January 2018

打造一流的品牌資產 善用特殊的品牌識別讓品牌成長

作者：Steven Naert

翻譯：Penny Huang

打造一流的品牌資產 Steven Naert

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市場環境日新月異、不斷變動，混亂的競爭和混合型的產品類別已經成為常態。品牌想要在這樣的市場環

境下生存並成長，就必須要能從中脫穎而出，在消費者心中留下深刻的印象。拜倫．夏普（Byron Sharp）

在《品牌如何成長：行銷人不知道的事》（How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know）中建議行銷人

創造和利用特殊的品牌資產，來協助品牌成長。品牌資產是種感官線索，讓品牌被消費者注意到，並留在

心上──例如麥當勞的黃色M字標識，可口可樂的瓶身，或是Ikea使用的黃色和藍色。

創造擁有高識別度、容易被消費者回想起的品牌資產，能夠有效讓一個品牌突破市場的混亂，影響消費者

「系統一（System 1）1」的決策過程。

品牌資產擁有讓品牌成長的潛力，因為它能夠：

強化心智網絡（能夠影響心智顯著性（Mental Availability）的一組記憶、情緒、經驗、形象、色彩、象徵

等）。

在品牌溝通的過程中強化品牌歸屬。也就是當消費者暴露在品牌溝通的環境中時，該品牌能夠直接浮上消

費者心中。

讓消費者在選購該類別產品時，能夠想起該品牌。

讓消費者更容易在商店中找到該品牌。

正確打造品牌資產是個關鍵：品牌資產應該要能協助一個品牌傳達所欲呈現的形象，並且不引起會損害該品

牌的相反聯想。2010年時服飾零售商Gap改變了他們的品牌標識，結果在網路上引起強烈反彈，迫使他們僅

一星期就放棄了新標識。我們衡量品牌資產的方法，不只能協助行銷人找出適合建立和運用的品牌資產，也

讓他們知道什麼樣的元素應該要被重新考慮和避免使用，幫助他們將品牌資產組合發揮最大效益，引領品牌

走向成功。

1. 心理學家基斯．史坦諾維奇（Keith Stanovich）和李察．衛斯特（Richard West）將人類大腦的運作分為「系統一（System 1）」與「系統

