Superarticle : Article directory

Hart Weichselbaum asked:


Many companies start from humble beginnings and grow organically without any solid plans for brand development. As these companies reach a certain point in their growth, they often come to realize that, in order to break through to the next level, they must proactively define their brand. Without taking this important step, these companies risk stagnating and failing to break through to higher brand awareness.

The development of a solid brand begins with a discovery phase, in which the company reviews its strategic materials, conducts consumer research, and conducts manager interviews to collect information about what the company stands for and where it is headed.

After the discovery phase, the company can move on to the brand definition phase. This entails a structured set of meetings held among a core team of senior managers from diverse functional areas. This Brand Team reviews the findings from the discovery phase, brainstorms elements of the new brand, and generates commitments throughout the company to abide by the Team’s decisions.

Here are the 5 dimensions of brand definition that are essential steps in building a successful brand:

1. Develop a vision for your brand: The vision for a brand consists of a broad statement of what the brand aspires to be. The vision should take a long-term perspective, in recognition of the fact that building a powerful brand does not happen in weeks or months. A solid brand vision defines the business in terms the customer can understand and relate to. It must be original, motivational and inspiring. And, the vision must get buy-in by senior management if it is to be successfully implemented.

2. Position your brand in order to differentiate yourself from competitors: Brands are multidimensional in that they usually carry with them a number of images and associations in the minds of the company and customers. However, all successful brands have a particular focus that differentiates it from those of competitors. A properly-positioned brand must transcend demographics and clearly identify likely prospects. The Brand Team identifies prospects based on which needs and motivations the brand addresses.

3. Create a personality for your brand: Ultimately, your brand must be something with which people can identify. It has to have its own personality, its own character. Your brand will likely evolve over time, but its essential character should endure.

4. Articulate the benefits your brand delivers to customers: In time your brand must come to represent a set of functional benefits in the minds of your prospects and customers. Thus, during brand definition your team must clearly articulate the set of benefits - the value - that it represents to customers. It is important to note that strong brands also carry with them a set of emotional associations. The emotional benefits of a brand are often supported by the functional benefits, and they form the basis of the brand’s positioning.

5. Define the values your brand represents: Finally, your brand must represent a particular set of values. This is because your target customer base is composed of human beings, and humans are value-motivated. If you successfully articulate the values your brand represents, you have a better chance of getting customers to associate the values of your brand with their own values. Value definition can create long-term bonds between your brand and your target customers.

When your company decides it is ready to put the effort into developing its brand it should start by undertaking the processes of brand discovery and brand definition. Every brand definition process, in turn, should include developing a vision, determining effective positioning, creating a brand personality, articulating the benefits of the brand, and defining the values that your brand represents.

Erin Ferree asked:


Branding is a hot topic in marketing these days, but it’s defined in different ways and looked at from different angles. There are many components that make up a brand, and we call each component a Brand Layer.

Here are our definitions of some of the most important Brand Layers:

Brand Foundation

The base from which all brand elements will be created and measured against for accuracy. This layer consists of the following elements:

- Brand Vision is your company’s plan for itself-how your company wants to appear to the world, and how your company wants to grow and change in coming years.

- Brand Mission is what your company wants to create in the world, through its products or services.

- Brand Values are those ideas that your company brand stands for and that you believe in-and also what you don’t want to and won’t do. These values help your potential clients to decide whether you can help them, and they also help you decide who you will help and what you can’t offer or deliver. Brand Values are largely an internal measure against which you can process incoming jobs, but they will also be communicated through all of your marketing materials.

Brand Basics

These components of your brand form your business’s “face” to the public. Brand Basics shape and direct your customers’ views of your business. Telling your customers how you want to be perceived is an essential piece of a Brand Strategy for any small business, and the easiest way for you to do this as a small business owner is through your:

- Brand Identity, the suite of visual elements that are used consistently in your marketing, including:

- Brand Names of your company and product or service lines

- Logo

- Visual Vocabulary

- Collateral system/stationery set (business card, letterhead, envelope, and so on)

- Marketing materials (brochure, postcard, flyer, and so on)

- Website

- Brand Content, the way you write and talk about your brand, including your:

- Marketing Copy

- Tagline

- 30-second Pitch or Elevator Speech

- Brand Marketing that integrates both visuals and text about your brand, and that gets your message out to your audience. This is made up of your:

- Advertising

- Trade shows

- Public Relations

- All other outreach/marketing programs

- Brand Offerings, the products or services that you present, along with the quality, warranties, and value that you include with your products and services.

