brand-key

Brand Key Workshop

Brand Key

The key to unlock brand secretsThe key to unlock brand secrets

A way of expressing brand positioning so that everyone can understand the brand

It establishes a shared frameworkand common language for all to use

It defines how brand adds value

5. Values and

Personality

6. Reason to

Believe

4. Benefits

8. Essence

7. Consumer

Discrim

inator

3. Insight

1. Competitive Environment 2. Target Audience

Brand Key

It’s a system that helps guidenot only where the brand is today,

but also where it should go

It ensures continuity inevolving brands towards a future vision

It shows why someone would want to buy!

In short, the brand key helps unlock growth!

1. Competitive Environment

Competitive environment

• The market and alternate choices as seen by the customer and the relative value the brand offers in that market

• It describes the choices available to the consumer, with which your brand competes

• Note, it is not a description of the product category as defined by ourselves

In other words,all those who ‘lose’‘lose’ when we ‘win’‘win’!

What would the consumer consider to bean alternative choice to the brand?

For instance,what would it be for Pepsi?

2. Target

Target• Describes the chooser of the brand

– Who may be the buyer or the user

• The person for whom the brand is – or wants to be – the first choice

• The chooser should be defined in terms of attitudes, behaviour and values as well as socio-economics

• Sometimes, it will be helpful to specify the situation in which brand will be the first choice

The tighter the target can be defined, the stronger its appeal can be

Example: McDonald

• People who can relate to childhood happiness

• Parents who want to treat the kids

• Kids who want to have fun with their meal

3. Key Insight

Key insight is seeing ‘inside the consumer’

Aspect of all you know about the consumer:- which shows how brand can solve a problem- or create an opportunity for them

Insight expresses the totality of all we knowfrom seeing inside the consumer

The insight is specificThe insight is specificto the competitive situationto the competitive situation

and to the targetand to the target

Key InsightKey Insight

‘‘I wish to get married I wish to get married to a handsome prince’to a handsome prince’

Key InsightKey Insight‘‘Fragrance of my current talc does not last long Fragrance of my current talc does not last long and I miss opportunities to enjoy life’and I miss opportunities to enjoy life’

Key insight: The process

• ObtainingObtaining information about what people think and do

• BuildingBuilding understanding about why they do it

• AchievingAchieving insight into what the business can do to satisfy their needs & wants in new ways

• TakingTaking action to deliver these solutions in the market

How to get an insight?

• What role does category play in consumer’s lives?– How can the brand improve someone’s life?

• What paradoxes of conflicting needs do people face?– What opportunities are they looking for?

• When and why is it important for product to work? – Who will notice?

• What is the standard of excellence in the category? – Who do consumers envy?

Keep asking Keep asking ‘why’‘why’to find the real needto find the real need

behind an obvious insightbehind an obvious insight

4. Benefits

Benefits

• These describe the ways in which the brand solves consumer problems or offers an improvement in some aspect of their life– The reasons to buy

• Brand benefits will be functional, emotional and self-expressive

Functional benefits

• Benefit based on a product attribute that provides functional utility to the customer– Most visible and common basis for value proposition

• Such a benefit will usually relate directly to the functions performed by the product

• If a brand can dominate a key functional benefit, it can dominate a category– Close up and fresh breath– Surf and stain removal

Remains untouched, no matter what.

Emotional benefits

• When purchase or use of a brand gives a positive feeling, that brand is providing an emotional benefit

• Emotional benefit adds richness and depth to the experience of owning and using the brand

• Most functional benefits will have a corresponding feeling or set of feelings– Freshness and confidence, in the case of DFT

Self-expressive benefits

• A brand can provide a self-expressive benefit by providing a way for a customer to communicate his/her self-image

• Purchase and use of brands is one way to fulfill the need for self-expression– Feeling ‘smart’ by buying Surf– The ‘can do’ attitude by wearing a Nike

Self-expressive Vs Emotional benefits

Emotional Benefits• Feelings

• Private products viz., books, soaps etc.,

• More transitory

• Consequence of using the product

Self-expressive Benefits• Self

• Public setting / products viz., cars, apparels etc.,

• Permanent, linked to consumer’s personality

• Act of using the product

Remember these should work Remember these should work together,together,

one flowing from the other.one flowing from the other.E.g., Volvo is a safe car that makes you feel E.g., Volvo is a safe car that makes you feel

responsibleresponsible

5. Values and Personality

Values and personality

• Values are what the brand stands for and believes in

• Personality is how the brand behaves

• The brand’s personality is the weighted average of previous impressions

• In consumer’s mind, these impressions merge to form an overall concept of what to expect from the brand

Value and personality traits are whatthe brand will live and die for!

