CORPORATE

BRANDING
Samit Sinha, Saturday January 30 2010
Demystifying The World of
Brands
A Brand?
First, a Sign of Ownership
Later in the Wild West
Identification Mark
 The Evolution of Brands

¾ Identifier
¾ Trademark, sign of origin or source

¾ Differentiator
¾ Unique attributes

¾ Discriminator
¾ Indication of superiority on specific dimensions

¾ Relationship
¾ Shared meanings & beliefs
The Brand Is
At The Heart
of Business
AND ITS
GREATEST ASSET
 Brand’s Financial Value

Market capitalization
– (less) debt

= Value of company
– (less) replacement cost of tangible assets
– (less) cost of intangible assets (know-how, patents,
certifications…)

= Financial value of brand

 The Brand Asset

¾ The brand’s real value is in its ability to assure

continued future income by
¾ Attracting customers
¾ Encouraging repeat transactions
¾ Reducing price sensitivity
¾ Creating evangelists

¾ Fostering unflinching loyalty

A Strong
Brand
Creates a common
frame of reference
for all constituencies
(It is not just a name,
logo or tag-line)
 Product Vs
Corporate Brands
¾ Product brand
¾ Doesn't rely on association with organization, but with a
category

¾ Corporate brand
¾ Relies on association with parent organization
¾ Serves as an "umbrella" & transfers brand equity to a
range of sub-brands
¾ Also assists companies in relating to key stakeholders
Multiple Stakeholders

Customers

Investors End Users

CORPORATE
Employees Suppliers
BRAND

Policy Partners
Makers
Public
The Brand’s 3 Faces
Must Unite to Singular Identity

Unified
Identity

BRAND
FACETS

ENTERPRISE INSTITUTION PRODUCT

A successful A socially A seller of
commercial relevant product & service
entity corporate citizen offerings

Direct Stakeholders Direct Stakeholders Direct Stakeholders

Investors/Banks/FIs General Public Customers
Employees Government Trade
Partners/Vendors Media
Brand Image Vs Identity

¾ The brand image can

only be controlled by
first establishing the
brand identity
¾ Brand image
¾ How the brand is
perceived
¾ Brand identity
¾ How we want the
brand to be perceived
Experience
Matters Most
“Everyone experiences far more
than he understands – yet it is
experience, not understanding,
that influences behavior.”
Marshall McLuhan
Making Experience = Promise
PROMISES EXPERIENCES

Media Environments

Literature Behavior

BRAND
MANAGEMENT
Signage Product

Advertising Service
 Defining The Brand Charter

¾ Internal dimensions – organizational

¾ Vision Framework
¾ What is the brand’s core ideology and goals?
¾ Credibility
¾ What does the brand do best? Can it be leveraged?

¾ External dimensions – category (consumer, competition)

¾ Relevance
¾ Whose and what need will the brand fulfill?
¾ Differentiation
¾ What will make the brand unique?

¾ The brand space

¾ Brand essence, architecture & identity
¾ What is the brand’s core (its unchanging self)? Where all can it extend?
¾ What will make the brand identifiable?
 The Branding Roadmap

INTERNAL DIMENSIONS EXTERNAL DIMENSIONS

THE BRAND’S FOUNDATION
 A Meaningful Vision

¾ An inspirational tool for long-term success

¾ Defines who we are
¾ Why we exist?
¾ What values that guide our actions?
¾ Gives us direction
¾ The destination
¾ The journey ahead
 The Vision Framework

¾ Core ideology
¾ Core purpose + core values

¾ Envisioned future
¾ Goals + vivid description
 Purposeful Statements

¾ Purpose of Nike
¾ “To experience the emotion of competition, winning and
crushing competitors”

¾ Purpose of McKinsey
¾ “To help leading corporations and governments be
more successful”

¾ Purpose of Disney
¾ “To make people happy”
 Core Values Illustrations

¾ P&G: Product quality and honest business

¾ “When you cannot make pure goods of full weight, go to
something else that is honest, even if it is breaking
stone”

¾ HP: Respect and concern for the individual

¾ “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

¾ Disney: Childlike zeal

¾ “No cynicism, creativity, dreams and imagination,
fanatical attention to consistency and detail”
 Big Hairy Audacious Goals
¾ Quantitative
¾ “Become a $ 125 billion company by the year 2000” (Wal-Mart, 1990)

¾ Qualitative
¾ “Become the company that most changes the world-wide image of Japanese products as being poor
quality” (Sony, early 1950s)
¾ “Become the best entertainment company in the world” (Walt Disney)
¾ Become the most powerful, the most serviceable, the most far-reaching world financial institution that
has ever been” (Citibank)

¾ David Vs. Goliath

¾ “Crush Adidas” (Nike, 1960s)

¾ Role model
¾ “Become Harvard of the West” (Stanford University)

¾ Simply audacious
¾ “…put a man on the moon by the end of the decade…” (JFK, 1962)
Vivid Descriptor
 What Gives Us Credibility

¾ Our field of competence or legitimacy

¾ What we do best
¾ Checking for demonstrable evidence
¾ Pedigree, track record, technology, something else…?
 Relevance