- Brand Experience, the process of working with you as seen from the clients’ perspective. But in order to create a positive experience, you have to have a strong foundation of systems, procedures, and processes built in to your business-this is a basic level of professionalism that’s expected of every business. Things that factor in here include:

- Returning calls

- Availability

- Turnaround time

- Professional interaction and communication

- Process

These Brand Basics can also help to shape your Brand Personality, which is the persona that your business projects to the world. This is defined through the way that your brand expresses itself-the characteristics that give your business a life of its own, outside of your own personality.

Competitor Comparison

These components of your brand speak about your business’s relation to the competition:

- Brand Positioning is basically how your brand compares with that of the competition. There are probably many businesses that provide the services or products that you provide: Brand Positioning determines where your business falls in the continuum of businesses in your field.

- Brand Differentiation is another, more specific piece of your Brand Positioning. Your Differentiators are those things that make your business stand out from your competition-the things that you do or offer that are unlike anything your competition offers.

You can control these Competitor Comparison factors through careful market research, market monitoring, and your definition of both your Brand Positioning and Brand Differentiation.

Internal Measures

These components of your brand are defined largely through your business’s actions:

- Brand Environment is the atmosphere at and within your company.

- Brand Promise is the underlying guarantee or benefits that you offer as part of all of your services. These promises can be of quality, service, greatness, affordability, or speed of delivery; regardless, every business presents a Brand Promise to the public, promising what the experience of doing business with them will be like or what benefits the consumer/client will get from doing business with that company. While your Brand Promise is often initially shaped by promises made in your external communications, it must be fully realized through the internal execution of your services.

- Brand Values, which are an important part of your Brand Foundation, are also helpful in deciding

External Measures

These components of your brand are defined by the public’s perception:

- Brand Awareness is the level of public awareness of your brand-who knows who you are and what you do. This is influenced by the strength and effective distribution of your Brand Basics, as well as by word-of-mouth.

- Brand Gap is the difference between your Brand Positioning and Differentiation and how your consumers and clients actually view these things.

So, what is a Brand?

Your brand is really the combination of all of the above Brand Layers. A brand is both your presentation and public’s perception of your business. It’s the way that people think about your business, and it is shaped through all of the layers described above.

Once you’ve established your brand and started putting your Brand Basics before the public eye, there are some other branding issues you should consider:

- Brand Alignment is the biggest challenge in building a brand comes from creating alignment across all of the Brand Layers described above, and in creating that same alignment between your audience and your message: making sure that the message that you’re presenting is the same message that your customers and contacts are walking away with.

- Brand Management is the process of managing all of the Brand Layers and achieving or maintaining Brand Alignment. It is a constant process; you should check up on your Brand Layers and Brand Alignment from time to time.

When all of your Brand Layers are working together, you’ll have a strong Brand that will help your business to grow and prosper.

Bonita L Richter asked:


Have you ever felt that the people you are marketing to don’t “get you” or understand you?

Or, maybe you know you’re not communicating the “right” message to your target audience, but you’re not sure how to change your message, or what it should be.

The problem in both above instances could be your’re not harnessing and using the power of ancient archetypes in your personal branding strategy.

To help explain the concept of ancient archetypes…

Have you ever noticed certain brands, advertisements, movies, or celebrity personalities seem to instantly connect with you? Without you even realizing it, these brands are communciating a story and meaning to your soul it is already deeply familiar with.

Research in the marketing field indicates that the most powerful brands consistently embody the persona of ancient archetypes. Which ancient archetype you embody is the first thing you must do before you begin developing a personal brand identity.

So, what is an ancient archetype?

Archetypes are believed to be universal, mythical characters that live within the collective unconscious of people all over the world. By symbolizing our core human desires, archetypes can evoke strong, deep emotions that everyone can connect to, and understand.

