Branding Strategy Insider

Brand Building Via Mobile Devices

Let me ask you a difficult question: How on earth would you build your brand on a canvas smaller than a matchbox? What if you could use only one color (say black on a green background), you had no scope for graphics, and the consumer was paying for every second it took for you to send him or her a commercial message?

Welcome to the new world of m-branding. Now, more than ever, creativity and discipline are needed for preparing a branding platform. Why? Because everything is telling us that the WAP-enabled (Wireless Application Protocol) cell phone will soon be bigger than the World Wide Web we know today.

"Soon" is three years from now, according to AC Nielsen. Do you believe this? I do. Just think back to 1995 when the World Wide Web was born, and then think about the criticism the Net weathered at that time. Yet look at the Net's onward growth today.

Knowing how fast this next branding revolution could arrive, you'd better be ready and start preparing for wireless branding. Excuse me for comparing this with a cigarette brand, but I can't stop thinking about Silk Cut, an English cigarette brand which, in the '80s, prepared for a government ban on cigarette commercials for all media.

Exploring Technology And Pharmaceutical Naming

In the naming playground, technology and pharmaceutical firms are among the busiest performers. So we asked Mark Steiner, a nationally recognized intellectual property attorney, for his take on the good, the bad and the ugly in those fields. Steiner heads the trademark & copyright practice group at Townsend and Townsend and Crew in San Francisco. 

Q:   Mark, what’s your general advice to people who want to name companies and products in technology and pharmaceuticals? 

When it comes to trade name and trademark selection, it is important that the company make every effort to pick a name and mark which are appealing from a marketing standpoint and protectable from a legal perspective. 

As to the latter, we are looking for a mark which is distinctive. This means that the company should be creative and avoid the temptingly easy route of coming up with a mark which is descriptive of the products. The best marks are those which have no meaning whatsoever within the context of the industry: A fanciful, coined term which is a made-up word (think "Exxon" or "Kodak") or an English word which has no relevant meaning, such as "Apple" for computers. 

Such marks are most likely to be available when we conduct proper trademark searches and will afford the company broad and strong trademark rights. The mark will most likely be relatively easy to register in the United States and abroad and, if there are no other marks which are similar in appearance, sound and meaning in the industry, the company will be able to enforce its trademark rights against others who would dare come close. 

Q:   What are some examples of successful names in technology and pharma land? 

XIENCE, SurgRx and FlowMedica for medical and surgical devices are strong names and marks. They are distinctive, registrable and enforceable against third parties. 

10 Warning Signs Your Brand Is Failing

You know your brand is failing in the marketplace when…

1. Your brand is mentioned to customers and potential customers, and there is strong negativity in their response.

2. Your brand’s external messages do not “ring true” with all employees.

3. Employees are not enthusiastic or consistent in recounting what makes their brand special.

4. The brand’s market share is decreasing.

5. Competitors never mention your brand as a point of reference.

6. The press does not write about your brand.

7. Your CEO does not have a strong vision for the organization and its brand. He or she talks more about financial targets than the vision.

8. Your organization’s leaders never seem to “talk the brand” and “walk the brand talk.” 

9. Your organization fails to attract and retain high quality employees. 

10. Your brand fails to build customer loyalty.

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop 

Brands And The Feelings They Evoke

How does your brand make people feel? Does it make them feel safer or more secure? Is it reassuring? Does it make them feel more in control? More confident? Does your brand make them feel sophisticated or sexy? Do they feel as though they are making a difference in the world by purchasing and using your brand? Does your brand put a smile on their faces? Does it harken back to a simpler time, a time of innocence and playfulness? Does using your brand make them feel as though they have status? Does it reinforce who they perceive themselves to be? Does it make them feel smart? Does it make them feel uninhibited and free? Does it amuse them? Does it make them feel as though they have arrived in society? Does it give them a sense of belonging? Does it take them back to an earlier time in their lives? Does it take them back to their childhood? Does it help them fanaticize about their future? Does it make them feel romantic? Stylish? Giddy? Does it make them want to sing or dance?

Brands can do all of these things and more. Don’t forget about how your brand could make people feel.  People are much more likely to respond to feelings than a laundry list of attributes and features.

For each of the feelings that I have listed above, can you think of at least one brand that evokes those feelings?

