Brand:Authors and Authenticity

Nick Copland Verbal Identity Consultant www.verbal-id.co.uk

For many people Branding signals big money, fantastic campaigns,long-term marketing…

This may have been true a few years ago, but brand has changed over the last few years…

I’d like to take a very brief look at a potted history of brand – from the beginning of time (roughly) to the present day…

In the beginning was the word…

Way back, people relied on good old word of mouth.

Everyone knew where to find the things they needed, and if they didn’t they just asked.

If you sold pies, you put up a picture of pies.

Or perhaps just displayed an actual pie…

Brand was the same as reputation

Then, just a few hundred years ago, trade, travel and feudalism changed things.

Marks, crests, heraldry and seals became assurances of ownership, authority and origin.

The advent of print meant that you could make an impression even when you were not there.

Postal services, newspapers, magazines, global travel, centralised city living added to the need for print.

Packaging became essential…

Brand became part of the network of print

The age of the trademark gently became the age of the logo.

Companies stamped their logo on a product or package, and people could see it was from them and trusted it to deliver.

Brand had become all about the image

Print and design companies and agencies thrived. In fact they had a field day.

The only way anyone could have a brand was to get them to put it on bits of paper, on TV, in magazines, on packaging – and every single time they did – it cost them money.

Marketing and its cousin brandinghad become a bit of a dark art

So the people with enough money dug deep, and spent millions.

At the height of this kind of marketing (mid-nineties) it was regularly costing $100million to create a household name in the US.

Brand was broadcast. From corporate HQ to the minions – the customers…

Once most brands were big business, and most big businesses were effectively identical.

A big business that sold sweets ...

...was essentially the same as a big business that sold oil.

Then in the last 10 years, a few things happened…

Suddenly there were hundreds of new ways of communicating with people.

First it was the Internet and email, then mobile phones, text messages, the Blackberry, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube…

Importantly these new channels were not just about people being receivers of information – but transmitters too…

Social networking became a powerful phenomena…

What’s more. companies like Amazon, EBay, friendsreunited, MySpace seemed to do almost no marketing, but still became massive brand success stories without spending a penny.

Now branding was different

The power had shifted to the people

Brand got democratic

And brand expanded….

Now… brand is getting everywhere…

Food is a brand

The supermarket where you buy the food is a brand

Cities are a brand

Celebrities are brands Countries are brands Films are brands Even motorways are brands…

Brand isn’t just personal…

Brand is personality

Brand is character

This then prompts my favouritequestion…

So what?

It is not about getting expensive images put all over the place.

It is about something we can all get to grips with – and shout about…

LANGUAGE

Word of mouth is back in fashion…

But now it is powered by the most effective networks in the history of communication.

Today, brands need to speak to us, have dialogue with us and start conversations with us... and let us talk about them.

Brand experience leads to stories and narratives, about really, really

big ideas...

Values

Brands who think social media is trivial, have never seen the passion, excitement, anger expressed globally, when people tell tales about their brand.

Like most people, most businesses, share values:

Like most people, most businesses, share values:

Who thinks friendship is important?

Like most people, most businesses, share values:

Who thinks friendship is important?

Who thinks family is important?

Like most people, most businesses, share values:

Who thinks friendship is important?

Who thinks family is important?

Who thinks education is important?

A (relatively) recent survey of top companies asked the following:

What are the stated values of your organisation?

Customer satisfaction 77%Ethics/integrity 76%Accountability 61%Respect for others 59%Open communication 51%Profitability 49%Teamwork 47%Innovation/change 47%Continuous learning 43%Good work environment 42%Diversity 41%[AMA Corporate Values Survey 2002]

So, does this mean that all the companies are the same, or do the same things, or say things in the same way?

No.

Today, a brand is more like a book.Communication must feel like a conversation, brands must tell their story through authentic, believable characters, it must engage and find new ways to convey those big ideas – values.

Think of novels – there are millions of characters and genres, but generally, they are about a fewbig ideas – revenge, love, death, hate...

But they are all different…

Brands must ring true. They must find ways to reflect their values in all they do.

They must deliver a complete experience.