二（System 2）」。「系統一」代表不費力、不受控制的反射性直覺思考，而「系統二」則代表需要時間和注意力的理性分析思考。

打造一流的品牌資產 Steven Naert

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差異化往往只是一時，擁有特色才能持久

對消費者而言，差異化是個獨特的好處，或是「購買的理由」，長久以來它一直是各品牌追求的終極目標。

人們普遍認為，如果消費者能感受到一個品牌具備有意義的差異性，他們會更傾向選擇該品牌。

對新產品而言，品牌差異化是個致勝的關鍵因素，然而在成熟的市場中，太多競爭者都能滿足相同的消費者

需求，營造有意義的品牌差異變成越來越艱鉅的挑戰。試想在啤酒或優格這類分散市場，有哪些真正獨特的

情感、功能或社會識別需求，能被辨識出來？

在新的產品類別市場中，品牌差異化最初是可行的策略，

但效果鮮少能持久。以GoPro為例，它做為第一個進入

運動攝影市場的品牌，曾以產品功能和情感訴求上的差

異讓自己有別於其它品牌，但漸漸地，Drift和Garmin等

後來進入市場的品牌複製了GoPro的產品功能。起初

GoPro還能仰賴他強大的情感訴求（當個英雄）維持品

牌差異化，然而在Tom Tom’s Bandit開始主打「精彩的冒

險值得分享」、Sony強調「證明你自己」，GoPro情感

訴求的影響力也漸漸削弱。GoPro若想維持市場的領導地位，就不能只依

賴品牌差異化。

讓品牌在市場上脫穎而出的長久之計並非品牌差異化，而是利用能夠觸

發消費者想起該品牌的感官線索（例如視覺、聽覺或觸覺），創造出特

殊的品牌識別。這些稱之為品牌資產的特殊元素，讓品牌更容易被辨識

出或回想起，而且和品牌差異化不同的是，品牌在法律上能夠擁有這些

特殊的標識元素。

當GoPro不再能透過滿足情感、功能或社會識別的需求做出品牌差異化，

它還能勝過競爭對手的最大競爭優勢是它的特殊性（GoPro的品牌標識、

色彩結構、獨特的設計等）。

Jack Daniels是另一個透過強大的品牌資產協助品牌成長的例子。當其它

品牌開始複製它的調味威士忌，Jack Daniels透過獨特的品牌資產讓自己

高人一籌，這包含它特殊的品牌標識字體、包裝標籤上的白色花邊，還

有方型的瓶身設計。

打造一流的品牌資產 Steven Naert

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品牌資產如何發揮功效

多虧了最新的神經科學和行為心理學研究，我們能夠更精確地瞭解消費者如何運用「系統一」和「系統二」

來選擇品牌。品牌會以心智網絡的形式存在於一個人的腦袋：由想法、感受、經驗、形象、故事、關聯、顏

色、聲音、象徵和記憶組合而成，一組獨特的記憶結構。消費者透過品牌心智網絡做為無意識的心理捷

徑，依此對品牌做出選擇。

在這複雜的世界，消費者常倚靠直覺反應來選擇品牌：他們往往透過心理捷徑自動做出選擇，而不會花大量

時間、有意識地研究該選擇什麼品牌。當品牌網絡越強大，在消費者做決策的當下，該品牌越容易被考慮。特

殊的品牌資產能夠強化品牌網絡，讓消費者更容易接觸到你的品牌。

在我們的觀點中，品牌資產並不一定要意義深遠，有時它可以僅僅讓人回想起品牌名稱，而不需要

同時喚起品牌形象。但若品牌資產能協助傳達品牌形象，當然會有很大的幫助。Nespresso膠囊咖

啡就是個很好的例子，他們擁有一組豐富多樣、特殊的品牌資產，所有的元素都緊扣著品牌想呈現

的形象。

圖 1 – Nespresso的品牌資產組合

品牌標識 品牌結語 膠囊 包裝盒

聲音標誌 品牌大使 配色 符號

調色盤

棕色

打造一流的品牌資產 Steven Naert

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找出有特色的品牌資產

行銷人需要辨識出，什麼特殊資產能帶給品牌獨特、可被擁有的身分識別。

益普索發展了一套新的解決方案，協助客戶找出一組應被優先使用的獨特品牌資產，接著可以透過品牌溝通、

包裝等方式來加強。

定義品牌特色

第一步是利用四個指標定義品牌特色。品牌連結度（Brand Linkage）和品牌獨特性（Brand Uniqueness）的

衡量關係到該資產的品牌力（Branding Power），而觀感（Sentiment）和品牌校準（Brand Alignment）則關

係到品牌親和力（Brand Affinity）。

1. 品牌連結度：這個資產是否能讓人直覺地想起該品牌？

我們透過隱式反應時間（IRT, Implicit Reaction Time）衡量品牌連結。這是一門神經科學技術，測量人們

無意識的聯想。透過測量對問題的反應時間，這個「系統一」的方法揭露哪些資產會讓消費者下意識強

烈地聯想到該品牌。迅速的反應就表示當消費者暴露在該資產之下時，這個品牌會自動浮上心頭。

2. 品牌獨特性：這個資產的品牌聯想有多獨特？

透過比較該資產與客戶品牌的品牌聯想程度，以及它與其他品牌的品牌聯想程度，我們能夠決定它的品

牌獨特性。如果一項資產太常讓人想起競爭品牌，這項資產對我們客戶的競爭品牌會更有用。

3. 觀感：這項資產是否會引起負面觀感

我們透過討厭的程度（也就是負面觀感）來決定。消費者不一定要特別喜歡該資產，但品牌應該要特別

努力去避免負面聯想，因為這些負面聯想會讓消費者自動地轉向其他品牌。

4. 品牌校準：該資產是否能連結到品牌想要呈現的形象

透過我們的Censydiam框架（或品牌在尋找的任何特定聯想），我們衡量該品牌資產的意義與品牌想要呈

現的形象有多一致。理想上，該資產要能傳達品牌所想呈現的形象，並藉此潛在地強化關鍵品牌聯想。

我們當然不會希望該資產傳達的概念與品牌想呈現的截然相反。

2. 益普索的Censydiam模型衡量消費者對特定產品類別的動機，幫助行銷人根據基本的消費者需求進行品牌決策。

這個資產是否能讓人直覺地

想起該品牌？

隱式反射時間

這項資產是否會引起負面

觀感

該資產是否能連結到品

牌想要呈現的形象

品牌連結度

品牌親和力

品牌力

觀感

品牌獨特性 品牌校準

圖2：辨識獨特品牌資

產與評估品牌資產強

度的四個指標

這個資產的品牌

聯想有多獨特

打造一流的品牌資產 Steven Naert

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引導品牌資產策略

第二步是評估每個資產的潛力大小。根據品牌力（品牌連結度和品牌獨特性）以及品牌親和力（情感和品

牌校準），我們將資產歸類到決策衡量矩陣，以運用並創造資產。

具特色的圖像：代表品牌獨特象徵的核心品牌資產。這些資產應該被運用在任何可能的機會上（廣告、包

裝等等）。

投資：給予有潛力成為特色圖像的資產足夠的投資。這些是品牌獨特性高，但整體品牌連結度仍然低的資

產。透過持續運用這些品牌資產，我們「訓練」消費者認知該品牌所代表的是什麼，最終將會改善品牌連

結度。

不單獨使用：品牌資產應該與其他資產一起運用。當它們被獨自運用時，比起客戶的品牌，它們也許會對競

