THE POWER OF BRANDING : THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND POSITIONING
Advertising Lecture Series 2 Understanding Brands Through Case Studies
Before we shed the limelight on the “superstar” of today’s lecture, namely branding, let’s look at another important area.
What is Advertising in today’s context?
“Advertising going forward is about turning big ideas into personal experiences that change/reinforce both perceptions and behavior.” — Jan Leth, Vice Chairman for Global Digital Creative Ogilvy & Mather
“I define it as a conversation starter. Interruption doesn’t cut it anymore...you either get people talking...or nothing happens.” — Marshall Ross, CCO, Cramer-Krasselt (American integrated marketing and communications agency)
“I still think it’s about finding a big idea. You just have more ways to (express) it now.” — Woody Kay, Managing Partner, Chief Creative Officer, Arnold Worldwide (Advertising Agency with offices in Boston NYC, London and Prague)
“...It’s still about creating ideas that people respond to. But...brands have to work a lot harder. More than ever, brands have to offer something of value.” —Albert Kelly, ECD, Fallon (Agency in the UK)
“An encounter (that includes messages, experiences, etc.) created by a brand in order to generate awareness or build preference.” —Edward Boches, CCO, Mullen (Boston based full service integrated advertising agency known for Television, Print and Digital Advertising)
It’s all that
+
Inter-action. *come back to this later in the lecture
There are four areas, which we will touch on today (not in order): 1. What do we mean by the word ‘brand’? 2. What must a brand be able to do? 3. What is branding and its importance? 4. What is your role as an advertising designer when it comes to building a brand today?
What is a brand?
Understanding Branding Isn’t Hard
In Fact It’s Quite Simple
How Simple?
This Simple
How Much Would You Pay For This T-Shirt?
$5.00?
What About This One?
$10.00?
And This One?
That’s Branding
Earlier examples were just to give you an idea of the whole concept about brands and what is a brand.
So what exactly is a brand?
First and foremost, a brand is NOT JUST:
A Logo. The term LOGO is a short for LOGOTYPE, which is a custom-lettered word. LOGOS is Greek for “WORD”. That makes a logo merely a trademark*. *A trademark may be a logo, symbol, monogram, emblem, or other graphic device. For example, Louis Vuitton uses a monogram, while Nike uses a symbol.
A brand is also not just:
A Corporate Identity. A company’s corporate identity is an identity system uniquely and thoughtfully created for controlling the use of trademarks and trade-dress elements on company publications, advertisements, stationery, vehicles, signage, and so on.
A brand is also not just:
A Product or Service.
Marketing people often talk about managing their brands, but what they usually mean is managing their products, or the sales, distribution, and quality thereof. To manage a brand is to manage something much less tangible - an aura, an invisible layer of meaning that surrounds the product or service.
So what is a brand then?
"A brand is more than a name or a logo - it is a promise and a contract with every customer with whom you are dealing. And if people feel that the offering does not live up to what they expect from the brand, they will decide to stop buying." - Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group
Definition: A brand is a product of the millions of experiences a company creates with employees, vendors, reporters, communities, and customers— and the emotional feelings these groups develop as a result of their experiences.
It is the sum of all the characteristics that make the brand’s offering unique: • Reputation • Customer Service • A Promise • Price • Feeling • Attitude • Logo • Product Line
It can also be said that a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. It’s a GUT FEELING because we are all emotional, intuitive beings, despite our best effects to be rational.
It’s a person’s gut feeling because in the end, the brand is defined by individuals, NOT by companies, markets, or the socalled general public.
Each person creates his or her own version of a brand and companies can’t control this process. But what they can do is to INFLUENCE him or her.
So when a few people arrive at the same gut feeling, a company can then be said to have a brand.
In summary, a brand is the visual, emotional, rational, and cultural image that one associates with a company or a product. E.G.: When you think of NIKE, you might think of “Just Do It”.
In another words: A brand is not what a COMPANY say it is. It is what THEY say it is.
For example: Whenever we hear the word “horse”, we visualise a majestic creature with four legs, a long tail, and a mane falling over a muscular neck, an impression of power and grace. We all possess the knowledge that a person can ride long distances on its back. Whilst individual horses may differ in each person, but overall in our minds we still recognise their “horseness”.
Put simply, when we add up all these perceptions we have of a horse, the total is distinctive enough so that we think HORSE, and not a bicycle.
To illustrate the explanation better, here are some examples:
Can you tell me what the following brands are without me showing you the full image?
Hence since a brand is a gut feeling, a perception, just like the perception we have of a horse, a brand is an approximate - yet distinct - understanding of a product, service, or company.
Thus managing a brand is the management of differences, not as it exists on fact sheets, but as it exists in the minds of the people.
And this is why branding or re-branding is important to influence/remind people so that a brand is constantly rank top in their minds.
And this is also why a branding or rebranding exercise always centres on these three areas - all have to do with the minds of people: •
customer analysis • competitor analysis • internal analysis
What must a brand be able to do?
A brand must be able to: : Arouse emotion : Ignite passion : Echo reliability : Have meaning
For example: • Apple opposes • IBM solves • Virgin enlightens • Sony dreams • Benetton protests A brand is not a noun but a VERB.
The question now is how?
Through INTER-ACTION.
