Branding Strategy Insider

Measuring The Strength Of Brand Identity

Ever wonder what is really behind this thing we call "identity? "

It's one of those words that attracts a variety of meanings, ranging from a company's name and logo, to its business definition (Fuji: We're a digital imaging company), to its image in the marketplace, to its values.

Sometimes, executives manage to go a level deeper and talk about identity, their company's, and even their own, as the unique characteristics that define how they create value in the world. From this vantage point, identity provides the seeds of differentiation. Ahhh. I think these guys may be on to something.

It doesn't matter what business you're in; if you're going to successfully re-shape your brand, you need to start by knowing who you are. This imperative isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a must-have, which we discovered recently through a research study, the Identity Impact Survey, that quantitatively demonstrates the impact of identity strength, organizational and individual, on employee engagement and business performance. The key findings of the survey, which included nearly 2,000 participants across five diverse companies and industries, were dramatic.

Increases in identity strength translate into predictable increases in revenue and other economic benefits.

Brand Research and Neuro-Linguistic Programming

 
Focus group participants are often inspired to articulate themselves more fully and accurately than they could have alone. Any moderator worth his or her salt does this daily, without consciously using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques. Many focus group moderators instinctually mirror a participant's representational system when asking a follow-up question or eliciting greater depth from a projective exercise.

Want a participant to keep talking? Then probe in the language of his or her sensory modality.

Sensory Modality and Participant Verbatims

Sensory modalities are part of a NLP model that identifies patterns in how people externalize the information they are processing. When participants talk, they often speak from a state of mind that is more closely aligned with one sense over another. For instance:

Visual That's a bright idea. I see how I can use the car's extra space.

Auditory I hear how this makes sense. Let me tell you — this is a winner.

Kinesthetic How fast can I accelerate? I feel like this car was made for me.

Olfactory Smells like a winner. Some ideas stink, but this is coming up roses.

Gustatory That new car looks yummy. It has the fine flavor of elegance.

When you hear someone speak in a particular sensory modality, and you ask questions in that same modality, the person is more likely to continue talking than if you ask a question in a different sensory modality. You are also more likely to get a congruent answer and more likely to keep the participant engaged.

Brand Building and Emotional Benefits

 
People buy benefits rather than features.

For example:

Time-release (feature) products are purchased because they are long acting (benefit).

Clear bottles let us see the purity in color and consistency of waters.

Dissolving tablets allow us to take medicine on the go.

Roller ball pens write faster.

Rubberized handles on scissors provide a sure grip.

And many marketers would agree that we buy products and services that enhance our positive sense of self-esteem, in some way. They believe that all brands, products and their features are associated with a rewarding emotional payoff. Moreover, all features and benefits are linked to emotional end benefits.

Think of iPod, BlackBerry, Fiji Water, Poland Spring, Mercedes, Ford, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Hershey, Godiva, Tiffany, Kay, Disneyland, Maui. We seek out these brands with their USPs, features and functional benefits because we like the way they make us feel and what they allow us to communicate about ourselves.

What Is A Global Brand?

 
Today, another request from the BSI Emailbag. Georgina, a student of marketing at Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe asks…

“What is a global brand? How can an organization build and sustain a global brand?”

Georgina, thanks for your question, we’re happy to answer it. Global brands are brands that are recognized throughout much of the world. Companies intending to create global brands need to do the following:

·         Identify the relative attractiveness of each market for your brand

·         Conduct attitude and usage studies in each country in which you are considering entering

·         Identify the sequence of brand launch by country/region of the world

·         Know the category and brand indices in each country in which your brand operates

·         Establish a branding scorecard that can be applied country by country

·         Agree to which decisions are made centrally and which ones are made locally

·         Through research, understand if there are any part’s of your brand’s identity that won’t work in a given country or for a give language. Consider the name itself, the symbols, the colors, the tagline, etc.

To some small degree, with the pervasiveness of the Internet, all brands that are in cyberspace have the potential to become global brands, however being on the Internet does not guarantee top-of-mind awareness or distribution ease. A comprehensive, well-funded and well-executed global marketing plan is required for successful global brands.

Have a question related to branding? Just Ask…

Sponsored By: The Brand Positioning Workshop

Tiger Woods: Rehabilitating A Human Brand

 

It's been announced that Tiger Woods will be sitting down in Florida tomorrow with "friends, colleagues and close associates," not, as some might think to make additional apologies for his off-the-course activities, but to launch a new, 2010 version of Tiger Woods.

Think of it as this year's Human Brand re-launch, a re-introduction into the marketplace of an actual human being who represents 100% of the values, imbued meaning, and differentiation in the category in which they compete. The operative phrase being in the category in which they compete. And make no mistake about it, no matter what you've read or heard about hotel bedrooms, the category in which Tiger's human brandness resounds is still golf.

