Brand Key

22ndFebruary, 2011

Introduction


Brand key builds on & replaces the Brand Positioning statement. Brand key is ENTIRELY consumer focused. Brand key helps to:
Understand your brand as consumers see it. Identifies the discriminator that adds most value to the business. Acts as a guide for future actions. Acts as a single point of reference for all brand related actions.

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Brand Key
WHAT IT IS NOT!


It is not a bureaucratic exercise. It is not designed to constrain and police people. Its sole concern is the brands positioning.

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Brand Key - Components 1. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

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Describe the marketplace. Describe emerging threats/opportunities. Go beyond research documents. Describe in relation to the COMPLETE competitive set. Helpful to describe market characteristics. If the price is a critical component, describe the value segment your brand is competing in.

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Brand Key Components

1. COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Examples SWATCH: Competes with economy watches and fashion accessories. DOVE BAR: Competes most directly with premium/upper-mass soaps (Nivea, Olay) and facial washes and trades women up from regular soaps. ABAYA: Any independent designer in the middle east who is known in this market largely through word-of-mouth. Any abaya boutique store in the region.

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Brand Key Components

2. TARGET Describes the situation or person for which the brand is BEST CHOICE. Note that in communication, the target may not be the chooser! The tighter the target, the stronger the appeal.

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Brand Key Components

2. TARGET Examples

MCDONALDS: Appeals to the child in all of us. (i.e. to all children all of the time and to all grown-ups, some of the time). DOVE BAR: Women 30-50, beginning to feel the effects of dry skin. They are pragmatic bar/soap users but still want the best care. JIF CREAM: Women who invest financially and emotionally in their homes. In particular, self confident, open-minded women. ICBINB: Women who love the taste of butter but dont want the guilt. ABAYA: Traditionally and culturally proud women who make a statement about who they are, and represent themselves elegantly, everyday. Appeals to the style icons in each of us.
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Brand Key Components

3. INSIGHT - Consumer Insight is the key source of inspiration for successful marketing activity. - It comes from understanding, and must lead to action.

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Brand Key Components

3. The meaning of INSIGHT / noun (New Oxford Dictionary)

Internal sight, mental vision. Also understanding, wisdom. Seeing below the surface (literally, to see in) Penetration (into character, circumstances, etc.) with the understanding.

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Brand Key Components

3. INSIGHT (contd)
Here we use ONE SINGLE ASPECT out of the totality

of understanding.
Must give us clear competitive advantage by

identifying a specific way that the brand can: a) Solve a problem or b) Create an opportunity

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Brand Key Components

3. INSIGHT (contd) Brand Insights are: Unique

Must relate to needs that are important and enduring (i.e. avoid fads of the moment) Highly creative The source of the greatest competitive advantage Combine category and consumer in a new fresh way.
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Brand Key Components

3. INSIGHTS Examples
DOVE BAR: Soap cleans, but leaves the skin feeling dry and tight, not at its best. JIF: Keeping the surfaces of my home looking good is part of making it a nice place to be. However, thorough cleaning can damage these surfaces. Mc DONALDS: Each of us have a child in us that is waiting to break out. AXE: The mating game is a major pre-occupation for young men. Feeling, looking and smelling good are essential to success. GILLETTE: Grooming is an essential part of daily life for every male. ABAYA: Every woman has the frequent urge to indulge in retail therapy but may not always be able to act on it. There is a lot of regional talent, that deserves to be showcased to the world and many women who appreciate this talent would like the opportunity to show it off
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Brand Key Components

4. BENEFITS

Either a solution to a consumers problem Or A way to improve some aspect of their lives. Strong brands provide more than just the generic benefit to differentiate them from competition eg. Buying a Rolex has nothing to do with telling time (consumer quote) If you have many benefits, prioritize them according to their distinctiveness to the consumer. Strongly contradictory benefits are not credible eg. the strongest cleaner cannot really co-exist with soft & gentle

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Brand Key Components

4. BENEFITS Examples
DOVE BAR: - Wont dry my skin like soap - Makes skin noticeably softer & smoother - Helps you feel more feminine - Rewards you with understated indulgence AMEX: - Makes you feel a part of an exclusive world of privilege. - Offers unmatched service for card replacement.

