brand as business bit:  In my inaugural piece as a regular contributor on OPEN Forum, I talk about how attempts to define a brand make me think of the elephant parable. You know the one in which different blind men describe an elephant based on what different body parts feel like.

I referenced a few brand definitions from the world’s leading brand thinkers as compiled in Debbie Millman’s Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits.  While the book included some real doozies (“Branding is a profound manifestation of the human condition”), I did find the overall collection quite provocative.  Among the comments that resonated most strongly with me were:

Sean Adams:  I think the biggest misconception is that people typically think their logo is their brand, and they believe that if they redesign their logo, they’ve somehow managed their brand…A brand is not necessarily visual.  It’s a promise of an experience.

Brian Collins:  We create brands – we create beliefs, we create belief systems.

Virginia Postrel:  A brand is a promise of a certain kind of consistency and continuity over time…Today, value is less about brand attributes, and more about brand meaning.

Despite the great fodder, I believed the complete, most valuable view of what a brand is was still missing.  So I wrote the OPEN Forum piece to explain that  a brand isn’t a thing; it’s an equation:

Brand = Culture + Customer Experience + Communication. 

Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Today’s post is actually an article of mine which brandchannel just published.  You can either click here to read it on brandchannel and track the comments brandchannel readers submit — or if you’re click-averse, just read on.

Branding Is Dead!  Long Live Brands?!

Many pundits have declared the death of branding and it would be difficult to argue to continue typical branding activities.  Creating an image to serve as the “face” of a company, refreshing a logo or tagline in an attempt to reinvigorate the business, developing advertising campaigns to “get our name out there” – the business value of these efforts can indeed be questioned.

Today’s savvy consumers are likely to see through a brand façade.  They can easily find out if the business practices, products, and people behind a brand are what their ads say they are.  And they’re more likely to trust their own experience or the recommendation of a friend or even an online reviewer than a company’s own chest-thumping.  In fact, one could argue that the historical role which brands played – that is, serving as symbols to guarantee a certain of level of quality – is no longer relevant or useful today.

But that is not to say that brands themselves are no longer valuable.

Brands are needed now more than ever
In a depressed economy marked by intense competition over limited consumer spending, brands are more important than ever.  Brands can add to the top line and help the bottom line.

A strong brand:

• attracts and retains more customers because it differentiates an offering and makes it less easily copied
• sustains price premiums and higher margins because customers perceive they are getting something of greater value
• helps leaders identify and seize new sources for growth, by driving innovations with rich insights about customers and market opportunities
• enables more efficient and effective business processes, because employees and their activities are integrated, aligned, and focused on creating value
• increases the market value of the business to investors
• delivers better results in recruiting, training, and retention because it’s clearer what’s expected of employees and what it takes for them to be successful
• gives more negotiation power with suppliers, channels, and M&A prospects due to the increased customer leverage

Strong brands produce these far-reaching results because they are more than images or messages.  A strong brand is the core of the business:

It’s the bundle of values and attributes which defines:

• a product or service’s value which is delivered to its customers, and
• the way of doing business which is the basis of a company’s relationships with stakeholders*

(*a “stakeholder” is a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in something – stakeholders are employees, board members, business partners like vendors and distributors, agencies and investors or shareholders – and a brand defines the way a company does business with them.)

Simply put, a brand is what a company does and how it does it.  And strengthening a brand involves improving what the company delivers to its customers and how it runs its business.

Brand-building, instead of branding
Instead of simply representing the business to the outside world, the brand should drive it from the inside out.  As such, brand development efforts should not be focused on outward-facing branding tactics, but rather internal brand-building methods and processes.

Brand-building is most effective when the brand is used to generate shared insights about the business, planning decisions are driven by the brand, and a brand perspective is woven into all aspects of business execution:

Generating insights. The brand becomes stronger when it serves as the common lens through which the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business are evaluated.  And when each capability, condition, or change is understood in terms of its impact on the organization’s brand, the entire organization can develop a single vision about what is happening in the marketplace and how to move forward.