But Human Brands - Tiger Woods IS still a Human Brand no matter what you think of his record for fidelity whether coasting along or under assault, do better in the milieu that represents their values and skills best. Closure and contrition is come to against a background that resonates with the Human Brand's skill set. Kitchens for Martha Stewart, construction sites (highest floor possible, please) for Mr. Trump. Places they can be themselves or, more accurately, be the brand they are. For Woods, the setting is a golf course.

The golf course was the one place (aside from sponsorship and promotional and advertising venues that showed Tiger playing golf) that Tiger captivated the world, until the world was captivated by the stories of how he cheated on his wife. Think of it as his outdoor rehab facility, very effective for refurbishing images and mending marketing fences.

What Are The Basics Of Branding?

 
Regular readers of Branding Strategy Insider know we welcome and answer marketing questions of all types. Today, Kristen, a marketer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin writes… 

"I am in the process of trying to explain to the upper management of my non profit (pastors) that branding runs much deeper then the brochure, business cards, and stationary.  Branding is composed of the entire experience of the end user (people who attend our church).  

Do you have any resources laying out the different components of branding? (customer service, first experience, follow up, perceived content value).  The leaders are not taking my word for it, they think I am throwing out my opinion.  I just need some hard evidence or facts or reports to point to." 

Kristen, thanks for asking. A brand is the source of a promise to its customers. It promises relevant differentiated benefits and then it must deliver on those benefits. So, branding starts with brand identity (name, logo, tagline, colors, etc.) and marketing messages, but it is reinforced over time by the total brand experience that is actually delivered at each point of customer contact. The brand is the sum total of each customer's brand experiences as they are encoded in that customer's mind. Brands can offer a wide variety of benefits ranging from fully functional benefits to emotional, experiential and self-expressive benefits.  My guess is that churches mostly deliver on the last three types of benefits. And by definition, brands are positioned against other brands, so your church is competing against other local churches within and perhaps outside of its denomination and perhaps even with nationally televised/broadcasted churches and individual spiritual practices. 

The Fall Of The Purchase Funnel

Once upon a time people lived in a state of positive expectations. There were relatively few products, great demand and most products enjoyed high brand differentiation. This was circa 1960, when most marketing models in use today were developed, like the purchase funnel, which measures advertising effectiveness.

The world has since changed dramatically. And, despite the rise of digital and the economic downturn, most old marketing axioms are still operative, miring marketers in an approach designed for a bygone era.

Take the relationship between supply and demand - its reversed. Today demand is scarce, supply plentiful. Second, over the past half-century we have learned so much about how people engage with brands.

We now understand that people are not two-dimensional datum to be manipulated by coupons or the latest hot-button offer. Current anthropological, linguistic and neuro-scientific evidence demonstrates that humans attach to things (product, person or idea) through a process of identification that coalesces longings at the personal, social levels.

The Chief Marketing Officer – A New Boardroom Role

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has become one of the more commonly talked about corporate designations in recent years. Given the tremendous marketing potential offered by the new media and proliferation of distribution channels, companies have begun to realize the huge potential of marketing in guiding corporate level strategies and substantially contributing to the financial bottom line. In spite of such an understanding, it is startling to note that the average tenure of a CMO is merely 23 months compared to a CFO that typical lasts 4-5 years on average.

Further, not many companies have a senior marketing representative in their C-suite. This begs the question – do companies need a CMO or is the role of a CMO a mere hype? This article probes this question and offers companies some guide posts for better strategic directions. 

Why do companies need a Chief Marketing Officer? 

As the business landscape evolves, marketing also evolves into an organization wide strategic discipline. Given marketer’s knowledge of the customers, it is imperative that the CEO and the corporate board have a representative of the customer to continually educate them. Additionally, companies need a strategic CMO to benefit from:

Maximizing Research Budgets in a Recession

 
Clearly, this deep global recession has taken it toll on marketing departments and market research and competitive intelligence budgets. Senior executives, strategic planning and marketing departments face the following challenge of how to continue the following initiatives with a reduced research budget:

Global expansion plans

Customer satisfaction tracking

Competitor intelligence monitoring

Market opportunity/market sizing projects

Customer and brand loyalty projects

New product development tests

Ad tests

The Challenge and Opportunity of a Reduced Research Budget

A reduced research budget forces executives to re-think their long term and tactical strategy. It also forces them to prioritize initiatives in this downturn. To this end, global expansion plans may be curbed. On the other hand, this presents a risk as their competitors may still move forward into global and emerging markets, thus putting them at a strategic disadvantage when the market turns up. The key is to prioritize and to “get the most from your reduced research budget” so your firm will not fall behind in the next few years. This paper will discuss general strategies on how to efficiently utilize a reduced research budget and to provide this intelligence to senior management during this market downturn.

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?