Building a Case for Brand Identity

The key to creative and effective branding of any program, product, service or institution is finding the right positioningto drive the advertising and other marketing tools. It doesnt have to be complicated or weird. In fact, if its good and effective, its simple and will follow this Rule of consumersYou are what you appear to be. This position, or brand is really an identity (not in your mind but in your audiences)a way people can sort through all the confusing information and summarize what they think about something.

What do you get with a brand identity?

Over the last 25 years we have come to learn that the development of a brand identity is much more than a mere benchmark denoting successful arrival in business, or its evolution and growth. A clearly defined and easily recognized identity has, in fact, become a critical success factor in todays highly competitive business environment.

Just to lay some groundwork, here are ten reasons why doing so can have a strategically important effect on your bottom line.

Its easier to know who you are, which means:

Its easier to know what you do. (Helps develop goals)

Its easier to know how to do it. (Helps with implementation)

Less energy is expended overall. (Creates efficiency in communications)

Team building occurs naturally when staff can identify with a common symbol, common language and therefore common goals. (Sports uniforms are a good example. Every player feels like a part of the group.)

You can match your image to your clients needs or view of his business. (A simple matter of giveem what they want.)

With a clearly defined identity you communicate more efficiently with your customers, and they remember you more easily. (Memorability is easier when everybody clearly knows who you are.)

Enhancements in the overall quality of your product or service. (Consistency always counts.)

Benefits and unique qualities of your business are communicated more clearly to your clients thereby increasing sales. (Marketing tool)

Helps set identifiable standards of quality in your product or service. Helps with a sense of reliability by developing a brand identity. (Brand names are trusted.)

So, what is a brand anyway?

As we begin the process of making recommendations for developing a brand identity lets talk about what we really mean by brand. What is it, why does it work, how does it work and who makes it work.

Philip Durbrow, vice chairman of the international design firm of Frankfurt Balkind Partners, recalls, "When I first started working in branding, it became obvious that there were no clear universal definitions of key words like marketing, strategy, identity, image and brand. I've developed specific definitions so that we are clear on what we are talking about. Fuzzy words yield fuzzy thinking and fuzzy brands."

Some Definitions

There is very little consistency in people's understanding, or usage, of brand terminology. For clarity, we offer the following definitions:

A Product: is something that is produced to function and exists in reality.

A Brand: has meaning beyond functionality and exists in peoples minds.

Product Quality: has major influence on Brand Qualities.

Brand Qualities: are the thoughts, feelings, associations and expectations created by a Brand Identity.

Brand Identity: is the way in which a brand is expressed visually and verbally.

Branding: is viewing every customer related activity as part of the branding process and managing it accordingly. Everything a company does that affects its customer, affects the value of its brand.

Marketing: means making it easy and motivating people to buy your productthrough product design, pricing, packaging, distribution, advertising, etc.

Brand Marketing: is pushing beyond product benefits to fulfill a strategic core promise. It means looking past the tangible to the intangible, accommodating buyers' practical needs while resonating with their deeper feelings.

Brand Strategy: means deciding which brands are going to be used to deliver which products and services to which customers. (This may involve usage of global brands, umbrella brands, megabrands, subbrands, flanker brands, brand extensions and brand families.)

Brand Equity: is the present value of the future combined purchases that are a result of the preference created, or the premium paid, for a brand's products.

Why do we want a brand?

All brands start by speaking to the needs and aspirations of an audience. The aspiration is the brand identity: that's a projection of how the brand wishes to be perceived by its target audience (as opposed to the brand image, which is the way the brand is, currently perceived).

Knowledge and appreciation of this core concept will allow the steward of the brand to develop the mission, build and nurture the market, maintain the brand philosophy, strategy, overall look and feel of the brand and, of course, the logo. What is the audience going to be satisfied with or disappointed by with the message coming from the brand? What is going to help build a strong brand identity (what would weaken it)? How can the aspirations for the brand identity be reached?

Who's Minding the Store?

The brand steward, usually senior executive from the parent company, must protect and cultivate the immutable core of the brand (about 50%) in order to ensure that the brand remains strong. The steward manages the part of the brand that must remain fluid (the remaining 50%) in order to keep the brand relevant and exciting. Typically we see a freshness and evolution in the brand's advertising and packaging, that's the part of the brand that is constantly evolving. The steward is responsible for overseeing the advertising agency's efforts to promote the brand, to develop brand segmentation internally (that is, the sub-brands) and to direct the packaging of branded products. The overall responsibility of the brand steward is to keep the brand on course and profitable.