An example: Designer Whey, a $50MM protein supplement business, used its brand to identify an opportunity for new growth and to guide the company in seizing the opportunity.  Historically the company promoted its protein powders to body builders, but it realized the niche body builder market alone wasn’t going to deliver the business growth it desired.  Market research revealed the growing consumer demand for health and wellness among many different types of people.  They found more people were looking for ways to supplement their diets to make them healthier – and the benefits sought aligned well with Designer Whey’s key brand differentiators.

As a result the company repositioned its brand to appeal to a more female, more health and wellness oriented audience.  It changed its entire operations in order to deliver the new brand platform.  These changes yielded the revenue growth the company was seeking from its core business – and by introducing the brand to new customers, the repositioning laid the foundation for the introduction of new product lines which generated incremental growth and brand awareness for the business.

Planning. By applying brand thinking to the company’s portfolio of activities as leaders decide areas of focus, the brand is developed further.   In fact using the brand as a planning tool facilitates ongoing choices that are consistent with the values and attributes the company hopes to embody and deliver to customers.

For example Virgin Group, the U.K.-based company headed by Richard Branson, generates $20BB in revenue through more than 200 branded companies.  The company uses the Virgin brand in new business decisions.  It has several key brand values – for example, “value for the money” and “brilliant customer service” – and it looks at every new growth opportunity through the lens of these values.  If a new market or opportunity satisfies four of the six values and if the company thinks it can serve customers better than the existing competitors, it enters the business.

With this systematic yet simple decision-making approach, Virgin has taken a similar approach with seemingly unrelated businesses – from soft drinks to travel services — and has generated immense returns and increased their brand equity quickly.

Executing. When brand-based tools are applied throughout all business activities, the organization becomes more focused and integrated and the brand itself is strengthened.

Executives at Jack in the Box, the quick-service restaurant chain with 2100+ units in 18 states, has adopted an executional approach to brand-building.  The chain’s three-pronged brand identity – challenger, innovator, likeable – is not only embodied in Jack, the CEO character of the chain’s advertising campaign, but also present in all aspects of their business execution.

For example, it was the first quick-serve to offer a breakfast sandwich, a portable salad and an all-sirloin burger.  It recently undertook a store re-design to more closely integrate its creative and charismatic brand identity into the in-store experience.  And corporate leaders use “Jackisms” (quotes or phrases said by Jack) to inspire brand behavior by employees (e.g., “Trust me, a smile goes a long way toward making a successful business. – Jack”.)

People throughout the organization have adopted one common understanding of the brand and how to interpret and reinforce it in their daily actions and decision-making.  As such, Jack in the Box enjoys the highest average unit volumes of any QSR except McDonald’s and its brand salience and affinity exceeds its market penetration.

Don’t throw brands out with the branding bathwater
Leading edge companies have adopted brand-building practices that impact the core functions of the business – generating insights, planning, and executing – and produce remarkable business results.  Others will soon follow suit, when they realize they need a new approach – one that is more in tune with the changing market and optimizes their core operating systems in delivering customer value.

The difference between building brands and branding is becoming clearer. Because, with the dramatic changes in the economy and ground-breaking developments in technology and communications, branding may be dead; but brands can – and must be — stronger than ever.

related posts:

• gaining the competitive edge
• express vs. operationalize

The folks at BLACKCOFFEE have been inviting folks to complete the thought, “A Brand Is…” I was so fascinated to read the range of responses that I decided to take a closer look.  I wanted to see what common themes emerged among people’s definitions of “Brand” and what we could learn from them.
Here’s what I did:

• I collected all of the responses that were on the site as of this past weekend – there were over 170 of them.

• I culled out the ones that I didn’t understand (e.g., “A brand can be anything, just not ‘like that.’”) and ones that didn’t provide a helpful answer (e.g., “A brand is an elusive concept that many brand professionals can’t define.”)

• I sorted the remaining answers into groups/themes.  (I had difficulty classifying some of the answers because I wasn’t sure exactly what some people meant, so I apologize in advance if I mis-grouped yours.)

Here’s what I found:

1.    Some used the historical definition of a brand when branding was used on cattle, or suggested a brand is something which functions like a brand on cattle.

