1. A brand is a reputation, a defined set of expectations.
McDonald’s hamburgers aren’t the best hamburgers in the world. But when I order a Big Mac, I know exactly what I am getting. That experience, driven first by product and then by marketing imagery, establishes the brand reputation.
2. Sustainable brands are built upon a set of principles that are not negotiable.
I suspect that the guys at Apple have developed plenty of innovations that they have scrapped not because the products weren’t effective but simply because they weren’t user-friendly. Establishing both what you are and, just as importantly, what you aren’t is a basic criterion for branding success.
3. Your mission statement and your brand positioning must be aligned.
Imagine for a moment that your mission statement is more than a plaque on the wall – that it is a living declaration of your corporate intentions. Southwest Airlines’ “freedom” brand positioning is a clear outgrowth of a corporate vision that is both clear and in alignment with the corporate mission: the mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride and company spirit.
4. Successful brands listen to multiple stakeholders but are singular in their direction.
Committees are great for gathering information and sharing ideas. But without a powerful chairperson to establish goals, set direction and manage deliverables, a committee can quickly confuse a company’s true sense of purpose. There are few hard and fast rules to protect a Chief Marketing Officer from intense scrutiny. But if I were to suggest one proven course of action, it would simply be to listen to everyone but take singular ownership of your brand’s identity.
5. Customers discover your brand story like birds build their nests, one scrap of information at a time.
It’s no longer a single-bullet world. We live in an information-rich age. Very few brands today have the resources to be visible at each brand contact point. But maintaining a singular voice at multiple brand contact points is as important today as it has ever been.
Bill Samuels, Jr., the long-time President of Maker’s Mark, has often reminded our creative team that a bad ad is no worse than a bad haircut, it grows back quickly and is soon forgotten. But a bad brand strategy that mismanages all elements – from setting the wrong expectations to wandering from fad to fad chasing stakeholders’ fickle desires – can shut your lights and close your doors forever.
Large budgets have been the cologne that has enabled poor positioning to be overcome by simple tonnage. With efficiency at a premium today, we simply append two ideas to these core principles as we work through marketing assignments.
1. Choose one great idea/execution over the option of doing lots of things pretty well. Fund excellence over mediocrity.
2. No matter what communication tool you are using, make it sticky. It’s expensive to make the contact. It’s unaffordable if that contact doesn’t lead to customer/consumer-driven brand exploration.
The Doe-Anderson Brand Blueprint is an outgrowth of these core ideals. That one wish I mentioned in the subject line: that you will call me to engage us in helping your brand meet expectations.
