THE POWER

OF BRANDING
: THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND POSITIONING

Advertising Lecture Series 2

Understanding Brands Through Case Studies

Before we shed the limelight on the

superstar of todays lecture, namely
branding, lets look at another
important area.

What is Advertising in todays context?

Advertising going forward is about turning

big ideas into personal experiences that
change/reinforce both perceptions and
behavior.
Jan Leth, Vice Chairman
for Global Digital Creative
Ogilvy & Mather

I define it as a conversation starter.

Interruption doesnt cut it anymore...you
either get people talking...or nothing
happens.
Marshall Ross, CCO, Cramer-Krasselt
(American integrated marketing and
communications agency)

I still think its about finding a big idea.

You just have more ways to (express)
it now.
Woody Kay, Managing Partner,
Chief Creative Officer, Arnold Worldwide
(Advertising Agency with offices in
Boston NYC, London and Prague)

...Its still about creating ideas that people

respond to. But...brands have to work a lot
harder. More than ever, brands have to
offer something of value.
Albert Kelly, ECD, Fallon
(Agency in the UK)

An encounter (that includes messages,

experiences, etc.) created by a brand in
order to generate awareness or
build preference.
Edward Boches, CCO, Mullen (Boston
based full service integrated advertising
agency known for Television, Print and
Digital Advertising)

Its all that

Inter-action.
*come back to this later in the lecture

There are four areas,

which we will touch on today (not in order):
1. What do we mean by the word brand?
2. What must a brand be able to do?
3. What is branding and its importance?
4. What is your role as an advertising
designer when it comes to building
a brand today?

What is a brand?

Understanding
Branding Isnt Hard

In Fact Its
Quite Simple

How Simple?

This Simple

How Much Would You

Pay For This T-Shirt?

$5.00?

What About
This One?

$10.00?

And This One?

Thats Branding

Earlier examples were just to give you an

idea of the whole concept about brands
and what is a brand.

So what exactly is a brand?




First and foremost, a brand is NOT JUST:

A Logo.
The term LOGO is a short for LOGOTYPE,
which is a custom-lettered word. LOGOS is
Greek for WORD. That makes a logo
merely a trademark*.
*A trademark may be a logo, symbol, monogram, emblem, or
other graphic device. For example, Louis Vuitton uses a
monogram, while Nike uses a symbol.

A brand is also not just:

A Corporate Identity.
A companys corporate identity is an
identity system uniquely and thoughtfully
created for controlling the use of
trademarks and trade-dress elements on
company publications, advertisements,
stationery, vehicles, signage, and so on.

A brand is also not just:

A Product or Service.

Marketing people often talk about

managing their brands, but what they
usually mean is managing their products, or
the sales, distribution, and quality thereof.
To manage a brand is to manage
something much less tangible - an aura,
an invisible layer of meaning that
surrounds the product or service.

So what is a brand then?

"A brand is more than a name or a logo - it

is a promise and a contract with every
customer with whom you are dealing. And if
people feel that the offering does not live
up to what they expect from the brand,
they will decide to stop buying."
- Richard Branson,
Founder of the Virgin Group

Definition: A brand is a product of the

millions of experiences a company
creates with employees, vendors,
reporters, communities, and customers
and the emotional feelings these groups
develop as a result of their experiences.

It is the sum of all the characteristics that

make the brands offering unique:
Reputation
Customer Service
A Promise
Price
Feeling
Attitude
Logo
Product Line

It can also be said that a brand is a

persons gut feeling about a product,
service, or company. Its a GUT FEELING
because we are all emotional, intuitive
beings, despite our best effects to be
rational.

Its a persons gut feeling because in the

end, the brand is defined by individuals,
NOT by companies, markets, or the socalled general public.

Each person creates his or her own

version of a brand and companies cant
control this process. But what they can do
is to INFLUENCE him or her.

So when a few people arrive at the same

gut feeling, a company can then be said to
have a brand.

In summary, a brand is the visual,

emotional, rational, and cultural image that
one associates with a company or a
product.
E.G.: When you think of NIKE, you might think of Just Do It.

In another words:
A brand is not what a COMPANY say it is.
It is what THEY say it is.

For example:
Whenever we hear the word horse, we
visualise a majestic creature with four legs,
a long tail, and a mane falling over a
muscular neck, an impression of power and
grace. We all possess the knowledge that a
person can ride long distances on its back.
Whilst individual horses may differ in each
person, but overall in our minds we still
recognise their horseness.

Put simply, when we add up all these

perceptions we have of a horse, the total is
distinctive enough so that we think
HORSE, and not a bicycle.

To illustrate the explanation better,

here are some examples:

Can you tell me what the following

brands are without me showing you
the full image?

Hence since a brand is a gut feeling, a

perception, just like the perception we have
of a horse, a brand is an approximate
- yet distinct - understanding of a product,
service, or company.

Thus managing a brand is the management

of differences, not as it exists on fact
sheets, but as it exists in the minds of
the people.

And this is why branding or re-branding is

important to influence/remind people so
that a brand is constantly rank top in
their minds.

And this is also why a branding or rebranding exercise always centres on these
three areas - all have to do
with the minds of people:

customer analysis

competitor analysis

internal analysis

What must a brand be able to do?

A brand must be able to:

: Arouse emotion
: Ignite passion
: Echo reliability
: Have meaning

For example:
Apple opposes
IBM solves
Virgin enlightens
Sony dreams
Benetton protests
A brand is not a noun but a VERB.

The question now is how?

Through INTER-ACTION.

Marketing then

Marketing now

Inter-action is:
: An expectation
: Reciprocity (Mutual Benefit, Exchange)
: Courtesy
: Conversation
: Response
: Measurement
: Research
: Understanding
: Dynamic
: Involving
: (Above all) Human

Inter-action takes form as...

