Brands Are Alive

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

BRANDS are alive! Cameron Dart || February 2002

Executive Summary: Today, products and people are living their lives through brands; brands give us identity, tantalize our taste buds and enrich our life experiences. We all want to affiliate and surround ourselves with things we know, trust and aspire to be. Living-brands championed by passionate leaders are becoming the body and soul of 21st century business. These boundless drivers of business growth are creating a new breed of company never before thought possible. Target Audience - Business Leaders and Managers.

1

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

There is no doubt that we are living in exciting times - times where much is happening all around us. Times where babies, new products and new brands are born by the second. Take the Euro for example. The challenge of the European Central Bank has been to build up confidence in the minds of 300 million people, from 12 countries, to accept one currency - not an easy task! How have they done this? - Yes, you guessed it - through creating a living-brand, driven by strong leadership. Echoes of Professor Eugenio Domingo Solans speech “The Euro is much more than just a currency; it is a symbol of European integration in every sense of the word”. That includes economic integration (Euro symbolizes the removal of barriers), political integration (Euro symbolizes stability and unity) and future integration (integrating 300 million European people with one common currency). The euro banknotes depict the architectural styles in Europe's cultural history emphasizing three main elements: windows, gateways and bridges - which in themselves personify unification and opportunity in the minds of note holders. From concept, to launch, to acceptance, and driven by the slogan “the EURO.OUR money”, the Euro [brand] has been built through permanent flows of information across multiple channels. A 4000 page website in 11 languages helps educate readers, including targeting children between the ages of 8-12 with competitions; asking them multiple choice questions about the new currency in return for valuable prizes. Not forgetting Captain Euro the superhero appearing in games, on posters, videos and cartoons. Even ecstasy tablets have been branded with the Euro logo (but not by the officials I am sure) – here youth club culture is exposed to brand experiences in new age ways that are a sign of our times.

2

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Living-brand Identity Who are you really, and what do you stand for?

For over 5000 years each man has tried to eke out his own identity – to stand out from the herd. We have tattooed ourselves, burnt holes in our livestock and honoured armour to protect what was ours and to show what we stood for. Fast-forward 5000 years to today, where there are so many brands it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate them in a time of brand blur deluxe. Few sum up our current times better than authors of Funky Business, Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Kidderstrale, in their comment - “We are living in a ‘Surplus Society’. An age where similar companies employ similar people, working in similar jobs, coming up with similar ideas, producing similar things.” The law states[1] that a trademark, or ‘mark’, is any word, phrase, symbol, design, sound, smell, colour, product configuration, group of letters or numbers, or combination of these, adopted and used by a company to identify its products or services, and distinguish them from products and services made, sold, or provided by others. But a living-brand is more than just a trademark, much more. How are living-brands different you ask? They differ because:

1 2

•

Living-brands provoke excitement; they are 100% human emotion2.

•

Living-brands evoke a higher experience than simply product-function. Why do I automatically think safety when someone says the word Volvo? Why do I equate the word Birkenstock with comfortable feet? (i.e. the experience I, the consumer, has, or has had with a given product or service).

•

Living-brands have values. Because living-brands are constantly in the public eye they are constantly scrutinised, more so today than ever. Living-brands have ethics and champion certain morals.

•

Living-brands go beyond quality. Good quality is no longer a major differentiator. Since Asian producers began swamping the world with high quality yet cheap imports, quality at cheap prices has become a given. Nowadays we have grown to expect quality. Compare some of the products in the supermarkets - many of them are identical - they are just packaged and promoted differently.

Trade Marks Act 1994 Rob Frankel -Generation X

3

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

•

Living-brands are self-conscious. Madonna is a great brand, a living-brand; she has constantly reinvented herself as a pioneer in the entertainment industry. Cameron Dart is a living-brand too who believes that ‘to stand out’ you need to do things differently.

•

Living-brands are differentiators, beacons in their class. Their identity is recognizable by all the five senses as will be explained later.

•

Living-brands have CHARISMA, ATTITUDE and PERSONALITY! Brand personality evokes emotion, and adds culture and myth to a product. Ever seen someone take out their Gold Amex card? Everyone around them who doesn’t have one thinks oooh…. they must be rich - that’s attitude!

•

Living-brands are promises – and brand essence is a distilled version of that promise. Volvo = safety. The most powerful brand essences are rooted in a fundamental customer need. Imagine you're in an elevator and you have 10 seconds to answer the question, "what business are you in?" your answer needs to be clear and concise otherwise it could be construed that you actually don't know what you do or who you are - as is the case with many people, companies and brands.

•

Living-brands no longer strive only to be category-kings; they strive to be standalone brands i.e. a brand with no associated competitors - thus making the world their oyster.

Few companies and fewer people consciously create a brand identity for themselves; the identities are created for them by competitors/unhappy or happy customers/associates or friends. Companies need to research their customers and find the top ranked reasons why customers buy their products rather than the products of their competitors. People need to ask questions about themselves to get to know how other people perceive them. Only once you know exactly who you are can you start building a living-brand. Cameron’s 3-step identity challenge! 1) Write down who you are as a company or person and then ask 5 clients or friends to do the same. 2) Compare notes by highlighting where they differ. 3) Discuss and drill down to find the essence of you or your Company. Knowing exactly who you are is the first step to building a living-brand. COCA-COLA MICROSOFT GE NOKIA DISNEY McDONALD'S AT&T MERCEDES HONDA NESCAFE CHANEL ADIDAS

Life tastes good. Where do you want to go today? We bring good things to life. Connecting people. Come and live the magic. We love to see you smile. Boundless Follow whoever you are. Independent thinking. Awaken your senses. Share the fantasy. Long lives sport.

