The life cyle of a brand

What is brand? In consumer circles it’s easy to identify: it’s your chosen washing powder, coffee, chocolate, pen, mobile phone, car. Simply put, it’s a product. It is as the Collins dictionary states, “A particular product”. I say ‘washing powder’ you think Ariel, I say ‘coffee’ you think Nescafe, I say ‘chocolate’ you think Cadburys etc.

According to the dictionary definition brand may also be “a characteristic that identifies a particular producer”. That may be Coca Cola’s red labelling, Tiffany’s turquoise boxes or the infamous Mateus Rose bottle (allegedly making a comeback).

In B2B it’s different. Apart from Xerox, it’s difficult to think of one B2B brand that so encapsulates a particular product. It’s even more difficult to think of a brand whereby a single characteristic (obviously excluding the logo) identifies a particular product.

To roughly paraphrase: the brand exists in other people’s minds, it is influenced by a number of factors and ultimately it will affect a buyer’s final decision. Also there’s no escaping it: every company has a brand. Mark Allatt, director of brand at Deloitte, warns, “You don’t have a choice as to whether or not your business has a brand – every business has one but you do have a choice in whether you manage it or not.” One of the eventualities of ignoring the brand is that it can be thrust on you from the market thereby creating something that may or may not be one that you would choose. Surely no responsible chief executive or marketing director would ever find themselves in that position.

There are three stages involved in creating a successful brand strategy: defining, implementing and maintaining. The first and second stages should be carried out over a set timeframe; the third should be carried out indefinitely or until the company ceases trading.

I’m afraid that if you’re looking for tips on a one-off branding project, this is the wrong article.

Brand in B2B

Before delving into how to build the perfect brand it’s worth getting some perspective on its state in B2B. The general consensus is that its importance is being increasingly recognised. This, however, is a product of necessity rather than design: growing commoditisation in the market has made differentiation near impossible.

Lara Cresswell, director at PR agency Cohn & Wolfe, comments, “Everything is the same and people need reasons to eliminate, such as, ‘I didn’t like them when I spoke to them’ or ‘they sent me a box of chocolates at Christmas’.” This is where the brand can and will make a difference and many B2B board directors are slowly awakening to this.

Even those who have been notorious in their indifference, or in some cases contempt, of the issue are coming around. Terry Tyrell, European chairman of Enterprise IG, has 30 years experience of branding in B2B. “Five years ago brand was a dirty word in professional services. The nearest you got to talking about it with a senior partner was by talking about the logo.” These days the logo is the last thing that practitioners talk about and this is indicative of how progressive thinking has become.

Will the real brand please stand up?

Identifying the brand is probably the most difficult part of the process. This is where the school yard analogy, as espoused by Jaakko Alanko MD at McCann-Erickson Business Communications, helps. It goes like this: some school children find their true selves by identifying what they like, dislike, enjoy doing and what they’re good at. Others follow. They look to their peers, identify the cool customers and seek to emulate them. This approach may ingratiate them for a little while but unless they’re really good actors, it’s unsustainable.

Similarly some businesses are authentic – they’re founded on true values – whereas others are copycats: they try to be what they’re not. Alanko says, “It’s a question of self-discovery. Know thyself, without that there’s nothing.” The simplest way to do this is to look at your tangible assets: people, products, place. Then look at your intangible make-up: direction, goals, personality.

For instance, a quick scan around an agency’s open plan office could unveil its personality: the asymmetrical haircuts, the designer specs, the distressed jeans. An eight year old could work out that, collectively, these people are trendy. Build on that. Grow it. Encourage it. Recruit it.

If it’s a larger company there will be more grey areas in the employee make-up, this is where it’s best to build the brand on those intangible assets.

The internal work done, it’s time to look to the marketplace where there are also tangible and intangible considerations. The customers and competition have to be judged alongside trends in the market and all of this should feed into the brand’s formation.

They will follow

Who should lead this journey of self-discovery? The chief executive. No ifs, no buts – it has to be led by the top dog. Richard Bush has 15 experience of B2B branding, “The most effective brands are where the CE or MD is saying, ‘we are going to improve branding’.” The operative word here is ‘we’ – everyone in the business should influence its formation. David Batten, CEO of Crazy Horse Brand Warriors, advises, “Work from the top-down to the bottom-up at the same time. There needs to be an internal consensus. If you work from the top down you risk the sense of ‘it’s got nothing to do with me’.”

