BRANDS IDENTITY IDEAS

Ideas are essential to a responsible creative process regardless of the size of a company or the nature of a business. 

These ideas hold true weather the brand identity engagement is launching an entrepreneurial venture, creating a new product or service, repositioning a brand, working on a merger , or creating a retail presence.

The best identities advance a brand and under listed are the following functional criteria:

1. Bold, memorable and appropriate 

2. Immediately recognisable 

3. Provides a consistent image of the company

4. Clearly communicates the company's persona

4. Legally protectable 

5. Has enduring value

6. Works well across media and scale

7. Works both in black and white and in color.

Vision

A compelling vision by an effective articulate, and passionate leader is the foundation and inspiration for the best brands

Meaning

The best brands stand for something- a big idea, a strategic position, a define set of values, a voice that stands apart.

Authenticity

Authenticity is not possible without an organisation having clarity about its market, position, value preposition, and competitive difference.

Differentiation 

Brands always compete with each other within their business category and at some level, compete with all brands that want our attention, our loyalty and our money.

Durability

Durability is the ability to have 

Longitivity in a world in constant flux, characterised by future permutations that one  can't predict.

Coherence

Whenever a customer experiences a brand, it must feel similar and have the desired effect. Consistency does not need to be rigid or limiting in order to feel like one company.

Flexibility

An effective brand identity positions a company for change and growth in the future.

It supports an evolving marketing strategy.

Value

Build awareness, increasing recognition, communicating uniqueness and quality, and expressing a competitive difference create measurable results.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

It is essential for the branding team to look up from the desktop and see the world through the eyes of the consumers

Shopping has become a subset to being entertained and engaged.

The next disciplinary seismic shift in branding is customer experience:

1. BUILDING LOYALTY

2. LIFELONG RELATIONSHIPS AT EACH POINT OF CONTACT.

The vast amount of purchasing choices is inspiring companies to enhance the brand experience to lure and keep customers. Every customer contact provides an opportunity to enhance an emotional connection. A good experience generates positive buzz; a bad experience becomes a lost opportunity sabotaging the brand.

EVEN THE MOST MUNDANE TRANSACTIONS CAN BE TURNED INTO A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES.

Donovan/Green identified moments of truth for a hotel guest that ranged from sighting the hotel from the highway, walking into the front lobby, and glimpsing into the room. The firm viewed each touchpoint as an opportunity to create a memorable and positive experience to support the brand culture.

The art of being a retailer is to preserve the core while enhancing the experience. It is very hard to do and many people have lost their way.

Brands really need to push for reinvention and renewal and to extend things without diluting the core Essence of the brand.

Customers always achieve a sense of discovery when there is always something new to try.

That really is achievable if and only if brands engage their customers with a good yet memorable experience.

A BRANDS BIG IDEA

A BRANDS BIG IDEA

Big ideas are a springboard for responsible creative work( thinking, designing, naming) and a litmus test for measuring success.

The simplicity of language is deceptive because the process of getting there is difficult.

It requires extensive dialogue, patience and the courage to say less. 

A skilled facilitator, experienced in building consensus, is usually needed to ask the right questions and to achieve closure. The result of this work is a critical component in the realization of a compelling brand strategy and a differentiated brand identity.

A BRAND BECOMES STRONGER WHEN YOU NARROW THE FOCUS

The Essence of brand promise is a heart of strategy in commitment to delight guests by consistently delivering the right combination of innovation, design, and value in merchandising, in marketing, and in stores.

A big idea functions as an organizational totem pole around which strategy, behavior, actions and communications are aligned.

Consider some examples of brands that have become stronger as a result of narrowing the focus.

Apple

Think different

eBay

The world's online marker place

VOLVO

Safety

Unilever

Adding vitality to life

Coca-Cola

Happiness in a bottle

Disney

Make people happy

FedEx

The world on time

The above mentioned brands have become stronger because they have given more than the usual attention to the big idea pyramid.

UNDERSTANDING>> CLARIFYING>> POSITIONING>> BRAND ESSENCE>> BIG IDEA.