6. Reason to Believe

Evidence of why the brand is betterthan alternative brands

Superior product details

Expert endorsements

Emotional reasons related to the values of the brand

Demonstrations

Heritage

7. Discriminator

Discriminator

• The single most compelling reason for the consumer to choose the brand

• Selected from all the elements of Brand Key– But by not using them all

• It expresses in one brief sentence what gives the brand its competitive edge

• In choosing a discriminator, the criteria In choosing a discriminator, the criteria to apply are:to apply are:– Is it unique and differentiated?Is it unique and differentiated?– Is it really relevant to the consumer insight?Is it really relevant to the consumer insight?– Is it consistent with all other elements in the Is it consistent with all other elements in the

Brand Key even if it does not contain them all?Brand Key even if it does not contain them all?

Make sure the discriminator is important:Make sure the discriminator is important:- to capture attention,- to capture attention,- credible enough to be believed- credible enough to be believed- and different enough to be memorable- and different enough to be memorable

8. Essence

The distillation of the brand’s positioning The distillation of the brand’s positioning into one clear, defining thoughtinto one clear, defining thought

The discriminator tellswhat the brand offers

that’s better than competition.

The essence is what the brand is about.

Of all components of the Brand Key,this’ll need several attempts and refinements

Dreams of beauty

Confident closeness

Style statement

5. Values and

Personality

6. Reason to

Believe

4. Benefits

8. Essence

7. Consumer

Discrim

inator

3. Insight

1. Competitive Environment 2. Target Audience

Brand Key

Testing the Framework

The Case of The Case of DoveDove Soap Soap

Competitive Environment

• Dove bridges soaps and skincare

• Many women consider it part of their beauty regime

• It competes directly with premium soaps, such as Lux, Pears, Camay etc.,

Target

• Women who want to care for their skin

• Who want to look and feel their personal best

• Aged 35 – 50

• Beginning to feel the effects of dry skin

Key Insight

‘‘Soap leaves skin feeling dry and tight’Soap leaves skin feeling dry and tight’

Benefits

• Won’t dry my skin like soap can

• Makes my skin soft and smooth

• Helps me feel more feminine

Brand Personality

• Honesty

• Purity

• Feminity

• Optimism

• Inner confidence

Reason to Believe

• Contains ¼th moisturizing cream

• Recommended by doctors / dermatologists

• Indicts other products with clinical proof

• Endorsed by users

Discriminator

‘‘Dove won’t dry my skin like soap can,Dove won’t dry my skin like soap can,

because it contains because it contains ¼th moisturizing cream’moisturizing cream’

Essence

‘‘Restoring feminity’Restoring feminity’

Tips: To Write a Good Brand Key

Work with a team!

Build a draft Brand Key,continually challenging the team

to make it clearer and more precise

Use simple words that are not ambiguous.

Keep searching for a better wordto express the

same idea

The guiding principle is, less is

more!

It really helps to put the Brand Key awayIt really helps to put the Brand Key awayand revisit it a few days laterand revisit it a few days later

Positioning, like strategy, is about choice and sacrifice.

The fewer the ideas, the fewer the words, the better!

Remember, what we have seen representsjust the minimum use for Brand Key.

There is no maximum.

The only limit is your own ingenuity!

Remember,like a computer, a camera,or a musical instrument,

Brand Key is a tool,Brand Key is a tool,not a substitute for talent!not a substitute for talent!

Assignment:Write a Brand Key for Raymond

Competitive Environment

• Suiting and shirting fabric and ready made men’s wear from domestic and global brands

Target

• Male

• Sec A and B

• Aged 21+

• Seeking status and lifestyle enhancement

Key Insight

‘‘My attire reflects my persona’My attire reflects my persona’

Benefits

RationalRational• Style• Premium quality• Luxurious• Perfect fit

EmotionalEmotional• Stature• Elegance

Brand Personality

• Confident

• Arrived

• Sophisticated

• Discerning

• Sensitive

Reason to Believe

• Trusted

• Premium

• Lineage

Discriminator

‘‘Raymond makes me exude elegance,Raymond makes me exude elegance,

feel confident and command respectfeel confident and command respect

thereby allowing me to be a complete man’thereby allowing me to be a complete man’

Essence

‘‘Command respect’Command respect’

Thanx!

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