Naming Challenges in Hospitals
Not that long ago, hospitals were chosen based on a single recommendation from a friend or doctor, or by reputation. Not so today.
With so much information available, consumers are seeking out the hospitals that offer them exactly what they’re looking for. Sure, references still matter, but with the dawn of the Internet and consumers taking charge of their own health care, the game is changing and hospitals need to optimize all of the ways they interact with consumers in order to be considered.
According to a McKinsey survey with U.S. patients, 41% of patients’ choice is based on non-clinical experiences. When considering a hospital, consumers are on a quest for transparency and helpful information. They use the Internet to research institutions that will give them the best care and the best experience. In a time of crisis, clarity goes a long way. This means that hospitals have to move away from basing their reputations on clinical services alone and build their reputations through all of their communications.
This paradigm shift from reactive—waiting for a patient who is recommended, to proactive —reaching out to attract consumers, is a huge opportunity for hospitals. Becoming proactive requires communicating in a clear manner in order to stand out among competitors and to attract and keep more patients. Key to excellent communications is a consistent, consumer-focused naming structure. Although often overlooked, a naming system is a crucial component of clear communications.
A naming system delivers order to names. It provides consumers and other audiences with an intuitive understanding and at-a-glance view of a company’s divisions, entities, products and services and communicates how they relate to the company and to each other. Sometimes the association is communicated through a word or a letter. A good example is Apple: iTunes, iPod, iPhone. A successful naming system makes a complex portfolio of products or services easy to understand for consumers.
At the Brand Union, in our work with hospitals, we have found that the industry as a whole grapples with a complex and confusing approach to naming their services. These naming pitfalls include:
- Missing verbal and visual hierarchies, which inhibit an intuitive understanding of relationships between services
- Complex way-finding often due to confusing building names and lengthy donor names, which makes it hard for consumers to navigate/find locations inside buildings
- Inconsistently or unsystematically named services which are difficult for consumers to understand
A clearly structured and simple naming system articulates the services that a hospital offers so that the patient is able to find and understand what they are looking for. This is important not just to attract consumers, but also to keep them by familiarizing them with offerings they may need in the future.
Meeting the customers needs today as well as in the future helps to build reputation and encourage growth. Hospitals that take steps to address the situation can stand out among competitors.
A good naming system is based on the consumer perspective. A proper review and analysis of all service offerings should be completed, taking clinical realties and best industry practice into account. Moreover, the naming system should leverage design, since visual expression helps consumers understand relationships between services intuitively. Finally, creating naming development guidelines and naming decision tools provide a long-term consistent approach to naming and helps the marketing team make future decisions.
A clear, coherent and consistent naming structure is an opportunity for hospitals to differentiate themselves through better serving their patients and families. Recognizing this opportunity creates a positive experience for patients and develops brand and patient loyalty.
Seen and Noted:
Ralph Lauren 4D Experience
Celebrating the launch of the brand’s e-commerce site in the UK, Ralph Lauren embraced a new age of technology that saw the facia of it’s flagship Bond Street store transform into a virtual reality using an 8-minute 3D video.
Thought:
Toby Southgate Talks Luxury With Cream
Published by: Cream Global
Featuring: Toby Southgate, Managing Director, London
Toby Southgate writes for Cream Global about the shifting landscape of the luxury market and what it means today:
“Defining ‘luxury’ from a brand and communications perspective has always been challenging. Luxury can mean different things to different consumers, in different markets, and at different points in time. Its very nature links luxury most closely to categories like fashion, real estate and electronics, all of which are dynamic and susceptible to rapid change.”
“But in its most basic form, a luxury product or service has to focus on delivering more than just a need. If a luxury offer serves a ‘want’ – an added level of desire for consumers – it stands a greater chance of commercial success.”
Thought:
What doesn't kill you…
Biomedical scientists, so say last month’s press, are the next step closer to cracking the common cold and finding a cure. The shape-shifter of the century more adaptable than Madonna, the dreaded lurgy that accounts for more sick days only second to hangovers may one day be finally foiled. Trumped by a tissue. Snuffed out with a sniff. Cleaned up by a Kleenex.
But don’t hold your breath. The small print admits that “results may vary outside of a test tube”, markedly different to a human nose. At the risk of calling Madge a virus – though comparably contagious and partial to viral campaigns – both contortionists have demonstrated an uncanny ability to endure through a capacity for reinvention and mutation, infecting their audiences the world over.
