Branding is a crucial part of any organization but first let me tell you that not everyone is going to be an Apple or Walmart or Mc Donalds! There are exception but no matter what position your organization reaches, if its Fortune 500 or a small town magazine, Branding is the only way that people will recognize and probably take you from small town to Fortune 500!
How should you Brand?
Branding is all about showcasing what you truly are! Let me give you an insight of one of the brands I really looked up to: Apple. On researching I discovered a pattern that Apple tried in Branding and didn't work out. It actually made me understood the base concept of what I have been telling people since years. Check the image below:
If you see in a single year i.e. 1998 there have been 3 logos that Apple started working with. It started complicating their Brand Recall Value and an added layer of which Logo to be used was a matter of larger complexity.
Soon they realized their mistake and came down to a one single Logo. Now the Brand Logo is only one and it changes over years!
Branding is not just about Logo but an overall identity that you create in the minds of people. Lets see what is the mindset of different brands as per the positioning that was done. Take the Cult Brands of the worlds like Harley Davidson. Their ads have always been men oriented as it was the Target Audience that they catered to from the beginning but as the time passed their ads have started turning to not just men but a unisex mode of operation. Check this Ad:
Branding is not just about sticking to what your company's core is but to change as per the market. If you are too rigid to change then you will be thrown out. The biggest example of this is Nokia. Check the image below:
This list is till 2016 and if you see out of 16 top selling phones in the world till date, Nokia has 11 best selling phones of all time which are marked in the Red Line. Today Nokia no more exists in the mobile phone market. Why?
The reason is simple, they failed to change their Product and Brand Strategy in time and people moved on. Now Nokia is trying desperately to come back in the smartphone market but is struggling to do so with immense competition.
So is Branding still important?
One of the most crucial point is:
Define a Brand Language and don't try to deviate a lot unnecessary. If you are planning to change the Brand Strategy then it should be taken care with extreme caution. One of the biggest fails of poor implementation of Brand Strategy is Snapdeal. They spent a whopping amount of Rs. 200 Crore in redeveloping the new strategy. The implementation was one of the biggest failures in the Branding Industry. You can read more about it here!
I will share detailed pointers of what can be done as a part of Brand Strategy in my next blog!
Stay tuned...