Impressions

in Brand

 

Impressions are everything, brand is your organisation's most powerful tool

Sitting at Brisbane Airport waiting to board a delayed flight to Sydney, I pulled out my laptop to 'pen' a few self-entertaining thoughts about branding, determined not to theorise about the ubiquitous and all too commonly mentioned (in branding articles) brown, fizzy beverages.

Distracted by some incoming emails, I had barely launched my word processor (brand name withheld) when my delayed aircraft landed and began to dispel Brisbane bound travelers. I peeked up over my aluminum bezeled screen to observe the parade of arrivals enthusiastically lead by a wee young tike of 3 years or fewer existence.

As he approached my vantage point, he shrilly broke out into an unexpected and confident proclamation of "Coca-Cola!". That was it... four piercingly loud syllables - the very four syllables I was determined not to think about. My mind started racing... was this kid old enough to be talking, had a corporation hijacked his first words, what had triggered such an outburst? I scanned the environment for a trigger, a glimpse of the familiar ribbon, was there a sign, a vending machine, a can or bottle in someone's hand? No not that I could see.

There was however a large red rounded column that the infant was advancing on - was this enough to trigger such a strong brand association in such a young child? Wow, what an impression!

Let's push aside the ethics of brand influence on children - that's another article, what is a brand and what does it mean to the average business? Brand is an anti-commodity, it attaches values, associations and differentiation to otherwise interchangeable products or services. What is the major difference between Coca-Cola and RC Cola? Brand helps us make sense of choice - whether it's what we know, what we trust or what we identify with.  

It's all about impressions and choice. Early farmers used smoldering irons to leave ownership impressions on the rumps of their livestock, a practice known as branding. The farmer's reputation for producing quality livestock eventually became associated with the identity marking and would ultimately influence choice in the marketplace. Without the assistance of an agency, livestock farmers invested in their own brand equity (reputation) and brand identity (livestock brand).

Every business needs a brand, in fact, for most business their brand is their most valuable asset and should be a core consideration of every business decision. In today's world of overwhelming choice, brand is a matter of survival. Exactly what is Coca-Cola's core business? Is it manufacturing fizzy drinks, or is it managing a brand? Can one exist without the other. It surprises me how many business do not understand the economic fundamentals of branding.

So exactly what is a brand? Many people consider it to be something created by marketing teams, advertising agencies and designers. While these are important assisting elements in building and maintaining a brand's value, a brand is much more than that. Marty Neumeier nails down exactly what a brand is in his spectacularly concise book The Brand Gap - "A brand is a persons gut feeling about an organisation".               

This is where businesses often struggle with branding. A person's gut feeling is certainly something intangible, yet a successful brand must be managed like a tangible asset. Consider brand as an equity investment, something that at any given time has an assessable value. That value is not necessarily measured by brand recognition or mind-share, but more tangibly by revenue and profits or market-share. This equity investment needs to be strategically managed in order to grow the brand value, or at least maintain the dividends it produces. Strategic brand management consists of ongoing investments in the equity, with wrong investment moves potentially eroding value. Some investments will deliver short term spikes in equity value, while others will contribute to solid long term growth. An ad-hoc marketing campaign for example might deliver a short term gain, while a strategic approach to improving customer service and communication, and reflecting these values in the corporate identity system and supporting them with ongoing marketing initiatives will likely contribute to long term growth in brand equity.

My key point is that branding is more than a name, logo or advertising campaign designed by an agency and then forgotten about. It is an asset that is inseparable from business process, and brand management should be integrated throughout an organizations business activities. Different oragisations will benefit from different approaches to growing brand equity. For professional service firms, a corporate identity system and style guide are less important contributers to brand equity than relationship management and reputation control, where as for a consumer brand, exposure, advertising and a strong brand promise are often positive investments.  A brand strategy that is carefully aligned with business goals and integrated throughout an organisation (rather than confined to the marketing team) gives you the best possible chance of controlling the intangible emotions of customers and measuring that with tangible revenue.

While the value of the Coca-Cola brand appears to be on the decline (currently valued at around US$50 billion) it is still a staggering amount of equity that is essentially attributable to people's gut feelings about the product, and a result of over 100 years of brand management. I wonder what sort of equity model could put a figure on the component of Coca-cola's brand value contributed by the kid at Brisbane airport?