Decades to get here, it’ll undoubtedly take decades more until an over-the-counter remedy is on hand. For the cold, that is. I suspect Madge might be around a while longer.
And so, the only reliable means of defence remains not to swaddle yourself in swabs and bandages and stake out an antiseptic sanctuary somewhere, but to put yourself in the frontline of the flu firing squad and take what comes. Just like the kid at playschool whose popularity peaks when he has chicken pox, it’s only through exposure to the world out there that you’re able to build up your natural defences.
What’s that got to do with the price of eggs, you’re wondering? Or, more pointedly, your share price.
Everything.
Short of an over-the-counter remedy, your immunity is your best line of defence. And, for organisations today, it’s your Brand’s Immunity System.
In today’s market place, lurking with marauding maladies in various guises – competitors, clients, even your customers, and more – your staff, your systems, your service – your brand’s immunity, the ability to withstand a battering from a battalion of bugs, is your ultimate survival tool kit.
No quick fix, immune systems are built over time.
New pressures face us every day and organisations like organisms effectively stand naked without protection. Ever better at exposing falsehoods and untruths, every consumer is an activist; ever sceptical, the media’s probing is aggressive; ever baying for your blood, competitors are always on the look-out for your vulnerabilities, a gap in the armour of your value proposition, a chink in the chainmail of your brand promise.
As “viruses” find new ways of infecting us and reconfiguring into new shapes and sizes, our immune system must adapt accordingly. Brand managers need to find new antidotes, new means of combat and response, new antennae for detecting future trends, new ways of thinking and new products, always staying one step ahead.
Discord equals dis-ease
Western medicine’s remedial approach is a knee-jerk reaction to ailment with on-the-spot tinctures for specific symptoms. But germs have got more savvy, a shot in the arm is a short-term solution and antibiotics leave you weaker. Alternative therapies, however, prescribing a blend of art and science, take a more holistic focus on the overall wellbeing of the patient through preventative action.
Acupuncture, for example, maintains that overall wellbeing is achieved through energy balance, believing that health is composed of equal and opposite qualities (the Yin and the Yang). When these become out of whack, illness is more often the outcome.
Inserting fine needles into channels of energy, acupuncturists believe this stimulates the body’s own healing response and helps restore natural balance. So too can a “brand therapist”, if you will, apply art with science to build their patients into strong and healthy entities capable of delivering real value, not merely surviving but flourishing.
Static old-school brands with their heads in the sand are in danger of becoming extinct. Today, corporations can no longer hide behind their portfolio of brands: consumers are calling for the real face behind the message, the purveyor of the product. The real pocket behind each brand’s price tag. Or, they’ll call for your head. Contrary to what’s comfortable, it means laying bare in the call for transparency and exposing yourself to the world.
But new-thinking brands have built an aura around them. With healthy brand immune systems that continuously adapt by producing antidotes to ward off deadly attacks, astute brand managers have a permanent finger on the pulse of what poses a virus and pinpointing the pressure points open for attack.
Assessing your brand’s vitals
What the Central Nervous System is to the body, Brand is to a healthy organisation. Your brand is the synaptic highway that connects the company’s organs, functions, behaviours and responses. Through identifying specific touch points, you can help trigger the desired outcome in one area by treating a separate but vital area in another. So, to uplift your Growth potential, for example, an ailing company with falling market share may require attention in the areas of brand differentiation and delivery on promise. Or, a focus on solid brand architecture and effective communication may precipitate a revitalised Direction for your business, while maintaining pole position through heightened employee engagement underpins Protection.
Linking together all the activities of the organisation – R&D, product development, sales, marketing, HR and more, brand is the connective energy, the life force, the golden thread that ensures consistency of delivery and distributes wellbeing– through products, services or the organisation as a whole. But brands today need to be founded on more than promise – it’s about the ability to execute. And superior execution is about connectivity.
But, in my experience, many organisations are still not designed to deliver consistency – they’re set up in silos with the left hand oblivious to what the right hand is doing. Sometimes the widest gap in alignment is the divide between the external and the internal, creating the biggest disconnect – and hurdle – to Superior Execution. The number one priority in last year’s Grant Thornton survey of US business leaders, Superior Execution ranked in the Top Three spot of 60% of CEOs.
