Tonight I had my branding hat on....I began writing a strategic statement for one of my clients and then I came to this...
Some categories may lend themselves to branding better than others,
but anything is brandable. Nike, for example, is leveraging the deep
emotional connection that people have with sports and fitness. With
Starbucks, they see how coffee has woven itself into the fabric of
people's lives, and that's our opportunity for emotional leverage.
Almost any product offers an opportunity to create a frame of mind
that's unique. Almost any product can transcend the boundaries of its
narrow category.
Intel is a case study in branding. I doubt that most people who own
a computer know what Intel processors do, how they work, or why they
are superior to their competition in any substantive way. All they know
is that they want to own a computer with "Intel inside." As a result,
Andy Grove and his team sit today with a great product and a powerful
brand.
The Emotional Brand
It's everyone's goal to have their product be best-in-class or my favorite (hear my sarcasm with the marketing speak)...Best in Breed.
But
product innovation has become the ante you put up just to play the
game: it's table stakes.
The common ground among companies that have built great brands is
not just performance. They recognize that consumers live in an
emotional world. Emotions drive most, if not all, of our decisions. Not
many people sit around and discuss the benefits of encapsulated gas in
the mid-sole of a basketball shoe or the advantages of the dry-fit
system. They will talk about Michael Jordan's winning shot against Utah
the in the late 90's -- and they'll experience the dreams and the
aspirations and the awe that go with that last-second, game-winning
shot.
A brand reaches out with that kind of powerful connecting
experience. It's an emotional connection point that transcends the
product. And transcending the product is the brand.
