Brand Disciplines
The 5 Disciplines of Brand
There are as the title suggests five key factors you need to consider if you are serious about developing your brand.
Ignore them at your peril!
DIFFERENTIATE
What makes your company different from your competitors? What is the reason for your company’s existence? Are you a company that knows what it is, about itself? What is or was your dream? What is your vision? What is your mission statement? What are your values? Have you a strong recognisable brand name? Have you a strong recognisable symbol? Have you a strong tagline/positioning statement? Is your company focussed? Have you diluted your brand by adding unrelated products and services?
Who are you?
What do you do?
Why does it matter?
Answering these 3 simple questions will prove you have a brand!
Brand extensions must strengthen the meaning of your brand! Keep it pure and simple, keep it different! To differentiate is not a tactical, but a strategic goal combining logic and magic!
21st century brands are no longer purely about features, product benefits or experiences, but all about what tribe you identify with and belong to, who you are.
Do you swear by the PC or do you belong to the Apple tribe, do you drive a BMW or a Lexus, do you strut around in Bruno Magli’s or Timberlands and do you stay in a Holiday Inn or the Banyan Tree Resorts and Spa?
Are you an Industry category leader, or the number two, striving to become number one, or are you a fossilised also ran?
COLLABORATE
Brands do not develop in isolation but through the interaction of many individuals, your branding community. That community ranges from executives, consultants, researchers, strategists, designers, to employees, suppliers, stakeholders and customers, and is stretched out over a long period of time.
We are your strategic partners collaborating to create a powerful brand for a sustainable economic advantage over your competitors. Branding is a continuous networking activity controlled from within the company, led by a dedicated design manager, working with ‘best of breed’ specialists, the integrated marketing team.
INNOVATE
Being a dedicated follower of fashion does not make you a leader!
It may just get you in to the pop charts for a few weeks and then your company probably becomes a one hit wonder. Without fresh thinking there can be little progress and no chance of magic!
How do we know when our company name, service or product is innovative. The iMac, iPod and iPhone all rolled off the same innovative Apple tree. The 70’s start-up Virgin Records has since given birth to a huge ‘family’ of very diverse companies from airlines to space tourism, drinks to mobile communications, trains to financial services, all under the Virgin focus!
We are searching for a memorable, high imagery name creating vivid mental pictures that aid recall and combine well with a visual treatment to create a memorable brand icon.
Innovation is also a must when creating a brand name.
(The 7 criteria for a good name)
Are we suggesting a symbol, trademark, logotype, icon or avatar?
With all the existing and exciting new media at our disposal the possibilities are endless, our visual brand identity has to be able to interact with our customers.
Should we investigate the ‘earcon’ to have an auditory recall like the Nokia switch on jingle, the Danone humming, the Microsoft ‘tune’ and the King Coil ‘Boing’
VALIDATE
Up until the internet had arrived, most client/customer communications were more like a one-way street, the company sent out its communication, not knowing what kind of feedback the customer would like to give to it.
Through the internet we now have the added dimension of customer feedback to strengthen and focus our communications, improve our products and services and discover what customers really want.
CULTIVATE
Business is a process, not an entity, but an alive and dynamic organism, adapting constantly to changes in the economy, culture, industry and marketplace.
To be in the right place at the right time. To be good corporate citizens, get involved with the local community or an NPO with similar values as your own. To employ brand journalism, PR and brand ‘conversations’.
Gearoid at Brandbox has been working with Absolute Events for the past 7 years. He has played an intricate role in assisting us with our marketing materials and other such design needs on a daily basis. He is consistent with both his effort and the quality of his work, which in my experience in business has been unmatched. I also would not hesitate to recommend his talent to others.
BLoGo
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