Examples of powerful brands that stir our emotions are Coke, Nike, Marlboro; movies such as Star Wars, and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial; and personalities like Jackie O., John Wayne, and Lady Di. These “brands” have captured and held the imagination of the public. Why? Because they represent something soulfully and deeply familiar to us.

The twelve ancient archetypes are the:

1. Creator

2. Caregiver

3. Ruler

4. Jester

5. Regular Guy/Gal

6. Lover

7. Hero

8. Outlaw

9. Magician

10. Innocent

11. Explorer

12. Sage

Each of these archetypes possess powerful identities that signal the fulfillment of basic human desires and emotions, and releases deep emotions and yearnings within us. Scientific research signals the missing link in successful marketing and branding is a lack of understanding of archetypes, and the power they possess.

During the recent development of my own personal branding strategy, I focused on researching and studying the twelve ancient archetypes to determine which one resonated with me most. After my study, I determined the ancient archetype that best describes me is the Ruler. Well-known Ruler brands are Saab, Ralph Lauren, Fortune, and Microsoft.

The Ruler archetype is known as the leader, and desires control; it also seeks to create prosperity and success, and to make order out of chaos. The ruler identity is right for a brand if it is:

- A high status product

- A product to help people get more organized

- A product at the moderate to high price range

Knowing this type of information helps to create a personal branding strategy that is consistent with the attributes and values of the brand, as well as identify the words to use to market the brand.

By using the ancient power of archetypes when branding your business, you will immediately make your marketing easier, and you’ll feel more confident because you’re authentically communicating who you are. This message of individuality and expression is so powerful, your ideal client will intuitively understand you, and be attracted to you.

A branding strategy, using archetypes, allows your audience to dive deep into the heart and soul of who you really are.

Whether you are developing your personal branding strategy for the first time, or rebranding, using ancient archetypes will separate the ordinary brands from you—the extraordinary brand. Use the power of ancient archetype to develop a powerful personal branding strategy to tell your brand’s story.

Copyright 2008, Bonita L. Richter

Scott White asked:


It might be almost blasphemous to talk about letting go of old brand equity and laying an old brand to rest, but there are times when change is needed. Reformulating and re-designing, or even overhauling an old brand can be a wise decision. If sales are flat and show no sign of growth, you’d better stop kidding yourself and hire a branding consultant.

Brands are an extremely vital element in your product and corporate value proposition. With communications so pervasive today, corporate branding and product branding are becoming fused as one. Corporate brands are increasingly powering product brands and product sales and that poses some substantial risk as those sub brands can’t be as easily re-positioned when they falter.

Brand Culture

As time passes, culture changes, new technologies and new competing brands appear and they change the perception of value that is available in a marketplace. Old sales propositions won’t fly in the face of 20 or more other competitors offering the same benefits and features. With cultural, economic, technology changes, and corporate changes, your aging brand image and brand equity may end up doing more harm than good. Your former branding successes could leave your brand and company stuck in the past.

A good example of age related branding problem is in the realm of computer products. I recently bought a new laptop computer because my old one just couldn’t keep up with my multitasking and other work needs. At the retail store, there were computers with Intel or AMD microprocessors to choose from. The key matter wasn’t really microprocessor speed or capability. In the past, the Intel logo would have compelled me to buy only computers with their processors regardless of what other features were available in the computer. The Intel brand was clearly in a class by itself. Not this time. This AMD powered computer was low priced and had the memory I required along with other features such as a 100 Gb hard drive, high resolution screen, numerous ports and adapters and a long lasting battery. It only weighs a couple of pounds and the AMD logo seemed to look better too. It says: AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology. 64 bits and mobile compatibility. Why doesn’t Intel mention that on the computer they have their products in?

Laptops are hot and prices are falling. My 15 year old nephew just bought his first laptop on eBay, since they are cheaper and more accessible. So the whole “culture” of shopping and purchasing computers has changed.

Everyone is buying high resolution screens and I was eager to ease my eye strain from long hours of viewing everyday. The huge hard drive was great and the laptop looks good too. The old Intel brand just didn’t have the effect it once did, and their competitor, AMD, just sold one of their processors. The laptop is working great and now Intel processors don’t dictate which computer I’ll buy.

