Paul Marshall_ What makes a brand famous_ _September _ Business Connections.pdf
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17/10/2013 Paul Marshall: What makes a brand famous? | September | Business Connections www.es-bc.co.uk/famous-brands-0023 1/3 Are you no longer a teenager? Are you part of the 50.2% of the population which isn't female? Is your name not Simon Cowell? Then it's highly unlikely you'll consider One Direction to be a band. It's much more likely that you'll consider them to be a brand. Not just an ordinary run of the mill brand. But a great brand. A humongous unstoppable brand, whose meteoric rise to global prominence has come about thanks to another brand, the success of which we couldn't begin to explain in 144 paragraphs, let alone 144 characters. #whatmakesabrandfamous. It's a difficult question to answer. Some people will say it's when the brand name becomes a verb as in the case of Hoover or Google. Others will say it's when customers or followers almost become brand disciples. They buy into what is being sold or the philosophy being espoused to such a degree that their stupefied devotion will see them stick with that brand, despite there being better, cheaper or more logical alternatives out there. This is perhaps the case with Apple. And it's definitely the case with Scientology. You see, religions are brands too. As are political ideologies/parties. In fact, there are many who will put forward the argument that Nazism had the potential to be the brand of all brands, but whose demise came about thanks to its rather deranged Head of Marketing. As the owners of a niche bath and body company, our view of what makes a brand a true colossus and be able to stand the test of time and still be around in 100, 200, maybe 1,000 years time is when it's able to transcend its founder(s) and go from strength to strength, even when they've departed for a higher plane. This is what's happened to the aforementioned Apple and Scientology. Steve Jobs and L. Ron Hubbard are no longer with us, but the brands they created are very much Unstoppable brand: One Direction (Picture: PA) Twitter Follow Become a member To access exclusive content and entry to four events per year. Home About Upcoming Events Previous Events Latest Articles Forum Members' Directory Become a member Tax B2B Marketplace Financing Government Technology Premises Logistics Infrastructure Research Management Investors Bookkeeping Health & Safety Human Resources Entrepreneurs Paul Marshall Contact the author View author's profile and articles Become a Member Search Login Paul Marshall: What makes a brand famous? Paul Marshall 3 October 2013
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Transcript of Paul Marshall_ What makes a brand famous_ _September _ Business Connections.pdf
17/10/2013 Paul Marshall: What makes a brand famous? |September | Business Connections
www.es-bc.co.uk/famous-brands-0023 1/3
Are you no longer a teenager? Are you part of the 50.2% of the population which isn't
female? Is your name not Simon Cowell?
Then it's highly unlikely you'll consider One Direction to be a band. It's much more
likely that you'll consider them to be a brand.
Not just an ordinary run of the mill brand. But a great brand. A humongous
unstoppable brand, whose meteoric rise to global prominence has come about thanks
to another brand, the success of which we couldn't begin to explain in 144
paragraphs, let alone 144 characters.
#whatmakesabrandfamous. It's a difficult question to answer.
Some people will say it's when the brand name becomes a verb as in the case of
Hoover or Google.
Others will say it's when customers or followers almost become brand disciples. They
buy into what is being sold or the philosophy being espoused to such a degree that
their stupefied devotion will see them stick with that brand, despite there being better,
cheaper or more logical alternatives out there.
This is perhaps the case with Apple. And it's definitely the case with Scientology.
You see, religions are brands too. As are political ideologies/parties. In fact, there are
many who will put forward the argument that Nazism had the potential to be the brand
of all brands, but whose demise came about thanks to its rather deranged Head of
Marketing.
As the owners of a niche bath and body company, our view of what makes a brand a
true colossus and be able to stand the test of time and still be around in 100, 200,
maybe 1,000 years time is when it's able to transcend its founder(s) and go from
strength to strength, even when they've departed for a higher plane.
This is what's happened to the aforementioned Apple and Scientology. Steve Jobs
and L. Ron Hubbard are no longer with us, but the brands they created are very much
Unstoppable brand: One Direction (Picture: PA)
Twitter Follow
Become a member To access exclusive content and entry
to four events per year.
Home About Upcoming Events Previous Events Latest Articles Forum Members' Directory Become a member
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Paul Marshall: What makes abrand famous?
Paul Marshall 3 October 2013
17/10/2013 Paul Marshall: What makes a brand famous? |September | Business Connections
www.es-bc.co.uk/famous-brands-0023 2/3
alive and kicking, stronger, more prominent and powerful than ever.
Products or services are now almost beside the point. These days, it has hardly
anything to do with the fact that a telephone will allow you to speak to someone
thousands of miles away (heck, soon we'll probably be able to communicate
telepathically), a car that will get you from A to B or a search engine which will let you
instantly find a patisserie in Dorking.
It's all about how the organisation makes you feel and how it makes you appear in
front of your friends, family and work colleagues.
The most influential brands are more like cults than at any time in commercial
history.
Consumers have become monetized Moonies, brainwashed with a never ending
stream of marketing and advertising. The companies with the biggest media spends
are the ones that will ultimately win out and control the minds of their customers,
turning them into spent out shopaholics for whom there is no Priory substitute.
Where does this leave the smaller and medium sized brands?
Brands such as our own and very dear Anatomicals?
When we, the poor indebted founders are dead and gone, will Anatomicals go on and
exist into the 22nd century and beyond?
Could our little brand one day also become a verb? "I'm going to Anatomicalsize you".
Apart from sounding vaguely sexual and like something from a futuristic breeding
programme, we're not sure this is going to happen.
For a start, it would take tens of millions of pounds to get us in the consciousness of
all the customers we'd like to reach. And there in lies the crux of the problem.
It may increasingly be a virtual world, but money and overdrafts unfortunately remain
real enough. Barclays and our Business Manager wouldn't take too kindly to us
saying, "Hey you know that paltry £300,000 loan, well, it's all sort of vanished, but
that's OK isn't it? After all, it was a virtual loan, wasn't it?"
Perhaps the only hope for us and others in the same boat is the business equivalent
of winning the lottery. In other words, the You Tube clip that goes viral and makes you
an eight year old overnight sensation.
We wish our rivals and contemporaries good luck with that.
In our case, the chances of Pippa Middleton and Harry Styles being videoed naked in
the shower together, using one of our body cleansers, seems remote.
However, when we first came up with the brand, longevity was never our first intention.
Beauty by its very nature is transitory. It eventually fades. So perhaps it's only right
that we eventually fade into history as well.
Not that it matters much. Soon enough, we'll undoubtably all be living in Google world,
residing in Google houses, driving Google cars, watching Google produced TV shows
and movies, wearing Google clothes, eating Google food, having sex with Google
robots and, yes, washing ourselves with blinkin' Google toiletries.
To add insult to injury, Google will own One Direction's entire back catalogue, which
will be streamed constantly and directly into all our auditory cortexes.
NOV
20Jacqueline Gold
She began her career at 21 when she started working for herfather’s company, Ann Summers. As she le...
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