Breakthrough: Want a Successful Formula to Boost Your Brand Equity?
Have you ever wondered why some brands attract obsessive fans who can not get enough of what those brands say and offer while other brands are ignored?
Far too many brands are in danger of failing in their growth, ambition, and commercial appeal to a global audience. And why? They have not evolved and are just getting by with their brand. The sad reality is that many have no brand at all. And that’s a shame. Here is a typical example: a company’s new brand guidelines have just been created. Logo, colour palette, logo versions, fonts, tagline(s), dos, don’ts all there, but little else. A closer look reveals that little has changed in years, except for a nice new spot varnish cover, an updated new year, and the chairman’s message.
To quote from Einstein “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results.” …applies to brand management as much as it does to the rules of life.
The transition from brand police to brand innovator can be pretty daunting. As in all business areas, the breakthrough is to have a bold vision and strive for positive change. It’s about prioritising what you can do with your brand (brand innovation) and less of what you can not (traditional brand Police ). In this article, you’ll find a simple 8-step brand test you can use to ensure your brand is distinctive, optimal, and poised for a healthy and prosperous future.
1. IS YOUR BRAND CREDIBLE AND AUTHENTIC?
Building credibility is a continuous process that requires care and attention. However, if your brand can tap into the passion and loyalty of your customers by sharing stories, brand experiences and testimonials, it’s worth its weight in gold.
It’s equally important that your brand remains authentic. Reward your customers with engaging and captivating content, special offers, privileged access to new products and, if possible, let them participate as trusted partners in further product/service trials
2. Does your brand have a distinct personality?
Look closely at your brand (its logo, its colours, its visual identity, its messaging, its appearance in the various channels in which it is used). Now look at the competition (direct and indirect). What are they doing that your brand is not? Are they ahead of you in terms of design? Or are the competition’s brands similar to yours and the industry you are all in? The goal is to stand out through your brand experience. Not just graphically, but also through the brand personality you convey in everything you do. The tone of voice, customer service, and gratitude towards your customers. Everything you do to enhance the customer journey and brand experience with your products, events and services.
3. Is your brand more than just a logo?
Once upon a time, many for-profit and non-profit organisations designed their logos with a globe symbol, an acronym and the hope that their brands would set the world on fire. Those were innocent times without the pressures of today’s marketplace: 24/7 connectivity, more choice, more accountability, more competition, artificial intelligence, a more fragmented and niche media and entertainment landscape – the list goes on.
Things have changed
As the market and customer demands grew, these brands found themselves at a crossroads. They could keep doing more or less what they were doing. They could tweak their fonts, make their colour palette more vibrant, etc., or they could face the challenges and opportunities that came their way. Roll up your proverbial brand sleeves and equip your brand with what it needs to fully engage and stand out from the crowd using a toolbox of additional brand assets. For example, a pattern or visual motif for the brand’s visual identity. This goes far beyond “logo slapping,” the art of putting your logo on every piece of promotional and sponsorship material and hoping everyone will love you for it.
Think UEFA Champions League – The Ultimate Stage. A gigantic, nighttime stadium that is the focal point of a bustling metropolis, where the best players in the world play. Not just the Champions League logo. FIFA has now taken this approach and provided a great example of what can be done beyond a logo with its visual identity for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. All of this can be applied to all promotional channels in the marketplace, including live events, print, broadcast, and mobile.
4. Is your brand commercially attractive?
Rightsholders at other major sporting and entertainment events have learned that a composite logo, a bunch of tickets, and a few banners are not enough to win over many of the more demanding sponsors and commercial partners. They need far more engaging and applicable brand assets, including a visual identity derived from what was seen in their opening and closing sequences and event/competition promotions. They could share these with their promo partners to gain a more credible association with the brand. All of this serves two purposes: to better engage the target audience with greater visibility and to provide the sponsor/commercial affiliate a tangible return on their investment – a win-win situation.
Brand Assets
In addition to the various forms of your logo, does your brand have (and can it offer to your commercial partners) any or all of the following elements to make it more commercially attractive?
- Logos: all colours (full colour, flat-colour, and special app versions) in both portrait and landscape formats
- Tournament/Event Mark/Tactical Promotional Graphics
- Vectorial Artwork and Motion Graphics of Your Visual Identity (see UEFA Champions League and FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 above) for sponsorship – the property promotional design, typically known as the visual identity that the sponsor can use for packaging, online banners, brand templates for social media, event activation, giant screens, mobile devices, fan parks, and tactical ads
- A Visual Menu of Brand Activation Ideas and a Supporting Brand Toolkit with static and motion imagery, such as how to brand content marketing and social media engagement.
- Open Discussions to Create Experiential Event Opportunities related to the property, such as incorporating unique visual identity format templates for animated projections, in-store displays, and LED boards
- A Suite of Music Edits, taken from the property’s sonic identity and cover all broadcast and, digital/online activations
5. DOES YOUR BRAND STAND OUT IN A SPONSORSHIP ENVIRONMENT?
For global brands looking to invest in sponsorship with a major sports or arts/entertainment property, there are two broad categories when it comes to brand association and activation:
1. Solus Sponsor Recognition: how they activate the sponsorship themselves and independently of other sponsors; and
2. Collective Sponsor Recognition – how they compete with the other sponsors of the same property for attention, e.g., in media backdrops, on billboards, street banners, online promotions, etc.
