Part 2, Developing a Brand? Spend Your Money Wisely.

Part1 introduced Allan Hess, discussed the definition of a brand, and what entrepreneurs should be doing to establish a valuable brand, especially during the initial phase.  

Begin Part 2:
“So, Allan, in maintaining and using a brand, what are some key concepts there?”

            “You have to move toward a Type A personality when it comes to your brand.  It’s a control thing because you don’t want people recreating your brand logo, jingle, or whatever.  Your brand is your image, and you need to manage it, or its value can be lost quickly. Don’t place a logo on any and everything.  That mistake can be made by employees, owners, executives, even business partners or well-meaning people trying to do a good thing.  Going back to the food scenario, placing your logo on the bottom of a baby diaper may not be a good idea.”

“Yes, especially a custard or chocolate shop….”

Allan chuckled.  “So, control the look, the feel, the sound of your brand, not for control sake, but for consistency – to build that correct mental (brand) image.”   

“Okay, Allan, we have talked about the creation of a brand and some of the physical presentations of that brand.  We have hinted at maintaining the value of a brand.  What happens when a brand needs to be retired?

“As far as value, basically, don’t let your brand or brand representation be associated with anything that does not support your core business and direction.

“Retiring a brand, sometimes it’s not about retiring a brand as one would normally see it.   That is, replacing one logo and name with another.   Sometimes it is subtle tweaks.  The physical representations of the brand logo or slogan may change to keep current.

            “At other times, when it comes to retiring a brand, a new direction does require retiring everything that is associated with a poor customer experience.  The automobile industry gives a great example of an old brand retired because of perceived quality and reliability issues.  With lean initiatives and manufacturing improvements, a better company emerges.  That may be time to retire a brand to reinforce the new image of quality or just a different company.  This would be similar to the case of Datsun changing to Nissan."

The Nissan GT-R is one of my favorite cars.  I figured I could work that in effectively. “I understand that happened quite some time ago.  But, I did notice that, more recently, Nissan re-launched the GT-R with a price structure that would seem to be a better fit for Infiniti, their luxury brand.  I think that is very interesting.  I saw one on the street before I knew the new model was out.  I thought, ‘What’s that?’  A few luxury brands went through my mind but nothing really fit.  I maneuvered in traffic to get a better look.  ‘Nissan! You gotta be kidding me.’   My view of the Nisan brand changed that day.  The history, the race videos, successfully pitting the Nissan GT-R against other brands that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars more, Usain Bolt’s gold GT-R announcement, I say that’s a great way of maintaining and utilizing a brand.

  

“One can be retired as part of an acquisition as well, continued Allan added. “There are cases where the acquired brand takes the lead because of the strength of the brand.  This was the case with SBC Communications and AT&T.  AT&T had a long history of telecommunication development and global brand recognition. The consumer did not know the SBC brand.  It was better to leverage the AT&T brand than to establish the SBC brand to the consumer.”

“Allan, thanks for your time.  Can you give us a wrap up of some key points on the lifecycle of a brand?”

“You are welcome, Al.  I’ll be glad to. 

1.                          Your brand tells a story.  To businesses that are relatively new to seeking customers inside the U.S., there is a difference between translating a story well and telling a story well.  Translations are not enough.  I suggest investing in someone you can relay your value proposition in a way that resonates with the population.

2.                         Know your current audience and your future audience. Understand what they are looking for, and what they think.

3.                         Build your brand assets to consistently convey the image that you want, in the most economical manner. Work to get it right the first time, while understanding that as a company grows, the brand assets may need to change to reflect that growth and positioning.

4.                         I always recommend to work with a professional marketing company with experience in branding. That logo designed by your neighbors kid might be fine, but maybe not, or maybe it needs the right tag line or slogan to solidify it and make it more powerful.

5.                          Lastly, be a Type A about your brand; control the look and the feel of the physical representations – The logo and any tag line, image, jingle etc. and be diligent in where and how you allow it to be used. The brand assets are your image, your promise to the market. You need to deliver on your promise.

“Understand that it is often difficult, expensive and even prohibitive to fix a broken brand. I strongly recommend getting experienced professional marketing/branding assistance.  Don’t be afraid to spend money, and do it wisely with where you are at the moment.”