how branding works

HOWBRANDING

WORKS

Khan Mohammad Mahmud Hasantwitter.com/kmmhasan

facebook.com/khanmdmahmudhasan

www.mahmudhasan.com

How Branding Works --- of 21---

It takes an audience. It's true that great branding can't help you as much as bad branding can hurt you. And much of the worth of any brand is how well it's promoted. So a brand with mediocre appeal can hit a home run with enough cash and promotion behind it. But truly great branding has a way of going viral. Of getting other people to stand behind it and promote it. It's on-message. It clicks. People just “get it”. In the end, great branding can save you a lot of money and a lot of work. It's a name, it's a logo. It's a message and a mood. Branding is a little bit art, and a little bit science. Let's get into it … K. M. Mahmud Hasan


Table of ContentTable of ContentTable of ContentTable of Content Introduction ................................................................................................................. 4

1. Get Attention ........................................................................................................... 4

2. Spark Interest .......................................................................................................... 4

3. Build Trust .............................................................................................................. 5

4. Foster Recognition ...................................................................................................... 5

Defining Your Brand .......................................................................................................... 6

1. Tell Your Story .......................................................................................................... 6

2. Define Your Offer ........................................................................................................ 6

3. Find Your Voice ......................................................................................................... 6

4. Tag It! .................................................................................................................. 7

5. Test It .................................................................................................................. 7

Designing Your Brand ........................................................................................................ 8

1. Your Name .............................................................................................................. 8

2. Your Logo ............................................................................................................... 9

3. Populate Your Brand ................................................................................................... 11

Promoting Your Brand ...................................................................................................... 12

1. Target Your Audience .................................................................................................. 12

2. Get It Out There ........................................................................................................ 13

3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition... .................................................................................... 14

Case Studies ................................................................................................................ 15

ACER (A Success Full Asian Brand) ........................................................................................ 15

Mercedes Benz USA ...................................................................................................... 17

Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, Canada..................................................................................... 17

Philips - Strengthening a Global Brand .................................................................................... 19

Nokia - Building A Powerful Technology Brand ............................................................................. 20

Resources .................................................................................................................. 21


IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction Who you know, has its benefits. But maybe even more important is who knows you. Great branding helps you get known. Great branding builds a relationship between you and your audience. And for a business, a blog, or any kind of endeavor, that relationship is the key to accomplishing whatever you set out to do. Whether you're trying to raise awareness, foster change, or increase sales, branding is an investment in making it happen. And when done well, you can leverage your brand for as long as you take care of it and keep it alive. Your brand has a job to do. And step by step, this is how it works to get you known.

1. Get Attention1. Get Attention1. Get Attention1. Get Attention

Business is a competitive sport. You can have the greatest product in the world, but if no one notices it sitting beside a hundred others on the shelf, all is lost. And whether your arena is the store walkway, the multi-billion page internet, or the hyper-competitive corporate ladder, your brand is your flag. It's what gets noticed. Its very first job is to turn heads.

Hey, Over Here!Hey, Over Here!Hey, Over Here!Hey, Over Here! Yeah! Over HYeah! Over HYeah! Over HYeah! Over Here.ere.ere.ere.

Getting attention is tricky. It's not too difficult to get attention. All you have to do is be the most outrageous. But being the most outrageous doesn't necessarily translate into what you want to happen next. Because after you start turning heads, you want people to actually stop and take notice. So you only have one goal in getting attention, and that's to get to the next step; sparking interest.

2. Spark Interest2. Spark Interest2. Spark Interest2. Spark Interest Sparking interest is about getting some face time. The difference between getting attention and sparking interest is the time you get to make your pitch. You can only go straight from getting attention to the next step, building trust, once you have an established brand. That's the power of branding. But while you're building your brand, and when you're promoting new things under its flag, you need to spark interest before you build trust.

Stop. Check This Out.Stop. Check This Out.Stop. Check This Out.Stop. Check This Out. This Means Something to You.This Means Something to You.This Means Something to You.This Means Something to You.

While getting attention may give you only a fraction of a second of face time, sparking interest can get you anywhere from several seconds to minutes or even hours of face time. Interest gives your audience ownership. It gets them involved and invested in your brand. It can be interactive. Or a learning experience. It can show a way to solve a problem. You can spark interest by associating yourself with


something that's already known. Or by showing people something that's new, different, or evolutionary. Even revolutionary. Or imperative. Sparking interest piques curiosity. Just long enough for you to make your pitch.

