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A dangerous cocktail: Religion & Branding? |
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Ever heard about an iPod Bed, Armani Flowers or a Ferrari Laptop?
Have you ever heard of an Apple bed? It's a bed that's been wired up
to run your favorite tunes from your iPod. Or what about a Louis
Vuitton chessboard, a Versace Hotel, an Ikea house or a Gucci chair
for dogs? The days where brand extensions had to stay within the
realms of the original products are long gone.
Let's go back 15 years to a meeting I attended at Gillette. A
case was presented for a Gillette motorcar, but it was knocked back.
The rationale was simple. Consumers were not able to link the values
represented by Gillette razors to a car.
Times have changed. Consumers have advanced. They no longer
expect a brand to be associated with just one product, and can easily
apply the philosophy, or lifestyle stamp, to extreme brand
extensions. However, the question that must now be asked is how far
should your brand go? And what's the rule of thumb for making an
extension succeed?
As consumers have become more sophisticated, the following three
rules for brand extensions have emerged:
Values
It all comes down to the values of the brand. Take for example
Brand Donald Trump. It espouses values of power, influence, and of
course money. His apartment complexes have done well, and his recent
Las Vegas venture, Trump Towers (a condominium block), was sold out
within hours, despite the fact that the price tag was nearly double
of any other offerings in the market. You can buy Trump's books,
DVD's and even a Trump doll. But Trump perfume? Can you link power,
influence and money to a perfume? Personally, I am not able to quite
make that leap. In fact just such a perfume was recently released in
New York. It failed miserably. The link between the brand's values
and the product seems out of sync.
Life sphere
Simply seeing the signage on the door of Armani Casa in the very
heart of Milan shows just how far a brand can go. Inside this amazing
building you will find everything from Armani chocolates,
restaurants, bars, night clubs, flowers, furniture and of course
clothing. The brand has traveled beyond anyone's imagination. In a
store that would have been unimaginable five years ago, Armani has
captured the essence of a lifestyle, carefully selecting life's
highlights and milestones, and then converting them into an Armani
experience. Armani rejected the lows. You will not find Armani toilet
paper or pet food on these shelves.
The secret then is to define the life sphere of the brand. Think
of it as the circular lines on a weather map with your core
"flagship" products forming the inner circle. The outer rings
representing the lifestyle-supporting tools. The best of your life.
Armani's strategy has been to identify these highlights and then
convert them into a branded experience.
Be credible
Being credible is everything, and sometimes a brand simply cannot
extend credibility to its extension. Either forget the idea or team
up with another brand who can work this magic.
However this is only part of the story. Logos currently perform
the task of gluing the brand extensions together, but another type of
brand glue is about to appear. I first explored the concept of
sensory branding in my book
BRAND sense. Sensory branding
is now an integral part of 11 of the worlds Fortune 100 brands. The
sensory aspects of the brand will link and bind products in whole new
ways. If you happen to be the lucky owner of an iPod Apple bed you'll
soon notice that the very sound of raising the back makes the same
click-click-click noise as the turning digital wheel on the iPod. The
Louis Vuitton chessboard comes packed in a Louis Vuitton leather bag
(as a neat traveling kit), and a full day's service of an interior
designer comes with an Ikea house. They will help you select
furniture from ... the Ikea store.
A logo is no longer strong enough to hold things together.
Extensions need the added power of the sound, touch, taste, smell and
vision too. Ferrari laptops sound like Ferrari engines and Colgate
toothbrushes smell like Colgate toothpaste. So when you justify the
additional cost to the product you can comfortably assume that you're
plugging into the world of brand dreams consumers aspire to in a life
where uncertainty has become the main driver.
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The BRAND sense agency opens...
The 15th February BRAND sense Agency became a reality. Founded by
Martin Lindstrom in partnership with aroma legend Simon Harrop and
advertising veteran John Phillips BRAND sense agency serves Fortune
500 brands across the world on Sensory Branding.
Operating out of London representing one of the most extensive
sensory partnerships in the world spanning 30 cuntries BRAND sense
agency helps brands integrating Lindstrom's groundbreaking concept of
"Sensory Branding" and "Smash Your Brand" - all based on the worlds
largest research study ever conducted on our five senses and brands.
