Chapter 1. Why is brand important for the people?
Creating a brand is an ephemeral thing; it can be divided into several tangible components. If done correctly, it should eventually give birth to magic. What is often referred to as "branding" in the modern Russian market, in my opinion, relates to the visual design of the brand or, at times, merely to graphic design. In essence, creating a brand means establishing a dialogue between the business and the customer through texts, meanings, and symbols – pure marketing sorcery. The "cooked" brand, or more precisely, the designed and registered trademark, must withstand the test of time and consumer experience before it can be called a brand.
The word "brand" sounds grand! Essentially, it means that the trademark has acquired a reputation, and consequently, the products released under this trademark have gained a corresponding value in the eyes of consumers, simply because they are associated with this brand. It's complex and convoluted, but that's how it is.
A brand can be associated with a product/service/company that trades goods/services. Let me give you some examples: iPhone is a product brand, Apple is a company brand, World Class is a service brand (the brand of a company providing services), МТС (MTS) is a service brand (the brand of a company providing services), and Prostokvashino is a company brand (the brand of a company producing goods).
Now let's move on to where the development of the brand's meaning platform begins. Where does any conversation start? With an idea! Eureka! The creator of a new business project sees unmet demand or envisions a new way to satisfy it. Now, it is necessary to formulate the essence of the offer and answer important questions: What is new about this proposition? What is its uniqueness? Why is this particular product/service/company/brand needed in the market right now? For a simple example, imagine a vast market where many vendors in the "Vegetables" section sell tomatoes, all of them are red, at different prices, and each one shouts louder than the others about their tomatoes being "the freshest, ripest, juiciest," and other banal claims. If you, as a customer, are not an expert in tomato matters, your selection principle might go as follows:
1
You choose the stall closest to you and buy tomatoes there (the principle of accessibility).
2
You get grabbed by the arm or drawn in by a loud pitch and the charisma of the seller (aggressive selling).
3
You go to a familiar vendor "from whom you bought before" (known seller brand).
4
You wander around the market, haggle, and buy where you get a discount (the price principle).
5
You choose your favorite variety "Bychye Serdtse" (known product brand).
Your journey through the market and the decision-making process might follow several familiar scenarios, and in the end, you will choose based on the principle that is most important to you at the moment. Now let's look at this scene from the seller's perspective, how the offer is shaped, and the communication process with the buyer:
1
Choice of location (as it is known, the spots at the market entrance are the most expensive, the price of the trading spot directly depends on the number of people passing by, simply put, on the traffic).
2
Price (the best price on the market for a similar product is the best driver of sales in the mass consumption segment).
3
Merchandising (the infamous display of goods; the product must be visible and easily accessible).
4
Packaging (in this case, it doesn't differ from other market participants; it's a simple plastic bag, but in some modern markets, you can already find vegetables packed in craft bags, creating the feeling that it is an eco-friendly farmer's product that came straight from the garden).
An important note - good packaging usually justifies a higher price than the market average in cases where this tool is used to convey special valuable properties of the product to the consumer. A vivid example of this approach in the mass market segment is the "Aleksandrov" brand, which sells its cheeses several times more expensive than the market average due to the "expensive-looking" packaging in a classic confectionery style. This style was chosen not by chance, as cheese cannot be expensive, but a confectionery product can be. Through appropriate classic confectionery branding, the company conveyed the following meaning: this cheese is not just a simple dairy product; it is made by a confectionery production with a history and a special recipe, and, therefore, it is worth several times more than usual.
But let's get back to our tomatoes! Suppose you are a farmer and you've developed a new variety of tomatoes that is what? Cheaper? Tastier? Juicier? Does it have properties for a specific specialization (for example, it makes an amazing ketchup)? And now you need to come up with a name for the new variety... In most cases, naming will be developed based on the principle of "as long as I like it." But how should it be? It should reflect the specific properties of the new variety because this is a business, not a beloved child. Although, if we recall the Native Americans, they developed brand names very accurately: Sharp Eye, Fast Foot, Brave Hunter - their names reflected the unique qualities of the people to whom they were assigned.
And here, we've touched upon one of the most important aspects of branding - naming or choosing a name for the brand, which logically follows from the meaning platform. So, what is a meaning platform? I suggest you start a new notebook or note on your phone and begin to perform small tasks; all of this will be very useful for developing your own brand.
Task for developing the meaning platform of the brand at home:
Task for developing the meaning platform of the brand at home:
- Answer the questions:
- What are you creating the brand for: a product, service, or company?
- What new things are you bringing to the world?
- What is the uniqueness of your offer (product/service/company)?
All your answers will be helpful, and now let's move on to the next concept that many clients have heard of but don't understand why it is needed - the brand mission.
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