Usain Bolt didn’t smash the world record for the 100m dash on long legs along. Apart from a handy leg up in the form of a fortunate gene pool, he delivered 9,69 seconds of Olympic speed through a holistic combination of factors: his coaches, dieticians, physios, biokineticists, shrinks, shoes, supplements.
Bolt is but the face of a myriad contributors. He is a brand that delivered on solid preparation, incisive strategy, superior design and exceptional execution. And enlightened and healthy organisations have recognised the need to break down barriers and clear blockages to energy flows if true synergies are to be achieved.
The Age of the Super Bug
But, self-applied protective shields are not enough and we don’t propose a single apply-all antidote. MRSA is The Cold’s answer to your antiseptic and antibiotics. Traditionally, companies have relied on the remedies of Marketing and PR to see them through the down times, combating the parasites of bad press, poor perception, misaligned communications. But, when the basic hygiene factors and corporate disciplines are neglected and overlooked, your natural immune system is vulnerable. So, when superbugs contort, strengthen and discover new ways to outsmart your man-made defences, the smallest cut or bite can be fatal. Like the lightning speed at which bad news can travel in our inter-connected, 24/7 multimedia society, infections spread like wild fire and often too quickly for the antibiotics of recovery plans and crisis communications to take effect.
If the foundation for good health is correct diet, exercise and balance, the cornerstones for brand wellbeing are a compelling and true brand positioning, a durable global brand architecture, distinctive and appropriate visual language and tone of voice and, most importantly, engaged employees who deliver a brand experience that sets them apart from their competitors. And no quick fixes like Botox or cosmetic surgery will paper over the cracks. Okay from a distance, it doesn’t match the experience when you get close.
GDP
So, if superior execution is about healthy components coming together and working in harmony, wellbeing is about the capacity of the brand’s immune system to ward off deadly viruses that conspire towards your demise. Companies today need to operate in a state of continual adaptation and the brand pressure points need a longer-term, holistic treatment that promotes and maintains wellbeing. Our job then should not be to heal ailing brands or give tonics to the tired, but provide guidance and preventative therapy.
Your brand diagnostician needs to understand your real challenges as a brand, the issues you face and where you are in the development of your business. They need to assess all the pressure points, from your brand strategy to your vision, your reputation, your aspirations and all the turns and trends at that are likely to present challenges in the future. It could be about a key product losing a distinctive market position. It could be about an identity or retail experience losing relevance and credibility. It could be about disaffected employees in certain parts of the organisation.
They must identify how to boost your immune system by adapting the brand to cope with ongoing invasions from the antigens of mistrustful media, probing consumer interest, competitor attack and staff inflammation.
So, what does this mean in real terms? It means measuring both quantitatively and qualitatively the wellbeing of brands, using a diagnostic filter like GDP™ that pinpoints the pressure points in the brand body and triggers Growth, Direction and Protection. It means ensuring the strategies of both your Business and your Brand are aligned. And Brand, as the CNS, in turn infiltrates and influences all the operational and functional drivers of your business, giving you the durability, robustness and continuum of a Super Brand that can outwit and outlast any colds, coughs, pop stars and other super bugs.
Seen and Noted:
Check out Ted Talk: The birth of a word by MIT researcher Deb Roy.
Amazing multi-dimensional information graphics from the data of
Deb Roy’s research on how we learn to speak.
http://www.ted.com/talks
Thought:
Your Brand is Your Reputation
Published by: Irish Marketing Journal
By: David O’Connor, Managing Partner The Brand Union Dublin
When it comes to rebranding, for whatever reasons, there are a number of key issues that need to be prioritised. Get them wrong and you run the risk of failure, writes David O’Connor in Irish Marketing Journal.
There has never been a more critical time for businesses to align and position their brand in a relevant and compelling manner. Increased competition, a changing economic environment, restructure, mergers and acquisition all signal a change to the marketplace and require an aligned brand experience.
For many businesses this attention to brand is a new phenomenon and some are struggling with it. Specifically with the concept of ‘brand’, the understanding of ‘value beyond price’, brand differentiation and the increasing commoditisation of their sector.
Rebranding may provide a solution to these problems. But this decision should not be made lightly, which is why many businesses engage branding professionals, not just to rebrand but to facilitate a decision on rebranding; to evaluate the bottom line benefit before committing the business to invest in what many believe to be a marketing only exercise.