KODAK NINTENDO DELL NIKE SAMSUNG PEPSI IKEA PIZZA HUT APPLE YAHOO! SIEMENS SWATCH

Share moments. Share life. Feel everything. Connecting to your needs. Just do it. Everyone's invited. The joy of Pepsi. Make a fresh start. Great pizzas. Great times. Think different. Do you Yahoo? Be inspired. Time is what you make of it.

4

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Brand Customer Relationship

“Branding is not about getting your targets to choose you over your competition. Branding is about getting your prospects to see you as the only solution to their problem”. - Rob Frankel's Prime Directive.

Many large companies today are also starting to equate the word synergy with profitability. Companies like Sir Richard Branson’s ‘Virgin Group’ and Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s ‘EasyGroup’ have leveraged on their compelling values, strong ethics and uncomplicated benefits and stretched their brands into living brands through building a strong brand customer relationship. Both companies have won consumer respect by siding with them in the fight against overpriced complacent incumbents. In the past, companies like Procter & Gamble have used their dominance in distribution and communication to become a powerful branding machine, force-feeding products to people by constantly being in front of them with product, product, product. This paradigm is rapidly changing to a movement from product to brand focus; towards building stronger connections with people's personalities, beliefs, and psychologies that’s more than just the basic function of the product itself. Smart companies are using branding as a platform on which dialogue between themselves and their consumers takes place. They are listening to customers needs, and giving them what they want. Personal one-on-one relationships are being built around intimacy and personalization, catering to peoples needs and desires. There are many ways in which this is done: In the hotel industry for instance, the Starwood Group of hotels has introduced a new brand to their stable called ‘W’ hotels. Instead of the usual opulence of a luxurious Sheraton or Westin, the W-hotels are, in contrast, boutique, uniquely located, modern hotels exuding the atmosphere of ‘rich and famous’, yet small enough to deliver an ultimate personal experience to the consumer. Living-brands are our friends - One important relationship for many brands is a friendship link characterized by trust, dependability, understanding, and caring. A friend is there for you, treats you with respect, is comfortable, is someone you like, and is an enjoyable person with whom to spend time. Brands speak to people not only through slogans and jingles but subliminally as well – you can almost hear some luxury brands whispering ‘come and get me – you know you want me.’ Living-brands are built on trust and integrity – the foundation of a healthy relationship. People trust the Virgin brand. The company breathes its essence, which

“People have more choices today than they've ever had before and so I believe that a brand must be a bridge of trust to the customer” Howard Schultz, CEO, Starbucks 5

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Branson has built on a long-term vision centred on his idea of “trust and delivering” and the goal “to better the consumer experience.” With the brand essence clear, employees are given a great deal of autonomy in terms of reaching strategic goals along the way. Virgin’s success as a brand has been based on Branson's strong leadership ability - by combining a clearly articulated vision with employee and customer empowerment to implement that vision. As explained earlier, living-brands are also built on emotional connections that they harbour in peoples hearts. Emotions drive most, if not all, of our decisions. Michael Jordan's game-winning shot - experience the dreams and the aspirations - experience the brand. By tapping into people’s emotions living-brands recognize that we live in an emotional world. Successful brands know what they stand for. For there to be any relationship between a brand and customer [people], a brand must be aware of the intangible benefits customers derive from acquiring the brand. This is so important as bedrock on which to build and confirm brands strengths, as well as an insight as to when a new dimension needs to be added to the brand to reenergize it. To create a sound brand-customer relationship, there has to be brand longevity; by longevity, I mean living-brands must have lasting value, be built on a solid foundations and be driven by a future vision. This quality helps brands transcend economic slowdowns as we have witnessed of late. Living-brands keep people’s attention through evolving stories based on some mysteries that are never completely told. People like the element of mystery – it keeps their attention.

“Stories create the emotional context people need to locate themselves in a larger experience” Scott Bedbury

Living-brands have design consistency which evolves through time, deepening the brand customer relationship. 3M have redesigned their corporate logo 30 times since it’s inception in 1906. Sometimes only slight changes help develop a living-brand. Across all media types and channels from print to web 3M, it’s unique yet simple design is carried through– aiding clear perception of the brand in people’s minds.

