Why (Almost) Everything You Know About Branding Is Wrong
Are You Asking the Right Questions About Branding and Design?
You may have heard of us. We are a brand consultancy, and we work a lot with emerging tech and manufacturing companies. Typically, when a brand-new client comes to us, it’s because they want something like a logo, a website, or even a new marketing campaign. Which is all fine and good. After all, we’ve created hundreds of brand identities and countless marketing campaigns.
The problem is that business owners often think about the specific elements of their plan — logos, headlines, product shots — only, and not nearly enough about what they actually have to offer their customers. Don’t get me wrong here, people who own a business usually have a very good understanding of their products or services in terms of features and functions, but they often don’t know what really matters to their audience. In my experience as a branding specialist, it’s not always the features alone what makes people buy a product or order a service.
Brand logic vs brand magic
Marty Neumeier, the branding guru and author of The Brand Gap recently explained the conflict between business strategy (what the company wants to be) and customer experience (how people actually perceive it). He calls it The Brand Gap. It has its origins in the way our brains work. Strategic thinkers favor the left side of the brain (logic), while consumers overwhelmingly favor the right side (magic). Since these two ways of thinking reside in different people, there’s always a gap between brand logic and brand magic. Asked about how to bridge the gap, Neumeier answers: “Clearly, the biggest influence over a brand, and therefore over the brand gap, is design — the design of trademarks, messaging, advertising, product nomenclatures, the products themselves. In brand-building, design is where the rubber meets the road. The only way to close the gap is by aligning the design of these customer touchpoints with the business strategy. And the only way to create alignment is by asking for collaboration among all the specialists working on the brand.”
If I had a hammer…
I had a conversation the other day on Social Media with someone telling me bluntly, “I don’t care about branding. If I buy a hammer at the hardware store, I buy the least expensive tool I can find. I’m not interested in a brand story.” Well, fair enough. The price point is definitely a driver then. But what if you have a selection of ten products that are all pretty much the same, and they all cost the same? What would make you pick one over the other? Boom. What if I throw in, that one hammer is made in the US? Or the other hammer lasts twice as long? Or one hammer was built in a factory that pays its workers decent wages and benefits… and on and on
This is where branding matters, the soul searching that reveals an authentic story people can relate to. And it’s not about finding a unique selling proposition (better, cheaper, sharper..); it’s about thinking of the philosophy of your organization and deciding what you really want to do, what you really have to offer besides features and functions, who it’s right for, and what your values are. Very frequently, when you have firm, tangible answers to those questions, everything else starts to fall into line very quickly.
But don’t just take my word on this, here’s Walter Landor, founder of Landor Associates:
“Branding and Advertising are two closely related marketing concepts. Branding involves creating a perception in the consumer’s mind, while advertising serves as a medium to communicate and help develop a brand’s image (perception). Both are essential to build consumer awareness towards a product’s existence and it’s relevancy. What we see a lot is start-ups trying to introduce a new product presuming that the product is good enough to build itself into a power brand. Big mistake. Until a product is perceived as relevant, it’s just a cool gadget sitting in the developer’s garage. Branding and advertising define and assist in the process of becoming relevant. Products are made in the factory, but brands are created in the mind.” — Walter Landor
Conversely, when you don’t invest in these issues, such as brand attributes, brand story, and others, all of your marketing is going to feel like a struggle as a result, even if you have a nice shiny logo and a flashy website. For one thing, buyers have no firm sense of what your business is about to latch onto (or come back to). And for another, it’s easy to find yourself drifting from one campaign or idea to another because you don’t have a core mission or target audience to use as an anchor.
The best clients and the most successful marketers are the ones who understand where they are now and know exactly where they want to be.
Have you been asking the right questions about your branding or marketing campaigns?
Marc Posch, Creative Director Opus. Swiss-born, German-raised, LA-based.
Opus Brand Consult — Los Angeles, Munich, Paris. We are team of creatives, thinkers and developer, known for helping emerging tech and manufacturing companies to disrupt, stand out and grow. With our experience, deep industry expertise and all the collaborators to make it happen, we inspire success.
Contact 213.446.7986. Or visit opusbrandconsult.com. Thank you.
