Branding Best Practice
JeanLuc Ambrosi Head of Marketing & Communication
Vanguard Investments
A word about Marketing
“A new breed of marketing specialists has come into being to identify what customers need and want, and to organise the whooping and hollering. That’s you.
And if you are successful your toil and trouble provide employment for national – and international workforces. So all society benefits. OK maybe it isn’t as saintly. But it is admirable, honourable and vital.
It’s time you marketing guys started blowing your own trumpets. Because you’re worth it.”
Winston Fletcher Market Leader January 2011
Definition
Wikipedia • The word branding began simply as a way to tell one person's cattle from another by
means of a hot iron stamp.. • The word brand has continued to evolve to encompass identity it affects the
personality of a product, company or service.
World Intellectual Property Organisation • A company's intangible assets, including its brand, may represent up to 80 percent of
its corporate value, according to the United Nations'
"Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand."
David Ogilvy
What it is and what it is not
It is not • Branding is not advertising
but… Advertising is branding
• The logo and look & feel are just identifiers. A quick image that one can recognise for everything the brand stands for.
It is • A succinct articulation of a clear, different (to what your competitors provide) and meaningful promise (to customers), supported throughout the organisation.
A “Brand” is a only a psychological concept
Do Brands really exist?
Brand concept
Values What does the brand
represent – emotionally / rationally
Promise What does or will it do
for me
Best Practice?
Leading Brands
Steve Jobs
Warren Buffet
Bill Gates
Interbrand
1. CocaCola 2. IBM 3. Microsoft 4. Google 5. GE 6. McDonalds 7. Intel 8. Nokia 9. Disney 10. HP (24) Amex (29) JP Morgan (32) HSBC
Milward Brown
1. Apple 2. Google 3. IBM
4. McDonald's 5. Microsoft 6. CocaCola 7. AT&T 8. Marlboro
9. China Mobile 10. GE
Fortune Survey
1. Apple 2. Google 3. Berkshire Hathaway 4. Southwest Airlines 5. Procter & Gamble 6. CocaCola 7. Amazon.com 8. FedEx 9. Microsoft 10. McDonald's (20) Amex (25) Goldman Sachs
Business people admiration Economic performance x value of brand
Earnings x Brand contribution
1. Google (search) 2. Microsoft 3. Google (portal) 4. Microsoft (office) 5. Nokia 6. Sony 7. Apple 8. eBay 9. Apple iPhone 10. Vegemite
Brand Asset Valuator Australia Brand Asset Consulting
Consumer opinions
Best practice Characteristics
Characteristics of organisations with successful branding
• Beyond the marketing responsibility an integrating business modus operandi inclusive of corporate culture, communications, products and services.
• Marketing being as a driver of strategy, tactics and information not a reactive function
• Championed by top management externally and internally • A driver and line of conduct for business decisions – not just a recipient of
any business decision • Embraced within the organisation by all employees • Reflected throughout all customer outputs • Segment aware • From maximum intuition to maximum tracking • ING Direct vs. Computer Power Group
Best Practice Starting Point
Leadership &
Culture
Image & Communication Management
Vision &
Purpose
Structure
Organisational structure drives behaviour
Express your difference. All touch points need to be
considered
Needs to be led from the top & reflected throughout the
organisation
What do you have to offer?
e.g. Richard Branson
e.g. Industry Super Funds
e.g. Vanguard
ING Direct
Leadership &
Culture
Image & Communication
mgt
Vision &
Purpose
Structure Continuity
Best practice Communication strategy (1)
Relevance Clarity Believability Differentiation
Leading Brands use a rigorous strategic approach to communication encompassing 5 key elements:
© JeanLuc Ambrosi 2011
Archetypal Brand Foundation ©
1 2 3 4
5
Best practice Communication strategy (2)
The art of brand lies in the ability to mix emotional and rational drivers (even in B to B)
Emotional Rational
Investment performance Rates Fees T & Cs
Ease of access
Sense of security Fear of lacking financially Feeling of Achievement
Status Being smart
Best practice Communication strategy (2)
The art of brand lies in the ability to mix emotional and rational drivers (even in B to B)
Emotional Rational
Investment performance Rates Fees T & Cs
Ease of access
Sens of security Fear of lacking financially Feeling of Achievement
Status Being smart
Brands offer a guarantee of origin and quality. Reliable consumer choices can be made safely.