Emotional Branding

Don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle. Harley Davidson has created a culture, a living-brand based on adventure, individualism and freedom - stirring passion in its riders, its dealers and its employees; and in turn - turning that passion into profits. Since Harley went public, its shares have risen 15,000%. Why? Because their bikes are designed and marketed by motorcycle ‘fundies’ and employees who are just nuts about riding. We all know that word-of-mouth marketing is a brand’s most powerful ‘vehicle-to-sale’. Once a person has been emotionally touched by a good experience of a brand, there is no telling what that can do for the sales of that brand. In today’s age it doesn’t take long for us to reach our network of friends, family, clients, and colleagues to ‘pass on the word’. In order to capitalise on this, companies must consciously find ways to viral market and nurture their brand experiences. (By the way – feel free to forward this article to your friends). Many companies see consumers as 'them' but living-brands see customers as one of us;

Branding adds a spirit and a soul to what would otherwise be a robotized, automated, generic price-value proposition. If branding is ultimately about the creation of human meaning, it follows logically that it is humans who must ultimately provide it. – David Aaker 6

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

as people, not numbers and not customers. Remember that Living-brands are brands that champion the value of the people who buy them, not merely fulfil functional needs. People are emotional beings – don’t you forget it! Here are six reasons highlighting the relationship between our emotions and branding. 1.) Through experiences, living-brands fulfil our desires. By capturing a person’s imagination you capture their Successful brands are behaving in distinctive, compelling and rewarding attention. Nike ways. Turning buyers into believers. In an excessive marketplace real signed on Michael competition no longer evolves around marketshare. We are competing for Jordan to personify attention - It’s all about mind and heart share”. Funky Business the Nike spirit. Through Nikes empowering attitude slogan “just do it”, Jordan's basketball skills helped Nike become a mega brand. Jordan’s projected athleticism made people associate positive qualities with Nike shoes. i.e. if the world’s best basketball player wears Nike shoes – then they must be good. By wearing Nike shoes the fantasy of Jordan’s ability enters consumers minds, giving them a feeling of being larger than life. Living-brands such as Chanel, Gucci, Tiffany’s and Rolls Royce project an aspirational appeal by positioning themselves at the top end, just out of reach of the majority of the public. Living-brands personify a certain lifestyle to which customers aspire and that tell a distinct story about the people sporting them. 2.) A preferred brand is like a brand on steroids. We are often faced with the choice of physically identical products. For instance, in a supermarket we are drawn to buy products with which we have a stronger brand association. 3.) Emotional presence is felt. Imagine the feelings you feel when you go into a large stadium – you can literally feel the emotions of the crowd when a goal is scored. Brand presence can have quite an impact on people - on the consumer. It can forge a permanent connection within people that can enhance their lifestyle. Thus brands are moving from denoting a product to denoting lifestyle - a lifestyle of choice. 4.) Living-brands share dialogue; this implies a two-way communication; by sharing a conversation with your consumers you can help foster a rewarding relationship between people and corporations. Howard Shultz, CEO of Starbucks, speaks about romancing the consumer: "If we greet customers, exchange a few extra words with them and then custommake a drink exactly to their taste, they will be eager to come back."

Brand Experience

'Products are made in the factory, but brands are made in the mind. - Walter Landor

7

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

We have learned that brands are built on experiences as much as on tangible or rational benefits. We have seen that true brand value is created through ideas, lifestyles, attitudes, emotions and relationships that consumers associate with the brand. In other words, it is created by the 'experience benefit' gained from using a particular product or service. Think of the sophisticated, fragrant and lush interior of Fortnum & Mason, the delicate wrappings of a Cote d’ Or Swiss chocolate, or the ‘free’ massage on Virgin First Class. An experience a brand represents for consumers is less associated with an individual product or service than its intangible brand values. A company's manufacturing abilities have become far less relevant than its ability to understand consumers and to manage a brand. Today product production can easily be outsourced, but the branding comes from within. Take ‘the Starbucks experience’ for instance. Employees are instructed in the brand through language like ‘one cup at a time, one customer at a time’. Since the personal commitment of employees is so critical to conveying the brand essence, Starbucks invests in extensive team training. The company also offers employees a sense of personal ownership in the brand by offering stock options, thus bolstering work attitude by giving something back. Meaningful consistency is maintained by imbuing the physical environment with similar visuals, sounds and atmosphere – all adding to the experience of working for Starbucks, or frequenting Starbucks for a nice cup of coffee.

[Insert coffee break here….] Brand values are extended through the use of new media channels, which add new meanings to brands, and enhance their brand relationships with people by pushing the brand experience further. Living-brands have POWER; the power they create through experience, a power that lives on. I believe that even if Nokia shut its doors tomorrow and reopened them 2 years later with a new product, the Nokia brand would still be alive. It would still be able to be resurrected to power sooner than it would take for a new brand to reach the same status. This is all because the name Nokia, and what it stands for, holds a prime piece of real estate in the minds of millions of people – and that’s extremely valuable. Trivia - Did you know that Nokia started out selling rubber galoshes that’s a fact - now look what they are doing!

Cross-Media Branding

To create a living-brand, new media strategies including Internet, interactive, guerrilla, ambient, viral and collaboration have to play a major part in creating and driving brand personality through experiences. Technology puts people in touch with other people. Through the Internet, communication between consumers and marketers is accelerated and amplified. Consumers can shop from their homes or desks without having to travel to physical retail outlets; one consumer can now reach millions of other potential customers immediately. Viral marketing has become explosive, becoming the Internets version of word-of-mouth. But remember - bad news travels faster than good news! Companies are starting to use technology to enhance Today’s customers are selfish [and customer experience. This is achieved by applying rightly so] – they do not think about considered strategic reasoning to every button, banner, platforms or channels, they think in applet and navigation bar on their websites. When it terms of self-benefits. comes to mobile phones, PDAs, WAP, iMode, and short message service (SMS), customers experience a one on one relationship with a brand like never before. Branding experts harness opportunities by optimising all consumer touch points to enhance brand interaction, consistency and experience.

