Building Brand Momentum

 
Owned for many years by H&R Block, CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the United States. It was founded in 1979, dominated the field in the 1980s and was still a major player through the mid-1990s. Prodigy, the second major online service provider, was founded in 1984 as a joint venture between CBS, IBM and Sears. It offered its subscribers access to a broad range of networked services, including news, weather, shopping, bulletin boards, games, polls, expert columns, banking, stocks, travel, and a variety of other features. In 1990, CompuServe had 600,000 subscribers and Prodigy had 465,000 subscribers. But then AOL entered the scene and quickly dwarfed both companies. Begun as Control Video Corporation and focusing on games using specific computer platforms in the early to mid-1980s, the company altered its strategy over time and changed its name to AOL in late 1989. Positioned as an online service for people unfamiliar with computers, at its peak, AOL had more than 30 million subscribers worldwide. How did it do this? 

AOL was infamous for saturating the market with its FREE CD-ROMs and diskettes containing computer software for accessing the America Online service in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I recall personally receiving at least 20 of these disks during that time period through multiple distribution vehicles. Each one offered 700 or 1000 free hours of service. They featured such a wide variety of designs (more than 4,000) that people began collecting the disks. This is the momentum that pushed AOL over the top. (Unfortunately, AOL began a steady decline soon after its merger with Time Warner in 2001.)

Amazon.com also experienced huge momentum that has brought the company to its current size today. It was the darling of the business press and rode a wave of increasing publicity throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.  In 1999, Time magazine named Jeff Bezos “Person of the Year” for Amazon.com’s pioneering and popularizing of online shopping. While Amazon.com’s business plan allowed for four to five years of red ink before it became profitable, its constant publicity built its brand name quickly not only among the business community but also with the general public.

When I took over as marketing vice president at Element K, a leading e-learning company, our intent was to be one of the first companies to “cross the finish line” in the very new and crowded e-learning space. In less than two years, we emerged from one of thousands of e-learning companies to one of the top four due to aggressive and unrelenting awareness building among our primary target audience, chief learning officers of Fortune 1000 companies.

These are three examples of brand momentum, something we measure in our brand equity studies. Think of brand momentum as the general perception that the brand is an exciting up-and-coming brand, a brand to be watched and a brand to be tried. It is the opposite of a legacy brand that “rests on its laurels.” A brand with momentum will receive high scores on the following measures:

• I seem to hear and see more about this brand lately
• I feel like this brand is changing for the better

It will also be perceived to possess the following personality attributes:

• Dynamic
• Up and coming
• Leading edge
• Progressive

And not the following personality attributes:

• Boring
• Traditional

We have found that brands that are perceived to be vital and possess positive momentum will have sales that exceed those predicted by purchase intent scores, while legacy brands that are perceived to be the opposite will have sales that lag those predicted by purchase intent scores.

The trick is to create the perception of strength, vision, forward momentum, popularity and thought leadership without breaking the bank or running out of capital. This can be best accomplished by laser like focus on the primary target audiences and then through aggressive and relentless communication to those people. Investing resources in substantial public relations efforts, keeping industry and financial analysts and other industry experts well informed, writing white papers, authoring popular blogs, dominating the most important industry trade shows and conferences and other such activities are critical to building and maintaining this momentum, as is delivering legendary service whenever possible to generate “buzz.”

In a way, this goes back to the evergreen advice, “Fake it until you make it” or “Act as though you are what you aspire to be.” That is, be confident and assume the leadership role in the industry even if yours is the smallest organization in the industry. Perceived momentum creates the conditions for further momentum.  That is at the core of the concept of momentum. A caution: an organization will not survive in the long run if it is all hype and no substance. Ultimately, you will need to bring something unique, fresh or superior to the market, but the perception of momentum will attract more confidence in and resources to your organization while it is on its path to industry leadership in a crowded market.

I wish your brand significant perceived momentum in its industry.
 
Sponsored By: Brand Aid & The Blake Project 

Comments

[Cory Grassell]

I was about to write a counterpoint to your argument, until I read your line, "A caution: an organization will not survive in the long run if it is all hype and no substance." While I agree that companies need to have confidence in their brands to create forward-moving momentum, they ultimately have to be backed by something...or they'll fail. Even if they don't offer something new, they must adapt to the changing marketplace and consumer needs.

[Brad VanAuken]

I agree with you, Cory. There will be a quick burn out on the momentum if there is no substance to back it up. Momentum works best with unique, differentiated or revolutionary products or brands. I have witnessed that in new industries or product categories, momentum is what can ultimately propel one brand in front of the rest, leading to its long term survival.

[Akash Sharma]

Momentum creates perceptions which are trustworthy and positive, I think the stuff that differentiates one brand from the other plays a major role in creating something in the minds of people, it can be anything the product, their ads, the people who work for them.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts as they are one of the best in the industry.

I would like to know one thing Brad, what would be the best business book on branding as a first book to read.
I'll really appreciate your revert as I am eager get a book soon.

[Brad VanAuken]

Akash, I hesitate to recommend "Brand Aid" as I authored it, but I actually think it is the best first book on brand management because it is easy to read and covers the full spectrum of branding concepts, tools and techniques. It is available from us on this website as well as many popular booksellers. Another good general brand management book is Jean - Noel Kapferer's "Strategic Brand Management." It is longer and less easy to read, but quite comprehensive.

[Akash Sharma]

Thanks a lot for the Revert Brad, I think Brand Aid is a better suggestion to go ahead with.
The kind of knowledge which you share here is also brilliant and its the best A to Z branding blog for sure.

[Peter Korchnak]

Re: "The trick is to create the perception of strength, vision, forward momentum, popularity and thought leadership" and "an organization will not survive in the long run if it is all hype and no substance."

The perception creation business that marketing has become would be better served if it indeed became the discipline of substance. The most authentic way to create any perception is to actually be (an embodiment of) and live what you aim to create a perception of. I.e. start with substance and then communicate it, rather than create smokescreens in hopes that the rest will follow. That way you don't have to be pulling any tricks or using hype.