THE ULTIMATE BRAND: A DISCUSSION

Building brand equity is the only way I know to create long term value for shareholders—it is the core of any manager’s job

The word “brand” represents an image—a highly concentrated image—that holds a position in the mind of a constituent. This brand, this concentrated image, encapsulates the sum total of their experience with your company’s promise.

To a constituent, your brand is the sum total of their experience with your company’s promise.

Whether this image is a positive, premium image will depend upon whether you are succeeding in satisfying the “values” constituents hold as important in your brand category.

Those things a constituent values are simple and can be readily defined—but are complex in the way in which they can be satisfied because of the fickle nature of human interactions.

What a constituent finds satisfying and pleasing one day—can be the opposite on another day.

This is why we find the definition of a brand, a complex cluster of value satisfactions, to be the ultimate definition.

As we said earlier, it forces us to look at a brand in the broadest, and yet most specific manner. It causes us to look at and define all of those things that all of your constituents value. It also causes us to look at all of those things that will be necessary to satisfy them in all their complexity.

It causes us to realize and remember that there is nothing that does not hold the potential to help in building a premium brand. And, vice versa—there is nothing that does not hold the potential to help in destroying a premium brand.

John Rutledge, chairman of Rutledge and Co. and a Forbes columnist wrote in an article called “How to Protect Brand Value:”

The brand is your customer’s belief in what you stand for as a company.

The brand is what allows you to charge more or merit a larger market share than companies selling no-name products.

That “little bit” more translates into future incremental cash flow.

The present value of the stream of future, incremental, cash flow, is brand equity.

Building brand equity is the only way I know to create long term value for share holders—it is the core of any manager’s job.

Anything you do that erodes the brand will destroy value.

Protect the brand...

Three little words. Those three little words contain all you really need to know to build long term value in a business.

Who Owns the Key “Brand” Word?

The word “brand” denotes ownership. One definition for the word brand is—“a mark of identification made with a hot iron.”

This definition puts the word “brand” forward as a noun—a name.

Another definition for the word brand is—“to mark with a hot iron.” This definition puts the word forward as a verb—an action. 

Who owns the key “brand” word that represents your industry? Is it you? Who can own this brand word? We believe you can. How?

  • By going out with a “branding iron” and burning your name into the minds of constituents.
  • By fully understanding and fully defining the position you wish to hold in the minds of constituents.
  • By fully understanding and fully defining those things your constituents most value and by marrying these values with those held by your company.
  • By fully understanding and fully defining the standards every single aspect of your company should be held to in order to satisfy those values.
  • By institutionalizing those standards and imbuing them with such power, such authority and such consistency that every constituent, both internally and externally, becomes indoctrinated with your ownership of those standards.

It is possible to own the premium position in the constituent’s mind. How? By burning your brand image into their minds with a totally planned, totally organized, totally focused brand development program. Our approach to branding will help you improve the way you deliver your promise and brand experience to the highest degree possible. Some Questions:

  • Who owns photo copiers?
  • Who owns hamburgers?
  • Who owns soda?
  • Who owns financial services—right now?

How A Brand Image Is Built

A brand image is built by an endless number of brand impressions. There are only two ways to create brand impressions:

  1. By the actual experience constituents have with your promise through your people, your products, and your services.
  2. By the sensory—primarily visual—experience constituents have with your promise through your branding communications program.

The actual experience is the engine.

The visual experience is the fuel.

When the two are correctly combined they are unstoppable! When there’s one without the other? —They go nowhere.

An Example:

Your salespeople can walk through a prospect’s door as a stranger empowered only to the extent that they, themselves, are aware of your company’s ability to deliver on its promises.

Or, they can walk through the same door and be welcomed by the prospect as a friend, empowered by:

  1. Their specific knowledge of their company’s power to deliver on its promises.
  2. The prospect’s prior knowledge of the company.

What makes the latter scenario the reality?

The necessary prior knowledge has been trained into both constituents by the company’s branding program.