To me, the Intel logo and brand brings back memories of old Pentium computers. This is worsened by the fact that today’s processors have changed and they are running at lower speeds. This confuses the speed benefit that Intel had its brand positioned around. The technology change in viewing screens, memory, and processor use in the computer has moved the market away from where Intel was positioned. The Intel corporate brand powers sales of their new processors, but they can call those new products anything they want and it won’t effective my decision.

What Intel needs to do now, is to associate its processors with the features and benefits that consumers and B2B buyers make decisions upon. Computer branding is not all about the processors anymore and the old Intel brand image is deeply tied to old technology. Even the brand name Pentium is associated with the computer culture of the 90’s.

Here’s the issue: the old Intel brand was so successful in 90’s that it’s trapped Intel in a time warp. Intel needs new branding that ties it to the future, not the past. To get there, they are probably going to have to jettison the past.

Google is a good example of modern branding and a brand that is not tied solely to web search engines. The brand is now diversified strategically to associate it with everything people are doing on the web. Google is omnipresent, and its brand image is solely in its relevance to the current Internet culture. Google won’t let its common search engine role diminish its branding power.

Hanging onto to Old Branding Concepts

There’s a lot of reason why brand managers, CEOs, and marketing managers resist rethinking their branding and redeveloping their brands. Most often, they don’t want to leave their comfort zone and risk a short term blip in profit. Some don’t want to make an investment in hiring a branding consultant to look at the options. Branding experts examine a brand to discover its current problems, the culture of the marketplace, and to determine if a new brand identity or brand positioning would be fruitful. Some old brands are doomed, but most are just stale and not in tune with the target market. A branding consultant can provide crucial insight into market perception, brand value building, brand loyalty development, and to discover the brand value proposition that could breathe new life into your brands.

From product branding, to corporate branding all the way to extending brand reach on the Internet, Brand Identity Guru provides corporate clients with brand audits, new brand designs, corporate communications strategies, brand boosting web design, and even powerful search engine marketing services. BIG has the complete branding solution for modern e-enterprises. Reach plus relevance. That’s a hard combination to beat.

Lainie Liberti asked:


Most outward qualities of a brand are expressed through tangible assets like the company name, the product, tag lines, symbolism, iconography and even jingles. A good brand will tap into all of the senses, reminding consumers what differentiates your product from all the others. Your brand image is comprised of not only the factual information presented, but emotional/ experiential aspects that a customer perceives intangibly and understands it to be. It defines an organization and distinguishes it from its competitors. These are valuable considerations, especially if your current plan is no longer servicing your goals.

How do you know if it’s time to reinvigorate your brand? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Are you unsatisfied with the bottom line, sales, and growth?

2. Have you seen a lack of new business referrals from current clients / customers?

3. Have you noticed fewer and fewer repeat/loyal customers?

4. Are your competitors outshining your brand?

5. Do you feel it’s time to enter a new market?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to reinvigorate your brand!

While owners of larger established brands tend to pay more attention to the care and maintenance of their brand image, periodic brand revitalization or “face lifts” can help increase any business’ sales revenue. Remember, success is measured through sales and strong sales are a result of a strong relationship your customers have with your brand. Thus, the need is great to reinvigorate your brand when sales are flat. Investing in your brand is good health, with potential high quality returns on investment. Here are some strategies for reinvigorating your brand:

Refine and Define Your Brand’s Vision

One of the first rules of branding is: Great brands know themselves. In most cases, companies do not revisit their vision once the business has been launched. We know it’s a laborious task, but time invested in your brand is not time wasted. In other words, “making” the time to re-examine the overall vision, mission and business objectives seems to happen less, or not at all, as the practice of actually conducting business becomes the priority. However the reality is that over time, visions shift and values adjust. New opportunities present themselves, and new avenues are to be explored. Taking time annually to revisit these things and make adjustments is an eye opening experience for all stakeholders involved. This process tends to fuel both the external relationship with your customers as well as reinvigorate and motivate your staff. It’s a “Win-Win” situation, I’d say.

* Review where you’ve been.

Review your brand’s history, heritage, beliefs and roots. Don’t forget to include your brand culture.

* Rewrite your brand vision.

Your brand vision identifies your company’s purpose for existing. It reveals a broader, deeper, viewpoint that enriches your customers, your authentic purpose for doing business. Identify what brought you to this point and ask yourself what has changed and what has stayed the same. The answers to these questions will help you assess what actions need to be taken.