爭品牌更有效。

慎用和評估：這些資產可能產生損害品牌的負面性。在使用這類資產之前，我們需要了解它可能對品牌造成

的負面影響是什麼。

以一個國際啤酒品牌近來的案子為例，我們可以說明品牌資產研究如何促成策略。這個啤酒品牌想利用現

有的品牌資產建立更強的品牌識別，我們研究發現許多該品牌的現有資產（例如品牌標識、玻璃、酒瓶）

能產生高品牌連結度，但並沒有支持該品牌想傳達的訊息，或創造強大的正面情感。具備了這些知識後，

這個客戶得以建立一個品牌資產策略，用能傳達出品牌形象的新品牌資產，補足那些產生高品牌連結度但

沒有傳達出品牌形象的現有品牌資產。

總結來說，在建立強大品牌的過程中，管理特殊資產是非常重要的一環。我們的方法幫助行銷人選擇一組

品牌資產，不只能讓人想起該品牌，還能潛在加強品牌所欲呈現的形象。

圖3：決策矩陣引導品

牌資產策略

品牌力

品牌親和力

品牌連結度 品牌獨特性

品牌校準

觀感

負面

正面/

中性

低連結度，低獨特性 低連結度，高獨特性 高連結度，高獨特性

不單獨使用

應與其它資產

一同使用

投資 具特色的圖像

給予有潛力成為獨特符

號的資產足夠的投資 核心資產，應盡量使用

慎用和評估

瞭解潛在負面影響

品牌連結度

品牌力

品牌親和力

打造一流的品牌資產

作者：Steven Naert, Head of the Censydiam Institute, Ipsos Marketing

翻譯：Penny Huang

Ipsos Marketing是益普索集團旗下致力滿足客戶創新與品牌增長需求的事業體，

根據不同的市場調查需求，我們再區分成：創新與預測、市場與品牌宣傳、醫

療和質化研究等四大領域。我們的行銷研究專家專門協助企業夥伴把市場趨勢

轉換成產品競爭優勢，並持續提供創新的市場研究模組，幫助夥伴更有效運用

管理市場研究預算。我們也善用利用科技和研討會，結合不同的資料整合知識，

幫助企業獲得即時的市場洞察。

更多的資訊，請參考 http://www.ipsos.com/marketing

或洽詢我們的研究團隊

執行總監 Ruth Yu于泳洳

02 2701-7278 ext.130 Ruth.yu@ipsos.com

此益普索觀點文章出自於益普索知識中心（Ipsos Knowledge Centre）

January 2018

Getting Brand Assets Right Leveraging your distinctive brand identity to grow your brand

Steven Naert

Getting Brand Assets Right Steven Naert

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Brands exist in an ever-changing, dynamic environment

where disruptive competition and blending categories

have become the norm. To stay alive and flourish, brands

need to stand out and make a long-lasting impression on

consumers.

In his book, How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t

Know, Byron Sharp advises marketers to create and use

distinctive brand assets to help grow their brands. Brand

assets are sensory cues that get noticed by and stay top of

mind with consumers – think, for instance, about

McDonald’s Golden Arches, Coke’s bottle shape or Ikea’s

use of yellow and blue colors. Developing quickly

recognizable and easily recalled brand assets is an impactful

way to break through the clutter and tap into consumers’

System 1 decision-making processes. Brand assets have

the potential to drive brand growth, as they can:

• Strengthen mental networks (the unique set of memories, emotions, experiences, images, colors, symbols, etc. that

influence the mental availability of your brand)

• Improve brand attribution in communication, i.e., enable

your brand to intuitively come to mind when people are

exposed to communication

• Make people think of the brand when they are shopping the

category

• Make it easier for consumers to find the brand in the

store

Getting brand assets right is critical: they should support

what the brand wants to stand for and not lead to opposite

associations, which can damage a brand. For example,

clothing retailer Gap changed its logo in 2010 – and the

resulting online backlash forced it to drop the new logo in

just one week. Our approach to evaluating brand assets

not only guides marketers on which assets to use and

pursue, but also which assets to reconsider and avoid –

helping them to optimize a portfolio of assets to steer

their brand to success.

