In an attempt to reinforce my mantra that a brand is not a logo; a logo is not a brand, the following was published in the Harrogate Advertiser on 2 April (a day late I hear you say). There is an increasing band of design-savvy operators in Harrogate and the Business Pink does much to get a design message to its business readers. Just one question: how come Jonathan gets a bigger pic that mine? I'd have worn a snazzy pinstripe suit too if I'd known.
Talking Point - Have you changed your identity? Business branding is big business but can small changes to your marketing strategy reap rewards and what are the benefits of branding?
Brian Minards, principal of Minards associates - the Harrogate-based corporate/brand strategy and design management consultants - has advised some of the World’s better known brands, including consumer brands Dyson, Laura Ashley, Halifax and Hallmark and many corporate and business to business brands - from metals to lawyers to finance.
Can small changes to a company’s marketing strategy reap rewards? It all depends on the starting point, and it relies very much on the way in which it is managed. Based on my underlying premise that a brand is not a logo and a logo is not a brand, it is important to see all manifestations of an organisation’s communication as part of the journey taken by its employees, stakeholders, and customers or clients – and that of the public that is not its customer. An unfulfilled promise or shoddy product will dilute brand equity. What do Toyota owners care about at the moment? Certainly not its logo or marketing material, but rather the immediate delivery of those ‘small’ modifications that will not only allow their car to remain the car in front (the brand promise), but also ensure that the car that doesn’t hit the car in front. And what do non-Toyota drivers care about? You tell me, you’ll see them at other dealers until the brake-dust settles and the marketing machine has done its best to adjust our brand memory.
Why do we go to Ikea? Is it because we enjoy the camaraderie of long queues and the high possibility of dented veneer when we unpack and attempt to fathom out product assembly at home? No. It’s because money for money, product for product there is little real competition. Ikea is a sum of its parts and the brand operates extremely well. Why do we go to Starbucks? Is it because we relish the opportunity to clear the dirty tables ourselves in order to sit down? Is it because we actually adore the taste the coffee? No. It’s because the brand has been carefully constructed to convince us that we like what we see, and there is little alternative in much of the UK.
How do you know a Porsche is good? Have you ever driven one? I haven’t. We have a cumulative understanding of the brand through its rigidly orchestrated stacking of messages, from a perception of the quality of the product to the exclusive implications of its advertising.
Brands and organisations are all about the management of continual chaos. Even small changes will affect elements of brand expression and those changes may well have been orchestrated or necessitated by the reactions of the consumer in the fast-paced information exchange that is the internet.
The brand guardian is now not only the driver of their organisation’s brand, but they are also goalkeeper and out-fielder. A brand is a tumultuous sum of its parts. It is the design of the product or service and its packaging. It’s the material used to promote it, the morale and confidence of the organisation’s workforce (just pay a visit to any retail environment to hear frontline staff bemoaning their lot as you patiently queue to pay), it’s the fulfilment of the promise, and it’s the satisfaction of the customer.
So, forget that new logo, brochure or website for the moment, we simply will not see them. We don’t buy anything because of a logo. Sweep up the detritus you’ve been ignoring outside your offices and decide how best to drive your brand in the right direction before someone else takes it via social media into the realms of cyberspace and mass brand consciousness you hadn’t anticipated.
copyright Brian Minards 2 March 2010
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