¾ Understanding the different category needs from each

stakeholder group
¾ Functional
¾ Social
¾ Psychological

¾ Seeing the market as composed of different need

segments

¾ Segmentation strategy
¾ Discovering relevant need-gaps
¾ Identifying best-fit segment
 2 Views On Human Behavior
Freud
¾ No fundamental difference
between humans and
animals
¾ Behavior is deterministic
¾ Determined by anterior
factors, either inherited or
environmental, rather than by
free will
¾ Air, water, food, shelter, rest,
sex and pain avoidance is all
that we really need
Maslow
¾ People are fundamentally
trustworthy, self-protecting,
self-governing, and naturally
inclined toward growth and
love
¾ Cruelty, violence and
dishonesty are not typical of
human nature, but occur only
when people are deprived of
their needs
Strong Brands Connect With
Meta-needs
Truth, goodness, beauty, unity, holism, harmony,
aliveness, uniqueness, perfection & necessity,
completion, justice, order, simplicity, richness,
effortlessness, playfulness, self-sufficiency,
meaningfulness…
 Framework of Motivations
CHANGE
RISK TAKING
EXTROVERT

BELONGING SUCCESS
FEMININE MASCULINE
GROUP SELF

SAFETY
RISK AVERSE
INTROVERT
 The Archetypes

JESTER MAGICIAN
DREAMER

EXPLORER

INNOCENT REBEL

LOVER HERO

FRIEND
WISE

MOTHER KING
 Differentiation

¾ Our competitive point-of-difference

¾ The unique association that we can usurp

¾ Understanding the competition
¾ What key associations do they own?

¾ The value proposition must naturally flow from

this unique association in the brand’s
¾ Features/Attributes
¾ Functional benefits
¾ Psychological benefits
¾ Expressive codes
The Brand Space & Boundaries

¾ The absolute ESSENCE of the brand

¾ How far can this extend?

Brand Architecture Strategies

¾ Monolithic branding
¾ One single brand across products and target segments

¾ Product branding
¾ Different brands/sub-brands for each product category

¾ Segment branding
¾ Different brands/sub-brands for each target segment, within same
product category

¾ Product-Segment branding
¾ Different brands/sub-brands for each product category and target
segment

¾ Family branding
¾ Using “parent” brand at various levels of endorsement to sub-brands
 4 Branding Concepts
¾ Functional
¾ Product benefit
¾ Through technical
superiority, durability,
reliability etc.
¾ Experiential
¾ Sensual experience
¾ Building up associations
with the 5 senses
¾ Symbolic
¾ Express user personality
¾ Values & status, self-
esteem
¾ Relational
¾ Emotional attachment
¾ To impart a sense of
familiarity with the brand
 What Works Where

¾ Monolithic
¾ Functional
¾ Relational

¾ Product
¾ Experiential

¾ Segment
¾ Symbolic

¾ Product-Segment
¾ Symbolic & Experiential

¾ Family
¾ More than two branding concepts in use
Brand Architecture Spectrum
Brand Identity
 Clarifying Brand Identity
Kapferer’s Brand Identity Prism

picture of sender
Physique Personality
Its sensorial Its implicit
associations character

BRAND ESSENCE

internal
Relationship Culture
external

Its role in (The most permanent The brand’s

people’s lives part of the brand) core values

Reflection Self-image
Brand user’s Brand user’s
public perception self-perception
picture of receiver
 Mercedes
• Name
• 3-pointed • Perfectionist
star • Sophisticated
• Premium
• Dependable
• Build quality

• Badge of
Engineering • German
success Perfection engineering

• Rich & famous • Successful owner

 BMW
• Young
• Name • Exciting
• Propeller • Passionate
• Premium • Sporty

The Thrill • German

• Pleasure
Of Driving performance
Machine

• Rich & • Driver, car lover

famous,
youthful
Manifesting
The Brand
Or how the brand
expresses itself
Brand’s Sensorial Signatures

¾ Making the brand identity reflect in the sensorial

experience
¾ Designing the brand
¾ Brand’s visual identity
¾ How the brand looks
¾ Logo, colors, graphics…
¾ Also how the brand feels, sounds, tastes & smells
 Brand’s Messages

¾ Message tone & content

„ Context
„ Objective
„ Target
„ Proposition
„ Support
„ Personality
„ Key insight

¾ In all communication
¾ Advertising
¾ PR
¾ Direct
 Brand Culture

¾ Critical to internalize the brand values within the

organization
¾ “Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it
is at least partly shared with people who live or lived
within the same social environment, which is where it
was learned. It is the collective programming of the
mind which distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from another.”
¾ Geert Hofstede
 Two Axes Four Cultures

High
Sociability

Networked Communal

Fragmented Mercenary

Low High
Solidarity
 Enculturation

¾ To align employees with brand values

¾ Input into HR policies

¾ Recruitment criteria
¾ Appraisal
¾ Training & development
¾ Other HR initiatives
 Creating Brand Champions
SABOTEURS
- Working actively
AGNOSTICS against the idea
- Interested but
not committed

CHAMPIONS CYNICS
- Storytellers - Not involved
who spread the idea with the idea
Thank You

Questions?