"A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise — a promise your company can keep. First you find out, using research, what promises your customers want companies like yours to make and keep, using the products, processes and people in your company. Then you look at your competition and decide which promise would give you the best competitive advantage. This is the promise you make and keep in every marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, and every customer interaction. You promote it internally and externally. The promise drives budgets and stops arguments. If everyone in the company knows what the promise is, and knows that they will be rewarded or punished depending on the personal commitment to the promise, politics and personal turf issues start to disappear."
- Kristin Zhivago in Business Marketing
Sponsored By: Brand Aid
That is, by far, the most dangerous branding quote that I've ever come across.
If this were true, then customers of the brand should be able to articulate those promises. Right? Because that’s how they differentiate between – and ultimately choose – brands. So what’s the unique brand promise of Nike? Nike what? Pick one: watch, golf ball, soccer shoes, sweatshirt. How about BMW? The Z4, 645 Ci Convertible, Mini Cooper? The brand promise of the NFL is different than the NBA, MLB, and NHL in what way precisely?
A brand is NOT a promise (Please don’t tell me that people are buying the Mini because of the promise of German engineering. Most people think it’s a British car.). A brand is a performance that creates an expectation. It’s about arousing people’s emotional drives through a unique expression of those emotional drives – with the cool design of a Mini, the enriching experience of a Starbucks, the cultural immersion of a Nike, etc.
Please don't dumb down the concept of "brand." It has enough problems.
Posted by: Tom Asacker | January 12, 2008 at 11:53 AM