New Brand Power

Aside from employees, brand is the most important thing a business can have. Note: I say have and not own. In the past Brand has always been thought of as a specialized company or product. The business owned brand and used it as a tool. However, as companies, markets, and social activity on the web have developed, this brand model no longer exists. Brand today is NOT a product, it is not a logo, and it is not an identity. 

So, you may be asking, what in the world is a brand then? A brand is what people say and feel about a company, service, or product. This is the reason why Brand Loyalty and Brand Culture exist. A successful brand no longer sells products, it sells the “whole company”. A company has to understand and relate to their consumer in such a way that the consumer’s values are aligned with the company. Don’t believe me?

Today people are taking social or environmental issues into consideration as they choose from an endless supply of goods. Whether driven by a desire to be ‘eco-friendly’ with energy saving appliances, or purchasing ‘fair-trade’ goods, consumers set one product apart from the other based on their values.

People’s choice is no longer driven by finding the best, the fanciest, or the cheapest; They choose brands that have the right purpose and meaning. You need to have a brand culture that your clients will want to associate with, Apple being the poster child for this.

Successful companies now draw upon their core beliefs and values to create views of the world and ways of acting in the world that have become their central truths. These internal beliefs have replaced the traditional external brand images. Brands are created by employees living these beliefs inside the company, which will in turn drive external communications and consumer experiences. The consumer is attracted to the meaning behind those beliefs. Brand culture is an internal thing. This is why Nike’s first attempts at skater shoes failed. Nike did not fit the skater image, so even though the shoes were perfectly good, sales plummeted. Nike decided to hire actual skaters to break into the market, and once Nike had developed a skater friendly aura, the shoes became a hit.  If there is no alignment between company culture and the product, today’s consumers may reject the product.

Culture in this sense, is almost a living entity amongst the company, and this is what “brand story” really is today. Even if you have created the best clothing detergent on the market, you cannot sell it on feature alone. Instead, you have to sell yourself as a company that understands how that soccer mom feels, and shares the same values as her. Soccer mom has endless options of  ‘sensitive’, ‘brightening’, ‘softening’ etc. detergents, but if she feels that the values of your brand align with hers, she will select your product. The values of our consumer and your company must become one. (If you have been wondering about the value of social media in the market, you will have to catch the next addition.) Aligned values will lead to more sales, at higher prices. That is the power of brand.