1. Solus Sponsorship
For Solus sponsorship, there are far more opportunities for a sponsor to stand out in the marketplace with a carefully timed and imaginative campaign. They focus on both their brand assets and the brand assets of the sponsored property. A key goal is to enhance the brand experience for the lucky few who get to attend a big concert, for example, and for fans watching the concert live on their mobile devices, with branded content and a well-designed brand interface.
2. Collective Sponsorship
Joint sponsorship puts much more emphasis on the logos of the sponsors themselves. Think of Adidas or Nike logos – clear, simple, bold and contrasting with dark and light backgrounds as opposed to, say, Continental Tyres with its little-known logo icon and elongated serif text. Unlike Nike and Adidas, this makes Continental’s brand visibility and applicability extremely difficult in both event applications like media backdrops and across digital and online banners. In limited areas such as media backdrops and collective web banners featuring all sponsors, the logos that can be quickly scanned quickly and stand out will be the clear winners (Adidas, Nike Amazon). Those with complex and hard-to-read logos should consider a rebrand.
6. IS YOUR BRAND ATTRACTIVE TO THE WORLD?
Everything has changed in terms of brand ambition and global connectivity. Once the preserve of medium and large brands, today small startup brands have the ability to effortlessly connect with a global audience. Whether your brand is an established Fortune 500 brand or a small start-up, geography is not an obstacle. Consider this in your brand development (naming, logo, visual identity, etc.) to create a brand that is understood by a global audience.
Avoid using letter abbreviations that rarely work for a local market, let alone a global market. Use bold graphics that promote your brand values and personality and can graphically work in both large format (TV campaigns, billboards) and small format (cell phones and tablets). This reinforces your message, makes you stand out in the marketplace, and clarifies what you offer (professional services, product line, sports, entertainment, causes). Abstract design can be compelling when people around the world understand what you are about and what you offer. Effortlessly.
7. IS YOUR BRAND CLEAR AND COHERENT ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS?
I recently spoke with two world-renowned brands, both of which provided a range of their corporate publications and online sites. In both cases, the examples looked like they came from many different companies. And why? Because their brands had no real brand architecture and had not yet centralised their brand development. This meant that marketing could do what it wanted, the communications department/ PR could do what it wanted, sales, etc. Different departments created different brands, with all the brand confusion and duplicate, unnecessary development costs before both brands considered the customer (who typically would be receiving branded information from more than one department).
Brand Architecture
The takeaway here is – to keep it simple. Many sub-brands are not at all. Different departments should use titles for products, services, initiatives, and causes that are supported by the mothership brand’s logo and visual identity. By all means, colour coding, different photos, and some other way to differentiate between departments. Avoid creating standalone brands for different departments. A clear brand architecture, a toolkit of branded templates, and a central brand support system will avoid confusion, empower your brand and save a fortune.
8. DO YOU HAVE CUSTOMERS AND FOLLOWERS WHO HAVE BECOME FANS?
We have all seen the queues outside Apple stores on TV for Apple’s latest sleekly designed Apple doodad. The lines around the block for the latest Star Wars or Marvel franchise or the big concert tour sold out in less than 5 minutes. There are valuable lessons to be learned from this that can be applied to all types of brands by converting your brand’s customers and followers into fans.
To convert and nurture customers and followers into fans, you need a committed medium to long-term strategy. There are no quick fixes. Your brand needs to be consistent and show up for your audience every day.
Strengthen the emotional side of your brand. For example, your branded product or service should not only solve a problem (provide more free time) but also make you feel like part of a tribe (share stories, videos, photos), which is supported by the humility and authenticity of your brand.
Customer Interaction and Empathy
Interact with your customers. Social media is only as good as your engagement with them. In other words, strong storytelling and a solid sense of empathy with your customers should be the norm here. Inform them, keep them updated, make them laugh. And most importantly, LISTEN to their needs and wants. This will shape your content strategy and the future of your brand, product, and services.
Promote a customer community where they interact and share ideas and experiences – asking questions, seeking answers, and engaging with everything your brand offers. This builds loyalty, shows you care about your brand, and can attract potential customers by posting genuine, heartfelt testimonials.
Engage and involve your customers in your business. Make them matter. Ask for their input, opinions, and feedback. Get them to create and share unique content for your brand. Most importantly, it’s hugely rewarding for both your brand and their engagement with it.
Appearance and usability are important. Make sure your brand’s user experience is beautifully designed: an intuitive website and mobile experience with a simple, clear user interface. Everything about your brand is cohesive and of the highest standard.
CONCLUSION
So, as you can see, having a great innovative brand is easier than you might have thought. If you follow the tips here carefully, such as:
1. Being credible and authentic 2. Having a distinct personality 3. Building a larger scope of brand assets. Not just a logo 4. Demonstrate commercial appeal 5. Stand out in a sponsorship environment 6. Attract a global audience 7. Be clear and coherent 8. Create fans
…then you are well on your way.