3. Build Trust3. Build Trust3. Build Trust3. Build Trust This is where you make your pitch. So what do you want to say? Imagine having less than a second to say it. Aren't you glad you sparked some interest now? Trust takes time. You've sparked some interest and bought yourself some time. So how do you spend that time wisely? Deliver everything you promised, and more.

HereHereHereHere''''s Honesty. And Integrity.s Honesty. And Integrity.s Honesty. And Integrity.s Honesty. And Integrity. HereHereHereHere''''s Social Proof.s Social Proof.s Social Proof.s Social Proof. And Value. Always.And Value. Always.And Value. Always.And Value. Always. But YouBut YouBut YouBut You Decide.Decide.Decide.Decide.

You must stay true to who you are. And true to what you're trying to say. And this goes back to how you got attention and sparked interest in the first place. Nothing erodes trust like the old bait-and-switch. It's a conversation between a brand and an audience that goes something like this:

Hey, over here! This means sHey, over here! This means sHey, over here! This means sHey, over here! This means something to you.omething to you.omething to you.omething to you. WWWWait a minute. This isnait a minute. This isnait a minute. This isnait a minute. This isn''''t what you said it was. This sucks!t what you said it was. This sucks!t what you said it was. This sucks!t what you said it was. This sucks!

Stay true to who you are. Deliver what you promise and show that you've delivered before. Even better, provide social proof. If you can show that other people believe in what you have to offer, you're miles ahead in the game. To build trust, you need to deliver everything you promised, and more than what you promised. And even if you promise the world, as long as you can deliver the sun and the moon too, you'll start to get recognition. Now you're really starting to create some ZOOM.

4. Foster Recognition 4. Foster Recognition 4. Foster Recognition 4. Foster Recognition The big payoff! After you've gotten attention, sparked interest, and built trust, you get recognition. And a widely recognized brand is a beautiful thing. To foster recognition, you just build it and promote it. Keep getting it out there. You have to take care of your brand. Keep it fresh, keep it on-message, and make sure it gets plenty of time in the spotlight. Once you've gained some recognition, you just keep working to make it stronger. .


Hey, I know you!Hey, I know you!Hey, I know you!Hey, I know you! Hello Again.Hello Again.Hello Again.Hello Again.

Think about well known brands such as Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, and GE … the list goes on and on. What if these companies stopped putting their brand on their products? Would you still buy them? You might, but their sales would plummet. They'd have to start all over again from square one. How? Get attention, spark interest, build trust and foster recognition.

Defining Your BrandDefining Your BrandDefining Your BrandDefining Your Brand "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft agley" ~ Robert Burns; To a Mouse What?! Okay, maybe that quote from Robert Burns' poem doesn't quite clarify the message. But that's the whole point. The best laid plans often don't turn out as expected. Defining your brand is your plan. It's the foundation you use to design it and promote it. And even though it may not turn out as expected, you have to start somewhere. Let the conception begin!

1. Tell Your Story1. Tell Your Story1. Tell Your Story1. Tell Your Story Everyone has a story. Every thing has a story. And even if you're just in this for the money, everything worth selling and everything worth buying has a story. It's there. It's in the history, it's in the discovery and it's in the aims and ambitions of what your brand means to people. And why. Why does it mean something? Why should it? That's your story.

2. Define 2. Define 2. Define 2. Define Your Offer Your Offer Your Offer Your Offer The offer you're making to people is not necessarily separate from your story. But it's such a critical part of defining your brand that it's worth mentioning as a separate point. People might just get it when they experience your story. That's always good. But if not, you have to spell it out. At first glance, maybe you want to define your offer and then wrap a story around it. There's something wrong with doing that. It makes your story sound fake. It becomes just a story, not the story. So tell your story, and somewhere along the way, define your offer.

3. Find Your Voice3. Find Your Voice3. Find Your Voice3. Find Your Voice Your voice sets the tone for your brand. It can be loose and free flowing or all buttoned up. It can be unusual and funny, or drop-dead serious. It can be both. Your voice might appeal to men or women. Or everybody. Your voice is mood lighting. It's background music. It guides your audience to the way they're supposed to feel about your brand. It's the hand that reaches out to shake theirs. Or the teeth that bites it off. It's honesty, rhythm, bombast. It's how you connect.


4. Tag It!4. Tag It!4. Tag It!4. Tag It! Take your story, your offer, and using your voice, boil it all down to a few words. Or at most, a short sentence. If you had to explain your brand to someone and this is all the space and all the time you had, could you? Taglines are powerful. A tagline or slogan is your brand focused down to a laser point. And they sell multi-million dollar movies and define billion dollar companies: DeBeers: "Diamonds are forever" AT&T: "Reach out and touch someone" Yellow Pages: "Let your fingers do the walking" Nike: "Just do it." A good tagline is not just definitive, it's memorable. It's sticky. And now it's time to test that.

