Disruptive identityManage the gapAbout the importance of dual policy in respect of brand and identity

Saskia Dijkstra TOTAL IDENTITY

Disruptive identity; Manage the gapAbout the importance of a dual policy in respect of brand and identity.Saskia Dijkstra

2010 TOTAL IDENTITY Amsterdam

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Disruptive identity; Manage the gap

About the importance of a dual policy in respect of brand and identity and

the conditions to achieve it.

Identity and brand are inextricably linked to each other. A brand without

identity is heading towards dismantling its ‘being’. An identity without a

brand doesn’t generate any volume. What is important is that we know

the difference and the necessity of understanding both concepts, as they

are both essential. The brand achieves according to the actual demand

of the target groups. It focuses on distinguishing capacity and communi-

cates unique selling points. Following on from this, the brand expresses

a promise from which temptation or activation stems, which makes it a

strategic instrument for achieving marketing objectives. Diametrically

opposed to the brand, sometimes at the same height or at a varying dis-

tance, identity maps out the transformation task. Identity is ahead in time

and touches the next paradigm. Identity strives for relevance and seeks

connections to organisations’ next strategic task. As I have said, there is

a distance between the brand and identity that varies. Both are needed

for organisations’ continuity. The distance between them becomes clear

when the current relevance is compared to the next step. How current

are we at this moment, and to what extent are we preparing ourselves

to take the next step in these surroundings?

Developments - identity and brand

The history of the brand and the development in brand thinking makes us

aware that a dual policy is imperative to the continuity of organisations.

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Until the Fifties: the brand as a guarantee seal

A brand’s original task was simple: the brand name on a product was meant

to instil trust in the consumer that the product was of consistent quality

and was always available (market penetration). Whereas the quality of

raw materials i.e. natural products, for example coffee beans, often used to

vary, the brand ensured that a single quality level was here to stay. Douwe

Egberts in Groningen was exactly the same as it was in Zeeland. The brand

was a guarantee seal that represented intrinsic value and engendered

trust in the buyer.

From the Fifties to the end of the Sixties: the brand as bringer of prosperity

It was in America in particular that we saw brands develop an enormous

appeal. Mass industry was taking off and a bright new future lay ahead,

thanks to technological growth. It was a time of increasing leisure time

and change of lifestyle. Car ownership became commonplace, just like

vacuum cleaner ownership. Brands led the way in this progress and gave

substance to the American dream. This was the beginning of the con-

sumption society that we still know today.

Companies such as General Motors, Ford, General Electric and Philips were

extremely successful in those days. The development of these organisa-

tions’ identity almost seemed to happen of its own accord. There was still

so much more to discover and so much that needed structural improve-

ment in the life of the consumer. Convenience and comfort reigned and

this was reflected in the new branded products that emerged. The current

relevance of the brand as best practice and the development of the iden-

tity as next practice were spreading, and never again would we be able

to take them so much for granted. Managing all this was almost some-

thing that happened naturally.

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From the end of the Sixties to the Nineties: the brand is developed as

identity provider

At the end of the Sixties, the market changed. There was more competi-

tion, and the brand had to be more than a bringer of prosperity because

the innovation curve was slowly disappearing. Another way of bringing

the brand to people’s attention was needed. In the Eighties, this was

expressed the most explosively by literally printing brand names on

T-shirts and proudly showing them off. It was the yuppie period, the time

when the curious job of the brand to endow the wearer with status was

at its strongest. Innovations were less evident than in previous years.

The CD was invented by Philips in the Eighties. This was a structural

change, the like of which we had known in previous years; however, there

weren’t many structural changes, at least not visible ones. The best prac-

tice remained current thanks to the innovation curve that went before.

Brands were able to respond successfully to the consumer’s need to iden-

tify with ‘Winner Brands’. Complete lifestyle segments were born, contain-

ing descriptions of your behaviour and need patterns. At the same time,

we must have felt that something was going wrong as we entered the

Nineties - which is when the distance between brand and identity was at

its largest. A new paradigm formed in the wake of a crisis.

From the Nineties until 2009: the brand is in crisis

The Nineties saw the rise of a new phenomenon. Consumers seemed to

have had enough of all the choice. There was too much choice with too

many flavours. The brand was a money spinner and got stretched as far

as it could. Even the government had become a brand (VROM) and peo-

ple too marketed themselves a brands (A brand called You). During this

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time, the brand came in for a lot of criticism. There were only cosmetic

innovations and micro-segmentation without a users group. In summary,

the brand was too much about maximising profits and lacked social rele-

vance. You could almost say that the internet bubble had turned the tide

and made the business world realise that a brand always needed mean-

ing in order to be relevant. The price war of 2004 was the beginning of

a growing awareness of brand and identity. Brands represent value, but

this value is influenced by stronger forces. Having current relevance is

no longer enough to create value. Early anticipation of changes and new

developments, i.e. facilitating new paradigms and then introducing them

within a new current relevance, turned out to be necessary for survival.