Getting Brand Assets Right Steven Naert

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Differentiation is often

temporary, distinctiveness is

long-lasting

Differentiation is a unique benefit or “reason to buy” for the consumer. It has for a long time been the ultimate goal for brands. The belief has been that if consumers see your

brand as being meaningfully different, they are more likely to choose your brand.

While differentiation is a key success factor for new products, in mature markets there are so many

competitors meeting the same consumer needs that it becomes more and more challenging to differentiate brands in a

meaningful way. Which truly unique emotional, functional or social identity needs can be identified in fragmented

markets like beer or yogurt?

In new categories differentiation is initially a viable option, but rarely sustainable. Think about the GoPro brand. As the first player in the action camera category, GoPro used to differentiate itself both in terms of functional delivery as well as emotional promise – but gradually new players like Drift and Garmin have copied the functional delivery of the brand. For a while GoPro could still rely on its strong emotional claim (“Be a Hero”), but this too started to erode with Tom Tom’s Bandit talking about “Live Adventures Worth Sharing” and Sony about “Prove Yourself”. For GoPro to sustain their leading position in the market, they could not just rely on being differentiated.

A more sustainable way to continue to stand out from the competition is not through differentiation, but by developing

a distinctive identity, by using sensory identifiers that trigger the brand in the consumer’s mind (e.g., visual, auditory, or touch). These distinctive identity elements,

called brand assets, make it easy for a brand to be recognized or recalled. Moreover, unlike differentiation,

these distinctive identity elements can be legally owned. If it can no longer differentiate in how it meets emotional, functional

or social identity needs, the strongest competitive advantage GoPro still has over competitors is its distinctiveness (e.g., GoPro’s logo, color scheme, unique

design, etc.).

Another example of a brand with strong assets that has helped it thrive is Jack Daniels. While other brands have

copied its flavored whiskey, Jack Daniels stands out with its distinctive brand assets, which include its unique logo

font, the white filigree border on its packaging label, and its square bottle shape.

Getting Brand Assets Right Steven Naert

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How brand assets work Thanks to the latest thinking in neuroscience and

behavioral psychology, we have a more accurate

understanding of how people choose brands based on

System 1 and System 2 decision-making. A brand exists in

a person’s mind as a mental network: a unique memory

structure of thoughts, feelings, experiences, images,

stories, associations, colors, sounds, symbols and

memories. People use these mental brand networks as

nonconscious shortcuts to make brand choices.

In today’s complex world people often rely on their gut

reaction to make brand decisions: rather than spending a lot

of time consciously reflecting on which brands to buy, people

often decide on auto-pilot, by using mental shortcuts. The

stronger the brand network, the more likely the brand will

be considered at the moment of choice. Distinctive brand

assets strengthen these networks – and make it easier for

people to reach for your brand.

Our point of view is that brand assets do not necessarily

have to be meaningful – sometimes it is fine when a brand

asset only evokes the brand name without also evoking

the brand image. However, it certainly helps when brand

assets support what the brand wants to stand for.

Nespresso provides a good example: the brand has a rich

and diverse collection of distinctive brand assets, all of

which support the sophistication that the brand wants to

be known for.

Figure 1 - Nespresso’s collection of brand assets

Getting Brand Assets Right Steven Naert

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Identifying distinctive

brand assets Marketers need to identify the distinctive assets that give

their brand a unique and ownable identity. Ipsos has

developed a new approach that helps clients prioritize a

set of unique brand assets that strengthen the brand and

which can then be reinforced through communication,

packaging, etc.

Defining brand distinctiveness

Our first step is to define distinctiveness using four measures. Our Brand Linkage and Brand Uniqueness measures relate to the Branding Power of the asset; our Sentiment and Brand Alignment measures relate to Brand Affinity. (See Figure 2.)

