BRAND INSIGHTS
MOST BRAND STRATEGIES END UP BEING A PENETRATING
INSIGHT IN THE BLATANTLY OBVIOUS.
– BRAD JAKEMAN, US MARKETING EXPERT
Brand insights inform
 How
consumers perceive and engage with the brand
 How the brand must be communicated to the consumer
The implications for advertising are obvious
 You


can’t persuade a consumer to attend to your message if
They don’t know, like or trust your brand
They don’t recognize the message as consistent or appropriate to
the brand
What is a brand?

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It’s a story told/experienced by consumers
The accumulated “value proposition” expressed
through
 The
company/product
 The culture
 The communications
What do they share

Qualities of great brands
 Compelling
idea: what does the brand offer that
the consumer needs? Physical and emotional
needs.
 Core purpose
 Central values
BMW
 The
ultimate driving machine
 Core
purpose: to deliver an outstanding driving
experience through superior car performance
 Values
remain consistent across different audiences
and product lines.

Quality-technology-performance-exclusivity
What do they do?

Articulate the brand promise/values

Invest in brand delivery across multiple platforms

Make decisions in keeping with brand strategy
How are brands created?

Brand foundation = the value proposition (positioning)
 The
product “value” is defined by the company as what
they “build” into the product
 But it is not always defined as such by the consumer


Consumer value is always perceptual, not objective fact.
All consumers do not experience the same product in the same
way
Pafe

Brands have “identities” that are created by various authors who
tell stories about the brand
1. Companies: create the story through each point that the
company touches the consumer



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Product itself
People in the organization
Retail environment
Communications
 Owned
 Paid
2. Culture
 Media appearances in movies, tv, books, magazines, Internet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuAUI_0knfk&feature=related

3. Consumers
 Create stories about their experience consuming the product,
which they share with others
 Earned media
 Blogs
 Social media

4. Influencers
 Reviews by experts
 Credible industry insiders
 Innovators and early adopters in the category
Guess who?
Apple’s core purpose and values




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To make technology accessible and easy to use
Design matters
Functionality rules
Simplicity prevails
Creativity and innovation drive the business
Expressed through the product…
Expressed through the communications
Expressed through culture
The result…
The Brand Story
 This
becomes the perceptual frame through which
consumers understand, value and experience the product

And these frames are “sticky.” They endure, which is what makes
brand cultures so powerful…and so important to marketers
 They endure because there are too many choices
 We’re lazy
 They give us collective experience (brand communities)

Brand insight is about understanding the reality of
this brand frame, not necessarily about changing it
What are we trying to understand?
4 Dominant Areas
 Relevance
 Differentiation
 Credibility
 Stretch

Relevance
 To
what extent does our brand connect
with target consumers?
 What functional and emotional needs are
being satisfied (or not)?
 What factors are influencing how
relevant the product/brand is to our
consumer?
 Apple
 Dove
 Google
Differentiation
 Where
do we stand relative to our
competition in our consumers eyes?
 What are we offering that consumers
perceive as added value in the category?
 How significant are the points of
differentiation? Are they worth pushing
further? Do consumers value those points
of differentiation?
 Target
Virgin
 IKEA
eBay
Credibility
 Do
consumers believe the brand
keeps its promises?
 What competencies does the
consumer perceive about the brand?
 Do they match the message? Where
are the gaps?
 Brands with high credibility? Why?
 Nordstrom
 Disney
 BMW
Stretch
Is
the brand perceived as inspiring
or innovative?
Does it “define” and “push” the
category in a way that
excites/interests consumers?
Is the brand alive and growing or
dull and dying in consumers eyes?
Nike
Swiffer
Brand Insight

The process of uncovering where your
brand sits on these dimensions
Several basic areas of questioning to elicit
brand insight
 What
is the consumer’s connection to the category?
How does it fit in their world view?
 What defines the consumer’s ideal experience with the
product/category? How would this make them feel?
 How does this ideal compare with what currently
exists? Does any brand come close to delivering the
consumer’s ideal? How?
 What other associations does the consumer have with
your brand? Competitors? Seek good and bad.
 What would your brand need to do to make consumers
believe it could achieve their ideal?
Insights will suggest opportunities for
communication
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IKEA: You’re free from living with your furniture forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I07xDdFMdgw
Dove: Redefining real beauty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
Disney: The best time you will ever have with your kids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocXSqupDpoc&feature=
fvsr
Problems
 What
if your consumer can’t articulate any clear
differentiation for your brand?
 Citi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KERwnA8VfFM

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What if there is no USP, no emotional connection, no selling
proposition?
Old Spice

What if the selling proposition is the idea of variety?

Penneys
Target

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPah6p04ZDQ

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What if price is the proposition?

Clorox

What if saving time and money is the proposition?


What if your proposition requires that you take on the
competition?
Mac vs PC