BrandSimple | BrandDigital: The Blog

Landor’s third annual list of the top ten Breakaway Brands was released in the November 2nd issue of Fortune magazine. The ranking is based on a comprehensive survey that measures brand momentum over a three year period in terms of financial gain and brand strength – how it’s appraised by consumers. As I looked over the newest top ten brands two things immediately came to mind. First, the brands on the list represented a broad spectrum of categories. TJMaxx to iPod, Stonyfield to Gatorade’s Propel, Costco to Barnes & Noble, with a few relative old-timers thrown in for very good measure. Second, the brands on the list all delivered especially well on the fifth in my top ten list of what it takes to be a strong brand. (You can see the other nine in my book, BrandSimple.) And that is, making sure that your brand strategy – what your brand represents to consumers – is in absolute alignment with your business strategy, or what you deliver. In other words, can you validate the brand experience?

While this has always been essential to brand success, it’s never been more important than in today’s totally transparent, digitally-enabled consumer environment. If you don’t keep your promise in today’s marketplace, you’ll get found out and taken down in an instant, whether by blog, text or brand-damning digital video. Should you have any doubt at all, take a look at the video of the sleeping Comcast repairman on YouTube, complete with background music by the EELS. Each of the companies on the top ten list of Breakaway Brands have the entire organization focused on delivering the brand experience just as consumers expect it to be delivered. The brand strategy is inseparable from the business strategy and it shows both in Wall Street satisfaction and customer satisfaction.

“A paradox, a paradox, how quaint the ways of paradox,” to paraphrase a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. Well, not quaint the ways of this paradox: Bottled water, that is. This booming business, this signal of healthy living is not healthy for the environment. Recent news reports tell us that all those plastic bottles are rapidly adding to the industrial emissions heating up our planet. Bottled water brands can stick their heads in the blazing sand and hope this green issue will go away, but it won’t. According to the recent Landor ImagePower® survey it’s picking up steam which could affect the bottled water business in a booming negative way. That’s why it’s not too hard to imagine that the first of these brands to develop a functional and stylish bottle that can be refilled or, at the very least, is manufactured to be environmentally harmless could be in a very advantageous category position. This proactive brand will endear itself to the growing number of consumers who carry their plastic bottles as a symbol of healthy living and even allow them to signal that their health-conscious attitude applies to the world, at large. As I think about it even more, it shouldn’t take too long for major cities to capitalize on this effort. The first city to officially brand its refreshing tap water and figure out an innovative way for its citizens to tote it around would find itself in a very advantageous position, as well. From a branding perspective, it’s no paradox that sometimes the best answers are right under your nose. Mayor Bloomberg, make some stylish NYC reusable water bottles, brand them “Bloomberg’s Best” and watch them help you turn NYC into the Greenest city in America!!

The health food groupie group is no longer a fringe group. The number of people seeking healthier food choices is growing as fast as the waistlines of the non-health food groupie group. Interest in, at least, “thinking about” eating healthier now cuts across many consumer segments. Coke and Pepsi, with the introduction of their vitamin-infused beverages, are acknowledging this fact. The move by these mega-brands signals that we’ve reached a tipping point relative to consumer interest in the nutritional value of food and drink. The hue and cry for healthier choices is getting too loud for brands like Coke and Pepsi to ignore. But, for those who wonder whether the health food groupies will start drinking Coke and Pepsi, the answer is probably not. The bona fide health conscious folks are not necessarily the target of this initiative.

For those who wonder whether these new line extensions will be unhealthy for the Coke and Pepsi brands, again, probably not. In fact, it’s a smart branding opportunity. It makes them look good. By adding a healthier line of products to their core offerings these brands are demonstrating awareness of health and wellness issues. More significant, however, is that by seeing these healthier products on the shelves (even if they don’t buy them), the general population may feel less guilty about consuming these brands. Health by association. People started feeling better about McDonald’s when the brand added salads to its menu choices. Whether they gave in to their Big Mac attacks wasn’t the issue. The McDonald’s brand gained favor just by offering a number of more nutritious options. It wasn’t simply healthier for the people who chose to eat them, but it was good for the health of the brand. My belief is that the Coke and Pepsi brands will enjoy similar collateral health. People may drink their regular colas, but at least they’ll feel less guilty doing so.

Welcome to Heineken’s “newest work of art.” Heineken Premium Light. While some would consider the “art” to be the clean, refreshing brew inside, I’m referring to the art on the outside. The bottle, that is, with its clean, refreshing label. It’s branding artistry at its best. In fact, it’s a powerful expression of everything the Heineken brand stands for. The premium quality you’d expect. And, the way only Heineken would convey the uniqueness of its low-carb, great tasting new product.

The bottle transcends category norms, from its non-traditional vertical typeface to the translucent pressure sensitive labeling material. For a beer whose roots go back to 1864, Heineken is pretty cool. It’s new Premium Light is cool. The packaging, cooler still. See Eyes on Creativity for another review of the label, or lack thereof.

Heineken may say “Succumb to the smooth.” I’d suggest succumb to the power of the packaging might be an equally worthy claim.