8

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

A co-ordinated repertoire of cross media branding, targeted to relevant chosen audiences, can quickly deliver high levels of brand awareness.

Cross-Sense Branding

Think of the sound the ice-cream van makes. Wow! How excited do kids get when they hear that familiar jingle getting louder as is gets closer? I know I did. Living-brands transcend visual stimulations by adding extra-sensory elements to encourage their recognition, enhancing their customer [people] relationship experience. Creative people are forever trying to search out new ways and means of heightening customer experience, playing on our five senses. They are drilling down into the psychology and reasons why people buy what they buy. By doing this, brand leaders need to take into account where and how and why the company brand impresses each of the customer/prospects’ five senses. Think of unique sounds for instance; the roar of a Harley Davidson engine (which they have trademarked) conjures up power and is as recognizable as their logo. Not to mention the unmistakable sound of Intel's catchy jingle, which has helped this brand gain customer recognition across various media. Visually, sexy packaging using bright colours and clean designs mesmerizes people, captivating them and enhancing their brand relationship. Unmistakable Absolut Vodka, Apple iMac (Apple has managed to built a brand so delicious you want to take a bite!), and Gillette razors are brands that are focused on constantly introducing the fresh shapes and sensory experiences that consumers appreciate. What about feel? Italian designer Albeto Alessi says, “the biggest branding trend is the concept of interactivity, and the increasingly toylike nature of products”. Alessi believes that people want to interact with products in a very sensory way, and he's created a whole line of things that reflect that impulse. He explains that consumers want to feel that there is a human hand behind the product they buy. Thus new brands will exploit that human touch, making the design so important in product development and branding; “We want to feel that someone has given human expression to a product”. Created in 1915, the curvaceous coke bottle went on to symbolize the American spirit during World War II. By setting up bottling plants overseas, Coca-Cola pledged that US fighting forces could count on Coca-Cola wherever they were -- the reassuring sight of the familiar Coke bottle reminding troops of home. The famous Coke bottle design is recognizable even when one feels it in the dark, it’s mystery taste unmistakable; a sensory feast mystery – it’s no wonder Coke is the biggest brand in the world today - life tastes good.

tantalize - they ooze Sex Appeal!!

Great brands

What about smell? Apparently, people can recall scents and odours better than they can recall what they have seen. Remembering my days as a cub scout, I can vouch for that. Our ability to recall smells leads to great 9

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

opportunities for companies to play on the concept of “Corporate Smells”, explains Carly Earl (CEO of Harvest Consulting Group). Think of a “new car smell”, or how the smells and sounds of outdoors can be used to sell camping gear? Or how the smell of delicate perfume, oak and musk, finds us making repeated visits to our favorite high street store in attempt to buy ‘sophistication’. Did you know? Crayola had the smell of their crayons trademarked, as they believed it was an essential part of their brand. Playing with the five senses opens up branding to countless untapped opportunities for companies to enhance their relationships with their customers. I believe we’ll start experiencing this more and more in the years to come.

Brand Naming

I recently read a great article on naming, called ‘My Son Adolf’ ….the opening paragraph goes: “Why is there a company called 'Mercedes' and not one called 'Gertrude'? Why 'Bird's Eye', and not 'Frog's Nose', and why 'Caterpillar' and not 'Maggot'? Why do we use names - why not just use numbers? The reason is that all names have associated images, either cultural, linguistic or personal. Names are the handles for our psychological baggage. The complexity of names and their associations is such that a new profession has arisen to name companies, products or services.”…. because most of us have at some time named a boat, pet, or toy we assume that naming a child is a simple process. After all, you already know why I didn't really call my son Adolf. There are three basic categories of brand names, which include; descriptive (Talking Pages), associative (VISA, a name that alludes to a benefit) and freestanding (Lacoste - no link to product). However names are also evolving with the times. Take Accenture, for instance, changing it’s name from Andersen Consulting – to lose the brand connotation they felt the word ‘consulting’ left in people’s minds.

Hans Wilsdolf coined the brand name Rolex (the signature of his creation). Hans says “Rolex is easy to pronounce in any language and short enough to figure tastefully on the dial of a watch”.

Julie Cottineau of Interbrand says “Language is constantly evolving. Everyday new advances in technology require new words to talk about things that we previously never even imagined could exist.” i.e. the word Biocommerce. Julie goes on to say that, “ Almost every real word in the English language has been literally trademarked.” This point of view puts another angle on the naming topic. Interbrand have predicted naming trends to come, many of which we are becoming more familiar daily. Names like:

, Loudcloud, Accenture

•

Starbucks,

•

Me/My Incorporated / camerondart.com- More personalized words

•

New words - Biocommerce, Bioterror,

• •

, Hot Dogz - Changes in spelling of words Sex Wax, Virgin, Danger Inc. - Cheeky words

- Destination words

, Handspring, Xeon

10

BRANDS are alive!

