BrandDigital | BrandSimple: The Blog

Who are the most important people involved in getting a new brand idea off the ground? While those of us on the brand communications side might like to think it’s us, it’s not. It’s the employees of the organization whose brand is in launch mode. For a brand to be successful, those inside the company must fully understand what their brand stands for and what their role is in bringing it to life – a consistent brand experience across all points of customer touch being the ultimate objective.

This top tenet of brand building came to mind after I read about the merger between United and Continental, and then wrote about it in my recent column for Forbes Online. My view is that while it’s hard enough to get a single company’s employees engaged with a brand idea, it’s doubly challenging when bringing two companies together. But it’s among the first things the new United Airlines management must do. Not from a 40,000-foot perspective, but from the bottom up and the top down. It’s only if the employees of a company get on board with their brand’s idea, that consumers will get on board, as well.

courtesy of Forbes.com

Why should I buy this? That is the ultimate question on every consumer’s mind. Conversely, why should they buy it must be the ultimate question on any brand manager’s mind in order to make the sale.

In my newest column on Forbes.com I explore the two fundamental answers to this question. Yes, there are two. And, yes, each is based on the branding fact that you must offer something that is both relevant and completely different than any other brand out there in order to be successful. Where these two answers diverge is a matter of whether the product can sell itself – is it inherently different and relevant? Or, must the marketing team look for way to position it as different and relevant?

In a marketplace deluged with brands and branding channels, each is a challenge. Take a look at the article and see which marketers are meeting this selling challenge and winning

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It’s long been recognized by those of us who help build brands that no matter how much research we undertake, and no matter how much proof we offer, Wall Street just won’t listen to the fact that brand value is a genuine competitive advantage. That is, until just recently. While on the treadmill at the gym the other day, I was watching CNBC during which a senior manager from CreditSuisse explained to his interviewer that the results of a recent study undertaken by the financial institution demonstrated that, yes, great brands make great investments. Resisting the temptation to shout, “so what else is new,” I, instead, took consolation that CreditSuisse is a highly credible brand, that CFO’s would finally pay attention, and that “brand” as asset would finally get the traction it deserved. More than this, I immediately followed up on the report, found it worthy of any investor’s attention, and took the time to write about it in my latest Forbes Online column. Should you, perchance, have money still hidden in your mattress, click on the link and read more.

Image courtesy [cas] at Flickr

The toaster wasn’t toasting fast enough. No, it wasn’t broken. I was having a “double-click mentality” moment. You know, those moments during an ordinary day when the ordinary stuff we do seems to take too much time as a result of our being behavior modified by the instant gratification of digital activities. Downloading books, music, and movies. Scanning directions onto our mobile devices. Using QR codes to get exclusive access to discounts. Or, like Target has done in a recent non-digital promotion, sending coupons that are good for any brand of a whole bunch of products so I don’t have to spend time clipping and filing coupons for my personal favorites. I’ve written a short piece about this “double-click mentality” and its implications for brands in the latest edition of Forbes Online. Specifically, how brands with an understanding of our “now-now” state of mind are more likely to build brand loyalty and leadership. Take a look. I promise it won’t take more than a double-click’s worth of time to read.

Some think chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Others, flight delays and crowded malls. Those in the brand business, myself included, think about trends we’re likely to see in the year ahead. Given that I had some time due to a flight delay of my own, I took the time to write down some of the things we’re likely to see in the marketplace in the year ahead, including which brands will most likely get stronger, and which might actually go south (not for the winter, but forever). While my record on some predictions is somewhat spotty (did you read what I wrote about Jay Leno?!), I feel pretty secure in my assessment that companies that play by the essential rules of branding, that is, offer people products and services that are meaningfully different, will continue to do well. For my year-end assessment, click on the link to Forbes Online. (If you want a chuckle, you can also read my column on Leno!) Happy new year!

Image courtesy @Ana Young via Flickr

You don’t need a mental health professional to tell you that the holidays induce strange behavior in people. And you probably don’t need a branding professional to tell you that the holidays, especially recession-whipped holidays, induce strange behavior in companies trying to get you spend money on their brands. This season I’ve seen even the most mild-mannered brands go a little “off,” shall we say, in trying to get consumers to pay attention to their holiday deals. While it is necessary to step a little outside your brand persona to announce a promotion, the trick is to do so in a way that’s in alignment with what you stand for in the minds of consumers. My recent column in Forbes Online provides a little insight into how this can be done – and how it shouldn’t be done. I invite you to read it – and I wish you a happy holiday season!

Image via Flickr @ bensenkua

There is no room for “whatever” in successful brand building. Every good brand is built on a definitive reason for being. And while it used to be enough to capture this reason as a brand promise, the best of the best brands today operate with a purpose. Given the turbulent times, those brands that look back to the specific purpose on which they were founded and execute against this purpose with passion and vigilance are the brands that are winning the hearts and minds of customers and employees, alike. In my latest column in Forbes Online, I write about two of these brands, Wal-Mart and Charles Schwab, and how they went back to the simple ideas that put them on the brand map in the first place, but with an added vigor and determination right for the times. Have a look. And for more information on the topic, go the Web site of the most recent ANA conference and listen to the CMOs of these two companies. I?m sure you’ll find their ideas as interesting as I did.

image courtesy of walmart.com

image courtesy of MichiganMoves via Flickr

image courtesy of www.cob.org.br

The jury may have weighed in on this year’s Emmy winners, but it’s definitely still out on the newest iteration of Jay Leno’s presence. While many herald, “The Jay Leno Show,” airing weeknights at 10 P.M., as the next wave of broadcast television – lower cost, easier to produce, and more personal than sit-coms and hour-long dramas – others say it’s not quite living up the expectations set by the weeks of PR and advertising that preceded it. While I’m not a TV critic, a professional one, that is, I do know an interesting branding idea when I see one. And as I explain in my newest column in Forbes online, I think that what Jay’s producers at NBC did was nicely in line with classic Branding 101. Tune in and take a read.

Image permission being requested via The Ampersand