Brand Basics
by Brad VanAuken

Read all about Brand Basics below. When you've read enough, contact us to talk about how we can put these insights to work for you.

Brand — Some Definitions  |  Brands are Like People |  Important Brand Associations |  Strong Brands Require Vision

Brand — Some Definitions

For fun, I have compiled a list of brand definitions culled from a wide variety of sources. Please let me know which ones you find to be most useful:

• Names or symbols that identify the unique source of a product or service
• The personification of an organization, product or service
• The source of a promise to the customer
• A trust mark
• A single concept or idea imbedded in the mind of the customer
• A set of associations that enhance or detract from the related product or service
• The source of customer loyalty
• That which allows one to charge a price premium for an otherwise generic product or service
• A unique value proposition
• The source of emotional connections with customers
• The primary source of customer ‘goodwill'
• That which should drive the design of the ‘total customer experience'

Brands Are Like People

“A brand is the personification of a product, service or even entire company. Like any person, a brand has a physical “body” : in P&G's case, the products and/or services it provides. Also, like a person, a brand has a name, a personality, character and a reputation. Like a person, you can respect, like and even love a brand. You can think of it as a deep personal friend, or merely an acquaintance. You can view it as dependable or undependable; principled or opportunistic; caring or capricious. Just as you like to be around certain people and not others, so also do you like to be with certain brands and not others. Also, like a person, a brand must mature and change its product over time. But, its character, and core beliefs shouldn't change. Neither should its fundamental personality and outlook on life. People have character … so do brands. A person's character flows from his or her integrity: the ability to deliver under pressure, the willingness to do what is right rather than what is expedient. You judge a person's character by his/her past performance and the way he/she thinks and acts in both good times, and especially bad. The same is true of brands.”

Robert T. Blanchard of Procter & Gamble in his “Parting Essay,” dated July 1999

Important Brand Associations

Most brands will want to be associated with the following by their target customers. We recommend that every brand tests how it stacks up against its competitors regarding each of these associations:

• Trustworthy
• Authentic
• Relevant
• Unique
• Stands for something important to me
• Feels ‘just right' to me
• Popular
• Appealing
• Likeable
• Admirable
• High quality
• Innovative
• Service oriented

Strong Brands Require Vision

A brand is much more than a logo or an advertising campaign. It is the manifestation of an organizational vision. In my experience in working with organizations from Fortune 500 companies and Internet start-ups to universities and museums, the one ingredient that must be present for the organizational brand to be truly successful is a clearly articulated, strongly felt and universally embraced organizational mission and vision. And that usually requires strong leadership at the top, and to even greater effect, throughout the organization.

That mission and vision is often based on powerful intuition or a strongly held conviction. Frequently that intuition is informed by careful and detailed analysis. Ideally, the mission and vision focus on a deep consumer need that the organization has unique abilities to meet. That mission and vision should be strongly encoded in the organization's mission and vision statements and in the organizational brand's stated essence, promise and personality.

The entire organization should be designed to deliver on that mission and vision. And, there should be mechanisms in place to reward behavior that promotes the mission and vision and averts behavior that sabotages them.

Yes, the business' financial model must make sense. And yes, the organization must change over time to adapt to changes in the market. But, the underlying sense of mission and vision must not falter.

I talk a lot about the nuts and bolts of various brand management sub-disciplines (e.g. brand research, brand positioning, brand identity standards and systems, and measuring and managing brand equity), but all of these must be focused on delivering against a well thought out and a widely and passionately held sense of organizational mission and vision. If they do, there will be no stopping you in your ascendancy within your market space.