A good brand is visible, distinctive and designed to last a long time. Just ask any steer.
Actually, the term “brand” – such a central concept in today’s marketing world – really did have its origins in the branding iron, heated to burn an identifying symbol into cattle, casks and other property. And it’s accurate to say that the greatest brands, such as Coca-Cola, are burned into the consciousness of customers worldwide.
You don’t have to aspire to the power of the Nike swoosh or the McDonald’s arches to create and maintain an effective brand for your products or services. However, you do have to figure out what you have to offer, and how you want to present your company, and then do so with perfect consistency.
Great Brands
There have been many great brands in the USA since Pears Soap became the first registered commercial brand: Kellog’s, Campbell Soup, Ford, IBM, GE, Budweiser, Marlboro, Colgate, Caterpillar ... the list goes on and on.
In its annual ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands, Interbrand regularly lists Coca Cola as #1, assigning the brand alone a value of $65,324,000,000 in 2007 (using a proprietary formula which strips away all earnings except those assigned to intangible assets). Yes, that’s billions, folks, for the Coca Cola name, logo and associated messages.
The company’s flamboyant logo, designed by Coke’s initial bookkeeper Frank Robinson, is a vital part of its brand image, and the company has wisely never changed it. Other brands have changed: the original Aunt Jemima, modeled by a former slave, has become younger, sports earrings and no longer wears a kerchief on her head; and Xerox is replacing its famous block-capital wordmark with a softer, more approachable lower-case font, FS Albert . However, in general a brand’s consistency is a critical part of its value.
A consistent brand image will help achieve brand recognition in the marketplace. The best brands will achieve a brand franchise, a critical mass of positive sentiment; Gatorade, the first sports drink, still owns 80% of the market. And marketing departments and their ad agencies go to great lengths to preserve the brand equity they have so painstakingly built up over the years.
For their part, loyal customers develop an emotional relationship with a brand, experiencing an immediate, positive, visceral response when they encounter it.
Elements of an Effective Brand
A logo is the most visible element of a brand image, but it’s not the only element. Many brands come with tag lines: “Things go better with Coke,” “Built Ford tough.” Most logos are visually simple – think of Apple’s apple – and may express an aspect of the company or its products. (The three letters in IBM’s logo are built from horizontal lines, suggesting circuit boards or lines of code.) Tag lines contribute an emotional element, often a benefit: this truck is tough, things will go better for me.
Color is another essential element of a brand. The Coca Cola red is recognizable from 100 feet away. And who would have come up with brown as a brand color? but UPS did and made it work. An ad agency will specify things like type face(s) and the PMS numbers of the brand’s color in a style guide, which must be followed for brand consistency. A brand may also have a mascot, or a jingle.
Essential to a brand is a clear presentation of your value proposition. In fact, a company may offer several different things of value, but for branding purposes it’s common to showcase no more than one or two of them, for example Quality and Convenience. Pricing and packaging are other key elements for product brands.
Most important, and most difficult: the best brands deliver a consistent customer (or client) experience. These companies have done a lot of work to determine who they are, what they offer and what they stand for, and then even more work to make sure everybody in the company understands this and follows through on it, right down to the person who answers the phone.
Creating and Sustaining Your Brand
Creating your brand starts with a clear definition of who your customers (clients) are, and what you have to offer them. Start with broad definitions, which you can make narrower and more precise as you go through the branding process.
Survey your customers (clients). Why did they choose you? What do they like about their relationship with you? This will be valuable information as you brainstorm what kind of customer experience defines your brand.
Brainstorm things you’d like people to associate with your brand; there are no bad ideas in brainstorming, so write them all down (“it’s warm” “it’s fast” “it makes things go better”). What are the functional benefits of your products or services? What are the emotional benefits?
Analyze how you want your brand to differentiate itself from the competition.
Armed with this information, the creative types in your marketing department and ad agency will develop proposals for all the parts of your brand identity, from the logo to the customer experience. The ideal brand is eye-catching ... stands out from the pack ... is simple ... relevant to what you offer ... differentiating ... and believable.
