The main target of financially based businesses is to maximise their profits. There are also many businesses that are passionate about what they do and are very proud about how they do it, but they don't forget about the profits. There is also another group of companies that try to seduce their customers, and despite being an ordinary word, Ollins (2003) claims this is what branding is all about. Branding is about seducing, persuading and attempting to manipulate people into spending money in products and services. What a company does is not as important as how they do it. But it's even more important how they are perceived to do it.
-------SIMON SINEK GOLDEN CIRCLE HERE--------
P. 11
Because of this manipulation, these marketing strategies have been criticised and morally questioned. The truth is that branding is expanding to politics, nations, culture, sports and the voluntary sector. Charities are using emotional appeals to encourage people to donate money. The key issue, Ollins points out, "it is how and where and in what cause it is used that's truly significant".
P.14
Branding is the way to define something that is immediately comprehensible to everyone else.
P.16
People like brands. If not they would not buy them. Some brands make customers fall in love and others go unnoticed. This means marketing does not have an entire control over the brand. Customers do. Its power comes from a mixture of performance and what it stands for. If the mix is right, customers feel it adds an extra meaning to themselves.
P.17
For example, Irn-Bru is a bottled version of the film 'Trainspotting'. Ollins (2003) describes it as a "caricature of young, deprived, Scottish, tattooed, drugged-up thuggery to which many people apprently aspire". Many athletes wear Nike shoes because they perform better with them, but it is also a fashion statement. The shoes have a functional purpose but they are also symbolic. Most people who wear Nike shoes are not athletes. Maybe they are not even interested in sports. What remains is the statement they make by wearing them. Someone in a poor country will save money to buy a certain pair to show that he or she is part of the rich world glamour and fashion, and that makes those shoes iconic.
P.18
Another example that involves brand extension is Porsche watches. At first, it does not make any sense that a car manufacturer is making watches, but in the longer term successful companies shift their ground from making and selling to being, to represent a set of values.
P.19
This set of values can be also associated with national characteristics. Companies like Givenchy, Kenzo or Loewe belong to LVMH, which has created individual brands for its products representing national features. (Givenchy - France, Kenzo - Japan, Loewe - Spain).
P.21
Benetton does the same using social content to show sympathy with human suffering.
P.22
Charities sells caring for the less fortunate and they aim to individuals' emotions. Does a person care more about multiple sclerosis or cancer relief? Charities compete for people's money and they are on top when it comes to appeal to emotions. At some point in a business, brands dominate what they represent and they are often the most important contributor to the asset value of companies.
P.27
The world is a competitive place and rational choice is now an oddity. Brands are there for clarity, status, membership and everything else that helps consumers to define themselves.
P.74, 75
This system of values changes in services. Brands based on services rely on people, and people might be volatile. They may have a bad day, can get tired or be anxious, which makes branding much more complicated than with products. Services are about people, and this people are a vital part of the brand. They need to learn how to live the brand they work with.
P.76
With a product brand, 75% of the money, time and energy will be spent in trying to influence customers and 25% in other things. This is different with a service brand, as at least 50% of time and money has to be dedicated to influencing the people in the company. In other words: with products, the customer comes first. With the service, employees do. And even in companies that seem to be product-dominated, service is really important.
P.89
There are a few rules for sustaining service brands:
- Employees have to be trained to live the brand
- The way one talks is important
- Keep consistency and coherence
P.102
In the everyday life many people want to be different from the rest. They don't want to be inclusive, but exclusive instead. Heterogeneity is as influential as homogeneity across global brands. LVMH has a portfolio of many different companies, like Louis Vuitton Moët & Henessy or Krug. LVMH has brands with attitude and enhances independence across their advertisement campaigns despite these brands not being independent at all. They understand the power of uniqueness.
P.128
Big companies sometimes have to expand their brand framework within a single business. Companies like El Corte Ingles or Wal-Mart sell from groceries to financial services. They even issue their own credit cards because their clients have real faith in them, thinking those companies are actually behind it. Brands have portability and Tesco, according to Merrill Lynch, wants to deal with utilities, telecommunications, travel, ticketing and leisure.
It's all about reputation and trust, and this can only be encapsulated through the brand name and values.
P.137
It is interesting how people usually say things like 'if a car is German, then it's a good car'. Engineering and Germany integrity are mutually reinforcing concepts. In general, engineering German products have credibility just because of the fact that they are German... but Mercedes M Class SUV are actually made in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Same happens with other nationalities and their characteristics, and brands allow companies to use them as tools for communication.
P.144-145
This graphicis part of a series of studies on what 'made in' means carried out by Wolff Olins with Financial Times. It shows the meaning of 'Made in Germany'. 'Technical prowess' is the attribute that stands out over the rest, whilst 'emotions' seem not to be involved at all in their modus operandi. Banking, electronics or pharmaceuticals are other areas where German have been very successful, but they are usually ignored. Traditional prejudices is what makes this happen. Ollins (2003) claims that the way people perceive a nation can be changed, but a company with products that do not fall into these stereotypes should maybe ignore its German origins. Designers can take advantage of the prejudices and ignorance these stereotypes offer to give meaning to something.