5. Test It5. Test It5. Test It5. Test It The last thing you need to do to define your brand is test it. If you're small, ask some people you can trust to give you honest feedback. If you're huge, form a focus group and fill a room with a couple dozen people and ask them what they think. The bare-bones budget way of testing a brand goes like this: 1. Throw the brand name at some people and see what they say. If it attracts their interest, then you're on track. 2. Next, give them a quick description of what it is. And throw the tagline at them. If they don't get it, then it's back to Number one. 3. Finally, come back a week or two later and ask them if they have any more thoughts on your concept without telling them the name. If they still remember the name, you've got stickiness. And it's time to forge ahead. So you have a story, an offer, a voice and a tagline. You've tested it. Now it's time to build it.


Designing Your BrandDesigning Your BrandDesigning Your BrandDesigning Your Brand Branding is not just a name or a logo. It's an entire identity. Your name and your logo are part of that package. They're a big part, and the fun part, just not the only part. Let's build it.

1. Your Name1. Your Name1. Your Name1. Your Name A few names probably popped into your head the minute you decided to build your brand. Sometimes these are the best names because they come to you intuitively. But they haven't been tested. It's the work you do to define your brand that tests the name against a set of criteria to make sure it has meaning. But to really create a great brand name, you have to make sure it has great usability. There are some key things that make a name user friendly for people. These things are what your name really is because it's how people will experience it: ItItItIt''''s a Definition of Your Brand s a Definition of Your Brand s a Definition of Your Brand s a Definition of Your Brand The definition can be distinctive or descriptive. A distinctive name is new, different. It can be a completely made up word which means its only definition is the one you give it. A descriptive name literally tells you what it is or gives you a good idea of what it is. Distinctive Names Dasani Technorati .com Descriptive Names Career Ramblings .com Life Hacker .com It's a Sound How does it sound when you say it? Does it sound clunky or does it flow easily and have a nice ring to it? A good name has a pleasing sound. It's not a tongue twister. Try to keep the whole name to 5 syllables or less. Use short, easy to pronounce syllables. The secret to a pleasing sound is to get each syllable to roll easily into the next one when you say it. It's always wise to not get too tricky. But there are a few tricks that can help make a name sound more jingly and memorable: Alliteration Al's Auto-parts Jib Jab .com Rhyming and Assonance Freaky Geeks Funny Money Smart Car Initializing a Long Name (Be careful with this one) Duncan, Umbers, Matthew-Barry, LLP.


Good names are catchy, simple and easy to remember. ItItItIt''''s a Series of Letterss a Series of Letterss a Series of Letterss a Series of Letters

Your name should be easy to spell just from hearing it. This is really important for both word-of-mouth campaigning and for type-in traffic and internet searches for your website. A name like The Prescient Dichotomy of Thought might be easily misspelled. And there are too many letters; there's just too much to read. People scan more than they read so short names are always better. But even a short name like 4 Piers can be easily misspelled and misinterpreted if you're not careful. Is it 4, Four, or Fore? And is it Piers or Peers? IIIItttt''''s a Graphics a Graphics a Graphics a Graphic Most of the time, a brand name is a logo. A brand might have a purely graphic logo also, but the name is the primary logo. You're creating art with text. And minimalist art is always best in this case. It needs to be easily readable above everything else. If you look at the biggest brands on any shelf, they all use very simple and basic fonts; maybe with a little twist here or an accent there. Complex fonts are not easily readable and trying to incorporate pictures into the lettering really makes it difficult to read

You can see that the last graphic name is not easily readable. It's not a good graphic representation for a name. A name needs to be bold, simple and easily read from a distance. Some letters don't go well together. A “c” followed by an “l” can look like a “d” from a distance or if the type is too small. Your graphic name should also be appealing and distinctive. To give a plain font a little something special, make one or two small graphic changes to the text. The changes should be simple and translate well in black and white:

2. Your Logo2. Your Logo2. Your Logo2. Your Logo Even though the graphic element of your name is the best place for your logo, most companies have an extra logo; a purely graphic logo that represents their brand. Like the Nike swoosh, or Apple's apple. Whether you want to stick with just a name logo or create a special graphic logo, these key design elements are what makes a logo a great and memorable logo. Simple GeometrySimple GeometrySimple GeometrySimple Geometry

