1. Creating a consistent brand experience across all touchpoints is essential for building a strong brand. A clear brand idea derived from research should guide all aspects of the business and customer interactions.
2. Implementing a brand starts with identifying the most important customer encounters and optimizing the user experience to match the brand identity.
3. Branding is not just marketing but creating the best possible experiences through products, services, and interactions that bring the brand idea to life. Consistently implementing the brand identity over time is key to success.
The Essentials of Brand Strategy - General Assembly Class
1. THE ESSENTIALS OF
BRAND STRATEGY
CHRISTIAN VATTER FOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY
FEBRUARY 2013
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2. „The biggest challenge is branding. When I’m talking
about branding I talk about creating a new brand.
When you start a company, you have to get a new
brand. To create that brand, to grow that brand, is
the first mission of a product CEO.
If you succeed you have enormous value. Think
about Google, Facebook, all these words are verbs
today, they are not only brands, they are part of a
life.“
Tariq Krim, Founder netvibe & jolicloud
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lolELQKL8q0 from min. 33:45 2
3. A brand is what people think and feel
about a product, a service or an
organization.
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4. A clear standpoint helps categorizing
and thus storing these bits of
information.
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5. HOW WE HANDLE INFORMATION
Food
MP3- Search
Player Engine
Private
Apartment
Booking
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6. HOW WE HANDLE INFORMATION
Pizza
iPod Google
airbnb
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8. WE LIVE IN TIMES OF ABUNDANCE
choices
available time
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9. SO MANY NEW SERVICES EVERY DAY
Source: www.socialmatchbox.com/wp/2010/09/21/dont-play-the-customer-shell-game/
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10. SO MUCH CONTENT ASKING FOR ATTENTION
60 hours of new youtube videos every minute
http://youtube-global.blogspot.de/2012/01/holy-nyans-60-hours-per-minute-and-4.html
more than 5 million photos uploaded to Instagram every day
http://thesocialskinny.com/100-more-social-media-statistics-for-2012/
over one billion facebook posts per day
http://www.worldwidewebsize.com
630.000.000 active websites on the internet
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2013/01/07/january-2013-web-server-survey-2.html
1.300.000.000 cute cat photos on the internet (estimation)
http://diaryofnumbers.blogspot.de/2010/09/i-can-haz-estimation.html
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20. BRANDS BRIDGE THE GAP
BRAND
A CLEAR CONCEPT
CONSISTENT EXPERIENCES
BUSINESS GOALS PSYCHOLOGICAL GOALS
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21. 1. When you are a company you cannot not be a brand.
Brands are what people say it is, not what you say it is.
2. With so much asking for our attention, only brands
that have a clear standpoint have a chance to be
noticed, stored, recalled.
3. Brands mediate between psychological and business
goals by providing a clear concept that guides all
experiences with your company.
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22. 1. CREATE A COMPELLING BRAND IDEA
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28. WHERE TO LOOK FOR BRAND IDEAS
SOMETHING SPECIAL IN…
MOTIVATION:
why I am doing this
BEHAVIOR:
way of dealing with people
PRODUCT FACT:
what I offer
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30. BEHAVIOR – INNOCENT
„We promise that anything innocent
will always taste good and do you good.
We promise that we‘ll never use
concentrates, preservatives, stabilisers, or
any weird stuff in our drinks. And we
promise to brush our teeth twice a day.“
„Pop round to Fruit Towers,“ … „or call
the banana phone.“
Source: www.innocentdrinks.co.uk
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32. DO SOME RESEARCH!
Look at your product:
– What problem does it tackle?
– Which is the benefit for the customer?
– What is its underlying assumption towards the way the
problem is solved?
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33. DO SOME RESEARCH!
Look at your customer:
– What do they think and feel about your product and your
company?
– How are they using your product?
– Which products do they see as alternatives or substitutes?
– How do they experience the customer journey?
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34. DO SOME RESEARCH!
Look at the market and competitors:
– Wich are differences concerning the solution?
– Which positions do they take, if any?
– Are there underlying beliefs common to all market
participants?
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35. DO SOME RESEARCH!
And finally (not to forget):
– How do you see your relationship to your customer?
– Why did you start this, where do you want to go with it?
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36. FILL THE MATRIX
internal view compare to customer view
competitors
finding brand ideas in
product
behavior/attitude
motivation
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37. A GOOD BRAND IDEA
attractive to differentiating
your audience to competitors
authentic for
your company
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38. ATTRACTIVE TO ALL OF YOUR AUDIENCE
customers
talents
employees
investors
the general public
the press
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41. DON‘T DO WHAT EVERYONE ELSE DOES
Pleasure
Model D
the young with love of life Model E
daredevil with style
Model A
the solid one
Model B
Product/ the classy one Lifestyle/
Substance Attitude
Model F
Model C cool everyday companion
the smart allrounder
Functionality
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42. KEEPING A PROMIS IS EASIER WHEN YOU ARE AUTHENTIC
Source: www.darmano.typepad.com
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43. NOW AND IN THE FUTURE:
CAN YOU BUILD YOUR BUSINESS ON THE BRAND IDEA?