* Redefine your personality.

Personality helps your brand come alive! It makes your brand accessible and human, helping differentiate it and adding dimension to your business. If strategically sound, there is inherent credibility and likability present. Authentically define your brand personality. Are you charismatic, loyal, playful or traditional? Your brand should exude these characteristics.

* Reinvent your brand character.

Brand character is really about the culture of your brand. Take a look at your organization’s value system that drives the way you do business and how you interact with your customers, team members and suppliers. The clues are found in your company’s principles and attitudes also know as “brand characteristics.” It is also important to remember that your brand is not a static entity, it should be fluid and able to grow. It should flow and flex as your company does.

Know your Customer. Serve Your Base.

After doing business for a period of time, trends become more apparent. It’s obvious which avenues of production, promotion and exposure are working. It’s also obvious, which are not. Do not be afraid to confront your customer. They will not hesitate to tell you exactly what they want. Record their wants and needs and keep your information well organized. Use your historical data wisely. Take time to ascertain why your customers are responding to one avenue or the other. This tends to provide a clue as to what your customers want. Analyzing these metrics combined with readily available market research is one way to map out the future of your creative campaigns as it relates to your overall brand rejuvenation.

* Make new friends and keep the old.

This step is really about building new relationships and reinvigorating existing customer relationships. It’s impossible to improve on any relationship until you gain clarity as to where the current relationship stands. It’s never too late to start, but first your team must assess exactly where you are at in the minds of your customers, ascertaining their perception of your brand and deciphering their overall experience based on sales, feedback, past campaign and promotional response. Here are 3 simple steps to rebuild and retool your brand relationships:

a. Compare and contrast where the current and past customer / brand relationships stand by defining the relationship traits. From the customer’s point of view, are the current and past relationships to your brand uplifting, empowering, growing, deep, lasting, ongoing, consistent, accessible, responsive, and likable?

b. Define the traits of the type of customer relationships you would like to establish.

c. Design a campaign including benchmarks for feedback to gauge the successes of the effort.

Invite Everyone to the Dance.

It is highly critical to have a clean intention and genuine desire to add value to your stakeholders. This enforces your organization’s positive brand positioning and perception. Inclusiveness is paramount in the re-branding process. All the customers, shareholders, employees and all stakeholders must be constantly invited to all management meetings and functions and must have a stake in all company messages.

* Your new brand image.

There are two aspects of a brand image: how you “want” to be seen and how you are “actually” seen. The challenge is to direct, shape and focus how customers see you and how they feel about your brand. The brand image is what is physically in front of the customer’s eyes and senses and the impressions that will ultimately effect the perception of the product. It’s time to redefine and redesign!

* Take a new position.

Decide how you want your brand to be positioned in your customer’s mind. Marketers can influence how a brand is positioned in the customer’s minds, but it’s your customers who actually position the brand. Remember that. The challenge here is to help shape and direct the positioning in a proactive manner. Brand position is about integrated communications advertising, word of mouth, publicity and in-enterprise experiences.

Set Goals, Track Results

The most important role on the management’s front is to measure the results and compare them with the targets set at the start. The results and reports must be analyzed to improve further progress and key decisions must be taken with all the fallbacks being looked into as well.

* Commit and deliver

Being 100% committed to your brand means being 100% consistent in everything you do. This is critical in delivering a successful long-term brand experience. Get your team on board. Dive into dialogue with your team and customers about your new commitments. Get feedback. Every time you change or revise your message to your customers or every time you don’t deliver on the promise, you defeat your goals and prove untrustworthy. That’s not good for morale, your bottom line, or your overall brand equity.

Release Campaign

Overall the management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling apart from a systematic coordination, are necessary. Event sponsorship, door-to-door selling, engaging the customer emotionally and providing rich ambiance can also turn out to generate tons of money inflow.

Frederic Baffou asked:


Consumers are getting more and more educated and can gather information or interact with a brand from many different angles. One common feature within luxury industry is the importance of their history and values (which is summarized in the buzz word DNA) as a legitimacy driver and a point of differentiation.

As a consequence, their ability to develop a momentum out of their DNA became a major source of development.