P.147
On the other hand, this is a concept that is being less used in modern times. There are big companies that have worked not to have national connotations or associations, since it can be, as Ollins puts it, a 'kind of sentimental hangover of no practical value', because at some point it is more important what company does what instead of where it is made.
P.167
These characteristics of a nation can be changed. In order to do this, Ollins (2003) suggests to avoid the obvious (trade fairs, commercial work in embassies and advertising), but to influence people with food, art, film, sports, etc. This is the reason why football games and film festivals are very important as commercial missions, even more if the nation wins.
P.176-195
Despite having a distrust for rules, Ollins (2003) made a set of guidelines that suggest a methodology that can be helpful creating and sustaining brands:
1.- The four vectors
There are four vectors by which a brand manifests itself: product, environment, communication and behaviour. In other words, the what, where and how of a company. Brands are usually a mix of these four vectors.
Brands based on products function is important, but it must be supported by the ergonomics and aesthetics of the design. On the other hand, if the product is not right, the design cannot make it work.
People choose hotels based on what they feel like, their facilities and location. These are all environmental factors.
Coca-Cola, for example, is a communication-driven brand, specifically in in advertising. Its packaging, materials, events and so on are designed to arouse a very specific set of emotions. These emotions are what makes this product be seen through its communication.
An example of behaviourally led brands are airlines. Customers judge them based on the service and not in the time it took for them to get from point A to point B.
2.- Brand architecture
There are three options Ollins (2003) uses to describe different company structures:
- Monolithic: It uses the name and visual idea to describe what an organisation does. For example, Yamaha makes pianos and motorcycles under the same name.
- Endorsed: An organisation with a series of brands, each one of them with their own name and identity. For example, Balliol College are a ramification from Oxford University.
- Branded: Each brand is projected in a separated way to the consumer, so they are perceived as independent. The reality is that it is owned by an entity that controls it. An example of this are the brands Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff or Guinness, which they all are under the same roof of Diageo.
Customers want to believe their favourite brands create their products specifically for them in small workshops, and the idea is to persuade them that these brands have retained their traditions and integrity.
3.- Invented, reinvented and name changes
Brands might be new or reinvented. This differentiation is important considering that when a brand needs to be created from scratch, it is like a blank sheet of paper. Although, reinventing it, there are features that can be worked with, like culture, tradition, attitude or reputation. These processes usually involve name changes, which is the most sensitive branding issue in the minds of the public and media. They are expensive complex and in most cases ridiculed when first announced. The good news about these facts is that after a few weeks all that goes away.
4.- Product quality
If the product is as good as the best of its competition, that is a good sign of success. If it is better than that, competition will catch up at some point, usually very quickly. So, if the product is not in these two categories, it will certainly fail.
5.- The inside and the outside
A basic rule of marketing is that the customer comes first. The staff has to understand the brand, live it and believe in it. Otherwise, they cannot persuade the final customer to buy it. Brands persuade outsiders to buy and insiders to believe. For the customers, the insiders (staff) are the brand.
------------SIMON SINEK: Staff comes first, not customers.
6.- Differentiators or core ideas
A product must be differentiated and designed to be in a specific way to appeal to a specific market. Simpler the message, easier to get across. Names, typefaces, colours or even music and smells derive from emotional power. There are hundreds of similar products in a very competitive market, all fighting each other to get customers attention. Design has the power in making this differentiation through emotions.
7.- Breaking the mould
Rejecting conventions that surround a business is sometimes the best idea. Going for something entirely new, like Apple did with computers. Breaking the mould usually happens thanks to design.
8.- Reducing risk
Branding is risk. Research can tell a designer about the past and current times and give a fair indication of what consumers are moving towards. The problem with research is that it cannot predict if a product will work in a market place, if it will sell or if people will like it. It is useful, it is another tool, but it is not reliable. Risk is intrinsically embedded in branding.
9.- Promotion
Brands need to be known to meet their purpose. Money is usually the biggest issue, but through collaboration and organisation it is possible to get a brand out in the market.
10.- Distribution
Coverage is vital for distribution. For example, The Lion King's merchandise, musical, books and so on are all opportunities to get at customers and to reinforce its message. It is endless, ubiquitous and merciless. But it is effective.
11.- Coherence, clarity and congruence
From the first contact a brand must reinforce trust. Attitude, style and culture are three pieces that must perfectly fit. It should feel the same across different platforms.
P.218
It is important to remember that there are stronger forces that affect brands. These are vulnerable to fashion and also to themselves, as bad management can be very destructive. Brands are also vulnerable because they cannot anticipate how people will use them and changes in opinion about used materials or other features.
P.220
Brands are not as powerful as they look and they are very vulnerable to the unpredictability of the consumers. The brand is part of the corporation, and the way the latter behaves has a direct impact on the brand. Problems can also be part of the brand, and that is when companies do not have it all their own way.
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