Thoughts and ideas on branding and brand development in a digital world.
It’s long been known in memory studies, that the greater number of modalities you use to encode or store information, the better the recall. Skilled communicators may use auditory (their spoken words), visual (movements, gestures, body language, visual aids, slides, flip-charts and white-boards), kinaesthetic or movement (including active note-taking), an perhaps tactile, olfactory or gustatory if applicable – all to ensure multiple encoding and securing recall.
I suggest that something similar can happen with emotional attachment to brands. The greater the number of modalities through which people can engage with a brand at a phenomenological level, the greater the opportunities for attachment.
Some brands have far more channels for sensory experience at their disposal thanks to the nature of their physical manifestations. A retail brand can present itself visually, through its premises, signage and graphics: at an auditory level customers can engage with the sound experience through the retail buzz, and constructed sounds of music etc. There is the kinaesthetic experience of moving through the outlet and physically purchasing. There may also be other phenomena such as the smells and textures.
The automobile industry has many such levers to pull and car brands have so many emotional associations. There is the obvious visual dimension, the reason design is so crucial to car brands. But there is also the auditory communication. Not only the engine sound and exhaust note, but more subtle sounds of soft door closures and even the silence – there was a time when Rolls Royce capitalised on the fact that, ‘at 60 mph, all that can be heard is the ticking of the clock.’ The tactile dimension is also important, the feel of the upholstery, plastics, wood and leather, and also the kinaesthetic experience of sitting in the car and manipulating the controls. We must not ignore the olfactory sensation – the famous ‘new car’ smell.
One of the reasons people make strong emotional attachments to the Apple brand, rather than say, Microsoft, may be to do with the number of modalities at its disposal. As well as the visual and kinaesthetic engagement with the software and operating system, Apple also make product. This allows users to have a deeper more personal attachment, a tactile experience and visual appreciation of the product.
The phenomenological dimensions are only one side of the story however, and we must not lose sight of the deeper, purely emotional connections with the brand. These often operate at sub-conscious level and are products of history, culture, experience and prejudice. The phenomenalogical may be more obvious and apparent, and more controllable, but it is often the deeper emotions that determine real attachment and can sometimes appear to defy logic.
I spotted an interesting article on Brand Channel, when the headline had caught my eye: “Audi’s Brand Strength is more than Sales.” Reading further, there was a provocative quote from CMO Scott Keogh, “True luxury leadership comes from being the thought leader in the segment, not necessarily the sales leader.” The argument, as I understand it is that sheer sales volume can be a measure of many things including price differentials in segments, distribution structure, manufacturing capacity and market penetration. Sales will always be contextual to the company and the market – similarly the brand will be contextual, but to more subtle measures – social, emotional, historical and more. These are qualitative measures however, rather less amenable to observation than sales figures.
Another way of looking at these two dimensions parallels the way we measure business value. Sales are represented in the Profit and Loss account, where the brand should sit firmly on the Balance Sheet as a corporate asset.
It’s interesting to note how HSBC is capitalizing on its Chinese roots in its current brand promotion. I used to be a customer of the old Midland Bank, when it was taken over by HSBC many years ago. The new owners were very low-key about the branding, reassuring customers that little would change and they would be like every other bank on the high street. Those were the days, of course, when banks were fairly universally respected.
HSBC is now promoting itself as a global bank – but more significantly as an unashamedly Chinese/Hong Kong bank. Advertising and promotional material employs oriental actors and artifacts, and Chinese metaphors abound in the creative concepts.
We can only speculate upon the strategic thinking behind this subtle shift in positioning, but it does seem to make sense to build upon a point of differentiation in a crowded and muddy marketplace. With European banks mired in debt turmoil and the Chinese economy still relatively buoyant, it may make sense to differentiate yourself from the western banks.
It is not a unique strategy to build upon your national roots. If those national values have international currency and also accord with your brand values, it can make a great deal of sense. We have seen German brands build upon their national characteristics and reputation for engineering expertise, while Italian brands have exploited a distinction for style and design. Banking, however, has been a strange category where reputation and probity have always been key brand values - one might almost say critical success factors. British banks used to delight in their traditional values. Sadly, recent history has tarnished many reputations and banking brands in general are viewed with caution and suspicion.
