Marty Neumeier | The Brand Gap

So what is a brand? The brand is simply the promise or the big idea. It is the thoughts that a person has in their mind when they consider a company, a product, a person, a service, or a community. It is not a logo, a letterhead a website or any other kind of visual paraphernalia. (These are the external visual expressions of a brand; part of the identity of the brand).

“Essentially the brand is the perception that somebody has about a product or service.It’s all in the mind! This is the key.”

Everybody and everything has a brand in the crudest sense. When you think of a person you know, what comes to mind? Do you have endearing memories, or negative ones? How do they dress? What does that tell you about them? What overarching impression do you have of them? What do you think when their name gets mentioned? This is their brand, whether they like it or not, whether they want one or not; that collection of feelings and judgments about them is their brand. It’s not a matter of branding or not branding – its more a question of wether or not you will manage the brand that you already have. The alternative is to let other people develop there own perception of who you are, from sources other than your own. Whenever a prospect comes into contact with your company or service or products, they receive a message that either  strengthens or undermines what you want to communicate: from advertising to word of mouth. This is what you need to manage.

Its not a matter of creating a brand, but rather, what are you going to do with the one you already have?

What is brand identity? So where does the logo come in? Well, it’s part of the brand identity. Consider it like this; brands speak to the heart, and the brand identity addresses the senses. It allows the prospect to see, hold, feel, hear and sense the brand. The brand name and the brand’s logo are two important elements of an arsenal of resources that increase awareness about the properties and benefits
of your brand.

How and why does it work?
When brand identity works, it really works. Brand identity is the outside stimulus that triggers recognition – it addresses the senses and starts the consumer thinking about whatever the brand means in their mind. This happens predominantly through sight. But by no means essentially. When you hear Intel’s brand ‘bell’ at the end of a TV advert or when a computer starts up, you know its Intel. Through repeated exposure, recognition is strengthened. When done well, you don’t even need a logo. For example a brown van comes around the corner you know that it’s a UPS van, or when you see a red advert out of the corner of your eye, you know its about Virgin, and in both cases that recognition will trigger your thoughts about the company.

Are there short cuts? Can’t we just go directly to a logo?
The short answer to that is No. Its important to develop the brand properly. Producing a logo is not an exercise in style or looking good, it will work best if it is actually a product of understanding your internal identity. The logo should be a visual expression of your vision. To jump directly to a logo is to miss the point. The reason that good logos work is because of the brand that underpins them.

1. Vision
A good brand must have a visionary leader or group who are articulate, effective and passionate. Somebody who can picture what the future will be and communicate it in a way that can inspire others. The brand needs to be a translation of that vision into a tangible expression and visual language that resonates with all the key stakeholders. A great example of this kind of vision is Steve Jobs of Apple Computers.

2. Meaning
The best brands stand for something, a definitive truth, a strategic and a clear set of values. It comes down to what you are promising your prospects. Meaning is drafted from the essence of a brands identity, what does it stand for both now and in the future. It usually requires that you take an enormous amount of information and distil it into its purest form. Communication of meaning is essential as an identity builds power when there is cohesion of meaning and visual language.

3. Differentiation
This is the process of giving yourself a unique identity in the marketplace so that when somebody thinks of a category they see you as being different and unique in relation to the competition. This needs to be seen in values and meaning, but also visually and verbally and comes directly from the positioning so that there is no confusion. It is an essential process. Nobody responds well to ‘me too’. A unique identity will get you differentiation and ultimately profits.

4. Authenticity
In psychology, authenticity tends to refer to self-knowledge and the expression of that knowledge. This is essential to a brands success, and is linked intrinsically to the meaning of the brand. Authenticity cannot therefore be possible without a clear understanding of what the brand stands for. At the foundations of a brand is a promise to the consumer, and if that is not kept, the brand is undermined. Innocent Smoothies is a great example of this. The simple, friendly approach translates across key brand touch-points. The product packaging is also a clever representation of the brand. Unlike its fellow beverages, Innocent is simple. The bottle is clear with a simple product information band in one color. The product stands out precisely because it is so different from the other beverages on the shelf. This is reinforced by their simple and down to earth personality and brand values. Innocent prides itself on providing natural, pure juice drinks and nothing else. Literally, nothing else – “No sugar. No water. No concentrates”. So you see the brand is simple and authentic and delivers what it promises wherever you make contact with the brand.