1. Brand Linkage: Does the asset intuitively evoke the brand?

We measure this through Implicit Reaction Time, which is a

neuroscience technique that measures nonconscious

associations. This System 1 approach uncovers which

assets people intuitively and more strongly associate with

the brand by measuring the response time to questions in

milliseconds. A fast response means the brand

subconsciously comes to mind when being exposed to the

asset.

2. Brand Uniqueness: How unique is the brand association with the asset?

We determine this by comparing the level of brand

association with our client’s brand to the level of

association with other brands. If an asset too often evokes

competitors, it is more useful for them than for the client

brand.

3. Sentiment: Does the asset give impulse to negativity?

We determine this through percent of dislikes (i.e.,

negative sentiment). People do not need to especially like

the asset, but brands should typically try to avoid negative

associations, as they can give people intuitive reasons for

switching away from the brand.

4. Brand Alignment: Does the asset connect with what the brand wants to stand for?

Through our Censydiam framework1 (or any other list of

specific associations that the brand is looking for) we

measure how aligned the meaning of the brand asset is

with what the brand wants to stand for. Ideally, the asset

conveys the image that the brand is aiming for and in

doing so subconsciously reinforces key brand associations.

We certainly do not want the asset to convey an image

which is diametrically opposite to what the brand wants

to stand for.

Figure 2 –

Four measures to identify

distinctive brand assets

and diagnose brand asset

strength

1. Ipsos’ Censydiam Framework measures human motivations related to a specific category, which helps marketers to make brand decisions based on fundamental consumer needs.

How unique is

the brand

association with

the asset?

Does the asset

connect with what the

brand wants to stand

for?

Sentiment Brand Linkage

BR

AN

D A

FF

INIT

Y

BR

AN

DIN

G P

OW

ER

Brand Uniqueness Brand Alignment

Does the asset intuitively evoke the brand?

Implicit Reaction Time (IRT)

Does the asset give

impulse to negativity?

Getting Brand Assets Right Steven Naert

6

Guiding brand assets strategy

Our second step is to diagnose the potential strength of

each asset.

Based on the Branding Power (Brand Linkage and Brand

Uniqueness) and Brand Affinity (Sentiment and Brand Alignment) we classify assets into a decision assessment

matrix to leverage and create assets.

Distinctive Icons: Core brand assets that have become a

unique symbol for the brand; these assets should be used

at every possible opportunity (in advertising, packaging,

etc.).

Invest: Assets that have the potential to become Distinctive Icons given sufficient investment. These are assets for which Brand Uniqueness is high, but overall Brand

Linkage is still low. By consistently using these brand assets we are ‘training’ consumers about what the brand stands

for and ultimately brand linkage will improve.

Do Not Use in Isolation: Brand assets that should always

be used with another asset. When they are used in

isolation they are more useful for competition than for

the client’s brand.

Caution & Diagnose: These assets generate negativity which

could potentially hurt the brand. Before using this kind of

asset, we need to understand what the potential negative

impact on the brand could be.

We can bring the connection between brand assets

research and strategy formation to life through an

example from a recent project for a global beer brand. The

beer brand wanted to build a stronger identity by making

better use of existing brand assets. Our research found that

many of the brand’s current assets (e.g. logo, glass, bottle)

generated high brand linkage, but did not support the

brand message or create strong positive sentiment.

Armed with this knowledge, the client was able to create

a brand assets strategy whereby they could complement

existing brand assets that generate high brand linkage

with new and more meaningful brand assets that would

generate a positive impact on brand image.

In summary, managing your distinctive assets is a very

important element in building strong brands. Our

approach helps marketers select a portfolio of brand

assets that not only evokes the brand but also

subconsciously reinforces what the brand wants to be

known for.

Figure 3 – Decision

Matrix guides brand

assets strategy

Getting Brand Assets Right

Steven Naert, Head of the Censydiam Institute, Ipsos Marketing

Ipsos MarketQuest aims at driving business growth through a deep understanding of people, brands and markets.

Our experts help clients to uncover, size and prioritize growth opportunities in the market, identify innovation platforms, optimize their brand positioning and strengthen their brand portfolio and architecture.

Ipsos is the only global agency with a dedicated practice in this area, under-pinned by a powerful and validated philosophy centered on human motivations in disruptive markets. Our solutions are linked to business outcomes through advanced analytics, activation workshops and real time simulations.

This paper is part of the Ipsos Views series. For more information contact the Ipsos Knowledge Centre at IKC@ipsos.com

This Ipsos Views paper is

produced by the

Ipsos Knowledge Centre.

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