• • • • •

author || [email protected]

EasyEverything - Joining Words Sleep with me tonight (i.e. For Hotels) Cheeky phrases Grandma’s Tastiest Purple Plum Pudding - Ye old Nostalgia Smartcard - Guiding words XP, e-trade - Letters

Brand Equity "If this business were split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar, and I would take the brands and trade marks, and I would fare better than you." John Stuart, joint founder of Quaker Oats. I own a Swiss watch (bully for me, you say) - well, the reason I am telling you is because Swiss watches are the best watches in the world - or so I believe. And what I believe is reality for me. Lets think about Switzerland for a second longer mmm CHOCOLATE! Yes they also make the best chocolate in the world, don’t they? Switzerland is a living-brand – in my mind when someone says the word Swiss or Switzerland, or I see a Swiss flag, my mind automatically thinks precision, quality, pen knives, best watches and tastiest chocolate. Living-brands are actually very tangible 'intangible' assets, bearers of tremendous value and irrefutable competitive clout that have the power to increase a company’s sales and profits. How much is Lady Diana’s face worth for instance; a plain white porcelain mug sells for, say $2.00 – add a 20 cents print job, and the same mug sells for who-knows how much? I’m sure you get my point. Brand equity or brand value is not to be confused with brand values (moral code/promise of trust, integrity and quality instilled at root level) although there is no doubt that a relationship exists between the two. Brand equity has a dollar value. Are you not willing to pay more for what you want? I am. Although it’s sometimes difficult to link specific financial performance to an intangible assets, like brands, studies have shown that ‘positive attributes associated with brands’ is the single most important contributor to a company’s return on investment (ROI).

The World's Most Valuable Brands RANK VALUE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

BRAND

COCA-COLA MICROSOFT IBM GE NOKIA INTEL DISNEY FORD McDONALD'S AT&T

2001 BRAND ($BILLIONS) 68.9 65.1 52.8 42.4 35.0 34.7 32.6 30.1 25.3 22.8 Data: Interbrand, Citigroup, 2001

Many brands have developed into valuable corporate assets with substantial book value. A significant proportion of the business market capitalization of companies, such as Coca-Cola, 11

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Microsoft and Nokia, can be accounted for by their brands. See table above showing the world’s most valuable brands for 2001. As you can see these run into billions of dollars.

Winners

RANK

BRAND

88 42 95 4 94

STARBUCKS SAMSUNG FINANCIAL TIMES GE GUINNESS

2001 BRAND VALUE ($BILLIONS)

2000 BRAND VALUE ($BILLIONS)

% CHANGE

1.8 6.4 1.3 42.4 1.4

1.3 5.2 1.1 38.1 1.2

32 22 14 11 11

Starbucks is quickly rising through the ranks – standing out as a brand on the move, in its quest to expand globally, laterally and vertically. It’s not about how good their coffee or ice cream is – it’s how good their branding is! So if those are the winners then who are the losers? Losers

RANK

BRAND

45 76 59 62 8

XEROX AMAZON.COM YAHOO! DURACELL FORD

2001 BRAND VALUE ($BILLIONS)

2000 BRAND VALUE ($BILLIONS)

% CHANGE

6.0 3.1 4.4 4.1 30.1

9.7 4.5 6.3 5.9 36.4

-38 -31 -31 -30 -17 Data: Interbrand, Citigroup

Since the bubble burst for dot-com, famous brands including Amazon and Yahoo! are losing their favour. Another is the mighty Fords brand whose brand was tainted by the Firestone tire controversy. There is also a very notable relationship between brand equity and stock return. A study by Equitrend determined that brand equity had approximately the same impact on a stock return as ROI (the traditional method of determining movement in a stock’s value). Brand equity can also help companies build support and cooperation from retailers and other business partners, allowing leveraged advertising and thus creating more opportunities for brand extensions (this is covered in more detail later in this paper). Building brand value usually doesn’t come cheap. To build brand value, one needs to build brand awareness, a vital part of business success, which require long-term investment to attain and maintain. According to Merrill Lynch (US) - up to two thirds of the capital raised for Internet launches is being invested in building the brand, through a variety of media. Increasing brand value comes from driving a positive brand attitude. This is usually achieved through highly visible launchings of dramatic new products. Bill Gates’ speech in New York’s Times 12

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Square, at the recent launch of Microsoft XP, was backed up by a $500 million dollar XP brand awareness campaign. Brand value can be just as easily damaged by bad publicity – stripping millions off market capitalization within a very short space of time. Other drivers that affect brand attitude (and therefore the share price) include much publicized changes to top management, as well as legal actions and lawsuits (Ford), product problems and aggressive competitor advertising. Brand equity should be carefully measured and managed to evaluate current positioning, as well as identify and leverage new opportunities.

