Brand Exploration: At the Core

A Brand is the Personification of a Product, Service or Organization.  It Is Also The Source of a Relationship with Customers. Like a Person, It Must Have Human Qualities and Possess a Soul.

•    Think of a brand as a person – possessing core values and a personality.
•    The brand is the source of the organization’s relationship with people.
•    Strive to create an emotional connection with your consumer.
•    The most successful brands tap into deeply felt human needs.
•    A brand must have a heart and a soul.
•    A brand must be trustworthy. It must earn people’s trust.
•    A brand must be courageous.  It must unwaveringly stand for something.
•    A brand must possess integrity, that is, it must deliver what it promises – always. 
•    A brand must be authentic, not manufactured.
•    A brand must win people’s hearts.  It must endear itself to consumers.
•    A brand is more likeable if it is vulnerable, laughs at itself and admits to its mistakes.
•    A brand gets credit for attempting to do what is right.

Other Important Brand Attributes

•    A brand must deliver a good value.
•    A brand must be accessible and convenient.

You Must Focus the Organization on Delivering the Brand Promise – Brand Management is Much More than Marketing (a.k.a., Making the Brand Promise Real)

•    Branding is not an afterthought; rather it is the core value of the organization.
•    Have a singular focus on delivering the brand promise.

•    The brand’s products and services must deliver upon the brand’s promise.
•    Focus everything your organization does on delivering the brand promise.
•    An organization must manifest its brand’s essence, promise, and personality at each point of contact it makes with people.
•    Carefully manage all the points of contact you make with the consumer.
•    An organization’s culture must reinforce its brand’s essence, promise, and personality.
•   To be truly successful, a brand must be based upon the enlightened vision of a strong leader and a relentless employee passion to better meet the needs of the customer.
•    Don’t forget to hire, train, motivate and compensate front line employees to deliver the brand’s essence, promise and personality.
•    The brand’s essence, promise and personality must drive organization decision-making and resource allocation.
•   Ultimately, you want to use brand identity systems, advertising, packaging, retail environment, services, the Internet and other delivery mechanisms to “bring your brand to life.”

Here are some of the most common mistakes made by those who don’t understand branding:

•    A brand is not a product or service and a product or service is not a brand.
•    Brand management is not product management.
•    Brand management is much more than advertising or brand identity management.

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