Friday, May 21, 2010

Branding. Making it come alive like “No Signboard Seafood”

Everyone knows what a brand is. It is about delivering meaning and value.

My job is to make brands come alive. I describe brands as:
A promise, a personality, an image, a trusting relationship, a sense of purpose, security in purchase, satisfaction in use, leadership and authority, a sense of community, experience, and authenticity.

With decreasing product differentiation, product convergence, acquisitions and mergers, it is hard to tell products apart especially the white goods, automobile and others.

Only 20% of the brand is seen by customers who are able to recognize a logo and or a name. 80% of the brand convey values, that are unseen by the consumer, happen at the unconscious level.

Yes, big boys have money to burn so they have higher chances of getting their branding strategies right. However companies of any sizes have an equal footing if you are passionate about your business.

Even a well-known seafood chain in Singapore which does not have a brand before, has branded themselves as “NO SIGNBOARD SEAFOOD”! The name was given by their customers and they are wildly successful. http://www.nosignboardseafood.com/

So given the challenges, where do you start on branding?
The emphasis now is focus on the intangible or abstract value of brands. The big boys’ various branding architectures well illustrated this.

• SIA: a great way to fly - Corporate Branding
• Procter & Gamble: touching lives, improving life - Product Branding
• Nestle: good food, good life - Endorsed Branding
• Vidal Sassoon (under Procter & Gamble) - Line Branding

Recently I worked with a startup to conceptualize a new brand for a new company. We started by defining positioning in 7 levels: attributes and benefits, price, product class, use and application, competitor, value, and personality. Finally we developed the branding architectures before wrapping it up with messaging and proof points.

The entire process took 3 months from inception to launch, before a new brand is born.

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