http://alienexplorations.blogspot.de/2010/09/moebius-inspiration-for-nostromos.html
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44. FROM IDEA TO IDENTITY
BRAND IDEA
Brand
Identity
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45. A BRAND IDENTITY
Brand
Identity = brand Idea + some attributes +
that justify it personality
a couple of great examples that
+ bring the idea to life
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46. THE IDENTITY GRID
WHAT HOW
attributes of your how you are doing things,
product, process, what you value, your stance
service, team etc. to business in general
BRAND IDEA
a central benefit,
concept, thought
GREAT EXAMPLES
which features, names, products,
people, stories make people
experience your brand
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47. IDENTITY GRID = INTERNAL & EXTERNAL MANAGEMENT TOOL
guiding light
to focus on a
standpoint
WHAT HOW briefing tool for
agencies,
BRAND IDEA common thread
in look & feel
GREAT EXAMPLES
internal
motivation
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48. IDENTITY GRID FOR APPLE
WHAT HOW
ease of use sleek, cool
highly aesthetic design highly valuable
constant UX innovation effortless
leading
Simplicity & Design
iPhone, iPad Steve Jobs
iOS the „i“
Ecosystem (of hard & software)
Apple stores
GREAT EXAMPLES
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53. 1. To be noticed and remembered your brand needs a
clear position: a brand idea. It can be found in product
facts, the way you deal with the world, or in the reason
why you are running your business.
2. To find your brand idea, you need to do some research:
internally, check competitors, put yourself in your
customer‘s shoes.
3. A good brand idea appeals to your audience, sets you
apart from competitors and is authentic to yourself.
4. To make it manageable, you need to describe your
brand formally in an identity grid.
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55. „Brands are just a collection of experiences. It’s not
about coming up with this big branding campaign. It
is about creating lots of small experiences that are
going to get them wanting to come back for more.
So it has to start with small steps that lead to a larger
set of experiences that build the brand form the
bottom up.“
Peter Sims, Founder BLK SHP Innovation
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Source: The Naked Brand 55
56. THE STARTING POINT OF EVERYTHING
WHAT HOW
BRAND IDEA
GREAT EXAMPLES
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57. YOUR BRAND: THE CENTRAL IDEA OF YOUR ORGANIZATION
PR & Advertising
Product & service Campaigns Tonality guidelines
innovations
Portfolio strategy/ Channel planning
line extensions
Corporate Design
Management Principles
BRAND IDEA Naming
Code of conduct
employees Product Design
Internal
Communication Retail Design
Corporate Architecture
Recruiting
Behavior of products
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58. LIKE A FILTER FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO
Source: www.slideshare.net/brandriveninnovation/brand-driven-innovation-2010
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59. YOUR TOOLBOX
User Experience
Messages
Performance
Appearance
Behavior
BRAND IDENTITY MANIFESTATIONS USER/BUYER
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60. IMPLEMENTING THROUGH TOUCHPOINTS
Print Ad
CSR Activity TV/Radio Ad
Invoice/Bill Online Ad
Sales Representative Billboard
Personal Communication
Newsletter
Email/Phone
Loyalty Program
Facebook Page
Customer Service Packaging
Customer Magazine
Mobile App
Trade Show/Exhibition
Online Shop
Corporate Event
Website
Brochure/Flyer/
Shop/Retail
Catalogue Employee
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67. IT‘S ALL ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE:
BRAND UX
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68. „CMOs hate me for saying that, but if you
took so many of the resources that are
dedicated towards purely marketing or
advertising for your products, and put that
money into making it better, into improving
the customer service, into improving the
product, into improving the UX experience,
you would probably do a lot more for your
PR, for your marketing, for you buzz, for
your brand love, than anything else.“
Alexis Ohanian, Founder of reddit and Hipmunk
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http://99u.com/videos/7259/Alexis-Ohanian-Give-a-Damn-Give-Lots-of-Damns from min. 4:35 68
72. BRAND UX – MARKETING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
1. 2. 3.
Identify the brand Create the best-in- Bring your brand idea
encounters that are class user experience to live through service
most important to with these encounters add-ons or value-
your customers. (matching user needs adding features in
& capabilities). these encounters.
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79. THE BRANDING PROCESS
Implemen-
Data Analysis Insight Strategy tation
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80. THE ROAD TO SUCCESSFUL BRAND IMPLEMENTATION
2. Perfecting the 3. Increasing the
1. Building the basics
experience awareness
DESIGN EXPERIENCE COMMUNICATION
Corporate Design Product performance and UX Campaigns
Stationary Helpful services and add-ons PR
Website Great features stressing the
Presentation Design brand idea
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81. PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS
Explanation movie
Welcome Mail
Monthly Bill
Dashboard
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84. BLOCK BURGER – HAMBURG DOWN TO THE WAITING NUMBER
Instead of giving you a number
to tell you when your order is
ready, Block Burger gives you
a Hamburg street.
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85. 1. You cannot not communicate. Everything you do as a
brand tells something about yourself.
2. Putting the brand in the center of your organization
helps delivering a consistent brand experience through
messages, performance, appearance, and behavior –
consistently over touchpoints and over time.
3. Brands are tools that people use to fulfill their needs.
Therefor you should identify the most important
touchpoint and there provide a first class experience,
bringing the brand idea to live through services and
features.
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90. BRAND EXPERIENCE CONSULTING
BRAND DEFINITION COMMUNICATION EXPERIENCE STRATEGY
STRATEGY & DESIGN
A clear stance: Messages to the point: Good performance
Working out a relevant Planing the trinity of where it counts:
and unique core target group, message, Adding value and
message and channel with a view bringing brand values to
on affectivity and life through services,
efficiency features, touch points
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