The key to sustaining your brand is consistency. Follow your style guide, and make sure that everybody in your organization knows what kind of customer experience they should be offering.
You may want to protect different elements of your brand, such as your name or tag line, with the designations ™, ®, or sm . Your ad agency can explain the difference and outline any registraton requirements.
Branding in the Internet Age
The Internet Age is in its infancy, but it’s already clear that it’s going to change a lot of established ways of doing business. While advertising, direct marketing and public relations will not go away, your website has become your most visible feature and the first place where prospects will go to see if they want to do business with you. And opt-in email marketing will be an immensely powerful tool in the decades to come.
Of course the big new challenge of Internet marketing is interactivity. The visitor to your site is now in control, and if your site isn’t easy and enjoyable to use, s/he is gone. The competition is just a few clicks away.
“Easy and enjoyable” is harder than it sounds. Although visitors are in control, they are also drowning in information and choices, and in a state of perpetual confusion. This is an opportunity for you: choose Internet clarity and accessibility as part of your brand identity, and it will be a breath of fresh air for your visitors, and make your site memorable.
“Stickiness” is another quality you should incorporate in your brand identity; the term describes qualities that make people want to stay on your site, and come back another time. For example, if you offer people some really helpful information or insights (related to your area of expertise) which you update on a regular basis, they will stick around, and come back later.
Today’s Internet users, especially the younger ones, think of themselves as a community, and constantly pass along new discoveries to Web friends. Make sure your site and e-mail marketing pieces make this easy to do, with plenty of “Forward to a Friend” links.
Don’t be intimidated. The brand identity ideas we’ve been discussing apply 100% to the new medium of the Internet; you just have to get on top of how people are using it. To build and sustain a successful brand, you need to be clear about who your organization is and what you have to offer, develop brand identity elements that clearly express that, and then make sure that all your communications stay brand-consistent over months and years.
New Website Polishes Craftsmen Brand
Since becoming the agency of record for the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen five years ago, Sullivan Creative has worked to build the organization’s brand. That work hit a high point in February when the League’s new website went live.
“Since we came in, we’ve been making sure that everything that comes from the League looks like it comes from the same place,” said Pam Sullivan, President and Creative Director of Sullivan Creative. “That means consistent colors, design elements, typefaces – and of course consistent messaging.”
The site, which went live in February, not only showcases the League’s rich history and the magnificent creations of its juried craftsmen, but also enables visitors to become a supporting member, apply for juried membership or donate to the League online, using a credit card. It can be seen at www.nhcrafts.org.
“Our biggest need was to improve the browser functionality of our website,” said Susie Lowe-Stockwell, the League’s executive director. “We wanted more interactivity, so that people could do more with the site.”
The website took a year to develop. Lowe-Stockwell and the website team met with staff and contributing members to determine the major problems of the existing site and how to correct them. At the 2007 League Annual Craftsmen’s Fair, Sullivan Creative presented two prototypes to three different focus groups (craftsmen, people very familiar with the League and people not so familiar with it). “One design was a clear winner with all three groups,” said Sullivan.
The design was created by Joe Saravo, Senior Art Director at Sullivan Creative. “We kept it simple,” he said. “The site is not over-designed, and it’s more user-friendly than the previous site. We used the colors of the League brand, orange, purple and teal. The Flash animation is a very important element, presenting a series of fine craft pieces right on the home page. Overall, the idea was to create a site that itself had the look and feel of hand crafts.”
“The site is still evolving and will continue to evolve,” said Lowe-Stockwell. “We’re looking at a members-only page, downloading forms to register for our programs, creating a letter to the editor page. The feedback has been very positive so far.”
“People should understand that a website is not just an online brochure,” said Sullivan. “It’s really another portal, a live, evolving, interactive extension of the organization. When you go to this site, you get a really good sense of the League’s personality, and a lot of opportunities to participate.”
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