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Brand Key Components

Abaya:

Gives consumers access to exclusive designs Gives regional talent a platform to showcase their designs Wide range of designers to choose from High quality guarantee (from 3abaya.com) Ease of selection and purchase Secure credit card transactions Delivered to your doorstep Beautifully packaged Platform for the designers to promote their work

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Brand Key Components

5. VALUES & PERSONALITY Values Personality : Describes what the brand stands for. : How the brand behaves. This includes the style of communication to the audience.

Helpful Hint: If the brand was a person: - What kind of person would it be. - What would this person believe in.

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Brand Key Components

5. VALUES & PERSONALITY Examples
AXE: Surprising, Masculine, Authentic, Individual, Unpretentious, Cool MARLBORO: Masculine, Freedom, Adventure LEVIS: Rebellious, Sensual, Being Cool. LIPTON: Confident, Cosmopolitan, Discerning, Sociable, Contemporary, Approachable. ABAYA: Strong, Bold and Powerful, Independent and Individual, Fashionable, Ethical, High Quality
Note:
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To avoid ambiguity, make descriptions absolutely clear, and if necessary, add clarifying comments.
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Brand Key Components

6. REASON TO BELIEVE
Having a fabulous benefit is of no use, if it is not believed by consumers !! This is the critical evidence to the consumers why your brand is better than others. It can include: - Product details - Formulation details - Who recommends it - Opinion leaders - Who sponsors / associates with it - Heritage / expertise How will you justify the brands benefits to a consumer What are you putting forward as proof

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Brand Key Components

6. REASON TO BELIEVE Examples LEVIS: Worn by style leaders around the world. 1854 heritage Rugged product features (stitching, rivets) DOVE BAR: Indicts soap with clinical proof. Contains moisturising cream Conviction of users (testimonials)

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Brand Key Components

CLOSE-UP: Contains fresh flavours Contains micro-whiteners Contains long lasting mouthwash In a transparent gel ABAYA: High quality materials None of the designers sell in High Street shops Online portal with a growing customer base Ease of payment using Paypal

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Brand Key Components

7. DISCRIMINATOR
This is the Point of Difference for the brand that will make the consumer want to buy it. IT IS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION It is consumer speak. It is coded in ONE BRIEF SENTENCE. It takes from earlier elements and draws from this richness of understanding. It is what will make the consumer want to buy the brand.
 Make choices  Make sacrifices To achieve brevity

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Brand Key Components

7. DISCRIMINATOR Examples
DOVE BAR: One version can be . Dove is a premium / upper mass beauty bar and facial wash for women aged 30-50 beginning to feel the effects of dry skin. It wont dry your skin like soap does, because it contains moisturising cream However, a BRIEF version, in consumer language is: (ONLY) Dove is different. It wont dry my skin like soap can, because it contains moisturising cream. ABAYA: Only Abaya brings the designers and the consumers together in one portal to create a world of exclusivity

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Brand Key Components

8. ESSENCE
The most important and distinctive feature of something which determines its identity. THIS IS THE GENETIC CODE FOR THE BRAND One word or a few words. Must be a single thought. Must be easy to recognize in every aspect and activity of the brand. Every extension must be true to this essence. Must be expressed simply, must be easily understood.

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Brand Key Components

8. ESSENCE Examples DOVE LUX CLOSE-UP VIRGIN JIF AXE BUD ABAY
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: Function, enriching femininity : Dreams of beauty : Confident closeness : Robin Hood : Iron fist in a velvet glove : Axe grooms men to seduce : American camaraderie : Abaya Therapy !
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