Somnia Communications

The Importance of Integrated Branding
By Ryan Hastman, Managing Partner, April 2003

"In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman."
- David M. Ogilvy

It is said that all business boils down to sales. Few, if any, organizations can survive for long without a clear emphasis on, and tangible delivery of, sales. In particular small organizations, those where staff members often wear several hats and find themselves taking care of more than one particular job function, value sales as life. The best entrepreneurs are the best sales people, according to popular thought. However truly successful firms understand that it is much deeper than simply being committed to the act of sales. Sales as the primary business activity is a growing corporate reality.

In order to facilitate sales, the typical organization will allocate portions of its finite resources to such things as a dedicated sales staff, marketing departments, advertising campaigns, promotional tools and customer benefit programs. In order to be most effective, the overall promotional message should leverage itself with every instance of occurrence. By continuously building on the message's foundation, and through repetition, the marketing and promotions of an organization is strengthened and increasingly effective. Every activity that an organization engages in, from operations to marketing and sales, should therefore be built around both sales (to its own end) and marketing the bigger picture. This concept is known as integrated branding.

What is branding?

There are several working definitions of branding, such as: "branding systematically leverages reputation for competitive advantage over the long term." (Christopher Bonner) Or, put more simply: "The core concept behind branding is that if you put a positive message about your company in front of enough people for enough time, they will think about you when it comes time to make a purchase." (Lane McCulloch)

The problem:

Why then do so many companies seem to operate with no clear overall message? Consider the following two examples (organization names withheld).

Company A has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, resulting in (or as the result of) having a large sales staff, working autonomously and likely over a large geographical area. The various staff members each are responsible for meeting sales quotas, one way or another, and are held accountable essentially only to this bottom line. Because the central management is so busy operating the macro company activities such as finance and production, sales and its supporting activities (such as marketing) are often left to the grass roots. Each autonomous sales region is involved with many sales activities, often common to all regions. This may include promotions, advertising and other similar activities. However because each region is operating largely on its own, there is no continuity across activities within a sales region, let alone over the entire organization. Each promotional piece, newspaper ad, brochure or mail-out looks different, as though it represents an entirely different company than the other pieces. Likewise, the corporate website is often dated in content and inconsistent in design to all the other pieces. As a result, the company has missed a tremendous branding opportunity. A huge investment is being made in advertising and promotions, but none of these activities are benefiting from the added effectiveness that can be found by leveraging an integrated brand.

Compare this (all too common reality) to the messaging of large successful companies B, such as Telus, Microsoft or even the Government of Canada. In each case, the organization's branding is strong. Any instance of a logo or other identity piece put out by any of these firms speaks to your perception of its quality, services offered and the intangible personality of the organization.

Branding is built around the principals of repetition, leverage, recall over time and conditioned associations. By continuously delivery a message of quality and professionalism, an organization can begin to benefit from its audience's preconceived perceptions. The human mind is such that repetition does work; almost any message, delivered enough times, will begin to resonate consciously and sub-consciously, impacting purchase decisions.

The solution: an integrated brand:

In order to establish a great brand, one must understand the building blocks of branding strategy: Brand: A brand is more than simply a logo; it encompasses the entire experience that a person has with a company. More simply, the brand is the immediate image, emotion, perception or message that people experience when they think of a company or product.

Brand association: The attributes (ideally positive, useful, or comforting) that people think of when they hear or see a brand name. For example, most people think of economy when they think of Honda, so "economy" is Honda's brand association.

Brand name: The actual word(s) by which a company or product is known. An effective brand name gives a good first impression and evokes positive associations, emotions and pre-conceptions. This is sometimes done subtly ("Audi" or "Telus") or not so subtly ("Happy Meal" or "The GAP").

Brand personality: The emotional connotations of a brand. This is the intangible identity of a brand. Companies often use a spokesperson (for example, Michael Jordan for Nike), animals (Telus' monkeys, rabbits and leopards), or even an inanimate object to give their product or company the desired personality.

Logo: A textual and/or graphic image that identifies a company or product while also communicating the brand. Sometimes the logo becomes more than just letters or shapes and is actually inseparable from the brand association. For example, the McDonald's golden arches are more than a big yellow "M"; they impart a sense of place (arches representing an entry to something grand) and product (golden evoking images of fries and other fast food). The Nike "swoosh", likewise has become a powerful marketing icon on its own strength even without the name "Nike".

Positioning: Where a company or product fits in the marketplace. Position is determined by a company's core business or product offering, the benefits it provides to consumers and society, and the advantages it has over its competition. For example, Honda's position may be summarized as "we manufacture motor vehicles in a wide range of models that provide comfort, reliability, and fuel efficiency at competitive prices." Consider the difference in the Acura line of vehicles; same manufacturer, very different market positioning.

Tag line: A catchy, memorable phrase or sentence that expands on the logo concept to further describe the company or product brand. Successful tag lines are so catchy that people can recognize the company by the tag line alone, without a name or logo (think of "Just do it" or "Don't leave home without it").

Keeping these principals in mind, any organization can develop a branding strategy to leverage and build on an integrated brand for their entire range of communications efforts.

How to plan an effective brand integration strategy:

The following steps should be followed by a firm that is developing their communications strategy:

Research: a perception analysis of key stakeholders, to identify strengths and opportunities. This can be accomplished with the help of surveys, focus groups, or other tools.

Planning: the best branding strategy sets the organization's identity as the hub, and the individual services and products as the spokes. Therefore the overall brand should be more a reflection of the values and personality of the organization as a whole, than of any particular product or service.

Credibility: it is important to remember that you cannot brand what is not there. Repetition of a message, won't solve a fundamental lack of truth in the message. If your organization doesn't produce high quality work, no amount of branding or marketing will change that. Credibility is as important as originality. For example, consider two marketing campaigns built around quality: one by Sony Corporation, and one by Zenith. Which will be more effective? The upside of this reality is that you can easily brand what is there! Many companies offer much more than their basic products and services, but instead are active members of their communities. Does your organization contribute to charities, education funds, community associations? Do your employees volunteer? Does your organization make a difference? This can and should be leveraged in your brand.

Originality: having said that, be creative! The best way to stand out from the crowd is to be unique. Your organization's people, culture and environment are unique and your brand should reflect that. Telus Communications Inc. is a great example of this. Their brand manages to reflect professionalism and quality, but also quirky creativity and personality.

Patience: when your branding strategy has been completed, and your campaign has begun, it is important to remember that the goal of branding is not measured directly in short term sales. You must begin with a bang branding has been described as a marathon race that begins with a sprint. From there it is the effective management of various communications channels, building a message that resonates over time and repetition. The brand of Apple Computers was not built in a day, but instead over some 20 years of innovation and consistency.

Implementation:

When implementing an integrated branding strategy, it is important to take inventory of your organizations communications activities and needs. Consider every single external (and even internal) communications tool. Every thing should be integrated and brought in line. For the typical organization, this includes the corporate website, marketing materials, inventor relations materials, advertisements, internal communications, letterhead, mail-outs, and business cards. This is standard, but an effective company also "thinks outside the box". Your branding should also include things such as your organization's email templates, quote sheets, invoices, and other promotional pieces that are appropriate to your business (such as pens, golf shirts or mugs).

By continuously building on an integrated brand, your organization's overall communications strategy, sales, and bottom line will all benefit.

Ryan Hastman is a managing partner at Somnia Communications Inc.
Email Ryan: ryan@somnia.ca

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