Basic shapes catch our attention much more easily than complex symbols. We can process, understand and remember what we're seeing faster and easier. We want something unique too. By combining basic shapes like the square, circle and triangle we can make more complex shapes:


This is one of those things where less is more. As long as they're simple, they're very effective, and this is why icons are so popular and street signs use very simple geometric shapes. The more complex a shape gets, the harder it is for our brains to process. The way to understand the complexity of shape is to count the number of sides a shape has. A square has four. A five pointed star has ten. The “house” graphic has eleven, plus four more for the door for a total of fifteen separate lines. Another thing that makes shapes easier to recognize is symmetry. The star's left side is a mirror image to the right side. The arrow is symmetrical on the top and bottom. And while the lightning bolt's not symmetrical, it only has seven sides so it's very simple. The last element that your graphics geometry conveys is a sense of softness or hardness. A graphic with soft and flowing edges is more feminine and is going to appeal to women more. Hard edges are more masculine. This is important because your brand has to appeal to your target audience. There's no use in designing a logo for a women's product that only appeals to men. ColorColorColorColor

Just like shapes, colors can be masculine or feminine. But the big impact of different colors is the mood or emotion they convey. They can be calming or energetic. They can be wild or reserved or funky or classic. There's a lot to color theory, especially when using different colors together to create a theme or a set of corporate colors. here are some basic colors and what they convey:

Again, just like with shapes, it's best to keep your brand colors simple. The more colors, gradients, patterns and complexity you have, the longer it takes for someone to process. Keep it simple. Use one or two main colors and add a couple accents and simple effects at the most. Good contrast between the colors you use, and between the logo and the background is another reason to keep things simple. Contrast makes a logo much bolder and recognizable from a distance.


Descriptive GraphicsDescriptive GraphicsDescriptive GraphicsDescriptive Graphics Your logo is your story, your tag, and your voice all bundled up into one simple little picture. It can be a literal representation of your brand or it can reflect your brand's attitude. For example, Gatorade uses a lightning bolt. It reflects the brands attitude which is all about explosive athletic energy. At the same time, Lucas batteries use a lightning bolt as their logo and it has a more literal meaning; electrical power. The key to making a great descriptive logo is making sure that people recognize the symbolism. If no one can figure out what it is, it's back to the drawing board. Keep it simple. Test it and see if people recognize what it is or get some sense of meaning from it. Distinct GraphicsDistinct GraphicsDistinct GraphicsDistinct Graphics

A logo should be distinct. One of a kind. It has to be different to stand out in the crowd and it shouldn't be easily confused with some other well known logo. It's okay to learn from the masters and emulate their techniques. But copying them is seldom rewarded. It might seem impossible to create a logo that's simple and distinct but remember this; there are only 12 notes in music. And they've been used to create thousands of great songs. It's doable. Putting it all TogetherPutting it all TogetherPutting it all TogetherPutting it all Together

The best workflow for designing a logo is to start by designing it in black and white. This helps you keep it distinct and descriptive and most importantly simple. Then add color. And then add your effects to really bring it to life. It's always better to start with a basic version before you create a full effects version of you logo. But if you start with a full effects version, tear it down to flat colors and B&W to make sure the fundamentals of good design are there.

3. Populate Your Brand3. Populate Your Brand3. Populate Your Brand3. Populate Your Brand Now you have a story, a name, a tagline, and a logo. It might seem like you have everything a great brand needs. But there's one more critical thing. Your brand needs people. You need to populate it and give it a face and a personality. This is a step that's frequently overlooked. Just as well known as many of the most well branded companies ... are the people behind them: Microsoft: Bill Gates Apple: Steve Jobs Another way of populating a brand is by using celebrity endorsements. Strong personalities that are well recognized brands themselves lend a lot of credibility to a brand. Many companies populate their brands with well known people: Nike Wheaties cereal L'Oreal cosmetics You don't need to have a fortune 500 company to populate a brand. In fact, for a smaller brand it's probably even more important to make a human connection with your audience. We need to know that a brand has someone behind it who cares about it and believes in it. People make a brand real.


You can populate a brand in one of 3 ways:

And now we have all the components a brand needs. It's defined and designed and it's time to put it to work. It's time to get attention, spark interest, build trust and foster recognition. It's time to promote your brand.

Promoting Your BrandPromoting Your BrandPromoting Your BrandPromoting Your Brand You can break a lot of rules when you're designing your brand and still build a great brand. It's just harder. It takes more time. It takes more money. It takes heavy promoting. So good design can save you a lot of money. But even so, to build a great brand you have to get it out there in front of people. It needs exposure. You have to promote it. So here's how you do that.

