I've known for some time that my career will be driven by connecting business and creative thinkers. This will be no simple task. If my experiences in the UO advertising and business school communities are any indication, perspectives of the "brand" and the purpose of advertising are very different depending on where you look at it. I'm extremely glad I'm able to witness the forming places of what will be future industry players' opinions on the subject. While I don't know if I will ever be a account-man-guru-phenom, I certainly can use my interactions with blooming client and agency minded people as preparation for the real deal.
In a recent presentation in a business school group I won't name, some colleagues of mine spoke about what is a brand. They suggested that a brand has a few requirements, including a logo, a tagline, and a color. This is a common (though not universal) thought in the marketing world. While it's not completely off base, I respectfully suggest that this opinion needs some guidance.
The general purpose of the brand is to allow value growth of a product line, company, etc. beyond the tangible factors of the product. It allows consumers to connect. People can't connect with products, but they can with brands because brands transcend physical limitations and adopt a persona. Brands function subconsciously as people in our minds and can be loved, detested, even worshiped. I can like a product for what it physically does, but when I like and trust what that product values, where it comes from, and what is does for me on an emotional level then I'm liking the brand encompassing it. Think of your product in a human physical form. That's your brand.
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| Some brands have what you could call "street cred" |
I'm sorry, but a logo is not a brand, but it can tell you something about that brand. Same thing goes for a color. Tiffany's blue is not what the jeweler is, but it can tell me things about its luxury, simplicity, and tradition. You are not the clothes you wear, but the clothes you wear say something about you. Where you live gives clarity to your story just as where a product is made offers focus to the brand identity. These things are tools that contribute to brand identity, but ultimately that identity is up to the mind of the audience based on a whole slew of pieces.
Brand managers cannot control their brand in the eyes of consumers. However they can control many of the inputs that either positively or negatively influence the intended message. In marketing we refer to this as the 5 P's: product, price, placement, promotion, and people. When these line up they reinforce each other and a brand will be resilient to negative forces. When one or more factors are not consistent with the others they damage the value message of the brand and leave it vulnerable to attack.
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| A strong brand isn't always a beloved brand... but it helps |
A common misinterpretation of the brand is that it has to do with the advertising/promotion portion of the marketing equation mostly or completely. A strong brand requires an integrated marketing approach. Without an integrated approach to the brand, the advertising is just promoting something the product is not (which really pisses customers off). To consumers a brand is not just a name, but a collection of experiences from every touch point in the product's story.
We can put a positive spin on a bad product. We can put a quality product in a cheap store. We can connect with socially conscious customers while using despicable production methods. We can even make a short-term increase in profits from these shortcuts. In the end however, it will come back to bite us. When consumers find that a brand is not what it claims to be they become hostile. When they find a brand that practices what it preaches and lines up with their values, they become customers and stay customers.
The lesson to take from all of this: when we are thinking about reinventing/creating a brand in the world, let's not fall into the trap of confusing marketing tools with their eventual effect. Let's think in terms of the brand and not just components that make it. Let's stand with conviction about our brands and support them, not just promote them. When we do this, our brands can act as influential and powerful figures in the lives of consumers, which stands better against competition, mistakes, and time. If we want profitable products, start with human brands.