Companies that have broad, strong brand recognition can diversify through their sub-brands more than narrowly focused companies. For instance, Brit Richard Branson, a courageous babyboomer, started his first business in 1968 at the age of sixteen and has cultivated companies in the entertainment area ever since under the umbrella, Virgin Group (www.virgin.com). First came Virgin Records. Ten years later Branson branched out to form Virgin Atlantic Airways, then a year later added Virgin Holidays. Two years after that Virgin expanded to include Virgin Airship & Balloon Company, Virgin Publishing and Virgin Hotels, among others. Branson, a highly visible and consistently strong leader, is the very essence of pioneer spirit and innovation. Consumers 'get' virgin's abstract brand identity because Virgin's broad target audience identifies with Branson and all he stands for: unencumbered global vision and maverick style. He is a self-proclaimed Virgin for life.

Durbrow offers this wisdom, "There is no long-term advantage to having a brand image that is greater or lesser than the brand really is. If the image is greater than the reality, people will be disappointed whenever they encounter the brand. If the image is less than the reality, the company will never benefit from all its hard work, i.e., the brand won't command a premium or create a preference for the company's branded products."

The Brand As Asset

When included on the balance sheet, the brand's equity is an intangible asset like good will. Its value brightens the parent company's fiscal picture: this is one big reason why companies are eager to develop strong brands. An enhanced financial picture allows the parent company to generate revenue, grow and expand. The brand, which is structured to be easily separated from the parent company, may be sold. The brand may be segmented to increase the market by creating sub-brands which appeal to more specific consumer needs, further increasing the value of the brand.

In the long term, it's the brand's core message that must be honored. All the strong brandsCocaCola, Nike, Calvin Klein, to name a fewgive the impression of unswerving confidence, through their billion dollar advertising campaigns. This is exactly the kind of motivational leadership our emotionally charged culture craves. "The branding statement has to be honest, relevant. For example, the Coke brand is the value of constancy. The contour bottle and Spencerian script are promises that the Coke you'll have in Thailand is the same as the Coke you'll have in Oakland. The challenge for us is always to find ways to make something change and stay the same." People have a strong emotional attachment to CocaColait's something they grew up with. Coke is a part of the history of America. Waterbury adds, "The CocaCola headquarters and museum in Atlanta are a testament to excellent management of a global brand: A brand that makes a personal connection for almost everyone."

How Brand is Different from Product

Many organizations use the term "Product Manager" interchangeably with "Brand Manager." While most of us could think through the semantic difference between a "product" and a "brand," it seems that (with a few exceptions) the two concepts become indistinguishable when it comes to their management. This confusion may explain in part why there are so few brands and so many products.

The product is defined by its form and function, what it is and what it does. The product is physical attributes, such as price, performance, ease of use, design and style. What a product is can be relatively easily communicated, rapidly changed and effected in the short term using a number of tools: just add a new ingredient or change the shape of the packaging and you have a new product or, at least, a different one. A good product/ marketing strategist is one who can distill a large amount of data about the consumer, the market, his competition, distribution, and boil it down to the few essential premises that will form the backbone of a focused marketing plan. He should be able to distill these premises even further to write an effective communication strategy which, as any honest advertising person will tell you, must be based on a single minded selling proposition. This ability to distill facts down to their simple essence presupposes an excellent knowledge and understanding of the product's consumer or end-user and buyer.

The brand is almost the opposite on all points. Whereas the product has a form, the brand does not have a physical embodiment: It is merely a promise, a covenant with the customer. Some say that the "logo is the brand"... but this isn't so. A logo is meaningless if it does not communicate the brand's covenant with the consumer. And, whereas communication of a product's physical attributes is straightforward and fast, communication of brand values is inherently circuitous and slow. Like the character of an individual, brand character is most difficult to communicate proactively: The individual cannot tell what his character is; the observer must figure it out for himself... an indirect communications process which requires time and absolute consistency. And, contrary to product communication which is best based on one single minded forceful proposition, brand character, like the character of a person, becomes better defined as it gains in complexity. Lastly, whereas the product manager must gain a superior knowledge of his consumer to be effective, the brand manager's success is in great part based on a thorough knowledge of the idiosyncrasies and the values professed by his company and its long term corporate players, i.e., its top management.