1. Target Your Audience1. Target Your Audience1. Target Your Audience1. Target Your Audience Where and how, right? Not so fast. The first question to answer is who. And not so much who it is you want to promote your brand to, but who's going to have an interest in it? Who has a need that it fills? Build a DemographiBuild a DemographiBuild a DemographiBuild a Demographicccc There are a few different factors that go into understanding your audience. All those factors add up to create a demographic profile of your audience. Every brand has a core audience and a fringe audience. The core is the most influential and strongest. They match most of your demographic markers. The fringe audience is scattered and each of them may only fit into a couple of your demographic markers. To build a demographic profile for your brand, start by defining the needs that your brand meets within each marker. That tells you who your audience is. They're the people in each demographic marker whose needs you can meet:


If you have trouble figuring out whom your audience is, use subtraction and first figure out who they aren't. As you narrow the field in each category, whoever's left is your audience. It's important to be in tune with your audience. Does your brand's design fit your audience or does it fit the designer? If it doesn't fit your audience, it's time to go back to the drawing board and do a redesign. Once you know who your audience is, you have a good idea of where they'll be. You'll know what grabs their attention. And it's time to get your brand out there.

2. Get It Out There2. Get It Out There2. Get It Out There2. Get It Out There A brand can't sit by itself in a dark room. You need to get it in front of people; especially your core audience. Getting your brand in front of people is a combination of sales, advertising, and publicity. You can approach your audience actively or passively. Active promotion gets people involved and it's much more effective. It's engaging and interactive. Passive promotion works en masse. You need to do a lot of passive promotion to get results so it needs to be cost effective and well targeted to your audience. Here's how you can get it out there:

Effective promotions are bold, creative, and different. You want to use promotions that will get your brand in front of your demographic audience. The best promotions give your audience something of value. It's about them more than it's about


your brand. Your audience should have something to take away with them; a tangible thing, an innovative idea, or a memorable experience. Get your brand in front of key influencers in your audience. Key influencers are connected and engaged in their communities. They spread the word. They make a campaign go viral. Test your promotions and monitor their success. If something doesn't work for your brand, try something else. You can also get feedback using surveys, questionnaires and networking which is one of the things that makes active promotions so powerful.

3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition...3. Repetition, Repetition, Repetition... Be everywhere. Promoting a brand is about reach. The more places and the more often it's out there, the more people you're going to reach. Your audience is in different places, doing different things at different times. To find them you want a promotional game plan that gets your brand in front of them again and again. The more that people see it, the more it will resonate with them. Make your brand available and accessible. Use a diverse number of promotional ideas. Put together a blitz campaign for a limited time and follow it up with a steady stream of standard promotions. Always being around and popping up from time to time in potent bursts builds brand awareness. Get it out there, and often.


Case StudiesCase StudiesCase StudiesCase Studies

ACER ACER ACER ACER (A(A(A(A Success Full Asian Brand) Success Full Asian Brand) Success Full Asian Brand) Success Full Asian Brand) Stan Shih is a national hero in Taiwan; Acer is a successful international brand. The computer industry is one of the most competitive in the world, having always been dominated by the giants such as IBM. So, how has a Taiwanese company become the third largest manufacturer of personal computers