It is easy to identify the codes of communication within a defined category, but it is interesting to look at how very different brands with a genuine and authentic history have capitalized on their DNA to become a reference in their respective product category.

Let’s take 3 brands:



Ruinart is the oldest (1729) Maison de Champagne still operating and evolves in the high-end of the category. It is one of the Moet-Henessy’s brands (LVMH).

Jaeger-Lecoultre is one of the leading watchmaking brand, created in 1833, and having developed a unique expertise through their Manufacture. Jaeger-Lecoultre is part of the Richemont Group.

Kiehl’s operates in a complete different sector (skin and hair products). Founded 150 years ago in the USA, the brand offers high quality and premium products with an important focus on customer service. The brand is part of the portfolio of L’Oreal brands.

Communication and advertising are not All First I have done a very simple exercise by looking superficially over the various communication materials.

The game: Replace blanks by one of the brand name!

________ The Quest of Excellence in heritage. A brand which through ages will put always as top priorities, the culture of excellence, values of authenticity, quality and subtleness. Our unique, extensive background represents a blend of different knowledge developed and passed on through generations. This is also a matter of passion, a passion combined to a long standing history of creation.

________ has been known for over a century as “La Grande Maison”.

It demonstrates that communication is not everything. These brands have been able to leverage on a real momentum thanks to their “savoir faire” and a permanent focus on quality.

Some common core fundamentals…



Source of origin

The 3 brands are anchored in a very precise geographical region which is in tune with the nature of the brand: Reims in France (Ruinart), Le Sentier in Switzerland (Jaeger-Lecoultre) and New York City in the USA (the original retail store of Kiehl’s).

Savoir Faire & Values

It is not only a matter of expertise but much more the ability to transfer and enhance the knowledge over time. Ruinart, Jaeger Lecoultre and Kiehl’s have succeeded in understanding and transferring very complex knowledge across a large variety of professions. In each company there is a set of values which are contributing to their culture.

The Founder

here is an original entrepreneur (or a partnership) who is at the foundation of the company and being part of the heritage.

Products

Even if the 3 brands operate in 3 different categories, they have been able to develop and innovate to propose very high quality products. These brands are able to provide their clients with tangible and emotional benefits.

History

These brands have been able over time to build a real momentum based on authentic and genuine roots.

…And specific, unique point(s) of differentiation

You could argue that many other brands could tick this list of items…I agree

However, they are not so many which have overtaken the Tipping point. This stems from some unique and specific point(s) of differentiation.

Ruinart has been able not only to develop excellent quality product but a distinctive, very elegant and specific taste. They have a recognizable shape of bottle and packaging which are working as a Signature. The potential of this brand could go beyond where it stands today.

Jaeger-Lecoultre has developed some unique attributes. They built an expertise & legitimacy in watch movements as an official supplier of prestigious brands (e.g. Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin…) before deciding to develop their own wrist watches. Major innovations such as 101 movement (smallest movement in the world), Reverso or more recently Gyrotourbillon 2, Duomètre or Reverso Grande Complication à Triptyque. One of the issues of this industry is to recruit, train and keep good and qualified watchmakers. They succeeded to combine a pool of excellent experts where seasoned professionals and young talented watchmakers are at the origin of significant breakthroughs.

Kiehl’s developed very high quality products based on herbal & pharmaceutical formulas and reached a very unique relationship with their consumers. They are part of the community where they have established their shops.

For instance, their stores can be used by local associations to meet, discuss and they take an active part in the daily life of the community. They have been able to develop their business without doing mass-marketing but turning their clients in very efficient and effective brand ambassadors.

One of the principles of the staff in a Kiehl’s boutique is NOT to sell a product for the first visit of a potential client. They are going to focus on establishing an emotional relationship by explaining the products and the philosophy of the brand.

I think that consumers can understand a brand’s DNA when they are exposed to the products, the brand and the communication. The conversion is really efficient through a systemic approach where each initiative or interaction with your clients is perfectly aligned with the fundamentals of the brand.

Thus, there is this part of alchemy which leads to an emotional connection between the brand and its consumers beyond the products. The passion and commitment of people behind these brands is definitely part of the recipe.

It is at the end of the day the perfect expression of what should support the Excellence in customer centricity.