The 3 Most Important Building Blocks of A Strong Company Brand — Lessons from Coca-Cola

Madeline Rivera
Aug 29, 2017 · 4 min read

One of the main characteristics of today’s society is that consumers have difficulties choosing what they want and need due to the abundance of products and services on the market.

Have you noticed many products and services feature the same benefits and quite often don’t have their own unique design?

In the global world, the thing that makes one product distinct is the power of its brand.

In order to attract the otherwise limited attention of the consumer, many companies spend huge sums on the most important part of a marketing strategy — branding.

But branding is much more than just the logo of a company or business.

The good brand is the courageous brand!

1. Brands that succeed are unique and bold. Bold, but not reckless.

(That’s a fine line that should not be crossed. EVER!)

The successful big brands are not afraid to admit that they are good. On the contrary, they willingly embark on a worthy praise of their accomplishments and successful products.

But they make sure that they do not overdo it — they know when to stop boasting. Self-confidence and self-love are important in business and brand building but should be kept in an equilibrium.

Perhaps you remember how years ago, Coca-Cola decided that it was too big and famous to fail, and for one year it significantly decreased its budget for advertising. The result was so shocking that the company leadership never repeated their (reckless) mistake again.

And as you know, even the big companies need constant advertising to keep the momentum and maintain their leadership positions.

So, beware because it is not easy to notice the fine line and keep everything in balance.

2. The successful brands have the courage to follow their audience.

This is one of the things Coca-Cola is especially good at. Nowadays, the trends in society are constantly changing. Still, the Coca-Cola main products have been the same for nearly a century, And they are still selling so well. That is due to the fact that the company knows what its customers are looking for, they know their customer profile and the character of the generations that buy Coca-Cola products.

Try to understand your target market and learn how to build a lasting relationship with your customers by meeting their needs and wants.

3. The courageous and effective brands have an established system of identity.

This system shows the public what the brand has focused on.

The essence of the brand needs to be clear and strong to make it stable over time and to be able to plant a seed in the minds of the consumers and inspire them to think in a particular way about the brand. For instance, each brand should establish the right tone for its business, the one that is in line with the tactical goals of brand management.

Coca-Cola provides many good examples and insights into the world of advertising and branding. It changes basically the layout and presentation of its products every 5–10 years: each season their advertising teams create a new concept for their promotional video ads, for their promotional packages, and meanwhile keep the main vision of the product- logo, bottle silhouette, etc.

The product carries the material characteristics without which the system identity cannot exist, but the product itself isn’t the brand.

The product creates associations related to its capabilities and functionality, quality and use. The brand, however, adds to the product that strong emotion that makes people fond of it and the feeling that the product is an essential or desired part of their life.

The symbol is an important aspect of communication, which helps customers recognize your brand. The symbol can be a logo, a slogan, a melody, a real personality, a gesture, a loyalty program, a color — it is important to achieve distinctiveness for each chosen element.

The brand personality differentiates one business from its competitors. It gives value to consumers. Without it, your brand will not be interesting and memorable: it will not leave a lasting impression on consumers, nor will it become familiar.

For brand identity training in your company or advice on creating a powerful branding and enhancing the public awareness of your business, you can contact the Business Coaching Club, of Perth, Western Australia at https://yourbusinesscoachingclub.com.

The Club offers different membership types, from free to full membership and many business entrepreneur programs tailored to your company and your targeted market.

Things to remember…

Brand identity building requires an active constant effort on behalf of any company. The building and maintaining of a lasting positive perception in customers are achieved through a clearly communicated messages in front of the audience and through persistence.

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