(PCs) in the world, creating a respected, and sometimes feared, brand? How has the company managed to break away from the "Made in Taiwan" image, which like many countries in Asia has been associated with sub-standard products? The answer is, of course, the careful construction of a strong brand image. From the very beginning, Shih realized that this was the great challenge, and he positioned his products more at the higher end of the market than any other Taiwanese products had been previously. For example, when entering the Japanese market, he priced his products the same as theirs to avoid the poor-quality image associated with lower-priced products. This was an important signal emitted by the brand-that Acer-branded products were not to be classified as commodities. Acer Computer has always spent huge sums of money on research and development, and in this respect, tends to follow the Japanese technology companies. Shih believes in "innovalue"-using innovation to create value in the design and production of cutting-edge products-and leading the industry. It is Shih's company that has actually positioned the PC as an aesthetically pleasing home appliance, and this philosophy is summed up in the new corporate mission statement: "Fresh Technology Enjoyed by Everyone, Everywhere." Fresh does not imply new but the best, namely, proven high-value, low-risk technology that is affordable to everyone, and has a long lifespan. Fresh also refers to innovation based on mature technology that is user-friendly, reasonably priced, and enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. Acer Computer has a long history of innovation, and continues to add to this brand strength at every opportunity. Acer Computer's aim is to become more consumer-oriented, as it believes that PCs will become consumer-electronic products with a wider range of uses and applications in the areas of communications, entertainment, and education. Acer Computer, therefore, has to become an expert in consumer electronics as well as personal computing. Shih refers to this as a shift from being 'technology-centric" to "consumer-centric." The computer industry has always been the former-emphasizing products more than people. Acer Computer is, thus, repositioning itself to become a customer-centric intellectual-property and service company, as signified by its new slogan: "Acer, Bringing People and Technology Together." To Shih, intellectual property is the value added to the product. Acer adds value by enhancing consumer perceptions of the benefit or value of a product, based on know-how, packaging, design, accessibility, comfort, user-friendliness, niche solutions-the tangible qualities of its products. This is how Acer Computer is building on its already strong international brand, into a global brand. It wants to help people to enjoy their work and their lives. One way in which Acer Computer is trying to manage the perceptions of its audience and getting them to think of the company as a major player is through more international exposure, such as its US$10-million sponsorship of the 1998 Asian Games. It succeeded in bringing the company greater international exposure. Another way Acer Computer is managing customers' perception of the company is by partnering overseas companies. By doing this, Acer Computer achieves its overall philosophy of "global brand, local touch," and also hopes to further the perception of being a global brand. However, Acer still has to make the leap from being a regional brand to a global one. Although the company manufactures computers for IBM and other major companies, it does not get due credit. In 1998, it was ranked third in the world as a PC manufacturer, but occupied only eighth spot in brand sales. Since then it has moved to seventh place, according to the company. In the largest single market in the world-the United States-Acer's market share in 1998 was less than 5%. Acer has to cross the bridge , from world-class manufacturer and regional-market leader to global player. If the result depends solely on Stan Shih's enthusiasm, energy, and ambition, then there will be no doubt about the outcome. But


consumers, both corporate and individual, make global brands happen, and therein lies the challenge of changing and managing their perceptions. Brand strengths:Brand strengths:Brand strengths:Brand strengths: Founder/CEO's vision, cost leadership, quality products, consumer focus, innovation


Mercedes Benz USA Mercedes Benz USA Mercedes Benz USA Mercedes Benz USA

When Mercedes Benz decided to build its new M Class off-road vehicle, it decided to build it and launch it in the USA. The head of Mercedes USA knew that at its launch, it would be entering a crowded market, and that the mere fact that it was a Mercedes would not guarantee sales. They had to try something different. In the USA it is still possible to obtain free access to data and they obtained details of all current owners of off-road vehicles and Mercedes cars. Mercedes then undertook a series of mail-outs to the names on the database.

It began with a personally addressed letter from the head of Mercedes USA. It said something along the lines of - "...we at Mercedes are in the process of designing a brand new off-road car and I would like to know if you would be prepared to help us..." Now America is the land in which you receive probably more direct mail than any other country in the world, but it is not every day that the head of Mercedes writes and asks for your help. There was a significant, positive response. Those people who responded received a series of questionnaires that asked for guidance on design issues such as whether the spare wheel should be outside or inside the vehicle, desired engine sizes, exterior colours and interior designs. What is interesting is that, along with the questionnaires, Mercedes began to also receive advance orders. What these customers were feeling was that Mercedes was custom building a car just for them. No other manufacturer had ever involved them in the design and build process in quite the same way. As a result, Mercedes pre-sold its first year sales target of 35,000 vehicles. It was expecting to spend some $70 million US marketing the car, but by using this CRM one to one approach, it only needed to spend $48 million saving $22 million. We have heard that this program was so successful that Mercedes is looking to use the same approach in the future with other model launches.

Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, CanadaPan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, CanadaPan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, CanadaPan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, Canada

IntroductionIntroductionIntroductionIntroduction A senior executive from Sun Microsystems, after staying at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Vancouver, congratulated the hotel's vice-president and general manager, Steve Halliday, on how well his staff read her mind. This had nothing to do with resident palm readers, astrologers, or fortune-tellers; it was a reflection of the fact that the executive felt she had experienced service excellence. It's not surprising, because this hotel is very different. A division of the conglomerate Tokyu Corporation of Japan, the Pan Pacific Hotel Group currently has 17 hotels. The president of the hotel chain, Ichigo Umehara, is what we could a brand champion: he works hard to differentiate his company from the many competitors in the hospitality market. The company certainly sets out to do things differently, and that can be seen from its mission statement, which states that the company wants "to take people successfully to places they have never been before." Staff are called associates, and are empowered to a great degree to take decisions affecting the consumer experience at the point of contact with guest. The associates are carefully selected at all levels, and can go through up to 14 interviews with colleagues and management with whom they will be working before being offered a job. As Steve Halliday says, "We always try to hire the best-the 9s and 10s-because if we hire them, they will recruit good people. If we hire 4s and 5s, we'll end up with a staff full of similiar-caliber people". The philosophy at the Pan Pacifc is to "hire on attitude and train on skills," the opposite of what many companies do. The staff are so happy, they are non-unionized. A recent independent survey identified the things staff liked most about the company:


• the family atmosphere-it's a home away from home; • teamwork; • respect and equality; • learning and advancement; • pride in their operation; and • fun.

These attributes have become embedded values - the culture of the hotel - and they are transmitted to the customers. The hotel chain doesn't have "human resources" departments. Instead, it has "people innovation" departments, emphasizing the desire and confidence in employees to excel at innovation. They talk about education, not training, and they call their major functional parts of the business "independent business units" to encourage associates to think beyond being part of a hotel. The whole idea is to create "emotional links with guest through personalized care." They want the guests to share the "home away from home" feeling they have. Which brings us back to our opening paragraph in this case study. If you think about it, your family and close friends know you well can anticipate what you are thinking and what you need. They can read your thoughts and feelings, and they try their best to help in every possible way. This is what the Pan Pacific associates do in Vancouver, and the end-result is that customers don't just have a great experience, but enjoy a relationship. So, when customer service excels, CRM lives. The hotel chain isn't a great brand yet, but it's getting there. Of course, it has invested in technology and software to enable the employees to deliver on the brand promise. The challenge, as with every brand-building initiative, is for the company to achieve consistency in the brand experience across all its hotels. In Vancouver, it really is outstanding, and a prime example of a CRM initiative led by customer service. Technology plus attitude equals CRMTechnology plus attitude equals CRMTechnology plus attitude equals CRMTechnology plus attitude equals CRM Traditional one-to-one service hasn't worked for many companies because the service attitude hasn't been in evidence, or because the systems that front-line staff need in order to gain real knowledge of each customer haven't been available. Attitude is a management problem that can be overcome, as we have seen above, but the technology to assist this is now freely available. A front-line employee with CRM technology at his or her fingertips can talk to each customer as an individual, and with confidence, knowledge, and respect. You will find many examples Romancing the Customer of how CRM allows you to help your staff do things right. The technology allows for easier, more natural, and less intimidating relationships. For example, CRM programs can give ready access to information on the customer's previous contacts and purchases, enabling staff to quickly get to the heart of a customer's needs and solve their problems. CRM makes everything easier for the consumer. It is redefining the standards for customer service and brand management. While customer service is an exciting and vital part of CRM, in this book we describe how you can achieve a great brand experiences with the use of techniques that complement customer service initiatives.


Philips Philips Philips Philips ---- Strengthening a Global BrandStrengthening a Global BrandStrengthening a Global BrandStrengthening a Global Brand Philips is a hi-tech global company with a traditionally low profile. Until recently, if you asked anyone if he knew the Philips brand name, the likehood was that he would say yes. However, he might not have know what Philips provides in the way of its total product range, and might have associated the brand name and company with traditional technology. The "Let's Make Things Better" global brand campaign has raised the Philips profile, and provided it with a more focused and distinctive personality. Royal Philips Electronics - its proper name - is a giant company. Established in 1891 is a lamp factory, it now has over 100 different business, over 200 production sites, and carries out research and development in more than 40 countries. Its sales and service outlets cover 150 countries, and it has a total workforce upwards of 230,000 employees. It has a strong technology base, spending over 5% of sales on research and development, and owning some 10,000 patents. Its portfolio covers a wide variety of product categories, including:

• semiconductors • TV • video • audio • PC peripherals • digital networks • lighting • medical systems • mobile phones • domestic appliances • personal care products

The "Lets Make Things Better" campaign is still part of a global corporate branding initiative aimed at motivating both consumers and employees. It was, to use Intel's own words, a brand "renaissance." The company's slogan is all about emphasizing what technology, Philips products in particular, can do for people - it is essentially about the benefits they can bring to people and the world in general. A keystone of the campaign was the premise that, if you can convince people that you can help improve their lives, they will more likely believe that you can help improve the world. The campaign thus had to appear credible, real, and experiential. It had to be human as opposed to philosophical and philanthropic, and not just another typical corporate over claim.


