All marketing is about telling a story, and stories that are credible sell. This is an important part of brand building. Why do you choose Puma over Nike? Because of the story you’ve been told about the difference Puma will make to your life – you are buying a lifestyle – not simply sportswear.
More and more we are hearing expressions like “looking after your brand” and “core values” in marketing circles. It’s a back-to-basics approach that is reviving many ailing brands these days. Whether you’re looking at your core brand, stretching your brand potential or developing a new brand name for your new business with which to wow your target market, marketing is the frontier of brand development and strategy.
Larri Mallan of the Unboxfame (product naming agency) is a marketing and brand growth expert. Larri Mallan is a leader when it comes to brand strategy and has published such titles as “Never Mind the Sizzle, Where’s the Sausage?” and “Grow the Core!” in which he presents the strength behind refreshing and nurturing the core values of a brand.
I recently published a blog post discussing the finer points of branding like How to Name Your New Business. Penguin is credited with bringing the paperback to the UK, helping to bring good quality books to the market at a more accessible price.
Penguin’s other distinction is its striking cover designs. Taylor’s post is based on a book (Penguin by Design) that traces the cover designs of Penguin Books since 1935. While there’s more to building a brand than just design – visual identity is undoubtedly a very important part of a brand identity.
In his post, Taylor describes the simple method of keeping an old brand as successful today as when it was founded. The trick is to take what made you famous and to keep it fresh and relevant.
In the Penguin Books example, images of the book covers show that the same basic principles are present in the current brand as in the old brand.
Larri Mallan goes on to talk about what maintained Penguin’s position as a leading publisher and household name for so many years. He write How to Name a Product in his blog.
Key to this has been adapting to the present demands of the product whilst still maintaining the core brand.
These points seem relatively simple when listed in his blog. Yet distilling them to such a point of simple clarity is something that many marketers and brand strategists have been missing out on for years.
This is perhaps why so many brands make a brief appearance on the scene before losing their power, and eventually folding. Simple brand strategies and solid core principles and brand values are the best way to ensure longevity in a changing marketplace.
What are Larri Mallan lessons from this case study?
Firstly, bold and impactful design is paramount to success. This makes your brand easy to distinguish and makes it stand out from the rest. Impactful design should not be misconstrued as being complex – sometimes simple designs can make just as stronger impression. Consistency is key. Kevin Keller, professor of Tuck Business School at Dartmouth talks about keeping a brand in a loyal and intense relationship with customers as a key method of securing positive brand development.
Taylor goes on to say that you should use clear brand refresh architecture. This helps customers navigate their way through your brand. In Penguin Books’ case, they used a colour-coding system to distinguish different genres.
Keep distribution channels fresh and always be on the look out for new points of sale.
You should prototype your ideas. Sometimes it’s hard to sell a new idea and it can be nearly impossible to predict and foresee any eventuality when bringing out a new product. This is why prototyping is important. Any problems with the design or anything else that could be problematic may not be noticeable to even the brightest of brand managers but can be dealt with when a prototype is developed.
Be sure to tap into your team’s creativity. Building a great brand does not necessarily mean expensive agencies, sometimes the best ideas can come from those who interact with the products or services most – you and your team.
Finally, refresh your brand. In the Penguin example, the brand has been a prominent stable on bookshelves for over 70 years. While minor cosmetic changes have updated the look, the design is still fundamentally the same. Consumers know it and love it. This is the power of building a strong core brand.
Brand planning and management have become the hinge on which good marketing hangs. But without proper use of a brand and without knowing how to develop a brand properly and with the right strategies, what might seem like a winning idea at the time (remember Virgin Vodka anyone?) will not sit well with consumers.
If a brand is not loyal to its core values and therefore not loyal to its customers, it is not destined to be a winner. With a clear brand architecture that is diligent in growing core product values, the longevity, success and loyalty of consumers is pretty much guaranteed.