One of the key benefits of involving every member of the business at the first stage is that implementation should come easy as a result. Tyrell of Enterprise IG says that if all staff are involved in the process they’ll recognise their input which ensures buy-in. However this could be marred by the overuse of jargon. Remember it’s always better to communicate the brand in ordinary language and relate the benefits in practical terms.

Saying: ‘by doing this, saying this and acting like this we will have greater profits and more customers’. Plain and simple.

Cut out the bull

Regardless of the size of the organisation a structured approach to communicating the brand is needed. For a small enterprise this may be nothing more than a couple of informal meetings, a power point presentation or a debrief from the MD. If it’s a larger company it’s most effective to have ‘brand ambassadors’. It may sound airy fairy but it makes perfect sense. Tyrell of Enterprise IG advocates nominating between five and 10 per cent of the staff to this position: “They should be fairly middle management level. Train them and they cascade the information down the organisation in sessions, meetings and workshops.

“The key is to get the brand embedded and ignited inside and then you can create external manifestations of it.”

External manifestations are the logo, the colours, the tone of press releases, the corporate livery, the choice of merchandise – all of those things that will form the brand in the customer’s mind. And this, you’ll be happy to hear, falls exclusively into marketing’s reliable hands.

Batten of Crazy Horse, says “It’s marketing’s job to get oxygen into the brand. Get it to live, breathe, dance and give it images, colours, pictures.” Though he urges haste as many jump to this stage prematurely, “Don’t move till it’s all signed-off. You’ve got to slow down to go faster in business these days.”

Living it

Many assume that once the brand has been identified and implemented it’s all done – fait accompli. This, according to Mark Allatt at Deloitte, is the most common mistake marketers make, “they regard it as a project and think when it’s launched they’re finished but that’s just the start. You move from the project to management.” That is the ongoing monitoring, maintaining and measuring of it. Many businesses these days have a director of brand or head of brand who’s primary function is to act as its guardian.

Though without the resources to justify a dedicated brand person, an alternative is to create a ‘brand consul’ or ‘brand team’. Saskia Diemer, consultant at Dragon Brands, explains, “It’s a group of people from different functions – marketing, HR, product development – who come together and say, ‘Look, we’re going to be dynamic; how can product development or customer services seem more dynamic?”

This holistic approach is key. Everyone has to be ‘on brand’ and what better way of doing that than a little bribery? Alanko of McCann-Erickson advises, “Include it in people’s appraisals – ‘how are you contributing to the vision? How are you part of the mission? Is your behaviour compliant?’ – You may have reservations about this but he makes a sound argument. “People in the lower reaches are amazed and flattered that they are being asked to contribute. And at the middle and higher end they feel it’s not just marketing speak and that makes them more confident about the proposition in the marketplace.”

Reacting to the market

Nurturing the brand internally is paramount but monitoring it against the market matters as much – this doesn’t mean rebranding every time the market shifts. But keeping an eye on changes and refreshing it when necessary will keep you contemporary.

Allatt of Deloitte cites Shell’s brand as a good example of this, “It’s the same recognisable logo from 80 or 100 years ago but as it’s been constantly refreshed it has this contemporary look and feel.” By constantly monitoring the brand it will keep it relevant in a changing marketplace.

It’s also important to adjust the brand in accordance with different dynamics internally. As a company grows, attitudes, outlooks and direction are subject to change. Take Google. It started out in a dorm at Stanford University, today it’s a public company. One of its founding philosophies was ‘Don’t be evil’. Larry Page, co-founder of Google, said, “We have a mantra, ‘Don’t be evil’ which is to do the best things we know how for our users, for our customers, for everyone. So I think if we were known for that, it would be a wonderful thing.”

It got known for this; perhaps too well known because when the company’s search practices and expansionist policy fell under scrutiny in the press, this mantra was always alluded to and sometimes mocked.

Google has since responded to this, it’s adjusted. Today, on its top 10 philosophies, at number six is: ‘You can make money without doing evil’. Perfect for the business worth £112 billion.

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