A brand is a label created by a company.—lix
A brand is a mark made by burning with a hot iron to attest manufacture or quality or to designate ownership—Bill
A brand is a different name for the same product—yo
A brand is a mark made by burning or otherwise, to indicate kind, grade, make, ownership—@SIGEPJEDI
A brand is a logo, a font, a long-standing celebrity spokesperson. It’s a memorable commercial. It’s a quality product with quality ingredients. It’s consistency.—Jocelyn Geboy
A brand is an iron tool heated in the fire and used to indicate ownership of cattle.—Stephen

2.    Some chose simply to say what a brand is not.

A brand is not merely “something that’s nice to have” any more than air is something good to inhale once in a while.—David Brier, Chief Gravity Defyer
A brand is more than a logo.—Brad C
A brand is not a logo, unless it is on a cow.—Misc
A brand is much more than a logo.—Erick Straghalis

3.    Some responses were negative towards brands.

A brand is a fake image—anon
A brand is unfortunately bullshit a lot of times.—unknown
A brand is a set of lies we convince ourselves to believe in and hope the public will to.—HMMM
A brand can be fake—http://sidere.wordpress.com
A brand is a terrible lie.—Craig Elimeliah
A brand is a relic of an illiterate culture.—Bud Caddell
A brand is gay—Nicole

4.    Some people spoke of the financial value of a brand.

A brand is something you pay extra for—Mark
A brand is the difference between a 99¢ cup of coffee $4 venti, foamy, ristretto, doppio expresso con panna cappuccino.—Ken Peters
A brand is your most important asset if you own it or rely on it for income.—Kendall Langston

5.    Many people suggested a brand is “in the eyes of the beholder,” not under the control of the companies or marketers who promote it.

A brand is something companies try to control but often can’t—Jordan
A brand is perception—accidentalthinking
A brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what consumers say it is – and you’d better listen, because they’re vocal.—Ken Peters
A brand is a set of associations the audience has and how they see your business activities—@alexisvandam
A brand is a user generated meaning—Luis Miranda
A brand is the sound of your voice coming out of someone else’s mouth—Bill Gathen
A brand is what people outside a company perceive it to be based on everything they hear, read and see about that company.—Lewis Green
A brand is a recipient built by marketers but filled with people’s thoughts, frustrations, use, likes, dislikes… experience.—Rafael Lizárraga
A brand is perception—@kandacehudspeth
A brand is a collective perception in the minds of consumers—@faris
A brand is whatever I perceive it to be—Arvind
A brand is perception—Kandace
A brand is the sum of audience associations and expectations, both tangible and intangible, that surround your offerings.—@ericbrody
A brand is what everyone else sees—vera
A brand is how you are perceived by others and you get the opportunity to build your brand up – or tear it down with every customer interaction.—Stephen Lynch
A brand is the perception of a product.—David Mitchel
A brand is what they say about you after you have left the room…—Rob Levinson
A brand is everything people believe about your product, real or imagined, true or false.—Roger Dooley – Neuromarketing
A brand is the collective views of the people who care.—David Meerman Scott
A brand is the idea held in the minds of the customers of the experience they’ll have, and in some case what they will become, by purchasing your product.—Steve Farnsworth (@TheRealPRMan)
A brand is your reputation, your legacy. It is how you are perceived by an audience that must find you relevant.—Lida Citroen, LIDA360.com
A brand is how you are perceived by others—Stephen Lynch
A brand is useless without consumers.—Bryant Florez
A brand is what the public believes it is, not what companies say it is.—Jonathan Moore
A brand is what customers buy, not what businesses sell.—David Brier
A brand is all that stuff in the head of people ‘out there’ that you often have very little control over—Jon Howard
A brand is about people’s reactions to an organization’s actions.—Mark Gallagher—Brand Expressionist®, BLACKCOFFEE
A brand is a perception in the minds of others. It’s what they think you are, not what you think you are. It can be an image, a voice, a personality or a product/category, but it boils down to whatever people think when they hear the name.—Janice Dottin
A brand is [mine]—Kevin Gatta

6.    Yet, others responses spoke about a brand as a company’s values and/or corporate culture.

A brand is vision-led culture.—Steve Barnett
A brand is much more than a logo. It should represent the core values of your company, product, or service. A good brand should lead your organization internally, and clearly represent what you stand for to consumers.—D.K. Smith
A brand is your company’s DNA.—Nicho Valadez
A brand is a set of values you agree with.—Michael Ancevic

7.  A lot of people’s responses were about feelings – either saying a brand evokes feelings or that a brand is a feeling itself.

