Branding Strategy Insider

How Important Is Brand Consistency?

Regular readers of Branding Strategy Insider know we welcome and answer marketing questions of all types. Today, Barbara, a marketer from Washington, D.C. writes…

“I am looking for articles that address the question of how consistent must a brand be in order to still be effective. Are you aware of any research that shows that a slight departure from a brand, e.g., a slight departure from a dress code of a retailer, would or would not have a significant effect on a brand?”

Thanks for your question Barbara. Consistency truly is the name of the game in brand identity. The more consistent the brand is across all customer touch points and over time, the more the brand will have made a firm impression on people and will be easily recognized by people. I know this from years of experience with brands that have done this well and brands that have done this not as well.

Regarding specific research to back it up, I would consult one of the following publications:

Understanding Consumer Identity

Finally, marketers are acknowledging the necessity of listening to consumers - aka "people" - and brands are adjusting to the social networked environment by opening conversations. Market researchers cannot ignore these developments since they dictate the necessity of understanding peoples' identities, not only their interests.

We Are People, Not Data Points - See Us Live

Times of societal stress demand that marketers comprehend the authentic experience of individuals' personal worlds, which includes one sillogical preferences, innocent desires, messy assumptions, and untested deductions. The key to making a successful transition will be found in focusing on the changing ethos; in short, taking note of what tongues are saying.

This emotional-cognitive progression is ceaselessly informed by the development of one's self-identity, which underlies their unconscious purchase calculus. Understanding this process entails a shift in perspective from seeing consumers as data points to valuing consumers as people. Traditional attitude and usage studies, surveys and focus groups, are not adequate to the task.

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.

Days of the Logo Numbered

“Make it bigger,” the executive screamed from the corner of the room as I desperately sought a sign-off for an ad featuring a major fashion brand. This wasn’t the first time such a situation came up. In fact, every meeting I had always ended up in discussions about the placement and size of the logo – it was as if that one by one inch space, over time, had become the holy grail of branding – the rest was more or less an ad-on.

Let’s be frank – we live in a logo obsessed world. Pay a quick visit to Times Square and you’ll see what I mean. But is the magic still in the logo as we are exposed to some 2 million television commercials throughout life until we reach the age of 66 – or do we continue to be caught up in a format which once worked but, with the passage of time and the changed media picture, is now out of date?

I decided to find out. Over the years I’ve been stunned by the fact that we smoke more – not less. Admittedly the biggest increase of new smokers takes place in Asian and Eastern European countries. That said, even in the U.S. increases in smoking remain steady – not decreasing as we all want to convince each other it is, and all this despite the fact that we all know it is unhealthy. It is almost impossible to light up a cigarette indoors. Remember that advertising in most countries were banned decades ago, still brands like Marlboro rank in the very top, over the most expensive brands in the world – why?

The only way to find out was to understand what really goes on in our subconscious mind. Project Buyology – the largest NeuroMarketing project of its kind in the world – scanning some 2,000 consumers worldwide – wanted to answer exactly that question. What are the tricks the tobacco industry knows which the rest of the world somehow has missed? Estimates today claim that 85 percent of everything we do, every minute, takes place in our subconscious mind. Was this where the battle was taking place?
The answer was to be found in a small region in our brain called the neuclus accombens – also called the craving spot. It is a small area in our brain which controls our pleasures – and addictions too, such as smoking. It is a lie detector. It may be that you claim not to be affected by ads for tobacco smoking – the neuclus accombens however will tell you the truth.

Creative Debate: London's 2012 Olympic Logo

Creative debates come and go. Some, like that of Tropicana's new packaging and London's 2012 Olympic logo are sure to have a long shelf-life. As Wolff Olins’ work on the 2012 logo continues to be scrutinized, we would like to gauge your reaction to the design above. To begin, two marketers share their opposing views.

Loves it: Bryan Bedell
Just like most people, our first reaction to the London 2012 logo was shock. But we talked about it all morning, and by 3pm, we decided we love it. And here’s why you should, too:

It’s not boring. The bright colours and distinctive design definitely do stand out, and it’s immediately recognisable.

It’s different. It avoids all the go-to pratfalls of current logo designs. No brushstrokes, feathered drop shadows, mirrored reflections, gradients, patriotic colours, rainbows, ribbons, landmarks, symbols of unity, maps, swooshes or globes!

It’s reproducible. It’s good to see a logo that’s so easily printable, broadcast-able, embroider-able and moldable. It even looks pretty great in black and white.

It’s flexible. A variety of colour combinations, shapes and patterns are available, keeping the logo slightly different on each view, but consistent. Keep in mind that an Olympic logo is almost always saddled with the logos of corporate partners. This square, bold mark will hold up.