… the consumer is loyal to "beyond reason". Like Apple, Coca Cola, Nike (…) Respect is only a
condition for admission into the competition. The challenge is to be loved. Emotions are the
inexhaustible resource. The appeal to emotions, is the way to escape from the fate of the multitude
of undifferentiated brands that become commodities.
Kevin Roberts, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising
Warning:
Emotional doesn’t mean funky advertising.
It means that the brand promise goes beyond the immediate necessity of the product.
It meets an expectation of outcome, of achievement, how small or big it may be, resulting in a feeling of satisfaction.
Best practice Example Virgin
Virgin is a branding venture capital organisation licensing the Virgin brand name.
In some instances it is just a branding licence (e.g. Virgin Mobile in Australia). It covers a spectrum of industries including:
– Music, Mobile phones, Finance, insurance, Credit cards, Air transport…
• It has a face (Richard Branson) and a specific tone of voice, its brand values are clear, and the brand revolves around nurturing these values:
Value pricing quality fun
great customer service Innovation
competitive challenge Richard Branson
Best practice Communication strategy (3)
For Marketers if there was only one thing…Ensure you express your difference!
Impact on Asset & Wealth Managers
• The good news: Same core principles apply • The bad news: Marketing not always seen as a core driver • Some fund managers have taken great care to build their brands over a long period
of time:
Impact on Asset & Wealth Managers
Statement % of all respondents agreeing with statement
% of active investors agreeing with statement
I no longer trust fund managers and will invest directly in the future 40% 46%
The GFC proved that your money is better invested by experts 22% 14%
2010 research by Investment Trends* showed that: The distrust towards Fund managers that emerged during the GFC has receded only slightly.
The research showed openness and good communication were the most important drivers of trust.
What this means for us is that the role of Marketers has never been so crucial in delivering effective communications to maintain brand credibility (believability).
* Investment Trends Investor/Member Sentiment & Communications Reports July 2010
Question? Are there too many sub brands?
Too many sub brands in the Australian Financial sector?
• Not one single winning strategy in the simple to complex brand architecture • HSBC vs. Westpac: One brand fits all versus segmented brand offer
• Despite a one brand fits all HSBC enjoys high levels of customer satisfaction • After buying smaller banks, the big Local banks have pushed greater subbranding • While Industry Super Funds are consolidating • Some asset managers also merge like BlackRockBGI while having branded their
product differently (e.g. ishares) • The real test is wether your sub brand is adding value now, can it sustain a truly
different value proposition tomorrow AND does it have a viable financial model? • Each sub brand must demonstrate its difference. Differentiation gets you noticed, and
that’s the first step...
Case Studies
The Big Banks
• “The challenge is that most banks have a long legacy of productcentric, ‘everything for everybody’ ways of thinking. This leads to decisionmaking and resource commitments that reinforce ‘better sameness’ rather than true differentiation. Frank Capek Customer Innovations, Inc.
• “according to the latest personal banking satisfaction survey of CHOICE members (…) the banks ranked close to bottom for overall satisfaction with poor comments about everything from high fees to secondrate service as well as their reluctance to pass on full interest rate cuts to home loan borrowers.” Street Corner
Determined To be different
A bank you can bank on more give less take
We live in your world
What are the ads showing us?
NAB
What are the ads showing us?
NAB
What are the ads showing us?
NAB
What are the ads showing us?
CBA
What are the ads showing us?
CBA
What are the ads showing us?
ANZ