Wow Brands Episode II: "Equities that Steal Hearts"

We just scored a date with the consumer through 4D's of dating advice... Next is how the relationship continues...

I am now about to marry a thief.

No, I’m not going to tell you she stole my heart. I mean it: she is a thief.  When my girlfriend was a little girl she nicked a bar of chocolate straight from a shop counter.  But what is more remarkable than the fact that she has done anything dishonest in her life is the fact that she can still tell you exactly what the chocolate looked like and, with no entreatment from me, sing the brand’s jingle:  “First comes the sun, air, water then nutritious diet, Papa when you come home don't forget to bring Ulker”.  Why?  Because the brand stood for the same thing for so long the association is unavoidable.

Fast forward  25 years.

I’m going to attend GmX training in March and I have a homework to ask my friends what brands are lovemarks for them.  What brands can’t they do without, and why?  The list read like a who’s who of the rich and powerful:  Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Mini, Sony, JW, Diet Coke, Nespresso.  Yet more remarkable than the list was the fact that each friend could tell you in a heartbeat what they loved about their chosen brand.  Why? Because the brands have stood for the same things for so long the association is unavoidable.

That’s the power of consistent equities.

Great brands know what they want to stand for in the hearts and minds of their consumers, and stick to it.  Usually it is something simple, and they make sure to bring it to life consistently over time and across touch points.  Apple is always about design and creativity.  Starbucks is about a relaxed personalized coffee-house experience.  Sony TV is about color.  Nike is about Just Do It and a passion to win.  Each brand has made some mistakes in the past - Starbucks have famously recognized that their move into automatic espresso machines and even cheaper plastic seating in some stores has diluted some of the equity they’ve built up - but each brand seems to know where true north is because they keep coming back to it.  And consumers reward them for it.

We have our own examples of where we have got equity consistency right, then wrong, then right again. However a brand is what it is and playing with the brand essence, stretching it to a different personality usually fails. So What’s at play is consistency.  The reason is that we remember and are influenced by people and things that consistently say the same message.   Psychologists call it the rule of commitment and consistency.  Not only do people try to look consistent through their words, deeds, beliefs and attitudes but we are also more open to relationships with people and brands that do show such consistency.  (Think of politics: we respect leaders who stick to their principles, not those who flip-flop with public opinion.)  Furthermore, Associative Network Memory Theory (I’ve always wanted to use that phrase) reminds us that information that is strongly associated in an established memory network is more likely to be recalled than less associated information.  Said another way, we remember things that have strong associations to something else in our minds.  Paris equals the Eiffel Tower.  Cows equal milk.  Milka equals purple cows equals milky chocolate.  It’s why my girlfriend not only remembers the chocolate bar she lifted but the song about the chocolate she lifted:  it’s all built around associations...  

And how are such links formed?  It can be through sudden disruptive associations.  I am planning to propose my thief in Notting Hill, failure or success, it will  forever be associated in my mind, even though it will happen just the once.  Or it can be through consistent, engaging repetition, like my grandmother and her scones.  She always brought them when she came over.

Anyway, all this psychology makes me want to lie down on a couch somewhere, so let me skip to what I think it all means to us.

First, make sure everyone who works on your brand knows the simple equity you want to stand for. 

Consumers are exposed to thousands of marketing messages every day.   In such an environment, any given brand can only ever hope to build up a small handful of meaningful associations.  What messages and associations will be most persuasive for your consumer?  These, and only these, should be captured in a choiceful equity pyramid and shared with anyone who touches the brand. 

Take a long, wide view to building brand equity.   

Rome, as the saying goes, wasn’t built in a day, and brands take even longer.  Remember that equity statements are long term visions of what you want your brand to stand for in the hearts and minds of your consumer.  The contributions you make today to building your equity are for the benefit of future leaders of the brand as much as your own.  It means that every initiative you do should be driving a key equity choice.  It means that every piece of communication you produce should be true to the brand you are trying to build.  It means that at every single place the consumer engages with your brand they should have the same equity messages reinforced.  So whether you are a brand executive or global head of brands, do equity audits:  consider every touch point your consumer has with your brand that you have some control over and ask yourself:  am I building a consistent brand here?  If not, what has to change? 

One of my favorite quotes on this topic of the long, wide view of brand equity comes from Michael Eisner, the former CEO of Disney who said “We came to think of Disney as a canvas on which many artists paint one dot at a time.  If each of these dots is executed with precision, imagination, and an awareness of the whole, the painting becomes richer, more vibrant, and multidimensional.  The opposite can also occur.  When a new group of artists comes along, the risk is that they bring lack of attention to the whole.  Point by point, stroke by stroke, the masterpiece deteriorates into something mediocre and commonplace, even ugly, until eventually it is destroyed altogether.”   That’s magic.

  

 Have executional consistency. 

Remember that equities are not just strategic.  In fact, execution plays a huge role in driving associations for the consumers.  That’s why there is so much power in executional equities like the Nike swoosh and “Just Do it” or the lounge-room like feel of a good Starbucks experience.  They bring associations of the brand to life for the consumer.  It’s why consumers remember characters and icons like Marlboro Man, Milka Purple Cow, Apple bite, etc... who have been walking purposely into the hearts of consumers since decades.  Having executional consistency is maybe your only means to build a consistent equity especially if your brand doesn’t have the chance to air an advertising campaign.  Memorable equities are a gift to your brand when it comes to driving influential associations between your brand and your benefits.  People remember these far more than they do individual ads. 

Stay fresh.   

Finally, remember that consistent doesn’t mean being boring or formulaic.  Our jobs as marketers is not to create entirely new things to say, but new ways of saying the same thing in fresh and relevant ways.  That’s where true creativity comes in.  That’s how brands are built.

So I guess what I’m saying is this:  stand for something and keep standing for that something.  Sooner or later you will have a brand that consumers will not only notice, but will associate great things with and will gravitate to.   Then you’ll have built a brand that stands the test of time. 

Only, watch out for beautiful little girls with innocence in their eyes and desire in their hearts.  They don’t always pay for what they take.  But they will sing your song.

Sinan Seha Türkseven