Sponsored By: The Emotional Connection Workshop

The Advertising Wisdom Of Rosser Reeves

Every marketer should know Rosser Reeves. He was a highly successful advertising executive and the originator of the Unique Selling Proposition (also known as the Unique Selling Point or USP). In his 1961 best-seller Reality In Advertising, Rosser defined his industry-changing concept in three parts:

1. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each advertisement must say to each reader: "Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit."

2. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or does not, offer. It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.

3. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e., pull over new customers to your product.

Rosser's influence continues to thrive and can be found in AMC’s hit television show Mad Men as he is the model for the professional accomplishments of the series' protagonist, Don Draper. 

“No, sir, I'm not saying that charming, witty and warm copy won't sell. I'm just saying I've seen thousands of charming, witty campaigns that didn't sell.”  ~ Rosser Reeves (1910 – 1984)

Sponsored By: Brand Aid 

1 Minute Brand Positioning Self Analysis

As a marketer striving to build a winning brand in a sea of competition, your chances for success are greatly increased if:

You have profound insight into your consumer's values and motivations.

You fully understand the following for all the categories in which your brand operates: (a) the different market segments, (b) the competitive set, and (c) which consumer benefits are “cost-of-entry“ versus “differentiating“.

You fully understand the decision making process (rational or not) the consumer uses to purchase your brand.

You defined the role, target consumer, essence, promise, archetype and personality for your brand and are certain every key stakeholder is united around each.

You have absolute clarity around what your brand stands for and how it is unique and compelling to consumers.

You have criteria to help you decide when you can use an existing brand, when a completely new brand is needed and when a sub-brand is the right choice.

The success of your brand depends on many things...but mostly on you.

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop

5 Drivers Of Brand Insistence

 
We believe that the ultimate goal of brand equity building is to move the consumer from brand awareness to brand insistence.  Our brand insistence model incorporates five elements that drive a consumer to insist upon a particular brand to meet his or her needs – brand awareness, accessibility, value, relevant differentiation, and emotional connection.  We believe that these five areas of emphasis and activity are the primary drivers of consumer brand insistence, critical in becoming a category-of-one-brand where there are No Substitutes.

Awareness

First, consumers must be aware that there are different brands in the product categories in which your brand operates. Next, they must be aware of your brand. Ideally, your brand should be the first one that comes to their minds within specific product categories and associated with key consumer benefits. Consumers should be able to identify which products and services your brand offers. They should also be able to identify which benefits are associated with the brand. Finally, they should have some idea of where your brand is sold. 

Accessibility

Your brand must be available where consumers shop. it's much easier for consumers to insist upon your brand if it is widely available. Slight brand preference goes a long way toward insistence when the brand is widely available. The importance of convenience cannot be underestimated in today's world.

Value

Does your brand deliver a good value for the price? Do consumers believe it is worth the price? Regardless of whether it is expensive or inexpensive, high end or low end, it must deliver at least a good value.

Relevant Differentiation

This is the most important thing a brand can deliver. Relevant differentiation today is a leading-edge indicator of profitability and market share tomorrow. Does your brand own consumer-relevant, consumer-compelling benefits that are unique and believable?

Emotional Connection

First, the consumer must know your brand. Then he or she must like your brand. Finally, the consumer must trust your brand and feel an emotional connection to it. There are many innovative ways to achieve this emotional connection from advertising and the quality of front line consumer contact to consumer membership organizations and company-sponsored consumer events. 

Ask us how this model can be used to measure the equity of your brand.

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop 

Brand Management Of The Future

We all know the fundamental issue: consumers are suffering from attention deficit disorder brought on by too much choice. Now the moral imperatives brought on by concerns over global warming—to buy local, to buy green—are layered on top of an already bewildering variety of alternatives. People are recognizing that every purchase decision has consequences, but figuring out what the consequences really are is tough. 

In theory, new media give consumers control over this complex world. When people can rouse themselves to use them, search engines, product ratings and social networks can help shoppers make better purchase decisions, but in reality the online world of search and word of mouth is just as complex and confusing as the offline world. As a result, I believe that people will still be drawn to a simple, straightforward brand promise. If they find that a brand lives up to its promise, they are likely to stick with it. Why make another decision? If and when a brand exceeds their expectations, they are likely to recommend it to others. Advocacy will spread the word more effectively than search engine rankings or branded TV shows. 

That said, a brand still needs to make its promise heard, and people need to find that promise personally relevant. They need to feel they can trust the company behind the brand to act in their best interests. Given the diversity of interests out there, many brands will need to align themselves with ever-narrower communities. If a brand cannot maintain broad, mass-market appeal, then it will have to focus on the needs of specific segments of consumers, which may be defined more by shared attitudes than demographics. A brand that can serve the needs of a specific target group better than any other can compensate for lack of mass appeal and trade volume by charging a premium price. 

