What’s the point of Brand Books?

Thursday 13th February 2014Lecture Theatre 3

• Harvest• Vision• Reference• Personality• Communicate

About Me

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About brands

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The music on this terrible, someone pick a song.

What should Brand Book Actually Do?

1. Communicates DNA. 2. Explain Philosophy, Position, Vision, Promises & Personality3. Drive Design, Marketing Communications, Your Company Evolution, It’s

Ethics & It’s Human Collateral4. Good enough to brief an external agency. Write it for a stranger. 5. Reflect research6. Visually appeal. Digestible.7. Consider the power of the images and what they say about the brand.

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Outputs – the lecture/seminar

A. The History of Brands Where have they come from? And Why?B. Brand visions & objectives Where does your brand want to go? How will

it get thereC. Brand platform/essence What is a brand’s emotional & functional

values, personalityD. Brand positioning What can your brand claim above all others?E. Consumer profile Who is the person who is going to connect with your

offering?F. Product & branding guidelines Colourways, Fonts, Methodology,

TechnicalG. Communication guidelines PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?

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Why do folk like brands?

The average person receives around 30,000 message per day.3,000 messages are branded in some way.Consumers like brands because they simplify choices. A shopper who buys diet coca cola doesn’t have to agonise about which cola to buy, it reduces the risk of complicated buying.Simplified choices communicate values of the marketing and product proposition: Boeing jets are safe, Tiffany is indulgent, Apple computers are cool (Attribution Theory)

Van Dyke’s? Oceania?

Why do folk like brands?

Because we reinforce and legitimise our habits - companies work extremely hard to attract us.

Once we are attracted to a new company or product, we very often stay loyal for long periods of time.

Companies covet customers, brands build and retain loyalty.

Brands and branding are the human manifestation of commerce.

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo goes even further:

Nike or Apple no longer produce things, but merely different reflections of their activated brand.

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Why do folk like brands?

Once you have brand loyalty, you’re going nowhere –

Mobile phone question?Who has Apple? Nokia? Samsung? Blackberry? Who has changed brand?

Unique user platforms make brand allegiance even moreImportant.

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Your brand books

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OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional values,

personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in the

marketplace?)E. Consumer profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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A History of Your Brand

What is business story? Why was the company originally set up? Who were the people behind the company?What was their vision?How has PEST advances changed their path?How will PEST define their future?

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OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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about me

B - BRAND Vision/Direction

The Brand book will underpin all decisions and actions surrounding the brand.What direction is your brand going to take? (This might be later on in your Brand Book.)

SWOT Analysis? What recommendation would you make for your brand’s direction?What about innovative communication methods? How would your brand stand out?How do bigger and smaller competitors define your brand position?

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OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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C - Brand Platform?

What does the brand stand for? Position, vision, promise, personality.Make a big statement? Straplines? Stussy? Towie? Take Me Out? University Challenge? What would be their market position?What would be the three words you would use to describe your brand?How would you describe the Santa brand?

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A Brand platform should also speak internally. How will employees feel about and communicate your brand? Southwest Airlines promise that they will entertain everybody during the flight, because they love what they are doing. Kathy Pettit, Director of Customer says; “Make the working place the most fun place to be at”, and explains, “Skip uniforms and formalities. Have lots of competitions, celebrate as often as possible and encourage practical jokes and pranks.”

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C - Brand Platform

OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer profile– 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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about me

D - Brand Positioning

You’ve got you’re a) History b) Vision c) Platform but How does your brand fit into the market in which it is hopingto be successful?

How are you going to communicate that claim?How relevant is it to the consumers it wants to Attract?

Oceania?

Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Packaging, People = Positioning

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D - Brand Positioning

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Positioning v Repositioning? Vision of company v changing market tastes/demands?

Martin Shuker, managing director of KFC UK & Ireland says:

“So Good is much more than just a new slogan. It’s about becoming better at everything we do, including our great tasting food, the work we do with our people, and the way we operate in the local community.”

D – Brand Positioning

The brand book should be based on the brand’s “self view” of the company, however, it may be interesting to highlight in the back of the book whether you observed any discrepancies between the brand perception and your observations through research on actual consumer profiles.

Where is your brand getting it wrong?

What is the scope for immediate change? What are the opportunities in the brand’s personality?

What sub brand could you create that has elasticity enough to remain relevant to a new market but true to the original brand?

This is particularly true when going into a new age group or geographical setting.

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OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer Profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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E – Delivering a compelling Consumer Profile…

Who is your consumer?

What is their ambition?

When do they buy our product or service? And where?

Why does your facilitate, reflect and re-inforce their self-perception?

Turn things on their head.

What does your consumption say about you?

If you emptied your handbag now, what would the image say about your brand?

How would brands tap into the image of your handbag?

What images would you use to convey your consumer profile?

E – Consumer Profile Research

Primary v SecondaryQualitative (IN-depth) v Quantitative (Number crunching)Phone, online, face-to-face?Surveys? Open/Closed questions?Likert ScaleFocus Group? (Pressure) One-to-one? (Signalling)

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F – Brand Guidelines

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OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer Profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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about me

F BRAND GUIDELINES - VISUALS

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F Brand Guidelines - visuals

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F Brand Guidelines - visuals

Brand Book to drive all activities : design, development, marketing comms, briefing external agencies or entering new markets. Fonts – Language Colourways - Point of sale? Direction Internationalism? Photography methodology JUDGEMENT.

Compelling.Exciting.

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about me

OUTPUTS – THE LECTURE/SEMINAR

A. Brand history (where it has come from, why was it started?)B. Brand vision & objectives (where does it want to go? How will it get

there)C. Brand platform/essence (what is the brand’s emotional & functional

values, personality)D. Brand positioning (why they can claim this above all others, who else in

the marketplace?)E. Consumer Profile – 5 Ws (who, what, when, where, why)F. Product & branding guidelines (colourways, fonts, methodology)G. Communication guidelines (PR? Ad strategy? Guerrilla Marketing?

Ambassador?)

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G Communication guidelines

What recommendations would you make on the methodologies you will to use to communicate your brand credentials and, ultimately, your product?

Paid for advertising? Above the line? PR? Below the line? Guerilla?

This will be, to some extent determined by your consumer profile and other competitors.

In year two, year three, year four. What are the constraints on your brand?

Mix of resources –

AMP (Advertising, Marketing & Promotion should traditionally be between 5-8% of revenue.

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About brands

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Are brands the work of the Devil?

Further Reading

Post-modernism, electronic consciousness and humannessRobert Delamar

Brand leverageCourt, Leiter & Loch

Building Strong BrandsDavid A Aaker

Positioning, the battle for your mindAl Ries, Jack Trout

No LogoNaomi Klein

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