Brand Matters: The Joy of Branding

Unleash your brand’s full potential

October 2007 By Andrea Syverson

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Find Your Essence

Victorious brands have two basic things in common: They know themselves. They know their customers.

Think about four or five of your favorite brands. Kevin Roberts, CEO of ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, calls these your “lovemarks.” These are products or services you interact with often, such as your favorite running shoes, purse, gadget or workout center. Take a moment to list them. Now take a moment to list why they mean so much to you. Close to the top of your list probably is a reason that has something to do with the fact the companies that created these products or services understand you in some specific way. They “get” you. They solve a problem for you. They meet a need in some extraordinary way. Lovemarks are not merely adequate.

Now, think of your own company, service, product or brand. How deeply do you know all the ins and outs of what makes it tick? Do you know how it came to be? Why it came to be? What was the spark that made this company come alive? How it is different? What is your brand’s story or heritage? What are your brand’s dreams? Can you fill out all the pages well enough to share it with others—both internally and externally? If not, this is your very first step.

The second step is to collect, verify and discuss all this brand knowledge as a group in a way that captures the brand’s true essence. A good exercise to help accomplish this goal is to start a list that says “Our brand is ...” and to keep adding to it until you cannot come up with any more adjectives or phrases. Then, start a new list of what your brand is not. Keep adding to both of these lists. Ask your customers the same questions. Like the front and back covers of a book, brands need both boundaries. It is within these boundaries that a brand’s authentic positioning will emerge.

Edit Out the Clutter

Once these brand messages have been synthesized, the next step is to edit out all that is cluttering these messages from your collateral materials. All good writers know they need the expertise of good editors. Editors know what the writer is trying to accomplish and help him get there by trimming away the extraneous words and confusing messages, while encouraging him to pursue the right word to pinpoint what he wants to communicate. Like removing the clutter from your home, office or garage, the editing process can be tedious and painful. But more than ever, in today’s sound-byte culture, brands need their many messages tightened so their true essence and positioning can shine through.

This creative action of brand exploration, positioning and message editing helps companies become more focused and intentional in all they do and say. It brings back the joy of branding as it begins to unleash the brand’s full creative potential by giving the brand room and energy to be its true self. It liberates a brand from being merely adequate and rather unremarkable. It sets the stage for the beginning of a high brand adventure!

So today, why not take a hard, customer-lens look at your brand’s first impression and see if it, indeed, is true to your brand’s positioning. Does it have zest? If not, don’t spend another dime on more collateral material until you get your story shining and your messaging clear. Your customers will thank you. Your competitors will not.

Andrea Syverson is president of IER Partners, a strategic branding and merchandising consultancy based in Colorado. She can be reached at asyverson@ierpartners.com or (719) 495-2354.

Unsure How to Integrate Brand and Direct?

In each Brand Matters column, Syverson will dissect one marketer’s branding collateral and provide feedback on how it can successfully integrate its brand message with its direct marketing objectives. To submit your materials for a free critique in this column, send no more than three nonreturnable pieces by mail to: Andrea Syverson, c/o Target Marketing, 1500 Spring Garden St., 12th fl., Philadelphia, PA 19130.