Brand Ethics

Don’t kill the world – it’s all we have - Band Aid I feel that I cannot write a paper on branding without mentioning the growing global movement against brand imperialism and globalization. Being bullish about branding, it must also be said that there are negatives associated with consumerism and branding that need to be addressed before I go any further. Author of No Logo, Naomi Klein points out that “capitalism in the age of globalization is the age of the brand, the logo. Logos are everywhere, staring at you during your most private operation in the john; invading once clearly marked delineated public spaces like schools; becoming, like the Nike swoosh, the centrepiece of athletic and cultural spectacles. We live in a "branded world" where taste, cultural standards, and ultimately even values are increasingly defined by mega-brands like Nike, whose swoosh has come to represent the ultimate in athletic style and whose slogan "Just Do It" identified it with the assertion of individuality….” Nike, like many others, has led the way by closing its factories in the North in favour of production in countries like Vietnam, China and the Philippines. Many underage workers slave away in factories that are more like prisons. Non-unionised factories with overworked and horribly underpaid female workers pump out products for the western world. Wages so low that most workers struggle just to keep above the poverty line. Government officials, terrified of investors leaving for other countries, offer subcontractors all sorts of tax breaks and dare not allow unionism. Some factories not only churn out Nike branded apparel but Adidas and Reebok brands too, all under the same roof. “However when confronted with accusations of exploiting labour, Nike, Adidas, and Reebok would wash their hands of responsibility, saying that that was a matter between workers and the subcontractor” explains Naomi Klein. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop and author of the book ‘Take it Personally’ has also taken a stand against globalization in her new book – bringing light to similar (behind the scenes) issues fighting against the use of children for cheap labour and the testing of products on animals. I urge everyone to read this book if they haven’t already. It takes awareness to change the world. Economist Walden Bello explains that the world is in a ‘crisis of overproduction’ - “In the total economy, it is not "synergy" or brand imperialism that ultimately serves as the engine of change but the classical crisis of overcapacity in production leading to the hegemony of finance capital”.

13

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Whatever the case, companies need to have ethics in what they do and take a stand against those that don’t. Without ethics the world is headed for disaster. Shrugging shoulders and passing the buck is no solution. Living-brands need to set an example by giving back to society more than they take out. That means they need to take responsibility for their actions in the past and move forward with moral integrity so as to help our planet – not destroy it in their mission to win greater profits.

Expanding Branding Brand Extension

Remember when mechanisation was introduced to production in the industrial revolution – what it did to the scale of production?. Well a great brand can do more than that for the sale of products. The trick to this is to expand a living-brand. No one knows the branding game better than brand extension guru Scott Bedbury - master of creating living-brands. In his seven years at Nike, Scott conceived and directed the worldwide ‘Just Do It’ branding campaign, increasing Nike revenue from $750 million to $5 billion when he left Nike in 1994. He then joined Starbucks in 1995, as chief marketing officer, where he was responsible for growing the $700 million Seattle-based company into a global brand. There he championed the serving of Starbucks on all United Airline flights, engaged in a joint venture with PepsiCo to market Starbucks Frappuccino in supermarkets and joined with Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream to introduce six flavors of Starbucks Ice Cream. Starbucks expanded, in the three years of his employment, from 390 stores to 1,600 stores worldwide. Nowadays they boast 4,435 stores on three continents as well as branded coffee paraphernalia, music, and candy. Today, technology is allowing brands to move to a second, more sophisticated level of competition by providing a new brand experience through the Internet, allowing for many established brands to find new ways to reinvent themselves. Examples are that of home delivery services such as those operated by tesco.com and ASDA in the UK and woolworths.com.au (Home Shop), in Australia. Trivia: Talk about brand extension – Have you heard that Nike is building a cruise ship? As mentioned earlier, living-brands are shaking off the traditional manufacturerbrand mindset through outsourcing production and using third party supplychain systems. Dell computers for instance have gained significant market share through adopting innovative routes to market, making it a robust trustworthy brand and a highly successful business model. Other companies have followed suit - these include the largest Japanese clothing company, Uniqlo. Uniqlo designs all its own clothing and out sources the manufacturing – this allows them to take advantage of Japanese manufacturing expertise with cheap Chinese labour resulting in high quality products at low prices. Strong branding, coupled with an unhurried shopping experience, as allowed Uniqlo to expand its product range under the ‘casual-wear’ banner so much so that they now threaten to become one of the worlds largest apparel retailers in a challenge with GAP.

Co Branding

New revenues can be created by effectively harnessing the power of two brands, allowing companies to focus simultaneously on their customers whilst expanding their reach into new and diverse areas such as news, sporting and entertainment events, e-tailing, vertical portals, and by the melding of clicks, bricks and mortar relationships. Joint ventures and alliances are classic examples of co-branding.

14

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

+ Amazon.com, that started out to be ‘the world's biggest bookstore’, has created a powerful online brand image. Over the past few years the company has expanded its brand across a wide range of products. Amazon.com and Toysrus.com announced a strategic alliance to create a co-branded toy and video games’ store in an attempt to leverage each of their assets and core competencies. Although they are yet to make a real profit, their site has posted double-digit growth year after year since startup. Sales are up 32 percent from a year ago with 31.5 million unique visitors making them three times larger (visit wise) than the next biggest e-tailer. Intel offers a great co-branding success story. When Intel lost its X86 brand, it responded by encouraging its on-sellers to put the Intel inside logo on their ads and packaging. To entice their customers to use its brand, Intel offered them a 3% co-operative advertising incentive. This resulted in more than 90,000 pages of ads being generated in an 18-month period, translating a potential 10 billion exposures. Intel’s name recognition, as measured by end users, increased from 46% to 80%. During the first full year of the campaign, Intel’s sales rose a staggering 62%. Due to such success, Intel has gone on to offer Microsoft a large part of $300 million dollars of assistance in a co-branding effort in association with the recently released Microsoft XP. In the airline market, the birth of the One World (which include British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Finnair etc.) and Star Alliance (which includes All Nippon Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand) bolstered sub-brands with the reassurance of global reach.

