Branding

Any act, positive or negative, that creates an expectation is an act of branding. Jack says the intended result should be a “unique promise of value that results in a collection of positive perceptions, which causes an expectation in the mind of the consumer”

Why Brand?

After years of being asked how to calculate the value of a brand, Jack hasn’t given up but, so far, no one… not even Jack… can give you a concrete, by-the-numbers  measurement of brand value… at least not one accurate enough for NASA.  But perhaps that’s the point: branding is not rocket science. Sure there is science involved but in the end branding is as much art and gut instinct as it is hard numbers.

But what Jack can do is show by example that a good solid brand can be worth as much as 70% of a company’s value!

Jack’s favorite illustration of brand value is one simple question that goes something like this: “Suppose I send you to purchase a simple pair of diamond earrings.  You can bring your goodies home in a plastic bag from Wal-Mart, a neatly wrapped package from Bloomingdale’s, or you can carry your purchase home in a distinctive blue box from Tiffany & Co.  Tell me,” (I can picture Jack leaning forward for the grand finale as he asks,) “How much would you expect to pay at each of these stores?”

Two hundred dollars is the average Wal-Mart estimate.  Four to six hundred for diamonds from Bloomies.  And the bright blue box from Tiffany carries a hefty premium… $800 and up, is the average audience response.

“And that,” says Jack, removing his glasses for added emphasis.  “And that is the value of a brand.”

So brand value is a matter of relativity and could be expressed as “the premium a product or service can command over and above the cost of production.”

But what about building a brand from scratch?

“unique promise of value”

Jack defines a brand as a “unique promise of value that results in a collection of positive perceptions which causes an expectation in the mind of the consumer.”  I take a little simpler approach and define a brand as nothing more than “an expectation.”  (I leave room for the “perceptions in the mind of the consumer” to be negative as well as positive.  But then, Jack’s the one with the fancy British accent and he does live on an island in the Caribbean so I may be over-stepping a bit!)

And maybe that’s the point: rather than waste time nit-picking a definition perhaps we should just ‘get’ the concept and move on to building a strong, valuable brand.

But first let’s zoom in on two key phrases in Jack’s definition: “unique promise” and “collection of positive perceptions.”

Bill Oncken, scholar and gentleman, was known for saying, “in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”  He loved to use that saying as a springboard to an idea that we apply to branding: you have to stand out. You have to be different.  Unless you make a “unique promise of value” you won’t stand out.  And there is no possibility of becoming king of your marketplace.

Without a “unique promise of value” you become the “me too” brand.  When your promise is not unique you are left to selling on price with no hope of commanding a premium for packaging your diamonds in little blue boxes.

The Collection

Jack says our goal is a “collection of positive perceptions.”  The key word is “collection.”  Brands are not built upon a single “moment of truth” although that may be the focus of attention. More accurately, brands are built on the cumulative impressions of multiple touch points.

To make it really simple: everything counts.  There is nothing about the brand experience that is inconsequential… every opportunity to touch a customer, to influence their impression of our product, our service, our people… our brand… every thing, every touch point counts.  And if we are doing things right the result will be a “collection of positive perceptions that result in a unique promise of value.”

Congruence and Believability

A key idea is that brand perceptions are additive.  A strong positive impression might be negated by several weak but negative impressions.  It was probably around the fifth grade that we learned about the existence of negative numbers. Adding a negative to a positive doesn’t simply fail to move you further.  Adding a negative drags you backwards!.

Just this morning I had an e-mail inquiry about a PR firm that had been generating some very positive impressions about their services.  “What do you think about this company,” wrote my distant friend. “They’re certainly getting good press for themselves.”

“I wouldn’t touch them with a ten foot pole,” was my one line response.

“Thanks for the heads-up,” was her reply.

Get it?  Positively plus negative equals zero.

The surprise is that impressions that appear on the surface as positive may in fact be negative if they are impressions that are out of context for the brand… incongruent.
For example a video production company that produces high end corporate training programs seems right in step with who they are and the folks they hope to serve.  But what would you think if a company named Really Cheap Video did business from a suite of elegant offices?  Would you be a bit suspicious?  You’d be thinking, “They’ve got to pay for this somehow…”  Incongruence is by itself a negative impression.

Other Ways of Thinking:
Metaphor and Essence

Metaphors are another useful of thinking about a brand.  Think of the brand in human terms and assign to it the human characteristics that best describe how this brand would behave if it were a person.  Essence is the act of defining a brand by core values.  It is perfectly fine to use both metaphor and essence to communicate your brand.

“The ACME brand is reliable, approachable, and always fashionable,” is an example of defining a brand via both metaphor and essence.

Two key points: a.) metaphor and essence should only be used if you are also going to use them to define your target customer (not market) and b.)  simply defining the brand does not imply that your target customer shares the same opinion!

The idea behind using metaphor and essence to define both brand and target customer is to put a human face on both.  The Phoenix Fire Department, for example, evaluates much of what they do in terms of their mythical target customer, Mrs. Smith.  They might ask such questions as:

“If we arrive on scene with lights and siren will Mrs. Smith see that as good service?”

“If we cut our average response time from five minutes to three minutes will Mrs. Smith be willing to have her taxes raised to pay for the improved service? 

“Are we seen by Mrs. Smith as professional, trustworthy, and efficient?”

That’s All Folks!

Here’s what we know:  Although there are many ways to define a brand the key points are that brands describe the way our business is perceived by the customer,  if you want to sell on more than a low price you must be perceived as being a unique promise of value, and that every impression at every touch point must be identified, measured, and managed!

Think: Little Blue boxes!

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