|
||
- JUNE |
||
To many life coaches, the power of positive thinking, and creative visualization are pillars and milestones in the development of personal growth. This is true in many ways, but you as a brand, are the sum of many parts drawn into
one distinctive personality. We must recognize that initially before attempting success.
We hear so much about a brand, and how it plays an important role in our lives, everything from burgers to underwear, we are bombarded with brands. But why do we associate with a brand? Why do we comfort in a brand?
It’s the emotional connection, which unlocks the likes and dislikes in our consumer thinking. That’s what makes us distinguish a brand!
Branding correctly, or incorrectly then affects your business’s identity, its personality. It becomes the culmination of your business’s presentation, its uniqueness through the various forms of interaction it has with its customers.
If this is developed correctly, it then becomes the personality that differentiates your business from its competitors.
“A great brand taps into emotions. Emotions drive most, if not all, of our decisions”.
A few years ago when working with Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, a leading supplier of Healthcare products globally, they were targeting the American market, and wanted to create a point of difference from their competitors. ISO accreditation was the emphasis of the day, and this created an emotional trigger in the consumers mind. ”The importance of International standards became a milestone in the company’s development, in a highly competitive market.”
The brand used an emotional connecting point that transcended the product. Because the product had an ISO accreditation it must be good. That’s what separated F & P Healthcare from many of its rivals.
The obvious reasons why branding is important are:
- Make your business as a whole; stand out from your competitors. Create a certain point of difference that creates an advantage for you.
- Drive your business to be seen, heard, and remembered by your target audience.
- Give you the opportunity to create a premium price for your product or service, because you’re no longer just seen as just a commodity, but a necessity.
- Create an emotional buy-in, so that sub consciously people believe in your product and put you first in their memory.
Your brand therefore is in essence, at the crux of your business weather you like it or not. It reflects who you are and what you offer. Premium or non-premium.
An example of this recently was the situation with Ribena as they marketed their blackcurrant drinks into New Zealand. A young group of school kids took them up on their vitamin C values to find that there weren’t any vitamin C actually in the drinks, much to the horror of the public. One wonders what will be the ultimate fate of Ribena after that fiasco. I am sure that the public will now think twice before buying the product. There are ways to solve this, however the current TV campaign trying to rectify the problem, is only adding salt to the wound. “Moral of the story is, be sure what you promise in your brand is what you deliver.”
In total contrast a whopping 63% of current job seekers found that their current employer has not delivered on the employment experience that was promised when they were recruited.
Thus the link from the employment brand to the consumer brand was addressed and the company worked hard with their HR to address and create a successful promise, and deliver it through superior performance, and create their own “Employer Brand Footprint”
“At Reckitt Benckiser they strongly promote what they’re like as a company. The more information the potential employee knows about them, their culture, the more likely they are to having a good fit for both sides. They have learnt to market their employer brand using the same marketing techniques as their product brands.”
Do we want more when it comes to branding. I think so. Another simple mechanic is the awareness of a brand when it moves into a different culture. Having lived and worked in Asia for 9 years, many of the simple things our western culture takes for granted are foreign and often alien to the many Asian cultures that make up Asia. For Example, when living in a Muslim country one must respect their laws and not advertise any inappropriate behavior. In Malaysia they frown on Elbows or legs being shown on TV advertising, or reference to anything similar in printed photographs. Three or more cultural groups are prominent there, Malay, Indian, and Chinese. They all have their roles and the branding of a product can often represent different values, so this has all to be clearly defined, or else there will be problems with campaigns.
A good example of this was with Mc Donald’s in China. Some 770 signs had to be changed as the “Golden Arches” were facing the wrong way. So much for the Feng Shui which in Chinese culture is an integral part of society.
So when we use the word mechanics, it’s more about the workings that will affect a brand and a brand guideline for the client to adhere to...
So what does your brand convey? What do customers feel when they use your products or services? What separates your company brand from other brands in the market? These are all common questions, but which conduit is best suited to selling these ideas?
Firstly lets look at traditional media, Print, radio and TV. Still the most widely used and often tactile medium in today’s market. More magazines, more radio stations and more TV network choices. Which if you sum it up amounts to greater fragmentation. One therefore has to hone in on the right way to communicate your brand.