There are many issues facing businesses in the context of rebranding, not least a common misunderstanding of the role that brand can play. Brand to many is an output of communication planning and solely the responsibility of the marketing department. Until businesses integrate brand and business at board level, branding will only provide superficial relief to a deeper problem.
Brand, as opposed to identity, is the perception a customer has about a business or product. It is the sum of the experiences, direct or indirect, passive or active that a customer has. Experience brings meaning to identity. Experience builds reputation. Brand is reputation.
So when rebranding, here are four central issues that need to be considered:
1. Align your business and your brand strategy:
Whilst business strategy defines a vision and a mission it doesn’t always define how a customer should regard the business, in other words the kind of reputation it needs to achieve its mission.
More enlightened businesses are moving their brand from being an element of their communication strategy to becoming a central organising principle that drives performance, culture, experience, action and value. They do this by aligning a key customer insight with a promise to the market and then mobilising and motivating every department around that promise in a planned strategic way. In doing so, managing reputation becomes the mandate for every department and every employee. In this way, brand lives at board level and delivers bottom line results.
There are many examples of this in the marketplace today. Volvo would not have achieved a reputation for safety and reliability without aligning R&D, procurement and manufacturing in the process. Every single employee at Tesco knows what ‘Every little helps’ means to the business, to them and to the customer. Ikea have not risen to the heights they have without aligning everyone to ‘create a better everyday life’.
Defining what they want to be known for from the outset and aligning all business activities to that, integrates brand with business strategy in a way that is powerful and differentiating for the customer.
2. Align your stakeholders:
Business is personal and many people will have opinion and influence on the outcome of any rebranding process. It is important to map all stakeholders from the outset and plan to what degree they need to be involved in the process and why.
Rebrand for many will mean change and people are innately resistant to change. Merger and acquisition is a familiar catalyst for rebrand which can be latent with emotion. Keeping stakeholders involved from early on is important to avoid the programme becoming a battleground.
3. Align visual change to the degree of desired perception change:
The extent to which a business changes its identity should reflect the degree they want their customers’ perceptions to change. Whatever route you take, be that refresh, evolution or revolution, change should be communicated clearly. To the general public a logo change means management change and therefore service level change. This could have a negative impact if not communicated correctly.
4. Align your people:
With the business strategy aligned, your people need to be aligned also. Brands promise and people deliver. It is that simple. You can imagine the mood at the Avis desk if a customer has to wait too long or if the car is not ready on time. “Try harder buddy”. For the rep to avoid such derision, the computer system needs to be working, the valet needs to be scheduled and efficient, the cars need to be distributed to meet the demand and so on.
In summary, there are many issues a business may face when rebranding. Understanding the opportunity of aligning brand strategy to business strategy is the first and most important step to successful rebranding. Without this it will just be a badging exercise. If you are thinking of rebranding but will be unable to back it up with evidence and proper tangibles that benefit your customers, then maybe think again?
Thought:
In Good Company
It’s almost ironic that, in a world with ever more access to information, consumers are becoming ever more cynical and sceptical; there is a corresponding decline in faith as consciousness grows. A cursory glance, however, through the annals of Corporate Misbehaviour – with chapters headlined Arthur Andersen, Parmalat, Nike, and others – goes some way to explaining and indeed corroborating this pessimism.
Consumers today are demanding greater visibility from business: Who is the real face is behind the message? The purveyor of the product? The real pocket behind each brand’s price tag?
From ‘Me’ to ‘We’
Growing consumer empowerment means that consumers have moved from a position of “I choose “, to the awareness that “My choice affects the choices of others”. Consumers, especially in developed markets, are less interested in what the product is and how it will benefit them, but more in how it was made and how it will affect everyone; what effect their consumption decisions has on others.
This is markedly evidenced by:
- Green consciousness and the environmental movement
- Fair-trade and ethical practices
- Recycling and carbon offsetting
Consumers, after all, vote with their credit card, and by buying an organisation’s product they effectively buy into – or endorse – that organisation’s behaviour.
And so, today, disillusioned consumers everywhere are demanding a more active and visible role from the brand house, questioning the ethics of the owners, just how their profits are used, and how they conduct their “house affairs”.
The interests – and, more importantly, influence – of consumers are changing. And it’s happening all over the world.
The space in the middle
Just as a child’s behaviour is said to reflect its upbringing, so too does a brand’s behaviour reflect back on its parent. Brands today are no longer considered in isolation of the mother brand, but more than that – the mother ship, the corporate brand, presenting a unique challenge.