TIM KENNEY: Creative Director and CEO of Tim Kenney Marketing Partners, has 33 years of experience in the design industry. Tims work has been published in two volumes of American Corporate Identity, Logo 2000 and Logo 2001 and, under his direction, his agency has garnered 100 prestigious design awardsand still countingcheap laptop motherboard
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
beck odelay
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
free ebook arthur conan doyle the adventure of the dancing men
the petcheneg anton read online ebook
best asus laptop
the wife and other stories chekhov download book
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
heavy heavy low low kids kids kids ep
download the wife and other stories anton chekhov ebook
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
the schoolmaster and other stories chekhov download book
read free arthur the adventure of the second stain
papa roach the paramour sessions
bob dylan the best of
tim mcgraw greatest hits
get download the horse stealers and other stories chekhov book
get it now the adventure of the stockbroker's clerk
the schoolmistress and other stories anton get download
13. bon jovi - it 's my life
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
free computer services
cheap acer travelmate 2312
the adventure of black peter doyle read free
scissor sisters scissor sisters
the adventure of the yellow face free ebook
string quartet tribute tribute to aerosmith
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
pink floyd ummagumma (disc 1)
a case of identity get it now
free download the horse stealers and other stories chekhov ebook
free download the grasshopper anton chekhov ebook
every time i die gutter phenomenon
cheap computer speed
download free conan the adventure of the second stain
buy cheap laptop coupons
the horse stealers and other stories anton free download book
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get it now conan the adventure of the three students
get online the bishop and other stories chekhov
get cheap computer table
sleepy-eye anton chekhov get online
rhapsody 02 symphony of enchanted lands
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
the adventure of the crooked man conan read online
arthur the adventure of the missing three-quarter free
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
doyle the return of sherlock holmes read online
buy cheap laptop to tv
the adventure of the missing three-quarter arthur get it now
download the horse stealers and other stories anton chekhov
get download the petcheneg anton book
buy cheap computer table
free smallest laptop
823. marcia hines - you (electro funk lovers dub mix)
download free the adventure of charles augustus milverton
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
toad the wet sprocket pale
buy cheap compaq laptop
antony
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
his last bow arthur download now
love and other stories anton get online ebook
get free computer store
media free uploader
free ebook download arthur conan doyle the adventure of the golden pince-nez
big daddy weave one
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get download the witch and other stories chekhov
get download the wife and other stories anton book
arthur the adventure of wisteria lodge read online
free ebook the adventure of charles augustus milverton
539. hard-fi - gotta reason
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
buy cheap computer skills
get download partners in crime agatha book
free laptop desks
the adventure of the norwood builder arthur free
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
arthur conan doyle the adventure of the naval treaty download now
282. silver chair - the best of - vol one
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
read free doyle the adventure of the dancing men
bright eyes letting off the happiness
free conan the adventure of wisteria lodge
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
prize used computer
conan the sign of four download now
1124. the automatic - raoul
conan the adventure of the three students free ebook
356. the herd - i was only 19
read online conan the adventures of sherlock holmes
free the adventure of the greek interpreter
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
buy cheap laptop backpack
the sign of four arthur free
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
conan the adventure of the priory school free
cheapest laptop sales
sleepy-eye anton chekhov get download ebook
253. pearl jam - rear view mirror disc 1 - track 8 - who are you
the adventure of the missing three-quarter arthur download free
651. teddy geiger - these walls
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
read free conan the case-book of sherlock holmes
1. blondie - call me
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
him uneasy listing vol.1
house for rent
the chorus girl and other stories chekhov download ebook
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get it now the adventure of the golden pince-nez
doyle the adventure of silver blaze download now
1093. meat loaf - paradise by the dashboard light
739. earth, wind, and fire - boogie nights
online storage backup jewelry
conan the adventure of the yellow face download free
sleepy-eye anton chekhov download ebbok
6. acdc - hells bells
the valley of fear doyle free ebook download
download free arthur conan doyle the case-book of sherlock holmes
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
free conan the case-book of sherlock holmes
free ebook conan the adventure of the six napoleons
