Branding: Perception or Performance

 

Speaking notes from a talk by Kelly C. Brandon, AIA, SEGD delivered to:

Olympia Communicators Group
March 6, 2002
Intercity Transit Building
526 Pattison St.
Olympia, WA 98506

 

1. The Hype We Love to Hate

We are bombarded today with every sort of message about what to use or buy. You all know a lot about branding. Here are a few more thoughts to get us thinking:
 
Brand permeates every part of modern life; retail, institutions, organizations.
Brand is apparently synonymous with identity or quality, or new, or best.
Brand has the attributes of a good investment; equity, value, franchise
Brand must be built, protected, extended, created, fought for and defended.
Brand seems even more important than the reality it represents.
Brand has become the "soul" of modern retail
 
 

2. The Origins of Brand: Examples from History

Primitive man named his comrades by their skills and exploits
Eric the Red, Harold the Bald, James the Confessor
Egyptian cattle brands offer an early example
Inscription in early Egyptian tomb:
"The name of a valiant man resides in that which he has done."
The cartouche was probably the first personal logo or monogram
Brand has been understood for centuries
The blessed water from the Ganges River
The sacred water of Lourdes
The Spice Islands, The Silk Route
Rameses II wiped out all examples of competing kings and lost battles in an effort to rewrite history and reputation
Revolutionary War tea bales, silversmiths, potters, used brand
Pioneer thinking placed value in a man's performance and trustworthiness.
Personal contact, history of performance, promises kept.
Post-war Consumers
New products to meet a new economy
Participate in the new prosperity
Choices=Lifestyle=Identity
Buy my version of that product you need
Need to differentiate, to label, to brand
Now the products were so new they had no history
 
 

3. The Anatomy of a Brand: How Does This Work?

Definition of Brand
Common Wisdom says: a specific version of a product made by many
Confused for: It's the Name and the Logo, stupid; wine is not just grapes
A national branding company says:
"Unique intelligence allows us to develop creative strategy.
Creative strategy drives strategic creative.
Strategic creative helps our clients rise above the competitive clutter."
Leo Burnett (1891-1971) of Chicago school of advertising said:
"There is an inherent drama in every product. Our No. 1 job is to dig for it and capitalize on it."
Same national branding company says:
".a brand can transcend day-to-day tactics; form a tangible, manageable and valuable asset; truly become the standard leading the organization."
Wally Olins said regarding the dividing line between identity & brand:
" .a brand is a wholly concocted creation, it is devised solely to help sell and it has no life of its own."
 
The Basic Parts (Traits) of a Brand
Identification: name, slogan, logo, presentation, applications
Affiliation: the company it keeps & who it teams with
Differentiation: that which sets it apart from other similar things
Recognition: connecting name with content or performance
Logic: brand family must make sense; a link between items
Heart: the human aspects that make it desirable
Consistency: continued emphasis of the same message in all areas
Equity: the enduring value based on time, truth & core values
 
This is what a "REPUTATION" is made of.
 
 

4. Types of Brands: Variations and Problems

The Individual
Cher, Britny Spears, Liberace, Madelyn Albright
Jim Cary has box office appeal and it sells
Henry Kissinger as a private consultant
Behavior, appearance, values are all personal, controlled by self
Their value resides in being themselves and using personal talent
Agents or groupies may affect brand without knowing it
 
The Craftsman
Dale Chihuly, Yves St. Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Gorgio Armani
Artists, artisans, craftsman, direct maker/designer of anything
Quality and rarity of materials, and utility are the most important
Personal skills, special vision, and uniqueness are desired
 
The Manufacturing Company
Black & Decker: home shop tools & home kitchen tools
Rolls-Royce Motors' cars vs Rolls-Royce Ltd.'s jet engines
Nissho Iwai in Japan: raw materials to cosmetics
They make a wide variety of different products, but brand their name
Need to remain credible by not making everything, no Donuts by Dupont
The Manufacturer-Turned-Retailer
REI
Actually makes somethings, but sells other related products by others
 
The Distributor or Re-tailer or Re-brander
Sears, The Bon, Lands End
Someone who simply sells another's product
Relies on reputation for selecting good products, integrity, and service
Often has a "house brand" made for them; total or partial sales
 
The Acquisition Company
Ford: Ford, Volvo, Mazda, Jaguar
Volkswagen: BMW
Daimler/Chysler
They have acquired the competition in their field, but keep the separate brands and their original character
Must resist the desire to tinker with the acquired brands or subsume them

5. Where is Brand Going Next?

What sorts of things can we expect the future to hold regarding brand:
1. Recession demands care: less energetic creation of brand.
2. Consumers are far more sophisticated & skeptical.
3. Virtual identities will need more proof of credible performance.
4. More reliance on real effort and less on claims or hype.
Witness the Enron debacle and the dot.com decline.
5. More entities seeing themselves as brand, e.g. government, churches, non-profits; the "retailization" of America.
6. More eco/social emphasis in the aims and goals stated.
7. Performance not perception is the most important.
 

6. Books on Branding:

Brand Warfare by David D'Alessandro: Powerful lessons on how to build and sustain your own "killer brand" Creating and sustaining a good brand is the most complex and perilous task any business will ever face, yet nothing is as misunderstood.
Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller: develops a unique model of customer-based brand equity to provide marketers with a means to understand and interpret the potential effects of various brand strategies and tactics and assess the value of any type of brand
Smart Branding by J.L. Mariotti: Nothing is more valuable than a brand.
Co-Branding by Blackett & Boad: The synergy that can be created by two well-matched brands working together in harmony can be considerable and enhance both profitability and the valuation of the brand for both parties
Emotional Branding by Gobe & Zyman: Shows marketers of any product or service how to engage today's increasingly cynical consumers on deeper emotional levels. show how all five senses can be used as powerful marketing tools to respond to .trends.
Brand Medicine : The Role of Branding in the Pharmaceutical Industry by Blackett & Robins: Drug companies must change their methods of communication and distribution-focusing more on their direct relationship with the consumer.
 
For more information, contact Kelly Brandon at kbd@olympus.net