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The Language of Branding: 'Brand Essence'

Brand Essence is the heart and soul of a brand a brands fundamental nature or quality. Usually stated in two to three words, a brands essence is the one constant across product categories and throughout the world. Some examples are Nike: Authentic Athletic Performance, Hallmark: Caring Shared, Disney: Fun Family Entertainment or Disneyworld, Magical Fun, Starbucks: Rewarding Everyday Moments, The Nature Conservancy: Saving Great Places. (Typically, it is rare for an organizations brand essence and slogan to be the same. For instance, Nikes essence authentic athletic performance was translated to the following two slogans: Just do it! and I can. But, Saving Great Places happens to be The Nature Conservancys brand essence and its slogan.)

Kevin Keller, brand expert and author of the popular brand book, Strategic Brand Management, coined the term brand mantra, which is very closely related to brand essence. The mantra concept reinforces the role of brand essence in internal communication. Kevin says, [brand mantra] should define the category of business for the brand and set brand boundaries. It should also clarify what is unique about the brand. It should be memorable. As a result it should be short, crisp and vivid in meaning. Ideally, the brand mantra would also stake out ground that is personally meaningful and relevant to as many employees as possible. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Branding: The Power of Word of Mouth

In his book, Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, Adam Morgan indicates that people enthusiastically share information for one of four reasons: (1) bragging rights, (2) product enthusiasm, (3) aspirational identification or (4) news value.

Stories and anecdotes make a point real to people and imbed it in their memories. Brand stories and anecdotes can become legends. As they are told and retold, they can raise the brand to a mythological level. Stories are often told about consumer experiences that far exceed expectations. This could be the result of extraordinary customer service or some other incredible

experience with the brand. Going out of your way as an organization to create these experiences will pay huge dividends word-of-mouth marketing can not be underestimated. Ideally, you create experiences that reinforce your brand's point of difference.

For instance, a Hallmark card shop owner cared so much for one of her customers that when the customer could not find what she was looking for in the store, the owner drove several miles away to a few other Hallmark stores until she found what the customer was looking for. She hand delivered it to the customer's house that evening, at no charge, reinforcing Hallmark's essence of caring shared. Now that is the stuff of legends. Delivering this type of service, even occasionally, generates significant word-of-mouth brand advocacy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Branding: Just Ask...

This branding question came to us from Rich in Seattle:

"Please describe the difference between brand essence and brand promise"

Rich, thanks for asking. We believe there are four critical elements to a wellpositioned brand:

(1) target consumer, (2) brand essence, (3) brand promise and (4) brand personality.

Here are the differences between the two you asked about...

The Brand Essence is a two to three word phrase (typically in the format adjective adjective noun) capturing the heart and soul of the brand. The Brand Essence is simple, concise, aspirationally attainable, timeless, enduring and extendable. Examples include fun family entertainment (Disney),

genuine athletic performance (Nike), saving great places (The Nature Conservancy) and caring shared (Hallmark). It is not a tagline or slogan, but rather the first thing an employee might say to quickly describe the brand to another in an elevator conversation (This brand is all about). While a brands positioning might differ slightly from country to country and while its advertising campaigns might change over time, like a persons character, the brands essence will largely remain unchanged.

The Brand Promise is a sentence that communicates the one thing that the brand intends to own in the target consumers mind. I prefer to express it in the following form: Only (brand) delivers (unique benefit) to (target consumer). A brand promise must be understandable, believable, unique/differentiating, compelling, admirable and endearing. The ideal benefit to claim in a brand promise has the following three qualities: (1) it is extremely important to the target consumer, (2) the brands organization is uniquely suited to delivering it and (3) competitors are not addressing it. As an example, Harley-Davidsons brand promise might read as follows: Only Harley-Davidson delivers the fantasy of complete freedom on the road and the comradeship of kindred spirits to avid cyclists. The brands promise should drive everything an organization does and be manifest at each point of contact the brand makes with the consumer. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Characteristics Of Successful Brand Champions

Chief brand champions will be more effective if they exhibit the following personal characteristics:

Curious Well rounded Intuitive Visionary "Big picture" thinker Strong customer knowledge

Strong business knowledge Assertive Disciplined Tenacious Resilient Passionate Able to simplify the complex Able to translate brand concepts into something relevant for non-marketers Story telling ability Teaching ability Likable personality These qualities seem to imply three roles: (1) vision crafter, (2) teacher/evangelist and (3) standards enforcer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Strongest Brands

The strongest brands arent created with a logo or a tag line. They arent created with an advertising campaign. They arent even created with a product or service. They begin with a compelling visiona vision whose foundation is deep customer insight. The insight may be informed by personal experience, in-depth research, active listening, intuition, or one or more of many other paths to customer intimacy.

The strongest brands strive to understand cultural context, underlying values, hopes, anxieties, fears and other motivations. They also strive to understand self image, icons that evoke strong memories and feelings and other emotional stimuli. The most progressive organizations find ways to experience relevant contexts and situations with their customers.

The strongest brands are authentic and stand for something. They possess

integrity. That is, they are internally and externally consistent; they are who they say they are.

The strongest brands have a distinctive and consistent voice and visual style. They weave compelling stories. And they strive to develop emotional connections to their intended customers.

The strongest brands transcend specific products, services and delivery vehicles. These brands are most closely associated with functional, emotional, experiential and self-expressive customer benefits. They exist to meet deeply felt human needs in unique and superior ways.

Is yours one of these brands? I hope that it is. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Brand Management Is More Than Logos And Ad Campaigns

When I have joined organizations to head up their brand management or marketing functions, others in those organizations have often conveyed to me that my primary role must be one of the following:

Advertising Naming Logo management Creating brochures "Air cover" for the sales force "Putting a pretty face on the product" Having been immersed in brand management for such a long time and with the recent pervasive coverage of brand management in the general business press, it amazes me how many people still don't "get" what brand management is all about.

A brand is the personification of an organization, product or service. It is the primary source of a relationship with a customer. It builds goodwill/equity over time. People are loyal to brands, not products or services. Your brand's equity is the result of the total sum of the experiences that people have with your brand, from its ads, its retail experience, its purchase, is use, its support services and its myths and legends.

Think of a brand as a person. You want others to be attracted to you. You want them to enjoy being around you. You want them to admire you. You want them to trust you. You want them to consider you to be a good friend. You want them to deeply care about you. You want them to say nice things about you to their friends.

So what are the most important duties of an organization's lead brand champion?

Ensuring that the CEO shares the primary brand champion role with you Ensuring that the brand has a carefully crafted mission, vision and promise Maximizing relevant brand differentiation Ensuring that the brand has an attractive personality Making sure the brand stands for something important to the target customer Making sure all employees understand what the brand stands forAligning organization strategy with brand strategy Creating and sustaining organization-wide passion for the brand's mission, vision and promise Ensuring that the organization delivers against the brand essence, promise and personality at each point of contact the brand makes with employees, customers, shareholders, the press and any other stakeholders Ensuring that the brand acts with consistency and integrity Maximizing the target customer's awareness of the brand Infusing the brand with relevant innovation

Keeping the brand alive and "vital" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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 subdisciplines (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.

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