Beware of “We’re building our brand”

There are now Brand Guardians, Brand Stewards, Brand Champions and Brand Police, who work blindly towards a single-minded objective, “We’re Building The Brand”. Dare you question their objective, you will be forever shunned, get funny looks in the corridor and never be invited to a marketing meeting again - and watch out for that strange taste in your coffee!

Shackles

Well, I’m writing to tell you that it’s time to question your belief in supporting “We’re Building The Brand” as your prime marketing and advertising objective and to break off the shackles and restrictions these four simple but powerful words place on you and your company.

Of course it’s important to build a Brand that has an emotive relationship between your customers and your company/product/services. To offer them a clear and precise mental picture of your brand offering, along with clear product benefits and values that will cause them to buy your product or visit your store in preference to that of your competitor. This is marketing 101 but it’s much more than this, it’s harder than this but many companies continue to take the easy way out.

OK, experts have told you that it’s no longer possible to have an advantage in today’s parity-driven market and that “We’re Building The Brand” is the only way to offer customers a reason to buy. “We’re Building The Brand” is the lazy and ignorant approach. You must identify and create a real difference in the marketplace and own that difference.

But it must be a real difference. Take oil companies for example. “We’re building The Brand” is their call. Their marketing departments are now called Brand Departments. They isolate various internally perceived differences identified by consumer research like superior service, cleaner fuel, more kilometres per litre and spend millions delivering these messages to the motoring public but on the forecourt nothing really changes. They claim, but do not really deliver a difference their customer can see or feel.

Made a difference

In the 1990s, Shell South Africa developed Shell Ultra Service. It was an aggressive co-ordinated business and marketing focus on the delivery of superior Shell forecourt service. Shell took a ruthless approach to implementing and delivering a standard of service that really made a difference, a difference that could be felt and seen on the forecourt by its customers. Its market share rose dramatically. Shell owned better service on its forecourts and delivered its message to the consumer. That is really building the brand.

Every company wants to have a brand like Coke. Why has Coke lasted at the top for decades? A curse on those who say Coke is only sugar and water and it’s all in the brand. It’s the best and most unique tasting drink on the market and has been from day one. The point is you can’t build a successful brand from a product or company that does not have something special about it or that people don’t like. Your customer is not stupid.

Another truly great South African brand is Spur Steak Ranches. From one man’s dedication, hard work and vision to a mega company. Growing every year, leaving the copy-cat competition behind, Spur owns the position of the quality family restaurant. It really does deliver exceptional and consistent quality, great service, great value and regular product innovation. Its positioning is crystal clear and it doesn’t screw with it every time a new marketing manager arrives. Spur is a fantastic example of how important ruthless consistency and a tangible point of difference are to building a REAL Brand.

Wrath of Hades

Brand building communication is now most agencies’ prime product and they are very good at selling this product and making clients feel that without their help in “We’re Building The Brand”, clients will be faced with the wrath of Hades, but unless a company works to make its service or product different, any time and investment spent on long-term brand building will be wasted. The company is building a house of straw and you may remember what happened to those little piggies…

Brand consultants and market researchers are very expensive and have become the crutch of insecure marketers out of touch from their business. Bring these guys in and marketers pass on their responsibility. Nobody got fired for following the research recommendations, but there is no substitute for really knowing the customer and listening to what the customer really wants in person.

OK, I know you have a desk, a PA and an espresso machine in your air-conditioned office but how do you know what your customer is facing at the till point, in the aisles and shopping during the last week of the month before payday. Don’t tell me you did the research. People lie to researchers:

“What do you prefer to spend you money on – education or booze?”
“Education, of course!”
“Where are you going tonight?”
“To the pub!”

Talk to customers

Talking to your customers in person is a very quick way to learn what your business really needs. It’s not looking through a one-way mirror at professional, paid focus group members.

Remember your competition is employing the same research companies, possibly using the same focus groups, asking the same questions, getting the same answers that will drive them to the same conclusions and resultant strategies as yours. That’s why there is little real brand differentiation in many market segments today.

The reality is the research cannot find you a differentiated brand position. You have to find and create it yourself or employ a different type of company to the rest of the industry.

Telling your customer that you offer something you think they want without delivering is what the majority of companies do. I can hear the research questions and focus group answers that lead to these positionings:

“Caring” Banks.
“Better” petrol.
“Slimming” foods.
“Whiter” wash soap powders.
“Empowering” beers.
“Cheaper” cell phone services.

Do me a favour – do you really believe this? But this is all claimed in the name of “We’re Building The Brand”

Brand sluts

Are we surprised we have grown a generation of “Brand Sluts” moving from brand to brand following the discounts and promotions?

Are we surprised that “Virtual Advertising” is now a fact where people claim to like your brand but buy elsewhere?

Are we surprised that ad agencies have ceased being business partners and are now required to pitch to the procurement departments to keep the business regularly in line with the pencil and toilet supply people?