41 Causes Of Brand Failure

Why do brands fail? As one might expect, the cause is often one or many common brand problems combined. Earlier on Branding Strategy Insider we identified and analyzed the most common (and most notorious) problems in brand management. We counted them down in detail in a series called the 40 Most Common Brand Problems. (Which grew to 41) Now, in hopes you will not make any mistakes in building your brand(s), here's an an encore of the 41 problems that cause and or contribute to brand failure.  

1. Not delivering against the communicated brand promise 
2. Not linking brand planning to the business’ strategic planning process
3. Decreased product or service quality, the cumulative result of gradual and incremental changes to reduce costs.
4. Increased product or service prices inviting low-end market segments and competitors, the cumulative result of gradually raising prices at a rate greater than inflation.
5. The brand is gradually undermined by quarter-over-quarter revenue and profit pressures
6. Limiting the brand to one channel of distribution or aligning the brand too closely with a declining channel of trade
7. Failure to extend the brand into new product categories when the core category is in decline
8. Completely blurring the brand’s meaning and points of distinction by over-extending your brand into different categories and markets
9. Not applying the latest product and service innovations to your flagship brand because it is getting too old and stodgy (a self-fulfilling prophecy)
10. Creating brands or sub-brands for internal or trade reasons, rather than to address distinct consumer needs
11. Launching sub-brands that inadvertently reposition the parent brand in a negative light
12. Unsuccessfully extending the brand up to a premium segment or down to a value segment
13. For market leader: Following challengers because it’s easier and produces more immediate results, rather than creating new ways to meet consumer needs
14. Not keeping up with the industry on product or service innovation
15. Decisions that adversely affect the brand are made outside of the brand management context
16. Senior managers do not understand what the brand stands for
17. Viewing brand equity management as a communications exercise, but ignoring it in other business processes and points of contact with the consumer
18. Licensing the brand name out to whomever will pay for it
19. Applying branding decisions at the end of the product development process (“Now, what will we name this?”) versus treating brand management as the key driver of all of your enterprise’s activities
20. Confusing brand management with product management

A Question Of Line Extension

We are happy to answer marketing questions of all types here on Branding Strategy Insider. Today, Sajid, a Marketer in Islamabad, Pakistan asks…

"Hi Brad and Derrick, I own a fashion house in Pakistan where we are currently offering, bridal and formal wear for the eastern market and by the grace of God it is going great. I am a frequent reader of Branding Strategy Insider and would like to have your guidance on the subject below:

We want to introduce another line of garments for a low price range buyer. Should we make a line extention of our parent brand for such product or should we continue to have the same line under our main brand. I have a fear that if we continue to have the same brand for this new product it might kill the image of our existing brand and people will not prefer to buy our high end product."

Thank you for your question, Sajid. You are right to be concerned about a less expensive line of products potentially changing the perceptions of a brand that sells higher end products. If you want your brand to remain a premium brand (assuming it is perceived to be that way today), it would be better to create some perceptual distance between it and the new line of less expensive garments. There are several ways to do this:

• Create a new brand for the the less expensive garments and sell them in a separate store (assuming that your current store and product brands are the same and that they are associated with higher end formal wear and that you want the brand to continue to retain the association with formal wear)
• Create a new brand for the less expensive garments and sell them in a different location in your store (assuming that your current store and product brands are the same and that it is acceptable to you to have the brand become more associated with the store itself and a broader mix of garments)
• Create a separate store brand and separate brands for your formal wear garments and for your other lower priced garments and decide what you want each brand to stand for. Obviously, the store brand's perceptions will be driven by the type of merchandise sold in the store, including which brand or brands you decide to sell in the store.

If you make the new line of less expensive garments a sub-brand or line extension of your current brand, it will create a new perception of that brand, one that is less associated with formal wear and high end products and more associated with a broader mix of clothing. However, if you do this, you will have to determine what the brand now stands for and what makes it different from other clothing brands. I would not recommend this approach given your concerns. 

One final comment on your situation. It is not clear to me if your formal wear brand of products is the same as the store's brand. If it is, it will be difficult to sell different brands in the store without changing the perception of your brand. If you do this, you will need to be very careful about what other brands you sell in your store.

Have a question related to branding? Just Ask…

Sponsored by: The Brand Positioning Workshop