A brand is the feeling I get when I think about a company.—Jon
A brand is my connection to the product.—Missy
A brand is a gut feeling—luke
A brand are the hopes and expectations you have of a product and the company that makes it.—edward boches
A brand is the emotion invoked by a product—Mansi
A brand is a feeling evoked by simply thinking of the brand name.—Greenwala
A brand is an evocation—http://sidere.wordpress.com
A brand is how it makes you feel—Ld
A brand is butterflies or knives in your stomach—David Armano
A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.—Marty Neumeier, Neutron
A brand is a perception and lingering feeling that lives in the minds of your market. It’s based on emotion and defined by the experience people have with your brand.—Carol Chapman
A brand is an emotional short-cut to feeling good.—Anthony
A brand is what captures a consumer’s heart, not just a mind—Heidi Foreman
A brand is a collective emotional response.—Michael Troiano
A brand is something that evokes everything from DESIRE … to HATE.—Stephen Cocca
A brand is an expectation of receiving a feeling by way of an experience.—Tom Asacker

8.    Many people offered up answers describing what a brand does – e.g., generate demand.

A brand is what my teenage son is always talking about when he wants my money.—Eric
A brand begets preference, sometimes without actually being better.—@RJ_in_SF

9.  Some explained a  brand functions like a memory tool.

A brand is something people remember.—EV
A brand is what you would want another person to remember first thing in the morning and think of just before he or she goes to bed.—Strategic Growth Advisors
A brand is the scar left behind on a person’s brain.—Zach K.
A brand is a concept seared into the mind.—Mark
A brand is like knowing exactly what to reach for when you cut your finger.—Jordan Julien
A brand is a product idea/vision that gets burned into consumers’ minds.—RcSim

10.    Others described the differentiating function of a brand.

A brand is what you have when everything else is equal.—Michael
A brand is unmistakable and unique.—@bradleyphoto
A brand is a developed and distinctive concept—-unknown
A brand is all you put on something that is equal to everything else in order to make it different—sg
A brand is a how people identify and differentiate goods and services.—Bobby
A brand is a token of difference.—Minko Dimov, creative director at protobrand
A BRAND IS THE RECOGNITION THAT ADDS SUPER-VALUE TO A PRODUCT THAT COULD DEFINE THE UNIQUENESS IN IT!!—Naveen Kumar
A brand is your face in this world to differentiates you from others—Karl Varley
A brand is a unique and deliverable claim of distinction supported by evidence of performance.—Ro Breehl

11.    A brand is an image or personality to some folks.

A brand is PERSONALITY!—Trish
A brand is the face you put on when you go out in public—Doug Besser
A brand quite simply is your voice, your vibe, your essence. It’s how you’d like to be perceived you in your ideal reality. There are three views: How you see yourself, how others see you and how you really appear. In many instances, companies use the equivalent of plastic surgery, attractive lighting and couture to craft their personae. Standards and guidelines aside, Few rarely “live” the brand, which in itself is a somewhat overused term.—David Weinstein
A brand is like a purpose-led person’s personality.—Harasha Bafana
A Brand is Attitude. It’s what you stand for, illustrate in visuals, sound like, how you act, what you stand for and how you communicate. It’s the sum of all impressions perceived in every brand channels.—Karsten Kjems
Very simple…an IMAGE of what your product/service is conveying to the masses.—Judy
A brand is your first impression—Joel Beukelman
A brand is what people see when they look at you and your product—Aaron Irizarry
A brand is more than a logo or a website. It’s a complete personality. One that drives the focus of the audience and engages them on a personal level.—Troy

12.    It’s an identity to others.

A brand is who you are.—John Turmelle
A brand is…expressing your own identity.—Kim Brown Irvis
A brand is establishing your sense of identity—MIke B
A brand is a part of someone’s identity—Mark Begin

