The Brand Asset Net :: Branding, Design, and Management

Your brand is what your client thinks it is

Your brand is only controllable as far as you have a clear definition of what you would like that to be, how it aligns with your way of doing business, and how to leverage it to engage with the public, staff, suppliers, management, and prospects.

Brand-led organizations are the most successful businesses; Apple is a prime example of a brand-led business, Virgin is another. They are business that are led by their values, not the bottom line or a single product or service.

Impacting what your prospect or client thinks and feels about your business is the object of branding as it relates to marketing. Advertising helps you communicate your sales proposition to your target market. Symbols, brand artifacts, metaphors, and a properly considered positioning strap line are important, but your business success rests on your client’s opinion of your organization.

Brand models help define your brand strategy. Brand models all have one thing in common: the objective of defining the essence or brand idea of your organization in order to develop your brand strategy.

The process, like many in marketing, is one of putting yourself on the outside and looking in; starting from external factors and analyzing how internal variables align with demand and competition.

The Aakers Brand Identity System is comprehensive in it’s analytical goals; going from Customers, Competitors and Self examination, to External, Core and Essential values and variables; then a matrix of brand as product, brand as organization, brand as person, and brand as symbol are applied to arrive an overview of the Brand via-à-vis Customer relationship, Brand Value Proposition, and Brand Credibility as an endorsing or supporting brand. A brand identity implementation system, brand position, and the parts of the brand identity to be communicated to the target are derived from the process, which is used in a tracked and measured Brand Building Program.

The Onion Model peels the layers from Sales Proposition on the outer ring, to Values and Personality in the inner ring and the Brand Core Essence at the centre.

The Wolff Olins Butterfly Models factors Market Pain and What Makes You Special in a butterfly-shaped Venn Diagram to define the Brand Idea and posit a direction for the future.

The Pyramid Model builds on the business Sales Foundation, through points of Differentiation and Core Values to arrive at the Brand Essence at the top of the pyramid.

The Unilever Key Model analyzes the Competitive Market, Target Market, and Insight as a base to arrive at a definition of the Brand Essence or Brand Idea, factoring in Brand Values, Reasons to Believe, Discriminators and Benefits.