Living-brand Leadership & Strategy

Branding is about leadership. The more faith you have in your own identity, the stronger your brand will be -- and the more people will follow. Rob Frankel Today, CEO’s are most accountable for their brands; brands drive businesses – and leaders drive brands. So how then does one drive a brand? 1. Clearly identify your image – if you can’t no one else can. Without a clear-cut, narrowly defined identity, a brand cannot be created. Do Cameron’s 3-step “Competitive advantage comes from being different. identity challenge. Differentiate by Increasingly, difference comes from the way people asking yourself the ‘so what, who think rather than what organizations make. Today, the cares?’ question. For example: We only thing that makes capital dance is talent. In such have a great logo - ‘so what, who times we cannot have business as usual - we need cares’. By answering this question funky business”. Kjell Nordstom you determine if this benefit is truly unique to you or your business. Understand the distinction between image and reputation. Image is what you think of yourself; reputation is how others perceive you. Your brand essence comprises the elements and values that make up your brand - the ones that touch universal consumer chords and transcend cultures. Create your brand before you write your business plan; build brand values, use your imagination and innovation and create an unforgettable brand personality. For existing products be sure to define the optimal customer experience by identifying the contact points where customers interact with your company. Note: Remember that consumers sort brands emotionally and that living-brands speak to the heart as well as the head.

15

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

2) Brand from the inside out. By aligning your organization, operations and culture around your brand values, you set the solid foundation of a living-brand. To do this takes brand passion. To do this takes great leadership skills. Leaders need to set expectations across their organizations by integrating and reinforcing consistent and compelling experiences and strong brand communications across all employee and customer touch points. “Think brand first” says Nick Shore author of Brand Marketing - “companies must incorporate it into everything they do”. He explains that brands should become “the energy, personality, and order of the enterprise.”

“We have to protect and build the brand -everything everyone does affects it.” Jane Martin, International Marketing Director of Starbucks

Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, Kevin Roberts, even goes as far to say that, instead of trademarks, we should think of brands as “lovemarks.” Others refer to them as “trustmarks”. Lovemarks, trustmarks, whatever term you wish to use is up to you…. but whatever you do ‘the Brand is just a corporate logo’ mentality has to be broken, - and today’s leaders are the breakers – by infusing their brands and employees with feelings, emotions and life! Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. Start by thinking ‘relationship’ not ‘transaction’ and build a strong community of living-brand believers. Note: Remember that an employee’s job satisfaction predicts the way she or he will act in front of customers which in turn affects customer satisfaction. 3) Exercise visible Leadership “We need to pump emotional juice into The success of a brand depends entirely on the the way we do business” – Jack Welch ability of the brand’s leadership. To do this, leaders need to deliver their brand message clearly; be able to communicate quickly and passionately, motivating their respondents through tugging their emotional chords and they must believe in what they do which in turn will create strong user loyalty. Strong visible leaders need to champion the cause of their own brands by setting examples for the rest of their staff to follow. Industry leaders like Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, through their brand strategy, influence their total operations, ensuring consistent brand behaviours and brand experiences. All brands need to be tracked and nurtured and, if necessary, revitalised on a semi-regular basis so as to stay constantly ahead of the game. It helps for decision-makers to benchmark the current strengths and weaknesses of their brand.

"Your brand is not a part of your business, it is your business." - Daryl Travis author of Emotional Branding.

Leaders cultivate relationships with customers and brands by constantly responding to feed back allowing them to recalibrate and strengthen their brands over time – based on what they have learned.

Billion Dollar Brands

Show me the money! – Tom Cruise So what are the consumer brands that win our hearts, the ones we can’t do without, the ones that make our shopping experiences easier, the trusted brands that shine through the blur? 16

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Billion Dollar Brands (# of countries included, 30 max) Total Coca-Cola (30)

Segment

Global Sales for 12 months ending Q1 2001 (US $)

Carbonated Beverages

Coca-Cola (Regular)* Diet Coke/ Coca-Cola Light* Marlboro (25)

Over $15 Billion Tobacco

Marlboro (Regular)* Marlboro Lights* Total Pepsi (30)

Carbonated Beverages

Pepsi (Regular)*

$5 Billion – $15 Billion

Diet Pepsi/ Pepsi Light* Budweiser (25)

Beer

Campbell's (21)

Soup

Kellogg's (27)

Cereal

Pampers (27)

Diapers

Benson & Hedges (21)

Tobacco

Camel (24)

Tobacco

Danone (25)

Yogurt

Fanta (29)

Carbonated Beverages

Friskies (24)

Pet Food

Gillette (29)

Blades & Razors

Huggies (25)

Diapers

Nescafe (29)

Coffee

Sprite (30)

Carbonated Beverages

Tide (11)

Laundry Detergent

Tropicana (17)

Still Beverages

Wrigley's (27)

Chewing Gum

Colgate (29)

Toothpaste

Duracell (28)

Batteries

Heineken (26)

Beer

Kodak (13)

Consumer Films

L&M (18)

Tobacco

Lay's (22)

Chips & Snacks

Pedigree (25)

Pet Food

Always (22)

Sanitary Protection

Doritos (20)

Chips & Snacks

Energizer (28)

Batteries

Gatorade (22)

Sports Beverages

Guinness (23)

Beer

Kinder (28)

Chocolate

Kleenex (26)

Facial Tissue

L'Oreal (27)

