Branding unlike conventional marketing strategies forces you to narrow your focus. This presentation is a summary of the book '22 Immutable Laws of Branding' that provide a set of guidelines to build a brand and maintain it.

1. Branding
22 Immutable Laws of
Branding

2. Successful branding is built on
the concept of singularity
- no other brand like your
- no brand can appeal to
everybody

3. Conventional marketing strategies
increase market share in the short
term, but damage the power of the
brand and sales long term

4. 1.Law of Expansion
The power of a brand is inversely proportional to its
scope
Line extension, mega-branding, variable pricing milk
brands than build them
Customers want brands that are narrow in scope &
distinguishable by a single word, shorter the better

5. 2. Law of Contraction
Brand becomes stronger when you narrow focus
Imitating successful line extending brands/companies is
misleading. They did things differently when building it.

6. 3. Law of Publicity
Birth of a brand is achieved through publicity, not
advertising.
Advertising is used for brand maintenance

8. What others say about your brand
is much more powerful than what
you say about it yourself

9. 4. Law of Advertising
Advertising is like insurance to maintain brand
leadership against competition

10. 5. Law of the Word
Brand must strive to own a word in the mind of the
customer. “I want to xerox this document”
Own the word by being first & establishing the category.
Create a new category by narrowing focus
It’s the brand name & not its visual/physical attributes
that gives product meaning in consumer’s mind

11. You have to reduce the essence of
your brand to a single thought or
attribute. An attribute that nobody
else owns in your category.

12. 6. Law of Credentials
Crucial ingredient to the success of a brand is its claim
to authenticity
Leadership is the most direct way to establish the
credentials of a brand
Credentials are very important during publicity phase
If you’re not a leader, create a new category

13. 7. Law of Quality
Quality is important, but brands are not built by quality
alone
To build a powerful brand, build a powerful perception
of quality in the mind of the customer
To build a quality brand, narrow your focus, choose a
better name and pricer higher than competition

14. 8. Law of the Category
Leading brand should promote the category, not the
brand. Increases the size of the pie, not their slice of
the pie.
Launch the brand in a way to create a perception of
being first/leader/original. Then, promote the category.

15. 9. Law of the Name
In the long run, a brand is nothing more than a name
Short term - brand needs a unique idea, first in a new
category and owning a word in the mind of the
customer
Long term - uniqueness disappears and all that remains
is the difference in brand names b/w competitors

16. 10. Law of Extensions
Easiest way to destroy a brand is to put its name on
everything
When volume is stagnant, companies create more
brands.
When category is growing, nothing is done, when the
opposite is required.

17. 11. Law of Fellowship
In order to build the category, a brand should welcome
other brands
Choice stimulates demand. Increase noise level in the
category and tends to increase sales in the category

18. Market share is not based on
merit, but on the power of the
brand in the mind.

19. 12. Law of the Generic
One of the fastest routes to failure is to give a brand a
generic name
Success of General Motors, IBM etc is misleading as
they grew big in a different era
Generic names are unable to differentiate a brand from
its competition. Use regular name out of context:
Blockbuster Video vs General Video Rental

20. Vast majority of brand
communication takes place
verbally, not visually

21. 13. Law of the Company
Brand names should always take precedence over
company names. Consumers buy brands, not
companies.
Management is company oriented. Customers are
brand oriented

22. 14. Law of Subbrands
What branding builds, sub-branding can destroy
Sub-branding is an inside-out strategy that tries to push
the core brand into new directions
When you feel the need to create subbrands, you are
chasing the market,
Subbranding, megabranding and masterbranding are
not customer-driven concepts

23. 15. Law of Siblings
Resist the urge to give brands a family look/identity.
Make each brand as distinct and different as possible.
A sibling strategy requires more top-mgmt supervision,
not less. Long term need is to maintain of separation of
brands.

24. Principles of
Sibling Strategy
Focus on common product area
Select single attribute to segment
Rigid distinction between brands
Create different, not similar brands
Launch a sibling only when you can
create a new category
Keep control of the sibling family at the
highest level

25. 16. Law of Shape
Logotype = visual symbol of brand + name of brand set
in distinctive type
Ideal shape is horizontal
Legibility is important
Visual symbol is overrated. Meaning lies in the word

26. 17. Law of Color
Brand should use a color that is the opposite of its
major competitor’s
Best to stick to a primary color instead of an
intermediary color
When picking a color, focus on the mood rather than
trying to establish an unique identity
Color consistency over a long can help a brand

27. 18. Law of Borders
A brand should know no borders
Brand should be in sync with it’s country’s unique
perceptions
Global aspiring brand name should be English.

28. 19. Law of Consistency
Markets may change, but brands shouldn’t
Brand building is boring work. Success should be
measured in decades, not years
Limitation + consistency builds a brand

29. 20. Law of Change
Change brands when
- weak or nonexistent in the mind
- moving down the food chain
- in a slow-moving field where change takes place
over a long time

30. 21. Law of Morality
No brand will live forever. Euthanasia is often the best
option

31. 22. Law of Singularity
Most important aspect of a brand is its single-
mindedness
Brand - proper noun that can be used in place of a
common word.
It’s a singular idea or concept that you hold in the mind
of a prospect

32. 11 Laws Of
Internet
Branding

33. 1.Law of Either/Or
Internet can either a business or medium for a brand. If
it’s former, start from scratch - new strategy/name
Same name if entire business is moving online.
Short names work best.
Fracture your brand - creating an internet brand,
physical brand

34. 2. Law of Interactivity
Interactivity is what sets the internet apart from other
mediums like radio/TV/print
If you want to build a internet brand, you must design
for it

35. 3. Law of the Common Name
Buy.com, housing.com, vote.com - bad, common &
generic names. No SEO value either v/s Amazon,
Yahoo, eBay
Mind treats common name as representative of all sites
in the category, not a brand name

36. In a physical world, there are many clues to a
company’s purpose. On the internet, your name stands
alone, until you get to the site.
Short, simple, suggest the category, unique, alliterative,
speakable, shocking, personalized,
4. Law of the Proper name

37. 5. Law of Singularity
At all costs avoid being second in the category

38. When builds an internet brand,
think category first, brand
second

39. 6. Law of Advertising
Avoid mixing advertising with interactivity

40. 7. Law of Globalism
For high-tech products/services at high-end segment,
single language strategy might be best
Multi-language strategy might suit the mainstream
market better

41. 8. Law of Time
You have to be fast. You have to be first. You have to
be focussed.
Being first in the marketplace doesn’t buy you anything
except a license to try to get in the mind first

42. 9. Law of Vanity
Biggest mistake of all is believing you can do anything

43. 5 Branding
Strategies for a
leader in any
category
Keep your brand focussed
Increase your share of the market
Expand your market
Go Global
Dominate the category

44. 10. Law of Divergence
Technology like nature does not converge but diverges

45. 11. Law of Transformation
Internet will transform all aspects of our lives

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