How to build a brand like Apple, McDonald’s & a few other Giants.
Whether you are a company looking to stand out from your competitors or a start-up looking to establish your identity, effective branding is the key to it. Branding, if done right, will have an everlasting impact on your business.
Time and again, business giants like Apple, Google, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s have knocked it out of the park. How do they pull it off seamlessly? With consistency and a dash of creativity.
Apple — Leveraging emotion to build a brand identity
Apple has nailed the art of launching new products. As soon as the word about a new launch gets out, it sparks a wave of excitement and stirs debates on what’s new amidst its loyal fan-base, prospective customers, and tech savvies across the world.
Digital devices and services have weaved themselves into our lives to the point where they have become inseparable. Apple takes advantage of it by creating emotional triggers that set customers in motion, making it impossible to ignore the brand. For example, Their mainstream media advertisements are nothing short of unique, featuring people trying to radically change the world with an electronic device, never fails to strike a chord with the viewers and it gets etched on their memories.
Apple also enjoys their customers’ inclination to validate their perceived status by buying their products. Once an Apple user becomes a lifetime Apple user as they begin to identify themselves with the brand.
Steve Jobs once said that “The chance to make a memory is the essence of brand marketing.”
Apple does this by
• Paying close attention to superior design and packaging
• Providing top notch customer service
• By following a premier pricing strategy
• Exhilarating advertisements featuring people trying to radically change the world with an electronic device.
Apple shells out minds in all aspects surrounding branding — be it by establishing a distinct showroom experience or through spectacular product launches for the customers, Apple is unmatchable.
Coke — Consistency and presentation
Coke has invariably hit the bull’s eye when it comes to branding. Despite being in the business since 1982, Coke’s logo has remained unchanged, but they have never been in the doldrums with their ideas. From coming up with refreshing looks for their bottles now and then to creating advertisements for mainstream media outlets, they have been consistently innovative.
Coke’s unique taste, logo, and its strong association with the colour red has not only helped in building a strong brand identity, but also in forging a connection for eternity with their patrons. Their success can be attributed to their phenomenal brand presence, accessibility and distribution techniques.
Google — Clarity in mission & telescopic vision
Google’s adherence to their official mission statement, which is, “organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” has put them on top of the leader-board. By acting on their mission statement, Google has provided a clear and compelling sense of purpose to their employees for their long-term commitment. Google excludes excellence and it’s often reflected in their stringent recruitment process where only crème de la crème gets hired.
Google’s diversification began once after it recognised where its competitors stood. Some of them were already out of the market and the rest of them were nowhere near. Under their recently formed parent company Alphabet, each business group has its own mission statement to adhere to and doesn’t impede the growth of another.
Larry Page, founder of Google said, (on the launch of Alphabet)
“We’ve long believed that over time companies tend to get comfortable doing the same thing, just making incremental changes. But in the technology industry, where revolutionary ideas drive the next big growth areas, you need to be a bit uncomfortable to stay relevant.”
The key takeaway for other companies is to embrace Google’s ability to keep up with their users’ anticipation along with their creative engagement techniques such as displaying doodles and interactive games interlaced into their logo depending upon the occasion. This is a fine example of creating an immersive user experience.
Google stands out from the crowd with its far-reaching vision, constantly looking forward to pushing the boundaries to grow. Their journey from being a search engine to everything that they are today, especially the self-driving cars and the Calico project whose mission is to extend the lifespan of the humans, is a remarkable one.
Simply put it is a brand that doesn’t wait for the world to change, it’s the brand that changes the world.
Your brand should have such a clarity of purpose, dedicated workforce, and a strong will to grow.
McDonald’s — Target market exploration & adaptation
McDonald’s has been ranked by Forbes as one of the world’s most powerful brands. McDonald’s detailed market research and segmentation are the main reason for their success in the restaurant business. It reflects in their products as the drinks, fries, and burgers they offer vary to suit the eating habits of people based on the demographics.
As they cater to people of different cultures, to mark their respect for differences, their franchises around the world are given the authority to build menus that are in line with local food habits and interests. For example Chikin Tatsuta (Japan), Maharaja Mac (India), New York Classic (USA).
Irrespective of having different menus, McDonald’s ambience, experiences and colour palettes are same around the world. Speaking of colour palettes, they chose the one that drives better results for their business i.e. red & yellow which are known to stimulate hunger in human beings. This is where a clever branding comes in, for instance, look at Propwiser — a branding project where we have put colour psychology principles to evoke the feeling of trust and comfort. For more details on colour psychology, check this out.
“Rome was not built in a day”; nor are great brands.
Brand building takes time and patience. It revolves around multiple disciplinary of your business. It demands undivided attention and unwavering commitment. Brand building is not a 100-meter sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s not that simple, but nevertheless, you may set in motion from today. Start by taking one step at a time, run, and run clever and faster, you might fall but remember to fall forward.
Now, Go build your brand!
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