Proper management of these two influential instruments of continuity is

the task that organisations and institutions are facing in the 21st century.

Identity and brand are inextricably linked to each other.

Contrary to what is often claimed, we do consider it important that brand

and identity are not aligned with each other. In fact, the space between

them needs to be carefully managed.

Ideas come and go

Whether we live in a capitalist world or under a communist regime, it is

human nature to form ideas and bring them to life. History has taught

us that some systems are better at facilitating the speed of ideas than

others. In a capitalist system based on market forces, the importance of

the formation of ideas, and their feasibility, is proof of a properly oper-

ating system. An idea becomes a product or service, and that is proof of

progress. New products or services are introduced to test markets and

are adopted if there is sufficient identification. First by a small group,

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but quickly followed by a larger body of consumers. As a result of its

success, competitors put a similar product or service on the market.

The more successful, the greater the competition (with the exception of

the monopoly position which a select few command). A product or ser-

vice has a lifespan which, when plotted on a graph, forms a parabola.

The more the market becomes saturated, the more competition and price

competition sets in. In a hypercompetitive market, we slowly start to see

special offers and discounts in order to achieve a certain sales volume.

The product or service no longer has enough of a lead to make it unique.

The way the market works is that you introduce a new idea which in turn

finds its way to the consumers. We call this a new paradigm that has

another life cycle.

There is a certain rhythm here that we also call the market metronome.

Some markets have a slow rhythm and others (e.g. FMCG) a fast rhythm.

Knowing and playing the market is a quality that successful organisation

manage very well. They put a introduce a new product or new service

to the market at the right time and cut back products and services that

are no longer profitable. We are all familiar with the increasingly rapid

product life cycles of software systems. Whereas we used to be able to

count on five years’ support, nowadays support is stopped after a year

or two because the cost of maintaining what has become an obsolescent

system is too high.

On a larger scale, the same thing happens not only to products and

services but also among organisations. Mergers and takeovers have a

Experimentation

Stable innovation

Unlimited growth

Limited growth

Price competition

Hyper competition

Work structure

Develop staff

Organise structure

Select staff

Implem

ent systemPresent skills

Design systemDefi

ne skills

Internalise strategyAdopt culture

Formulate strategy

Understand culture

Develop staff

Select staff

Present skills

Define skills

Adopt culture

Understand culture

Values and norms

Pioneer phasePioneer phase

Professionalisation phase

BusinessRole Playing

Branding

LandscapingCorporate

Identity

Desi

re f

or in

nova

tion

‘Current culture’

‘Current skills’

‘Current staff’

Definitionof strategy

Definitionof methods

‘New culture’

‘New skills’

‘New staff’

Definitionof structure

Suitable/unsuitable

people

Desi

re f

or v

olum

e

Professionalisation phase

Story telling

the gap

Saturation phase

New values and norms

Decentralisation phase

brand lineidentity line

figure 1. The dynamics of identity and brand (Hans P Brandt, Total Identity)

Experimentation

Stable innovation

Unlimited growth

Limited growth

Price competition

Hyper competition

Work structure

Develop staff

Organise structure

Select staff

Implem

ent systemPresent skills

Design systemDefi

ne skills

Internalise strategyAdopt culture

Formulate strategy

Understand culture

Develop staff

Select staff

Present skills

Define skills

Adopt culture

Understand culture

Values and norms

Pioneer phasePioneer phase

Professionalisation phase

BusinessRole Playing

Branding

LandscapingCorporate

Identity

Desi

re f

or in

nova

tion

‘Current culture’

‘Current skills’

‘Current staff’

Definitionof strategy

Definitionof methods

‘New culture’

‘New skills’

‘New staff’

Definitionof structure

Suitable/unsuitable

people

Desi

re f

or v

olum

e

Professionalisation phase

Story telling

the gap

Saturation phase

New values and norms

Decentralisation phase

brand lineidentity line

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certain economic reasoning that is akin to cycles within the economy. It

is a characteristic of our western society. It may be interesting to have

a look now at which undercurrents are recognisable which, if named,

embedded and anticipated early enough enable organisations to work

with the rhythm more accurately and serve the market optimally.

Achieving dual policy: two essential conditions

Whatever takes place in the undercurrents of the metronomes desig-

nates itself the most stable insight, or the brand and the desire for inno-

vation, the identity.

The brand simplifies what the current relevance and looks for identifica-

tion, an experience and consumer transformation. The identity looks for a

new perspective and the essence that will lead to the desired transition

of the organisation. The identity awakens the brand and vice versa. They

are related to each other and are mutually dependent: without a (power-

ful) brand, the development of identity will not take off and without the

development of identity the brand will in time lose its current relevance.