Enter the Company Brand
What do we mean by the Company Brand? It is where the corporate and consumer worlds overlap. It’s the space in the middle. It is the Corporate brand brought to the fore, given a face and a voice, and – most importantly – endowed with accountability. And brand managers should sit up and pay attention.
To illustrate, Proctor & Gamble still largely exists in the near invisible space of Corporate, whereas Nestlé has made great strides towards establishing a Company brand. Through a mixed brand architecture strategy, this global FMCG brand house has created a Company Brand that allows it to align a diverse product brand portfolio under a coherent umbrella. Through a mixed endorsement strategy, it has applied its corporate name to an array of branded products, transparently communicating to the client the link between its individual products and the mother organisation: overtly with Nestlé Water, Nestea, Nesquick and Nescafé; more subtly with Kit-Kat, Carnation and Milo that wear their endorsement on their (packaging) sleeve.
Consumers consciously “buy into” a brand when they are conscious of the fit between their values and that of the brand. And learning from this, successful Company Brands are those that have moved beyond simply flagging their product portfolio, to taking a position that is value-based.
A brand is known by the Company it keeps
Great brands must be compelling and true. So too for Company brands. They are built from the inside out. They have a single minded positioning that they consistently deliver on, not just through products and services, but also through their behaviour in the society they live in.
In contrast with the Corporate brand, the Company brand:
- Recognises a wider definition of stakeholders by embracing the interests – and influence of – individual consumers
- Has evolved its relationship with its product and service brands, moving from an assertion of ownership to a sharing of values
- Plays a more visible role throughout the consumer journey, adding to the emotional appeal of a product brand
- Is a more active player in society because it is more than the sum of its parts. It uses its size and power to change the way that all stakeholders (including consumers) behave to create win-win results
Overlapping corporate and consumer worlds mean both B2C and B2B marketers should consider moving beyond looking at Consumer and Corporate brands in isolation, and seek out a more interconnected and holistic approach.
Today’s generation of consumers are questioning traditional sources of authority and power. They are investigative, marketing savvy, are increasingly sceptical – and vocal – and won’t take corporate, political or brand assertions at face value. Never before have consumers had so much creative and destructive power:
- User-created content site Wikipedia has more than 75 000 active contributors working on some 9-million articles in more than 250 languages.
- Says Synovate Research, 8% of Americans currently had their own blogs last year, while eBay has 193-million registered users worldwide.
- 47% of the Fortune 500 companies are adopting Word Of Mouth programmes in 2007, says Womma.
The evidence is overwhelming. Individual – and interconnected – consumers have never before had so much clout in influencing the way a mega corporation does business.
The Age of Authenticity
The counterfeiting industry comprises 5-7% of global trade and is worth roughly US$450- to 500-billion, says The International Chamber of Commerce. In D&E markets, product innovations are duplicated overnight and authenticity becomes a consumer’s guarantee of quality and safety. Consumers want to buy into products with authentic values that resonate with them.
In an era of so much media, so much information and much disintermediation, the Company Brand’s role is so much more relevant today: as a stamp of authenticity.
As we move towards a digital marketplace, manufacturers have the opportunity to build direct relationships with their consumers, to create rich and engaging company brand experiences that build consumer loyalty, and to capitalise on cross-sell opportunities.
A good Company Brand is a corporation’s way of establishing constructive dialogue with sceptical consumers.
Thought:
Rob Scalea for Psychology Today
Published by: Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. in Cutting-Edge Leadership
Feature: Rob Scalea, Chief Executive Officer, New York
Rob Scalea discusses the relationship between branding and leadership.
“There has never been a time in business history when an understanding of psychology and delivering on an understanding of people’s desires, attitudes, and behavior has been more important to marketing success. It is not about being soothsayers, but about mixing the art and emotion of human nature with the science that drives results. As business leaders learn to link the two, they will find themselves as part of an elite class of inspirational individuals who can create dreams and make them a reality.”
Seen and Noted:
20 Years of Dazed & Confused
London’s Somerset House plays host to a fascinating exhibition chronicling twenty years of Rankin’s iconic Dazed & Confused magazine. The style and culture title has been a launchpad for many creatives and artists since it’s inception in 1991. The free exhibition runs until 29 January 2012 at Somerset House.