free ebook doyle the adventure of the six napoleons
doyle the adventure of charles augustus milverton free ebook download
askmen
get it now conan a scandal in bohemia
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
arthur conan doyle the man with the twisted lip free ebook
free ebook arthur conan doyle the adventure of the engineer's thumb
soundtrack the complete recordings lord of the rings
download now arthur the adventure of wisteria lodge
391. fleetwood mac - tell me lies
green day warning
get cheap used laptops
doyle a scandal in bohemia free ebook download
get it now arthur the sign of four
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get online the lady with a dog and other stories chekhov book
cheap laptop ac adapter
free ebook arthur conan doyle
free ebook conan the adventure of the three students
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
857. bob evans - nowhere without you
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
prize buy computer
statistics leave your name
cheap laptop screens
344. taking back sunday - spin
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
738. earth, wind, and fire - disco inferno
the wife and other stories chekhov read online ebbok
arthur the case-book of sherlock holmes download now
shout out louds howl howl gaff gaff
conan the adventure of the second stain free ebook download
free www notebook
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get cheap tv on computer
free best laptop
conan the adventure of the cardboard box free ebook
monty python the instant monty python cd collection [disc 4]
underoath the changing of times
doyle the adventure of the three students download free
get free computer fan
the adventure of the golden pince-nez doyle read online
dead 60s, the dead 60s
cheap laptop sales
aishwarya rai
read online the adventure of the norwood builder
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
conan the adventure of the second stain free ebook
the cook's wedding and other stories anton chekhov get online
free ebook arthur conan doyle the five orange pips
conan the adventure of silver blaze read free
cheap lap top computers
beck the information
get free small laptop
soundtrack v for vendetta
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
adam green garfield
1310. evermore - unbreakable
barry white all time greatest hits
free doyle the adventure of the stockbroker's clerk
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
1146. meat loaf - hot summer nights
jens lekman oh you're so silent jens
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
the case-book of sherlock holmes free
warped tour 2005 warped tour [disc 2]
get online mire anton ebbok
best used notebook
get download the party and other stories anton chekhov ebbok
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
download love and other stories anton
download the cook's wedding and other stories chekhov book
adobe photoshop elements 6 kodak camera dock
get it now doyle the adventure of the golden pince-nez
the party and other stories anton free download
read online the schoolmaster and other stories anton ebook
the case-book of sherlock holmes get it now
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
guns n' roses greatest hits guns n' roses
buy cheap build a laptop
arthur conan doyle the hound of the baskervilles download now
get cheap laptop ac adapter
free ebook download arthur conan doyle the adventures of sherlock holmes
marilyn manson lest we forget
read online the man in lower ten agatha
the adventure of the naval treaty arthur download now
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
property agents
buy cheap computer warehouse
download free doyle the adventure of the yellow face
buy cheap computer accessories
hot beautiful girls
the adventure of the second stain arthur get it now
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
get online mire anton ebook
bad religion into the unknown
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
stereophonics you gotta go there to come back
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
download the horse stealers and other stories anton ebbok
best laptop tote
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
the adventure of the resident patient arthur read free
get cheap computer supplies
167. the offspring - original prankster.
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
best computer chess
get download the secret adversary agatha christie
get set go selling out
arthur conan doyle the return of sherlock holmes read free
download the duel and other stories chekhov ebbok
r.e.m. fables of the reconstruction
1007. essential eighties vol 1 - cd 3
no use for a name keep them confused
starting line, the based on a true story
venetian snares, the cavalcade of glee and daodi...
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
256. pearl jam - rear view mirror disc 1 - track 11 - wishlist
conan free ebook download
1023. status quo - wild side of life
read free arthur conan doyle the adventure of the solitary cyclist
agatha christie murder on the orient express ebbok read online
the schoolmistress and other stories anton download ebbok
the adventure of the engineer's thumb arthur conan doyle download now
marilyn manson holy wood
Welcome To Seek Free A Free Search Engine
free ebook download the adventure of the yellow face
free download the horse stealers and other stories anton chekhov
arthur the case-book of sherlock holmes free ebook download
free arthur conan doyle the adventure of black peter
the adventure of the missing three-quarter conan read online