It might seem curious for a Chinese heritage to be considered a brand asset – certainly it would not be the first characteristic to spring to mind. But it certainly creates a valid platform upon which to build a brand definition. At the moment the chinese economy is still some thing of a tiger so perhaps it makes sense to ride it. However, there is a Chinese proverb ”Ch’i ‘hu nan hsia pei”, which may be translated as ”He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.”
There has been a good deal of discussion about branding on the radio recently. Interestingly, it has not been on the business, money or financial programmes – it’s been on the Archers.
Let me summarise the storyline so far as I recall – Bridge Farm is a brand of dairy products belonging to a family business. An employee had a stomach bug, but in the interests of soldiering on, came into work and did not tell the owners of her sickness. The result was a contaminated batch of product and a minor outbreak nasty food poisoning. The media picked it up but the brand mishandled it, not having a pre-prepared spill-drill in place. Major customers cancelled orders, product was withdrawn and retailers sued.
It was a situation we have seen with some major brands, but usually they react swiftly both with their own actions and through the media. Big brands have the resource and clout to take these hits and work their way back up. Small businesses such as this fictitious brand rarely have the resource or market power to recover.
The family had an emotional connection with the brand but acknowledged that the damage could be terminal. So, what to do? First reaction was to struggle to rebuild the brand credibility – a costly and time absorbing activity. There was another brand owned by the son on the same farm – Tom Archer Sausages. Originally this suffered by association but is now rebuilding with new confidence and orders coming in. There was the option to re-brand the dairy products on this banner – but there are some political considerations. Thirdly, there is another brand owned by the family, Ambridge Organics, which exists to market organic vegetables – this could be used to carry a range of re-branded dairy products.
Okay, all of this is fictitious, but first of all, it is a serious discussion of branding and how brand values are important to SMEs. But the fact that it is fiction, a narative storyline, makes a valuable point. Fictitious scenarios are vital tools for business and brand planning. I often use them in consultancy sessions with brand owners in order to play the ‘what if’ games and help build flexible brand strategies. Narratives and story telling are very accessible ways of understanding actions and consequences. They are things we can all easily understand rather than dry business plans.
I strongly recommend building some scenarios into your planning – they are easy, insightful, and can be fun. In selecting your scenarios I suggest bringing in a third-party, someone who can bring a fresh pair of eyes. You have probably already dismissed a whole bunch of storylines as unlikely, improbable or unthinkable – yet these are just the things that can come and bite your backside if you haven’t considered how you would deal with the eventuality.
And remember, these scenarios are not just useful in planning for bad news, but also in dealing with the good. Imagine a scenario where a major distributor in a new market suddenly has a runaway success with your brand and puts pressure on you to add new products or services to capitalize on the success – how would you respond to such success given limited resources and finance?
You may never make an Archers scriptwriter – but your own storylines could be far more important for your own brand.
A strategy should not be a weighty document. It is a single outline of an objective and the means of achieving it. There may be a lot of work behind it – researching, thinking and planning. However, the strategy in itself should be all that hard work filtered down into a simple action plan – ideally a single sheet of paper. The strategy is not and end, but a starting point.
On our sister website there is a free, interactive, PDF guide to help you gather your thoughts and filter your thinking down into a strategy to help put your export communications plan into action.
It is based on a tried and tested approach to marcomms planning for home markets, but also flagging up issues that need special consideration when approaching export markets.
The interactive guide takes you through the process step by step. Use the link below to visit the site and download your free guide.
The Delta Plan – free download.
Branding is not just for the big boys. It is an important but often neglected issue for small and medium enterptises too. ‘Small Brands are Beautiful’ is a short, but practical guide to making the most of your brand and building a real asset. Your brand is a manifestation of what you do, your values and all the hard work you put into developing and building your business.
Build it, nurture it and protect it, and it will repay you hansomely.
Download the free e-book now (PDF format).
I attended an excellent presentation recently, by our local Institute of Directors branch: the subject was ‘Raising the Professional Standards of your Board’. Part of the session covered the roles and responsibilities of directors and key tasks of the board. In fact, it was the slide underlining the key tasks that caught my attention from a brand perspective.
