A 20-slide overview of branding presented at Pecha Kucha Night Honolulu (http://www.pecha-kucha.org/cities/honolulu/5) on July 25, 2009. Covers the basics of brand, customer experience, and brand expression.
19. A BRAND TM is an emotional aftertaste formed by interactions . These interactions are opportunities for you to connect visually , verbally and behaviorally with your customer to become more credible , relevant and differentiated .
As a brand consultant, I often find it difficult to explain to people exactly what I do. This presentation is an attempt to provide more clarity for myself, and for others, by delivering a condensed and comprehensive definition of brand in just 20 slides.
When I tell people I work in branding, the response is sometimes, “Oh, you mean like Louis Vuitton?” It seems quite a few people, branding means luxury brands. This is actually not that far off the mark. Luxury brands arguably represent the pinnacle of brand success, where heritage and perceived quality allow companies to charge a high premium. People usually look disappointed when they find out I don’t work for Louis Vuitton.
Sometimes a wiseass will answer, Oh, you mean like branding cattle? Although this is also obviously not what I do, it is the origins of branding. When cattle owners marked their cattle to keep them from being stolen or claimed by other ranchers, they inadvertently created a means of distinguishing between products.
But brand is not just the mark on a cow or a leather bag. It is basically how people think and feel about a product, service or company. The guy on the slide is Ze Frank, a Web 2.0 entertainer. He calls brand an “emotional aftertaste conjured up by a series of experiences.”
The more powerful the experience, the more powerful the brand. Although we usually think of brands as products or companies, practically anything can be a brand: people, places, whatever. I think we all agree, for example, that Hawaii is a very strong brand.
Brands like Hawaii are created through all of the tangible and intangible interactions people have with them. It is possible to influence these interactions, but impossible to control what people think. Ultimately, people will form their own conclusions based not on what you tell them, but on what they have decided to believe.
This website, Brand Tags, demonstrates the perception principle nicely. It shows you a series of brand marks and asks you to input the first word or phrase that springs to mind. These words and phrases are collated in tags - the larger the tag, the more prominent the association. According to this site, people associate Microsoft with annoying, antitrust, Apple and assholes. And that’s just the As.
We are constantly forming these associations every time we interact with the brand. Let’s say you’re planning a vacation, but don’t know much about Hawaii. Just from browsing a guidebook, talking to a friend who honeymooned there, and watching an online video, you can already develop a fairly complex impression of Hawaii.
The best way for an organization to manage their brand is to understand the customer journey, which includes all of the major interactions a customer will have over the course of their relationship with the brand. A careful study of these interactions gives you greater control over how you are perceived.
Every interaction is an opportunity for you to make a positive impression, to win over, to persuade. A weak point of interaction is one that fails to engage potential customers, and even creates negative perceptions about the brand.
Companies are starting to recognize this, and are paying greater attention to customer voices. A couple of years ago, Starbucks rolled out “My Starbucks Idea”, a site that allows people to log on and suggest improvements to the Starbucks experience.
Companies like Starbucks use these customer-centric initiatives to establish credibility. A credible brand is one that bridges the gap between a company’s self-image and how it is perceived by customers.
Strong brands also find ways to stay relevant to their customers. They do this by understanding customers needs and changing marketplace conditions, and delivering utility - activating the customer to participate and interact with the brand.
Successful brands also stand out from the competition. They are differentiated. There are so many cars on the road that look very very similar. But every so often one comes along that knows exactly what it is. Unfortunately, I don’t drive one of these.
Credibility, relevance and differentiation are built up through the customer experience over time through multiple interactions with the brand. These interactions can be categorized as visual - what you see, verbal - what you hear, and behavioral - how representatives of the brand treat you.
The visual is the most apparent - and the side most people associate with branding. Visual can be expressed in such elements as logo, product packaging, signage, store environments, advertising, brochures and web design. The Starbucks logo and cup has become an iconic visual symbol that represents far more than just a cup of coffee.
Verbal is the language of the brand. How does a brand talk about itself? What kind of messages are associated with it? Some of the most obvious of these are product names, taglines, and advertising copy. Starbucks uses the cup as a message board for communicating with the customer, reinforcing the experience.
Perhaps the hardest to control, but arguably the most important is behavioral. How do you get your people to live the brand, to be living breathing embodiments of what you stand for? Starbucks built its brand by investing in its people, tapping them to be ambassadors of the brand.
So, to recap: A brand is an emotional aftertaste formed by interactions. These interactions are opportunities for you to connect visually, verbally and behaviorally with your customer to become more credible, relevant and differentiated.
So I’m not sure if I was able to explain what I do, but hopefully you were able to learn something about brand. My name is Patrick Williamson and I work for a brand strategy firm called Bedrock. We are always happy to answer any brand-related questions you may have. Thank you.