The Power of Brand Consistency

“We thought we’d update the logo a little.” “It’s not a new tagline. It’s just a catchy phrase that we are using instead of the tagline.” “We thought the icon would make a great decorative element.” “We are thinking about creating a new name for the organization.” “We developed a new product so we created a new brand for it.” “We created a different tagline for each audience. Pretty clever, huh?” “We were getting so tired of the old logo.” “It’s more fun to present the brand in a wide variety of colors.” “There was no room for the icon so we left it off.” “This is a funky stylized version of the logo targeted at younger audiences.”

What is it about marketers that cause them to want to create something new all of the time? I have been told that I am a creative, out-of-the-box thinker, but when it comes to brand identity, I learned a long time ago that consistency is the secret to success.  With enough repetition, people encode the brands identity (usually not as read words but as the recognized look, shape and feel) in their brains, preferably linked to things that matter to them. If you mess with the overall look and feel of the brand, these linkages and associations are likely to break down.

So, how does one combat these tendencies? In the following ways…

·         Develop a sound brand strategy and identity from the start

·         Base them on deep customer insight

·         Carefully think through your brand’s architecture and identity system, anticipating as many new products, services, media and other applications as possible

The Brand Identity Checklist

What will our checklist reveal about your brand identity standards and systems? Simply answer yes or no to the following:

•    As St. James Associates says, some brands are “all symbols but no soul.”  First and foremost, does your brand have a soul?               
•    Is your brand’s name proprietary?  Does it differentiate the brand instead of just describing its products and services?               
•    Is your brand’s name suggestive of a key differentiating benefit, but not too narrow so as to decrease the brand’s ability to claim new benefits in the future?               
•    Do consumers like your brand’s name? Is it memorable?               
•    Do you avoid generic sub-brand names?               
•    Do you have comprehensive brand identity standards and systems that address all uses of your brand’s identity elements?               
•    Are those standards and systems actively in use?               
•    Are they available in manuals, on CDs, and through your Intranet?               
•    Are all business units and sub-brands subject to those standards, with none outside the jurisdiction of the standards?               
•    At a minimum, does the system include standards for the visual identifier, color, typography, backgrounds, contrast, staging area, relative size, positioning, key applications, and unacceptable uses?   

The Language of Branding: 'Brand Identity'

Brand Identity is a combination of visual, auditory, and other sensory components that create recognition, represent the brand promise, provide differentiation, create communications synergy, and are proprietary. Some marketers define brand identity more broadly to include most everything in a brand’s design: essence, promise, personality, and positioning. The more specific definition used in our blog reflects the most common usage of the term, especially by firms focused on the creation of brand identity standards and systems.

Names and nomenclature, logotypes, symbols and other graphic devices, distinctive shapes and colors, brand voice and visual style, sounds, jingles and other mnemonic devices, typography, theme lines or slogans, and characters that are uniquely associated with a brand are all components of a brand’s identity. Textures, scents, flavors, and other sensory elements also can be components of a brand’s identity.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

Leveraging Corporate Brand Identity

When most people think about a brand’s identity, they usually think about the name, the logo, and maybe the tag line.  But the identity consists of so much more than that: it includes typestyles, colors, symbols, attitude and personality, brand voice and visual style, sounds and other mnemonic devices, characters and other spokespeople, product design, package design, and the list could go on and on.  The most powerful brands have a consistent brand voice and visual style from product design and packaging to retail environment and external communication.

Companies such as Procter & Gamble practiced the traditional model of brand management.  These companies managed a large portfolio of stand-alone brands  (Bold, Bounty, Ivory, NyQuil, Pepto-Bismol, Scope, Folgers, Pringles, etc.) and marketed them separately.  While this was highly effective for those companies, it requires substantial marketing resources. 

Today, more and more manufacturing companies are discovering the power of using their corporate brand names (General Electric, IBM, 3M, Ford, etc.) to market their products.  These companies have discovered that it is highly efficient to leverage the corporate brand name.  The name offers quality assurance and familiarity at a minimum and a coherent umbrella promise (example: 3M – innovative solutions) as well, if executed properly.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid

 

Brand Logo Basics

It is at least as important for a logo to be recognizable as it is for it to be readable.  Often, people are only able to get a quick glance at the logo, and then only at a distance.  In those instances, recognition, not readability, is all that counts.  That is why it is so important to integrate recognizable icons, shapes, type fonts and colors into a logo’s design.

Some logos were created during the era of big department stores and were designed as signatures to fit on the side of buildings.  So, these logos are more square in orientation than they are horizontal.  Many of these now seem outdated (if they haven’t been updated).  Hallmark’s logo belongs to this class. Others were designed as corporate logos to reinforce leadership and stability (AT&T, IBM).  Many of these now seem cold and sterile.  Some logos are more fun – communicating more of a personality (Apple, MTV, Ebay).

Today, logos must be designed with the foresight that they will be used in multi-media environments (from TV to the Internet).  That means colors, animation and sound sequences (like NBC, Intel, AOL, Harley-Davidson [engine sound], and Maxwell House) should be considered.

Sponsored By: Brand Aid