13.  And a story or drama to still others.

A brand is a fairy tale.—@issamheddad
A brand is a story in which the author and the audience are both in control.—@mattquint
A brand is story or association in the mind of consumer.—Ritu Sinha
A brand is performance art.—Mike Wagner, CEO White Rabbit Group
A brand is part theater, part magic, part inspiration and whole-hearted passion. The stage is the mind of your audience. Let the production begin.—David Brier, Chief Gravity Defyer
A brand is a story told in the marketplace. Customers are telling your story with or without your help. Align the right brand message to the right channel of the consumer’s social grid to provide a multi-touch experience.—Matthew Kruchko, Applied Storytelling

14.    Some responses spoke of a brand as a promise.

A brand is a promise—@brennahanly
A brand is why I keep coming back, when that brand keeps its’ promise.—Dave Bradley
A brand is a promise, not something that happens when you spend mountains of money advertising.—Restaurant Marketing
A brand is delivering on a promise – perhaps inspired and initiated by a Company – but driven & actualized by the customer.—Robert Collins
A brand is a promise which when kept creates preference—Justin Basini (although not my defnition but I love it)
A brand is promise delivered to your customers.—Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO, Kodak
A brand is a promise fulfilled—Lauren Hughes
A brand is a promise of performance in the mind of the consumer.—Jack Birch
A brand is the equilibrium between people’s emotion and a company’s product, service; in short, a brand is the value a company promises to its clients—Colin
Some thought a brand is more of a relationship.
A brand is meaning & relationships—Juanjo
A brand is a mutual friend.—farfariya
A brand is a relationship driven by the customer experience—Fred Page
A brand is a relationship.—Dave Bradley
A brand is a long term profitable bond between an offering and a customer. This relationship must be based on economic, experiential & emotional value. Backed up by operational excellence & consistently monitored, measured and improved.—Marcus Osborne, Malaysia
A brand is a connection between the company and it’s customers—Stephan Lenting
A brand is a proxy for a relationship.—Ben Kunz
A brand is an experience to be shared with others or kept to ourselves. A brand is the personal interaction we have with a product, service or person. A brand is as fragile or as strong as friendship. If it breaks its promise, the relationship may be in jeopardy.—Kneale Mann

16.    And some offered that a brand is an experience.

A brand is what i experience when i get in touch with its products and with it communications efforts—maria
A brand is something you trust because it gives you lifestyle experience—http://scratchvertise.blogspot.com/
A brand is a customer experience — including perceptions, like, dislike or apathy — of a product or service.—jeff
A brand is the reaction one has to a company, product or service based on the sum total of experiences, directly or indirectly, said person has had with company, product or service.—Joel Mier
A brand is the entire experience a consumer has with every touch-point of your brand, the emotional connection they have with it and the interaction itself represents the opportunity for a brand to transact an experience with the consumer that will not only deliver the delight they expect but also provide them with unexpected value and satisfaction that is unique unto your brand alone.—John Walsh – FlyLite
A brand is a summary of thousands of touchpoints.—Tyrale
A brand is the aggregate of all the tangible and intangible interactions one can have with it.—John Schneider
A brand is the emotions, feelings, and thoughts generated from the experience of a place, idea, or product.—Seth Hosko
A brand is an experience that is shared between customers.—Kneale Mann

17.    Some responses didn’t fall into one of the above groupings – either because they spanned multiple themes, or because they introduced a different thought.