Marketing then
Marketing now
Inter-action is: : An expectation : Reciprocity (Mutual Benefit, Exchange) : Courtesy : Conversation : Response : Measurement : Research : Understanding : Dynamic : Involving : (Above all) Human
Inter-action takes form as... : Sharing : Crowd sourcing : Blogging : Micro blogging : Commenting : Embedding : Linking : Tagging : Rating : (Above all) Participation
In today’s digital era and with the new generation of consumers, branding without inter-action will not work.
And now to understand the power of branding, we will look at a few case studies.
But first of all, let’s ask ourselves: what is branding? And why is it important?
If a brand results from a set of associations and perceptions in people’s minds, then branding is an attempt to harness, generate, influence and control these associations to help the business perform better.
Strong Branding = Trust and experience
Consumers—whether for business or personal products or services—select brands they believe will serve them best, even if that brand is priced at a premium.
Case study: Toyota Mercedes Benz is associated with superb engineering, quality, performance and consumer service. Toyota, too shares all of the attributes and in some cases provides better quality than Mercedes, so why isn’t it seen as a direct competitor to Mercedes?
Because Toyota is not positioned as a premium brand in the minds of consumers.
So what did Toyota do to compete in this market segment? They created a premium brand: Lexus. Both Toyota and Lexus brands share the same engineering, design elements etc. Evaluation: the brand is what differs in the minds of the consumer (TRUST).
And the branding goes beyond the vehicle – you find branding in everything that Lexus does (THE EXPERIENCE): • the way the salesperson first approaches a potential customer in the showroom • how he/she is dressed (in a suit vs. a normal salespeople in polos) • the layout of the showroom • the choice of building materials and interiors—slate floors, leather chairs • the waiting areas • the cleanliness of service areas • the branding of Lexus continues after the sale
So why is branding important? Here’s a look at two case studies:
The Apple Brand: The '90s saw computers getting faster, better and - most importantly - cheaper. Microsoft was making billions by providing operating systems on all of these machines.
Apple was making expensive machines and, as the company's struggles showed, nobody wanted expensive computers when cheap would do.
So Apple launched the iPod, which catapulted the company from a computer business to a mass-market entertainment brand. Apple basically used iPod marketing as a strategy to draw heavily on people’s emotional relationship with their music.
By moving into music and film, Apple has redefined what the company does and shifted its brand association to something that connects with larger numbers of people outside computing or creative community. TODAY, APPLE HAS BECOME A LIFESTYLE BRAND.
The Ikea Brand: It is a company with a big idea; a brand that is based around the notion that good design is for everyone, not just design snobs. Its past campaigns have always advised us to fit out our homes with well-designed furniture and products at affordable prices.
So now we know what is a brand, what it must be able to do for consumers, and what is branding, the big question now is --what is your role as an advertising designer when it comes to building a brand today then?
Here are 6 factors for you to consider where branding is concerned today:
1. We are always moving The advertising/marketing landscape does not escape the market driven Darwinian evolution that has always been happening. Keep up and adapt to change.
2. Is digital/interactive good enough? Everything is fusing. We are living in a digital world, where in essence, everything is digital. And knowing and going digital alone is not enough, the most important task is having the insights into what creates and motivates participants.
3. Always stay connected with no time to wait People are becoming more connected and communication is becoming more synchronous. Form communities of likeminded people for the brand you are building. Find them on social networking sites.
4. From Storytelling to Experience Move from pouring stories down pipe-sized channels to developing public plazas/places and participating in experience arenas. Advertising helps influence gut feeling up-front. Ideas put the brand at the centre where gut feelings are shaped. Interactivity is key in today's successful campaigns.
5. Personal Media We are moving from MassMedia to MyMedia. As we move from the channel focused MassMedia to the thinner tailored, personal media, the brand will be in a sphere it has never before consciously and interactively entered. Create personal space within MassMedia. Itʼs about offering exclusivity for identity and community seekers.
6. Itʼs all still there Nothing dies, but new things enter the marketplace. The next best tool to use when it comes to building a brand is the word of mouth - this can be done using the most successful media platform to date, Facebook, Youtube etc.
So if inter-action is all about “human” and “participation”, one cannot eliminate the importance of collaboration.
The five requirements of collaboration:
1. Diversity : Things need to change and evolve. For the world to be interesting, you, as advertising designers need to keep manipulating it. Defy conventions; ask why not.
2. Unique Ways to Contribute : There needs to be a variety of opportunities based on the participant’s ability to contribute offered in a campaign; don't force every participant into the same format. Your choice of main and supporting media platforms are key.
3. Connect and co-operate : Let the participants connect and build on each others' contributions. It’s all about content sharing today. Foster a community of like-minded people and let them be the brand ambassadors.
4. Shared Sense of Purpose : To participate one needs to see a meaning and a direction. Understanding your target audience, their needs and wants are important when working on a campaign; otherwise, there will no relevance to them.
5. Decisions within structures : Participants have to be able to control and shape the content in the way they want it to go but keep it insides a structure. Your role today has changed; you are also a facilitator; no longer just an advertising designer who will let the campaign row out by itself.
In summary, powerful branding should always strive for inter-action. Your role as a designer is to facilitate inter-action that involves the audience participating in activities facilitated by you - make them feel, “my role/opinion is necessary”.
A quote to ponder on:
‘If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.’ - Coca Cola executive
YES, I LOVE COKE MORE THAN PEPSI!