: Sharing
: Crowd sourcing
: Blogging
: Micro blogging
: Commenting
: Embedding
: Linking
: Tagging
: Rating
: (Above all) Participation

In todays digital era and with the new

generation of consumers, branding
without inter-action will not work.

And now to understand the

power of branding, we will look
at a few case studies.

But first of all, lets ask ourselves: what is

branding? And why is it important?

If a brand results from a set of associations

and perceptions in peoples minds, then
branding is an attempt to harness, generate,
influence and control these associations to
help the business perform better.

Strong Branding = Trust and experience

Consumerswhether for business or

personal products or servicesselect
brands they believe will serve them best,
even if that brand is priced at a premium.

Case study: Toyota

Mercedes Benz is associated with superb
engineering, quality, performance and
consumer service. Toyota, too shares all of
the attributes and in some cases provides
better quality than Mercedes, so why isnt it
seen as a direct competitor to Mercedes?

Because Toyota is not positioned as a

premium brand in the minds of
consumers.

So what did Toyota do to compete in this

market segment?
They created a premium brand: Lexus.
Both Toyota and Lexus brands share the
same engineering, design elements etc.
Evaluation: the brand is what differs in the
minds of the consumer (TRUST).

And the branding goes beyond the vehicle

you find branding in everything that Lexus
does (THE EXPERIENCE):
the way the salesperson first approaches a potential
customer in the showroom
how he/she is dressed (in a suit vs. a normal salespeople
in polos)
the layout of the showroom
the choice of building materials and interiorsslate floors,
leather chairs
the waiting areas
the cleanliness of service areas
the branding of Lexus continues after the sale

So why is branding important?

Heres a look at two case studies:

The Apple Brand:

The '90s saw computers getting faster,
better and - most importantly - cheaper.
Microsoft was making billions by
providing operating systems on all of
these machines.

Apple was making expensive machines

and, as the company's struggles showed,
nobody wanted expensive computers when
cheap would do.

So Apple launched the iPod, which

catapulted the company from a computer
business to a mass-market entertainment
brand. Apple basically used iPod marketing
as a strategy to draw heavily on peoples
emotional relationship with their music.

By moving into music and film, Apple has

redefined what the company does and
shifted its brand association to something
that connects with larger numbers of
people outside computing or creative
community. TODAY, APPLE HAS
BECOME A LIFESTYLE BRAND.

The Ikea Brand:

It is a company with a big idea; a brand that is
based around the notion that good design is for
everyone, not just design snobs. Its past campaigns
have always advised us to fit out our homes with
well-designed furniture and products at affordable
prices.

So now we know what is a brand, what it

must be able to do for consumers, and
what is branding, the big question now is --what is your role as an advertising
designer when it comes to building a
brand today then?

Here are 6 factors for you to consider

where branding is concerned today:

1. We are always moving

The advertising/marketing landscape does
not escape the market driven Darwinian
evolution that has always been
happening. Keep up and adapt
to change.

2. Is digital/interactive good enough?

Everything is fusing. We are living in a
digital world, where in essence,
everything is digital. And knowing and
going digital alone is not enough, the most
important task is having the insights into
what creates and motivates participants.

3. Always stay connected with no time

to wait
People are becoming more connected and
communication is becoming more
synchronous. Form communities of likeminded people for the brand you are
building. Find them on social
networking sites.

4. From Storytelling to Experience

Move from pouring stories down pipe-sized
channels to developing public
plazas/places and participating in
experience arenas. Advertising helps
influence gut feeling up-front. Ideas put the
brand at the centre where gut feelings are
shaped. Interactivity is key in today's
successful campaigns.

5. Personal Media
We are moving from MassMedia to MyMedia.
As we move from the channel focused
MassMedia to the thinner tailored, personal
media, the brand will be in a sphere it has
never before consciously and interactively
entered. Create personal space within
MassMedia. Its about offering exclusivity for
identity and community seekers.

6. Its all still there

Nothing dies, but new things enter the
marketplace. The next best tool to use
when it comes to building a brand is the
word of mouth - this can be done using
the most successful media platform to date,
Facebook, Youtube etc.

So if inter-action is all about human and

participation, one cannot eliminate the
importance of collaboration.

The five requirements of collaboration:

1. Diversity
: Things need to change and evolve.
For the world to be interesting, you, as
advertising designers need to keep
manipulating it.
Defy conventions; ask why not.

2. Unique Ways to Contribute

: There needs to be a variety of
opportunities based on the participants
ability to contribute offered in a campaign;
don't force every participant into the
same format.
Your choice of main and supporting
media platforms are key.

3. Connect and co-operate

: Let the participants connect and build on
each others' contributions.
Its all about content sharing today.
Foster a community of like-minded
people and let them be the brand
ambassadors.

4. Shared Sense of Purpose

: To participate one needs to see a
meaning and a direction.
Understanding your target audience,
their needs and wants are important
when working on a campaign; otherwise,
there will no relevance to them.

5. Decisions within structures

: Participants have to be able to control and
shape the content in the way they want it to
go but keep it insides a structure.
Your role today has changed; you are
also a facilitator; no longer just an
advertising designer who will let the
campaign row out by itself.

In summary, powerful branding should

always strive for inter-action. Your role as
a designer is to facilitate inter-action that
involves the audience participating in
activities facilitated by you - make them
feel, my role/opinion is necessary.

A quote to ponder on:

If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its

production-related assets in a disaster, the
company would survive. By contrast, if all
consumers were to have a sudden lapse
of memory and forget everything related
to Coca-Cola, the company would go
out of business.
- Coca Cola executive

YES, I LOVE COKE

MORE THAN PEPSI!