The slide identified the key tasks of the board as:
The values of the brand should be those of the organisation. The ‘brand’ is often confused with the company’s products, but the brand and its values are what the business is fundamentally ‘about’. It is how it conducts its business; its relationship and interactions with staff, clients, suppliers and the world at large. Consider for example, the Apple brand. The brand is not about shiny boxes, iPhones and Macs, though all of those reflect its values. The brand is about the corporate values and the vision of its board.
Brand strategy and structure are direct manifestations of corporate strategy and structure. They cannot be constructed in isolation. Brand and corporate objectives MUST coincide.
The operational tasks affecting the brand need to be delegated to the managers intimately involved with delivery – operations, product development, customer service, marketing etc. But delegation must encompass clear guidance, objective setting and understanding of the strategic framework and the organisation’s values. There is a clear distinction between delegation of activities and direction to strategic goals.
Corporate responsibility is a brand issue. It is a manifestation of values. We have only to look at recent history to see brands seriously damaged, if not destroyed by irresponsible, ill-considered actions of directors and executives. The brand is an asset, in many cases it may be the most valuable asset an organisation owns. The same care and stewardship should be applied to the brand as to any tangible asset. Brand damage can be more difficult to repair than damage to plant, machinery or property.
Directors should recognise brand leadership as a shared responsibility dealing with the core corporate values. Just as the financial soundness and probity are the responsibility of the whole board, not just the CFO or FD, so the brand, its values and leadership, should be the remit of all directors, not just marketing.
(for all you directors, check out the slides and handouts from Tim and Paul’s excellent presentation on ‘Raising the professional standards of your board’)
Entrepreneurs and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are very aware of the importance and value of brands, but often the brand is not at, or even near, the top of their agenda. This is understandable because some of the most valuable commodities are usually time and human resource. What precious time there is has to be directed at operational, production, sales, finance and many other pressing issues. Bearing this in mind, let’s look at just five of the most important points – and potentially serious pitfalls to be avoided.
There has been a great deal of government rhetoric regarding a shake up of the banking system. Both members of the coalition have argued for break-up, but Tories want to limit the split to the ‘casino’ activities of proprietary trading while Lib Dems propose going further and ‘separating low-risk deposit taking banking from high-risk investment banking’.
While the debate rumbles on, the underlying sentiment seems to be ‘retail banking = good; investment banking = bad.’ If legislation is put in place, or in fact if recommendations are implemented, will this affect the way banks handle their branding? There are a number of optional approaches:
Taking such major decisions regarding brands is usually regarded with extreme caution. Organizations carefully consider strengths and virtues, the currency of exiting brands and their investment over time. Paradoxically, the financial sector seems to take a far bolder (or more foolhardy) approach. Brands change, restructure, cast aside establish brand names and launch new ones with far less soul-searching, it seems, than other business sectors.
It appears that structural changes are inevitable throughout the banking world: it remains to be seen how many institutions also see this as an opportunity for brand re-structuring and development.
During tight times on the high street, Morrisons supermarkets seem to be bucking the trend with like-for-like sales up 2.2% and profits significantly up against analysts predictions. All of this from a brand whose profile is nowhere near so high as its bigger rivals. This is a fine example of an organisation that concentrates upon its brand values rather than heavy brand communications.
The chain has far fewer outlets than its big competitors, so for many people, Morrisons’s offer and what the brand stands for may be a bit hazy. I know that I don’t have a branch nearby so that whenever I do have the opportunity to visit a store it is a surprising and revelatory experience. Of course, for the regular customers, it is about consistency and not surprise. So the company does not waste energy trying to communicate the brand offer to me, who is unlikely to drive many miles rather than patronize the Tesco, Asda or Waitrose sores on my doorstep. What Morrisons appear to do is concentrate upon the brand values and fulfilling the promise for their active customers – what seems like a growing population.
It is a very simple approach, perhaps in line with their no-nonsense Yorkshire heritage, but one which others can learn by: focus upon your core brand values – deliver upon that value promise for your audiences – brand value will grow and ultimately so will brand equity.