A brand is the vision behind a logo—Digdamao
A brand simplifies the complex.—Dava Brada’lei
A brand is where an object or a service meets culture—Carito K
A brand is our imagination.—@maharis
A brand is a reflection of how effectively we are communicating our passion.—@mpack7
A brand is simply what we apply to things to make them more human.—Dom Rodwell
A brand is simply a mental construct. What you DO with that mental construct, after it has been created, is up to you.—Tom Asacker, author of A Clear Eye for Branding
A brand is a miracle with a name.—Mr. Markenlexikon
A brand is…the truth about you, well told.—Michael DiFrisco
A Brand is a journey of a product/service which starts at any company and ends in consumer mind.—Gaurav Nadgouda
A brand is living entity, always changing and open to individual interpretation.—Paul Coles
A brand is like a human being. It has emotions and evolves with changing environment.—Ashish Shah
A B.R.A.N.D. is Being Recognized And Never Doubted—Derrick Hayes
A Brand is about continuity not consistency.—Ed Walter
A brand is my constant puzzle because no matter how much I work on all the support elements, it’s completely in the hands of our front-line employees.—Julia Carcamo
A brand is the shadow of your profile—Gianni Tolu
A brand is like a human being. It has emotions and evolves with changing environment. A corporate identity is a reflection of what company thinks about itself; a brand is what target audience thinks about the company.—Ashish Shah
A brand is a company’s most valuable asset.—Robert A. Miller
A brand is a marriage between the rational (your positioning) and the irrational (the emotional response to you).—Karen Kang Consulting @ Kang.com
A brand is shorthand for a winning company & products. Losers don’t have brands…—Bill Hawe
A brand give a sense of belonging—Mark Cameron
A brand shouldn’t need to be explained.—Erick Straghalis
A brand is a manifestation of the hopes, expectations and aspirations between consumer and provider.—Jason C. Otero
A brand is a blank canvas with guidelines—Andrew Wendling
A brand delivered is the result of the steady iteration of a message over time. A brand received is another story. “National health care” vs. “ObamaCare”.—John Burnham
A brand is, and should be timeless.—Hee Chung
A brand is a collection of experiences, stories, and associations that create a perception about a product, service, or company.—Steve Jones – brandlikearockstar.com
A brand is a living, breathing representation of the lifestyles, emotions and values of the audience it serves.—Gennefer Snowfield
A brand is [true to self]—Kevin Gatta
A brand is [familiar]—Kevin Gatta
A brand is consistent.—Heidi

A brand is co-created by the brand owner and its audience.—Laura Savard—Brand Expressionist®, BLACKCOFFEE

A brand is a company’s most valuable asset!—Laura Savard—Brand Expressionist®, BLACKCOFFEE

A brand is everything you can control about how it looks and acts and nothing about how people feel about it and react to how it acts and looks.—erich nolan bertussi

18.    And some offered up definitions similar to mine:

A brand is what a brand does or doesn’t do.—Martha
A brand is a desirable and exclusive idea integrated in products, places, services, people and experiences.—@designdamage
A brand is not what you say, it’s what you do.—The Australian Centre for Branding
A brand is everything you do and don’t do.—Jason
A brand is what a brand does.—Edward Boches

My response:
A Brand Is… a bundle of values and attributes that define:
•  a product or service’s value which is delivered to its customers, and
•  the way of doing business which is the basis of a company’s relationships with its stakeholders

What can we learn from all of this?

Here are a few of my observations and thoughts:

•    There’s a lot of passion for brands.  The BLACKCOFFEE site got over 170 responses in what I believe was less than a week — and there are already so many more responses that have been entered than when I started this analysis only a few days ago.  And I love the many thoughtful, interesting responses.  Thanks to BLACKCOFFEE for starting what I hope will be an ongoing conversation about this thing, Brand!

•    Two of the groupings that include the most responses are the one that explains a brand is not something companies/marketers can control and the one that speaks only of feelings.  This concerns me.

Although some of the responses in these groupings came from folks I have a lot of respect for, I have to disagree with them.  I believe a brand is something that a company creates and actively nurtures and builds – certainly a brand’s success is dependent upon customers’ reaction to it, but there must be strategic intent and active leadership to determine which customers the company wants and why and how they want them to react.  Likewise, a great brand certainly sparks emotions – but feelings alone do not a business make.  The point is to translate feelings into actions (buy, make, change, do…).

I expect people to disagree with me on this, so please do share your comments.

•    There are a lot of definitions and interpretations of what a brand is.  This makes brand-building ripe for confusion – which is a barrier when we talk about it with business leaders and try to make the case for investing in it.  I’d like to see more clarity and alignment within the business community about what a brand is – I’m not sure how to get there, but I believe doing so is important to the future effectiveness of brands and brand-builders.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on how we might go about addressing this.

Comments open!