Colorants

Maxwell House (19)

Coffee

Minute Maid (16)

Still Beverages

Nivea (29)

Moisturizers/Cleansers

Pantene (30)

Shampoo/Conditioners

Philadelphia (25)

Cheese

Pringles (30)

Chips & Snacks

Seven-Up/7-Up (30)

Carbonated Beverages

Tylenol (9)

OTC Pain Remedies

Whiskas (24)

Cat Food

$3 Billion – $5 Billion

$2 Billion – $3 Billion

$1.5 Billion – $2 Billion

$1 Billion – $1.5 Billion

Source: ACNielsen- 31 October 2001

17

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

Note: Brands are alphabetized within each global sales dollar segment

* Denote sub-brands which independently meet the global billion dollar mark but are included in the total for the brand

………..A preferred day in the life of the western world. When I wake up in the morning, I choose to clean my teeth with Colgate, wash my hair with Pantene, shave my whiskers with Gillette (powered by Duracell this doesn’t take long) and put on my Tide clean clothes. At the table for breakfast I tuck into some Kellogg’s, take a swig of my Nescafe (which awakens my senses) and feed the cat Friskies before leaving for work. As I get on the bus, a Pamper clad baby dribbles on his mother and is quickly wiped off with a Kleenex. A Japanese tourist chewing Wrigley’s asks me to take a photo with his Kodak. I say OK! For elevenses, I sip on a coke, crunch on some Lay’s and suck on a Marlboro. After work I head to the pub for a quick Bud before going home. The above illustrates the findings of a study done by ACNielsen (global authority on consumer behaviour and marketing information). The study found that there were 43 individual brands from 23 different manufacturers that managed to hit the billion-dollar sales mark. The top manufacturers included PepsiCo who came out on top with six billion dollar brands, Philip Morris Companies (including Kraft Foods) and Procter & Gamble had five each, Coca-Cola Company had four, and Kimberly-Clark, Gillette Company, Mars and Nestle each had two billion dollar brands under their belts. All these brands claim an intangible space in the emotional minds of the vast majority.

Conclusion A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand living-brand

is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is

an experience an atmosphere an emotion a dream a tattoo a promise a person; People are their own brands! a country; America is a brand…. a politician; Tony Blair’s labour party is a brand an asset, a bearer of value… an incomplete story a prompt or cue-card an association a strategy the Economist Magazine an individual a strategic weapon an attitude a silver bullet a bond an extension freedom a provocative gesture – viva! Agent Provocateur cool a feeling a relationship 18

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

A living-brand is an interaction A living-brand is a hope A living-brand is an inspiration Manchester United is a living-brand! A living-brand is a smile A living-brand is relevant A living-brand is a personality A living- brand is trust and integrity A living-brand is a belief A living-brand is a differentiator A living-brand is a driving force A living-brand is a hope A living-brand is an identity A living-brand is a colour A living-brand is an aroma, A living-brand is a smelly cheese - a delicious taste! A living-brand is comfortable shoes – Hooray for Birkenstocks! A living- brand is a funky sound – vroom vroom goes the Harley A living-brand is a visual extravaganza A living-brand is what our minds don’t always understand but our hearts do. A living-brand is different things to different people A living-brand is [insert your own here] A living-brand is all of the above…………….and more

Welcome to my place beyond, welcome to my fantasy.

© Cameron Dart 2002

Bibliography: Website Research: www.prophet.com www.differ.com www.corporate-id.com www.brandchannel.com www.brandknowledge.com www.motleyfool.com www.businessweek.com www.intel.com www.brandspark.co.uk www.landor.com www.tompeters.com www.brand.com www.economist.com www.amazon.com www.startbucks.com www.nike.com www.virgin.com www.easyjet.com www.starwood.com www.forbes.com www.fortune.com

19

BRANDS are alive!

author || [email protected]

www.robfrankel.com www.rolex.com Trade Marks Act 1994 (pdf file 202Kb)

Articles & Papers:

Love Into Money: Jonathan Fahey, Forbes Magazine, 07.01.2002 Harley - explained John Hevey, Vice President, Asia Pacific and Latin America. My Son Adolf – Taken from Landor Website Brand Naming into the next millennium: Ten Predicted Trends. by Julie Conttineau (Interbrand) What’s Love got to do with it: by Geoffrey Colvin, Fortune Magazine 19.11.2001 Just another product launch: by Eryn Brown, Fortune Magazine 19.11.2001 Can Uniqlo stay in fashion?: by Eric Nee Fortune Magazine, 07.01.2002 Brand as a metaphor: David Bibby The Worlds most valuable brands 2001: Interbrand

Books:

Gobé, Marc: Emotional Branding: The New Paradigm for Connecting Brands to People.

Koehn, Nancy: Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers' Trust from Wedgwood to Dell. D'Alessandro, David F.: Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer Brand. Klein, Naomi: No Logo Roddick, Anita: Take it Personally! Lindstrom, Martin: Clicks, Bricks and brands Aaker, David: Building Strong Brands Lewis, Richard.W: Absolut Book Aaker, David A. & Joachimsthaler, Erich:Brand Leadership Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Kidderstrale: Funky Business

Note: All images and brands are registered trademarks of their respective companies. Any reference to them in this paper (good or bad) is merely the opinion of the author.

20