Brand Marketing: When the brand is transformed into permanent brand capital

Brand Marketing: When the brand is transformed into permanent brand capital

A brand has always been an illustration of the distinctive image of a product or a company. It serves above all to differentiate an offer. This differentiation must also attract and express a desirable added value. In a context of unbridled competition, the brand concept is more than ever a company’s master asset for winning customers and, above all, for building their loyalty. Who doesn’t dream of the success of Apple and its apple or Microsoft? Or Danone or mythical car brands? The financiers were not mistaken: they often estimate at several million dollars, even more, these brands which practically guarantee the continuity of a company. Capital to preserve and grow!

Marks are created, live and die like any human being. Every company must therefore take care to “raise” them, nurturing them, following their evolution and perceiving their role in their emotional perception by the targets. It must therefore design, control and then develop a brand policy, a guarantee of differentiation and profit.

1. From the Enterprise brand to the Dual brand

At the beginning, the brand illustrated both the company and its products. For example, Dubonnet, a famous aperitif brand, directly associated its corporate branding with its product brand. Very quickly, brands understood the importance of separating corporate brands from product brands to better adapt them to people’s behaviour. And they applied dual branding strategies with two brands juxtaposed. The “umbrella” brand reassures and endorses product brands. Provided that the complementary nature of the “mother” brand and the “daughter” brand is clearly understood.

However, there is a tenacious reality: the preeminence of product brands in the laundry sector. Who knows, in the public, that the brands Ariel, Dash, Vizir, Mr Clean, Bonux, all belong to Procter and Gamble, which only communicates subliminally on its umbrella brand and during charity campaigns.

A more striking approach: find in its product brands the “red thread” of the corporate brand, following the example of Nestle which created the product brands: Nespresso, Nesquick, Nestea.

2. The values of the brand or its emotional identity

Any brand strategy is based on a brand platform based on the following elements:

• its vision: how the brand perceives the world around it
• its mission: how it operates on its market and, beyond, on its economic universe
• its values: which values guide its approach and which values it wishes to share
• her style and tone: what editorial style she adopts to assert her character
• its ambition: what are its short-term marketing objectives
• its positioning: what “difference” illustrates its positioning, associated with its corporate promise and signature which must commit the company and not represent it in a passive sense.

This brand platform must be clearly expressed by a “Manifesto”, the firm’s true charter of commitments and illustration of its living, different and desirable personality.

3. From image to notoriety

The image is different, the values express it, the shareholders are proud of the logo and the signature but the company has no customers!

Obviously, the image alone is not enough, far from it! Still it is necessary that it is made known then recognized to transform the prospect into customer then as ambassador of the mark. How? By taking an interest in several levels of notoriety:

• Assisted notoriety: where the brand is recognized only after a citation by an interlocutor… the beginning of a long journey!
• spontaneous notoriety: that which underlines, finally, that the brand is known because the interviewee quotes it spontaneously. The moment when the brand is rewarded for its efforts and when it hopes to lead to the spontaneous support of the prospect
• The “Top of Mind”: ideal situation where the brand is present in people’s minds and encourages them to consult its products.
• Every marketing director’s dream is to “imprint his company’s brand” on all his customers so that they spontaneously remember it!
• How to reach this Nirvana? By practicing Inbound Marketing and even better, by developing a communication strategy based on 3 essential media :
• The digital
• Press relations
• The event
• Conclusion: the brand, the ideal medium to create your community

According to Guillaunme Devianne, brand attachment is part of the “loyalty pyramid” according to the following groups:

• indifferent: consumers indifferent to the brand, price sensitive: no loyalty
• regular buyers: not dissatisfied but who have no reason to change brand
• calculators: they like the brand, consider it as a “partner” but without affect
• emotional: they love the brand, consider it as a friend
• activists: they are fans of the brand… and above all they promote it

It is up to you to transform the indifferent into activists a strategy that has proved its worth: the creation of a Community strategy via a Community social network, “privilege” invitations, co-creation actions with the brand’s “ambassadors”. And above all, the ego enhancement of these same activists! And all under the aegis of your brand and its soul!