UNDERSTANDING

What to understand?

Vision, Values, Mission, Value proposition, Culture, Target market, Segments, Stakeholders perceptions, Services, Products, Infrastructure, Marketing strategy, Competition, Trends, Pricing, Distribution, Research, Environment, Economics, Sociopolitics, Strengths/weaknesses, Opportunities, Theats.

CLARIFYING

What must be clearified?

Competitive advantage, Brand strategy, Brand attrubutes, Core values.

POSITIONING

What? How? Who? Why?

Differentiation, Value proposition, Business Category.

BRAND ESSENCE

Where to narrow focus?

Key messages, Voice and tone, Unifying concept, Central idea.

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALES AND MARKETING

The Difference between sales and marketing?

Sales focuses on product

Marketing focuses on consumers

The product is defined and finite, but in the minds of clients there are infinite possibilities.

Marketing penetrates into the psyches of customers.

The company that markets has its fingers on the pulse of consumers

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The importance of brand positioning

The importance of brand positioning

Positioning is a revolutionary branding concept developed by Al Ries and Jack Trout in 1981.

They define positioning as the scaffolding on which companies build their brands, strategize their planning, and extend their relationship with customers.

Positioning takes into account the mix of price, product, promotion, and place - the four dimensions that affect sales.

Positioning breaks through barriers of over saturated markets to create new opportunities.

Ries and Trout were convinced that each company must determine its position in the customers mind, considering the needs of the customer, the strength and weaknesses of the company, and the competitive landscape.

This concept continues to be a fundamental precept ( a general rule intended to regulate behavior or thought) in all marketing communications, branding, and advertising .

Positioning evolves to create openings in a market that is continually changing, a market in which consumers are saturated with products and messages. It also takes advantage of changes in demographics, technology, consumer trends, marketing cycles, and gaps in the market to find new ways of appealing to the public.

Positioning strategy drives planning, marketing , and sales thereby supporting every effective brand.

Factors to consider in the process of brand positioning:

POSITIONING >>BRAND ESSENCE >> BRAND STORY

To achieve the perfect positioning for a brand there are a few factors you can control internally and externally

Internally

What you can control

VISION >> MISSION AND VALUES >> PERSONALITY, VOICE, STYLE >> PRODUCT,  PROCESSES, CULTURE

Externally 

What you can control

CUSTOMER >> COMPETITION >> MARKETPLACE >> EXTERNAL FORCES AND TRENDS

If you can't say that you're the only, you need to fix your business, not your brand. 

Start with a solid platform to effectively articulate your brand's value.

Our next article will focus on the difference between sales and marketing.

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Who develops brand strategy?

Who develops brand strategy?

It is usually a team of people; no one does it alone. 

It is a result of an extended dialogue among the CEO, Marketing, Sales, Advertising, Public relations, Operations, and Distribution.

It often takes someone from the outside who is an experienced strategic and creative thinker to help a company articulate what is already there.

And that provides the reason why Global companies frequently bring in brand strategies: independent thinkers and authorities, strategic marketing firms, and brand consultants.

Sometimes though, a brand strategy is born at the inception of a company by a visionary.

While at other times it takes a visionary leader to redefine brand strategy.

Companies frequently survive and prosper because they have a clear brand strategy.

While others in turn Falter because they do not have one.

On our next article find answers to a questions as:

1. What is the importance of Brand positioning ?

2. What is the difference between Sales and Marketing?

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Who should understand brand strategy and the cost of building brand identity?

Who should understand brand strategy and the cost of building brand identity?

The importance of brand strategy and the cost of build brand identity should be understood at the highest levels of an organisation and across functional areas-nut just sales and marketing- but in legal, finance, operations, and human resources as well.

Every senior leader in an organisation must be focused and accountable for translating the brand strategy.

On our next article find answers to a questions:

Who develops brand strategy?

Please remember to visit

Http://learnfromgeorge.blogspot.com for answers to these questions. You can also subscribe to this blog for timely updates.

Thanks for visiting.