Nokia Nokia Nokia Nokia ---- Building A Powerful Technology BrandBuilding A Powerful Technology BrandBuilding A Powerful Technology BrandBuilding A Powerful Technology Brand The world of parity has hit the mobile phone market just as it has many other technology product categories. The products range from the simple to the complex, but every manufacturer offers, of course, the latest features. Leapfrogging in sales between brands frequently occurs based on design. But overall the market is predictable, with Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson fighting it out at the top and several less successful brands like Samsung, Philips, Siemensand Panasonic trying hard to make inroads into their top competitors' market share. So what makes the difference between the most successful and less successful brands? It certainly is not what product features are offered. How, then, do consumers choose? The answer seems to be what the brand names mean to them. Nokia Group the Finland-based manufacturer of mobile phones, has been steadily working on its corporate brand name and the management of consumer perceptions over the last few years. Its efforts have paid off, because it is now the number one brand in many markets around the world, effectively dislodging Motorola from that position. The brand has been built using the principles described above, and has been consistently well managed across all markets. Nokia has succeeded in lending personality to its products, without even giving them names. In other words, it has not created any sub-brands but has concentrated on the corporate brand, giving individual products a generic brand personality. Only numeric descriptors are used for the products, which do not even appear on the product themselves. Such is the strength of the corporate brand. Nokia has suceeded where other big brand names have so far failed, chiefly by putting across the human face technology-taking and dominating the emotional high ground. It has done so in the following way. Nokia Brand PersonalityNokia Brand PersonalityNokia Brand PersonalityNokia Brand Personality Nokia has detailed many personality characteristics for its brand, but employees do not have to remember every characteristic. They do, however, have to remember the overall impression of the list of attributes, as you would when thinking about someone you have met. As the focus is on customer relationships, the Nokia personality is like a trusted friend. Building friendship and trust is at the heart of the Nokia brand. And the human dimension created by the brand personality carries over into the positioning strategy for the brand. Nokia PositioningNokia PositioningNokia PositioningNokia Positioning When Nokia positions its brand in the crowded mobile phone marketplace, its message must clearly bring together the technology and human side of its offer in a powerful way. The specific message that is conveyed to consumers in every advertisement and market communication (though not necessarily in these words) is "Only Nokia Human Technolgy enables you to get more out of life" In many cases, this is represented by the tag line, "We call this human technology". This gives consumers a sense of trust and consideration by the company, as though to say that Nokia understand what they want in life, and how it can help. And it knows that technology is really only an enabler so that you-the customer-can enjoy a better life. Nokia thus uses a combination of aspirational, benefit-based, emotional features, and competition-driven positioning strategies. It owns the "human" dimension of mobile communications, leaving its competitors wondering what to own (or how to position themselves), having taken the best position for itself. Nokia Product DesignNokia Product DesignNokia Product DesignNokia Product Design Nokia is a great brand because it knows that the essence of the brand needs to be reflected in everything the company does, especially those that impact the consumer. Product design is clearly critical to the success of the brand, but how does Nokia manage to inject personality into product design? The answer is that it gives a great deal of thought to how the user of its phones will experience the brand, and how it can make that experience reflect its brand character. The large display screen, for example, is the "face" of the phone. Nokia designers describe it as the "eye into the soul of the product". The shape of phones is curvy and easy to hold. The faceplates and their different colors can be changed to fit the personality, lifestyle, and mood of the user. The soft key touch pads also add to the feeling of friendliness, expressing the brand personality. Product design focuses on the consumer and his needs, and is summed up in the slogan, "human technology."


Nokia now accounts for over half of the value of the Finland stock market, and has taken huge market share from its competitors. According to one brand valuation study carried out in mid-1999, it ranked 11th on the world's most valuable brand list, making it the highest-ranking non-U.S. brand. As has been pointed out, it has unseated Motorola. Nokia achieved its brilliant feat through consistent branding, backed by first-class logistics and manufacturing, all of which revolve around what consumers what.

Resources Resources Resources Resources Advertising IdeasAdvertising IdeasAdvertising IdeasAdvertising Ideas Adverblog http://www.adverblog.com/ AdverBox http://www.adverbox.com/ Advertising Lab http://adverlab.blogspot.com/ Improve Everywhere http://www.improveverywhere.com/ Know This http://www.knowthis.com/ problogger http://www.problogger.net/ Color theoryColor theoryColor theoryColor theory Colour Lovers http://www.colourlovers.com/ Kuler http://kuler.adobe.com/

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