What we are talking about is the production of a dual policy within an

organisation.

The trick is to incorporate both realities in the organisation by under-

standing the effects of each and applying them properly. Moreover it is

essential to understand the extent of the distance between the identity

and the brand. We call this distance ‘the gap’ between brand and iden-

tity and will be dealing with it later.

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Condition one: Awareness

Awareness of the difference between orientation and the effects is

essential. A brand is needed to the manage perceptions within a (core)

target group so as to maximise temptation based on a promise. Consum-

ers’ motive give the brand an identity. Apple’s iPhone is, for example, not

the most technologically advanced mobile phone, but it tempts us with its

ease of use and sensory design. We choose the brand, not the best prod-

uct. The iPhone demonstrates that it is the best practice at the moment.

Identity Brand

Aim Developing relevance Managing perceptions

For whom Stakeholders (Core) Target group

What for Developing awareness Maximising temptation

Core Essence Promise

Result Perspective of essence Effect of the promise

Framework Learning capacity Programmes

Principle Context Motives

Identity wants to develop relevance and aims stakeholders in order to

develop awareness based on the essence. The organisation’s learning

capacity is the framework which is used to reach a new, relevant con-

text. Put less abstractly, this means that identity is occupied with the

next step, the next practice or the new paradigm that is all about new

values and norms. The brand is the best practice, the current paradigm,

today’s values and norms. If we look at the model a little more closely,

a certain distance becomes visible between brand and identity. This dis-

tance is there: it exists whether or not we are aware of it. As stated

earlier, an organisation which manages this distance properly will keep

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Start with the question of whether your expectations of the organisation are

high or low. If, for example, your expectations are high, then you will be able

to determine where the policy focus is: innovate or professionalise? If the

focus is on professionalising, then your organisation will be busy marketing

its skills, recruiting or developing staff. If your organisation is busy recruiting

staff then we can see in figure 1 that the organisation is working on redis-

covering itself, that it has already managed to get on the road to transition

and is busy promoting the brand in order to maximise sales.

Adopt the cultureDefine the skill

Understand the culture

Select staffDevelop staff

Present the skill

Internalise strategyDesign system

Formulate strategy

Organise structureLeave structure

Implement system

Expectations for the development of the organisation

Where is the focus within the policy?

innovate

professionalise

decentralise

dismantle

high

low

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on playing the market at the right time and develop a greater learning

capa city. Organisations that are unaware of this or don’t manage it suf-

ficiently, start to drift. This results in ad hoc decisions having to be made

continually and insufficient use is made of opportunities. There isn’t

enough insight into current relevance (market demand) or the organisa-

tion’s relevance (i.e. its right to exist or legitimacy).

Condition two: Insight into the extent of the distance between brand

and identity

As is becoming apparent, there is a variation in distance between brand

and identity. If we initially have a proper understanding of the difference

between the brand’s orientation and its identity, then our next step is

to map out that difference. This way we develop both the brand and the

identity so that they profit from one another. The solution can be found in

a reality analysis that poses two simple questions, the biggest of which

is: are your expectations regarding the development of your organisa-

tion too high or too low?

If our expectations are too low we then ask whether the policy focus is

on decentralisation or on cutting back. Should we choose decentralisa-

tion, we then see what the organisation does most: formulating and inter-

nalising strategy or designing the system. Focusing on formulating strat-

egy means our organisation is busy (re)defining strategy. In this phase,

the brand is no longer relevant enough and the organisation is looking

for a new role (Business role playing) and mapping this out (Landscap-

ing) see figure 1 on the centre pages.The trick is now to simultaneously

acknowledge and manage these two forces within organisations. Mar-

keting requires new relevance. The organisation increases the pressure

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on marketing to produce better sales within the current context. This will

fail if neither force is acknowledged and managed in time.

Identity and brand in the 21st century

There is, however, something else wrong. Thinking within their own

frameworks will not be enough if companies are to remain successful in

the 21st century. Pursuing a dual policy will help them to work more effi-

ciently and effectively. However, the dynamic between identity and brand

will become increasingly stronger and they will depend upon each other

to an even greater extent. A brand is more frequently relevant within a

certain context and the identity is more often compelled to manifest.

Here too, though, the borders are blurred and organisations are forced

go into the centre of this force field. The current recession is forcing us

to present new paradigms more quickly, to let go of existing structures

and then rapidly make them manifest.

The expectation here is for a structural change to have taken place.

Organisations which pursue a dual policy should therefore understand

how things are linked, involve stakeholders, connect energies and play

(new) markets.

This will lead to a characteristic and distinctively resonating system

which is capable of delivering personal service to all of its customers

whilst continually improving itself, beyond its own borders and shadow.

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