If we look back, trends have changed dramatically over the last 12 years or so, ever since the Internet came of age. In the late nineties global agencies would ask me, how I thought the Internet was going to change things, how could people make money from it, and what did I see the future for TV advertising.
All tough questions at the time, but now with the advances in technology, and accessibility to a global marketplace, the opportunity for exciting brands exist.
A great example is 42below, a vodka brand developed in the Southern Hemisphere and sold globally through clever viral games similar to those on Jib jab. Targeted at the right audience, they have had great success. Another one is Red Bull, with its sponsorship into extreme sports; right market for the product.
With Internet speeds coming to life and new web streaming advances, full motion video will become on demand and you as a consumer will be able to choose what you want to see when you want to see it, all with the support of Nike, Ford, Kmart, Westfield, Roadshow or some other brand that offers you the consumer your own entertainment.
And for the kids we now have advergaming, where care of Kellogg’s you can play with the stars online, and while they’re sucking your information into their database, you’re enjoying beating the crap out of Kevin Lockyher, or your favorite Aussie rules player.
And for the women, there’s heaps of social networking sites, blogs and other tasty infotainment options, such as myspace, bebo, hi5, MSN, Yahoo Chat, and a host of other sites.
And finally to top it all off why not have a journey into second life whereby you can buy land, trade and set up businesses, have relationships, and actually trade in currency (paypal), and live a life in virtual space. Even big brands are taking notice, and it was only Christmas last when I was asked by Tequila Worldwide about creating an animation in VR for a possible buy in they were looking at, just for their clients.
So with such diverse groups and even more, its exciting times for brands to develop themselves to very niche markets. And the beauty about that is that you can actually measure the response 24/7.
A case study in point is New Zealand Opera. Being in the arts in New Zealand, like everywhere is very hard as one is always calling in favours, running on little or no money, and trying to find innovative ways of getting the message out. Our task was to create some memoriable colletral that would differentiate NZOpera from others in the market.
Working on a tight budget, a series of single statement commercials were made, that showed the brand and the idea in a simple message, without the need for 50 words to explain it, or a million and one shots to fill up the screen. Aimed specifically at the target audience Television triggers were used, and backed up with web banners on selected sites. This has all proved at a huge success, with further developments moving into email marketing, database improvements, and improved customer loyalty.
With such an inspiring question let’s gaze into ones crystal ball.
Firstly, the future of branding is totally exciting, as companies will strive to gain market share using all kinds of techniques and ploys to gain recognition.
Firstly, the future of branding is totally exciting, as companies will strive to gain market share using all kinds of techniques and ploys to gain recognition.
Secondly, as the emotional triggers kick in even further we see how even the oil companies are starting to make attempts ant cleaning up the environment, with global strategies reinforcing what the G8 summit are saying about global warming.
Thirdly, we’ll see brands like McDonalds become more consumer focused. Instead of selling cheap $2.00 burgers that offer a shelf life of “forever”, we’ll see burgers and salads made to order, made in a minute while you wait, and using more fresher and healthier products. We may even see Mc Donald’s going down the route of healthy living lifestyles with greater emphasis on restaurants, and lifestyle. Who knows they might even open their own gyms!
Branding will become an integral part of ones life. The phenomenon of social media is changing our whole relationship with media, and its no longer a passive and one-way experience. As a result this is having a massive effect on the way brands are perceived, and the way we interact with them from a consumers point of view. People are spending a significant amount of their time online, with blogs reaching the 70 million mark. It even affects those of an older generation.
My mother in law loves to come and stay, as she goes online, and starts searching around the sites. Ebay, auctions-online, horrors, as we found her “looking for love “ one day. It affects us at all ages. Its something we cant hide from, and if were serious about our business there’s worlds of opportunities opening up.
Dalab contact details and services
TEL +61 2 9008 5252 hello@dalab.com.au
SERVICES
Branding Strategy - Interactive Multimedia - 3D Animation & VR - Website Design - Graphic Design - Film Development - TVC & Viral Production
DALAB Partnership a creative agency experts in web interactive, motion and print media. ©2007
|