In our fervor to embrace the new, the now and the future, let us not forget what’s at the heart of the new Integrated Marketing Revolution (or whatever we’re calling it today). It’s the brand. That’s right, I said brand, not “the consumer”. Yeah yeah, I know, but as key as John and Jill Consumer are, you have to keep the brand at the center. It’s what we’re trying to bring to life, make relevant and communicate to said John and Jill. Good promotional marketing efforts do just that—give the brand energy, life and meaning for consumers.
But, what is a brand? We use the word all the time, but what do we mean by “brand”? How do we define a brand when thinking of brand promotions?
At Upshot, we define a brand as a promise. What’s great about thinking this way is that it puts it in a context of human terms—it’s easy to understand get your consumers to invest in. And the deeper you get into this notion, the more it brings out the emotion, the human connection inherent in consumers’ relationship with brands, which is vital as social media becomes more and more central to people’s lives.
Go deeper and a brand is not only a promise, but a promise from seller to buyer, built on understanding and rooted in emotion and trust.
A brand is a promise from a seller to a buyer
The brand is the “mark” a seller gives of this promise to the buyer. It’s an interaction with a mutual benefit—yes, the buyer has a need the seller is fulfilling, but the buyer isn’t expecting it to be met with altruism and recognizes the seller also gets something of equal value.
A brand is built on understanding
Branding begins with engaging with people constantly blurring their life experiences. From workplace to home, with friends and with family, people are continually shifting their perspectives and expectations. Essentially, people are ever-changing. Understanding these ever-changing people is the first building block of branding. You’d never be able to make a meaningful promise to someone unless you really knew that person and the different perspectives they enact throughout their day.
A brand is rooted in emotion and trust
Great brands appeal both to the head and to the heart. Emotion is another critical piece of branding. People must feel comfortable about your brand, that it delivers what you are promising. That it reflects you and your personality it the best way possible. And that takes trust—a quality that takes time to win and can be lost in a second. Let’s keep it personal. A promise from someone you don’t trust is worthless.
So, why care about the brand now?
Three powerful business trends in today’s marketplace are making brands and brand marketing a priority.
Product differentiation. Any aisle in any store contains a mind-numbing array of choices, regardless of what you’re looking for. Every major brand offers every permutation of a given product so consumers are left with little to no product differentiation. That leaves only brand differentiation to base decisions on—something a well thought out brand articulation and/or promotion can bring to life. Without it, which brand to purchase could be boiled down to whether blue or red goes better in the kitchen. Or worse, which is cheaper.
Shorter product life cycles. The time between category adoption and brand preference has collapsed. The obvious example is the electronics category, where new technology drives life cycles, but this happens across virtually all consumer categories. You need to get your brand entrenched in consumer minds before you’re outnumbered and surrounded.
Growth of private label. The combination of better quality, consumer acceptance, and economic climate has set up private label to grow, and grow impressively, at the expense of accepted brands. They span basics to premium, and more and more consumers not only purchasing them but embracing them as their “go-to” choice. With space at such a premium, both at the literal shelf and in consumers’ minds, having a brand grounded in emotion, understanding and trust is more important than ever to ensure consumer preference over overtly rational private label products.
Brands and branding are central to the entire marketing spectrum
In an Integrated Marketing world, it’s important to keep in mind that brands and branding are central to all the work done across the entire spectrum of marketing—that’s above, below, through and all around the line. In fact, the “line” gets more and more irrelevant every day. And consumers don’t distinguish between the marketing they see that’s above or below this “line”. Keep the brand at the center of all their efforts to not only ensure its integration, but also consumer acceptance, receptivity to the message and overall engagement beyond mere purchase.
Remember that any brand-based efforts require both rational and emotional motivators. Relevant consumer insights must be tapped to ensure an emotional connection to the brand. Simple ideas need to be expertly executed across all tactics and touch points. Finally, all constituents (manufacturer, retailers, agency partners) need to collaborate as one.
