Audacious Brand Building Through
Differentiated Storytelling
Andrea Syverson
President, IER Partners
June 17, 2013
IER Partners Celebrating 15+ years of
IDEAS, EXECUTION & RESULTS!
Why Branding Matters
Brand Ambassadors: Internal & External
Strategic Storytelling
The Power of Touchpoints
Why Being Sticky Matters
Branding Homework
And, why you must, JUST DO IT!!!
Agenda
Why Audacious
Branding Matters
“Brands matter most
when every dollar
counts.”
- A.G. Lafley, P&G’s CEO
“Branding is the only
way to stand out in a
crowded marketplace.”
- Tom Peters
PASSION
DOLLARS
TIME
BRAND
ENERGY
“Brands offer us mental
shortcuts, helping us cut
through the clutter of
everything we buy and
enabling us to communicate
certain concepts quickly and
easily.” - Lucas Conley, author of OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder
With thanks for the inspiration and education to Kevin Roberts, author
and creator of Lovemarks, The Future Beyond
Brands and The Lovemarks Effect
All book excerpts © Saatchi & Saatchi
“Lovemarks are the
charismatic brands that
people can‟t live without.”
- Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi
Brand
Ambassadors:
External
“The customer is the
boss of us all.”
- Al Kalmbach,
Founder Kalmbach Publishing Co
Target Audience
Consumer
Eyeballs or Wallets
Customer
Human Being
“The race will go to
those who listen to
customers and respond
most intently.”
- Tom Peters
Brand
Ambassadors:
Internal
Customer
Merchandising
Marketing Creative
The Grand Brand Collaboration!
© IER Partners, Inc.
BRANDABOUTTM Approach
© IER Partners, Inc.
“Nothing limits
achievement like small
thinking. Nothing
equals possibilities like
unleashed thinking.”
- William Arthur Ward
Created by IER Partners, Inc.
BRAND
INSPIRATION
Strategic
Storytelling
“ „Tell me a story‟ still comprise
four of the most powerful words
in the English language.”
- Pat Conroy
How will your
brand stand
out in the
competition?
What’s your brand
experience?
What’s
between
the covers
of your
brand?
“Strategy is not about streamlining
or improving present operation or
organizational structure. It is not
about a budget, a yearly plan, or
solving a specific problem. It is a
compelling story about discovering
the firm‟s unrealized possibilities.”
- Tony Golsby-Smith, CEO of 2nd Road
The Power of
Touchpoints
“A brand is a living entity and
it is enriched or undermined
cumulatively over time, the
product of a thousand small
gestures.”
- Michael Eisner, Disney
Enhances
Detracts
Brand Touchpoints
“By aligning every customer touchpoint in your organization, your brand
accumulates power and your customer relationships gain depth through the
coordinated effort of your entire organization.” - prophet.com
© IER Partners, Inc.
“Every touchpoint
becomes a potential
brand-building activity
and a potential point of
activation.” - Ken Madden
“A great brand is a story
that is never completely
told.”
- Scott Bedbury
“Question
everything.”
- G. Lichtenburg
Enhances
Detracts
Why be sticky?
* According to Dan & Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick
SUCCESS CRITERIA *
S • U • C • C • E • S • S Simple + Unexpected + Concrete + Credible + Emotional + Stories = Sales
“Me Too”
“Our energy at Amazon
comes from the desire to
impress customers
rather than the zeal to
best competitors.”
- Jeff Bezos
“Insist upon yourself.
Be original.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just Do It!
CONFRONTING
THE FEAR
FACTOR
“There is only one thing
that makes a dream
impossible to achieve:
the fear of failure.”
- Paulo Coelho
BSITDD!
1. Beachball Team
2. Brand audit…grade yourself
3. Dare to dream
4. Customer listening strategy
5. What’s your story? And, your short short story?
6. How will you show and tell
your story so it is sticky?
7. Touchpoint prioritization
1. Delivering benefits customers truly desire (Is there a system in place for customer feedback?)
2. Stays relevant (Investment in improvements? Marketing decisions based on these?)
3. Pricing – consumer’s value (What is the consumer’s perception of value?)
4. Properly positioned (Establish comparable points of difference?)
5. Consistent (Programs sending conflicting messages?)
6. Portfolio + hierarchy makes sense (Seamless umbrella? Does anything take away from the core? Do the individual brands hold their niche? Overlap? Where? Upcoming products?)
7. Full repertoire of activities (Do touch points maximize brand awareness? Integrate customer/consumer?)
8. Managers understand brand (The beach ball)
9. Given proper support (Stick to something vs. all over the place)
10. Monitors sources of brand equity (Brand charter? Brand audits?)
The Brand Report Card by Kevin Lane Keller