5. Sustainability
Sustainability is the ability that the brand has to maintain its distinctive qualities over time without loosing defi nition under the unpredictable pressures of a changing environment. It needs to have longevity and the ability to retain its distinctiveness regardless of fl uctuating variables such as consumer trends, economics, business change, expansion and the like. We need to make sure we’re thinking ahead.

6. Coherence
This is the ability that a brand has to ensure that the consumer always has a consistent experience of the brand wherever they connect with any of its touch points. This is the key to retaining a brands power and value, as soon as inconsistency and incoherence comes in, the brand dilutes.

7. Flexibility
A brand has to be able to adapt over time to a wide range of variables without loosing its potency. How for example does Disney maintain its brand distinctive under the pressure of constant promotion and production of Disney branded items, events and services. What about their movies and TV shows, merchandise, branded experiences of all different kinds? Yet they still manage to maintain their grip on who they are.

8. Value
This is the recognition and strength that a brand has. It is the position that your brand has in the mind of the consumer when they think of a specific product. For example “Fairy washing up liquid means the best to me, so that’s what I buy.” It is the power of the brand. The value of a brand comes in the synergy of the meaning and the aesthetic.

9. Commitment
The commitment that a company or service makes to maintain the value of the brand. In many ways once a brand has been created or enhanced, you are only at the beginning of the process. A brands value will increase as the standards are consistently and perpetually applied without faltering, time and time again. It requires a top down imperative whereby the director of the company champions the need and importance of maintaining the standards. It’s not a magic wand but a discipline of commitment, day in, day out. This needs enforcing.

10. Positioning
You can’t escape this term wherever you go in branding circles, people used to talk about marketing, but now it’s positioning. This is simply the process by which a brand is effectively placed in the mind of the consumer. Where do you sit in the mind? It is the activity of communicating the strategically chosen attributes of a brand in such a way as to encourage a consumer to think about those attributes when they consider the brand. It is also the art of reminding the prospect as effectively and as often as possible about those attributes.

Define The Problem
It is essential that the first thing that you do at the outset of a project is to define a clear statement of intent. What exactly is it that you are looking to achieve with this specific branding project. It is the first step in outlining the perimeters for how you take things forward from here. It should be no longer than a page long, preferably shorter, and be completely visionary.

From that statement you define for yourself specific goals that will enable you to answer the questions that you have presented yourself with. This will allow you to then build a research methodology that will look to answer the questions and hypothesis that you have posed. Note that you might need to do research prior to these goals and visions being defined. But the end goal is to have the statement and the project plan signed of by the client before work commences.

This is where you take the goals and vision of the project and break it down into questions that you go about answering. You do this initially through a literature review, and try to formulate a research methodology as soon as possible.

Part 1: Literature Review
A good literature review will cover a wider range of media and literature:
• Documents
• Publications
• Presentations
• Audio
• Websites
• Articles
• Books
• Corporate Communications

Part 2: Understanding The Business
At this stage you do all that you can to understand the brand that you are working with. What is its history, who are its Stakeholders, past and present. Do an audit of all the brand’s previous and current communications, both copy and visual messaging. Interview as many people in the company as possible. Look under every stone for information that will reveal key insights to how to take the brand forward. Use as much primary research as possible.

Part 3: Understanding the Market
It is essential to know how to position yourself in this process. Here you understand the market as well as your clients position within it. Research subjects that are essential are a clear definition of the market, a competitor review, which looks at other brands looks and feel, and messaging strategy. Try to unlock their brand essence and position your brand in relation to them to gain the competitive advantage.

Part 4: Consumer Research
This is where you try and discover a consumers buying motivation. What is the brand in the mind of the consumer, and how should you position the brand respectively. There is a wealth of research methods that you can use to extract this information. Interview, focus groups, ethnography, video diaries etc.

Part 5: Analysis of Data and Insights
This is where all the research is considered and insights are drawn under the above categories. This will be looked at in light of the vision and goals of the company so we can see what should stay and what should remain.

Part 6: Conclusion
This is where conclusions are reached and presented.