Branding Part One: Understanding the Basics
Everybody seems to be talking about branding these days. Pick up just about any business periodical and you can find an article about the power of branding and how more and more companies have recognized that branding is vitally important to their success. It is widely accepted that building a strong brand makes it easier for consumers to make buying decisions. In the highly fragmented, competitive world we live in, building a strong brand identity is the best way to differentiate your product or service offering.
Unfortunately, too many companies talk about branding without really understanding what it is, and how to take full advantage of the tremendous power they can draw from their brand. In fact, there is often confusion about what constitutes a good branding strategy, so let’s start by asking a simple question “What is a brand?”
Many people see a brand as simply a collection of tangible images – the name, logo, slogan, package design, etc. But the truth is that a brand is much more than this. One of the best definitions we have seen was coined by Professor David A. Aaker, Chairman Emeritus of the Haas School of Business at Berkeley. He says that “a brand is a promise. It’s a pledge made to your customer that you will give them something for choosing your product or service . . . this time and every time you interact with them.”
A brand is a promise. It’s a pledge made to the customer.
Professor Aaker makes two important points to keep in mind about branding. The first is that a brand promises to do something for the customer. Presumably, something relevant that the customer wants and needs, and ideally something that other brands don’t do. And secondly, that the promise that your brand makes is expected to be delivered every time. No matter what the circumstances may be.
Let’s review each of these points individually. First, a brand has attributes that do something. While many brands are ostensibly based on a logical, left-brained attribute – Tide will clean your clothes; Coca-Cola will quench your thirst; Starbucks sells a variety of high quality, tasty coffee drinks; etc. – we believe it is the emotional benefit that is derived from that attribute that holds the real key to success. And the real power!
Sure, Tide cleans your clothes. But Procter & Gamble marketers will tell you that the real power of the Tide brand is the reassurance it gives to mothers that they are doing the right thing for their family by using the best product they can buy to present their family to the outside world. The same kind of emotional reward is attached to Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Nike, and Apple – to all of the world’s great brands.
Another key point about branding is that it is an on-going process, something that happens whether you intend it to or not. It’s not a project with a start or finish. One of the biggest mistakes that many marketers make is not realizing that branding happens in every interaction and point of contact between a company and its target customer. They work hard on their adver tising and other external communications, but don’t understand that a brand is much more than just advertising and a logo.
Branding is an on-going process. It happens whether you want it to or not.
The total corporate identity (logo, colors, typeface, and other identifying graphic material) is a major component of your brand. So is the marketing strategy, the public relations, the pricing and distribution strategy – every customer interaction, whether that interaction is one-on-one or via the web, print, or broadcast media. It’s how staff answers the phone, how easy the web site is to navigate, what message the packaging sends, the tone of the copywriting, and even, in the case of a retailer, how the store looks and where it is located. It’s the sum total of any and every experience people have with the company.
Another mistake that some marketers make is that they try to be something they aren’t. They study consumer needs, attitudes and wants, then promise to deliver something whether they can or not. How many bank commercials have we seen that promise friendly, personal service, only to visit the bank and be rudely ignored by the teller?
At Palazzo Intercreative, we help our clients avoid these kinds of branding errors by taking a very holistic approach to the challenge of brand-building. We call our approach “inside-out branding”, and we think it’s a better way to build a brand.
We start from a basic belief that a brand’s strength springs from the core values that the company stands for. So in addition to thoroughly studying the consumer, the category and the competitive environment, we use Discovery Sessions and other techniques to identify those core values early in our relationship. A strong brand is based on what you are, or something that you can legitimately aspire to be.
Once we have identified those core values and developed a strategy, we make sure that we think about internal communications as much as we think about external communications. We believe that a company’s employees must be convinced of and committed to those values that make their company special. So we make sure that we create branding communications that speak to everyone on the “inside” first so they know and understand the role they must play in the life of the brand.
Let’s go back to the bank example mentioned earlier. In our experience, most companies do a poor job of informing their employees about the relevant messages and values that will make their brand succeed. They don’t share the external messages they will be sending about their brand, and they don’t train and coach their employees to live the brand every day. A notable exception to this is McDonald’s. Every owner and manager must attend Hamburger University in Chicago, where they not only learn the operational aspects of running a franchise; they also study the importance of providing a consistent experience for the customer. Few customers would say that McDonald’s makes the best hamburgers, but the company continues to dominate the fast food marketplace in part because the customer knows what to expect. No matter where they are in the world.
This devotion to consistency was most apparent when McDonald’s entered the Russian marketplace. McDonald’s execs felt that native Russian potatoes did not deliver the same crispness and flavor that McDonald’s is famous for serving. So they delayed their introduction into Russia for two years, imported their own seed potatoes, and waited until they got it right before opening the first restaurant. That is a great story and a great testament to the power and need for consistently delivering on every aspect of the brand promise.
A good strategy is unique, relevant, believable and true.
In addition to our focus on “inside” communications, we obviously work hard to identify the most powerful “outside” brand messaging strategy. We know from experience that a strong brand strategy must meet these four key criteria: it must be unique or distinctive; it must be relevant to their rational and emotional needs; it must be believable; and, it must be true. If your brand strategy falls short on any of these key elements, you risk over-promising on what you can deliver. And if the reality of what you deliver is not consistent with the expectations created by your message strategy, you lose that customer. And all of the customers they share that disappointing experience with.
At Palazzo, we also use a tool we developed called the Brand Values Matrix, to examine and articulate all of the possible strategies we believe are a part of the core values of the company. Then we work hard with our clients to agree on the strategy that offers the greatest potential to meet their business objectives.
After we have identified that optimum strategy, we are diligent in making sure that every communication has a consistent voice, tonality and brand promise. As noted earlier, every point of customer contact contributes to the brand, either in a positive way or a negative way. So we examine every possible communication opportunity to make sure it says what we intend it to say.
Developing the right brand strategy is hard work, but it pays off in the long run. We know that “inside-out branding” is a better way to take advantage of your brand promise. We see it working in the marketplace for our clients. Every day!
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