The overall objective is to identify innovative ways to help
leading brands transform traditional 2D brand thinking into deeper
relationships by integrating the neglected senses - smell, touch and
taste - into the marketing mix.
Click here to learn more
about the BRAND sense agency network.
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When brands seek inspiration from the world of religion
My father always said not to talk about religion, politics and money.
So right here and now I'm going to break the first rule by revealing
some of my most fascinating revelations by placing branding in dare I
say, a religious context.
How can a brand hope to achieve the ultimate? Just two weeks
ago, on the streets of Tokyo I got the answer. Walking down the road
were two girls dressed from top to toe in Hello Kitty items. Nothing
was left "unbranded". Apart from their dresses, shoes and handbags,
they had Hello Kitty nails and Hello Kitty earrings, and Hello Kitty
phones.
This form of brand admiration taken to the max has emerged over
the past decade. The first time I encountered it was in a pub in
Sydney where I met a man with a Gucci barcode tattooed on his neck. I
described the meeting in BRAND sense my latest book. We got talking,
and introduced ourselves. When I asked what made him get the tattoo,
he told me, "I simply love the brand."
This left me pondering... What makes people go that far? What
are the ingredients that make up such an extreme brand obsession? And
ultimately, what can the world of advertising learn from this when
setting out to build a brand?
The best answer to these tough questions seemed could be found in
the controversial topic of religion. I embarked on a fascinating
journey in an attempt to discover what is it about religion that
creates such staunch devotees. I also wanted to know what are the
ingredients that creates steadfast and strong religious faith.
The exploration resulted in a list of 10 powerful criteria. As I
was writing BRAND sense, I
wanted to call this list the Ten Commandments, but my publisher felt
that this was pushing it a little too far. What's interesting about
this list however, is that the parallels between it and the world of
branding are surprisingly strong.
Don't get me wrong. I do not wish to imply that religion has
learnt anything from branding, but branding has definitely been
inspired by the world of religion. These were the 10 components that
I found:
1. A sense of belonging
2. A clear vision
3. Power from the enemy
4. Authenticity
5. Consistency
6. Perfection
7. Symbols
8. Mystery
9. Rituals
10. Sensory appeal
Whether we love it, or hat it, the world of branding is becoming
increasingly inspired by the world of religion. Religion offer a
powerful roadmap for how branding can evolve over the years to come.
All it needs to do is look to the ancient ingredients that make up
religious followings. In some cases this is so powerful that the
brand becomes more than a brand, and it becomes a way of life.
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Philip Kotler & Martin Lindstrom - Tomorrow's Rules of Brand Building
For the first time ever Philip Kotler and Martin Lindstrom share
stage in this ground-breaking event taking place 22 May 2006 in
Moscow, Russia.
Get the low-down from the two world leaders in branding today as
they present their latest findings and insights into the branding
rules for the future.
Some of the key themes that will be covered during this full day
event are:
* Applying Holistic Marketing.
* Developing a Winning Strategy.
* Developing New Product Ideas.
* Building Successful Brands.
* Moving to High-Tech Marketing.
* Smash Your Brand 2006.
* Brand Blogging.
* Brand Rituals: Inspiration from the world of religion.
Click
here
to learn more about the Kotler & Linstrom event.
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Brand Citizens: Take a Stand
Did Google damage its brand image when it compromised its core
values, founded as they are on ethical principles that include
freedom of speech, when it kowtowed to the Chinese government's
strict communication guidelines? Did Nestlé compromise its global
brand reputation for independence when it distanced itself from
Danish brands and asserted its Swiss origins during the recent
cartoon blasphemy controversy?
United Colors of Benetton's early '80s vision, tolerance toward
other cultures, languages, religions, and sexual orientations, has
never been more relevant. And the issue of brand ethics has never
been hotter. In the past, brands seemed to have a eel-like ability to
slip past political or religious controversy. But now the clash
between local cultures and global brands seems unavoidable. What
should brand builders do to prepare for such inevitable challenges --
challenges that force brands to take a stand and, in so doing, gather
enemies as well as fans?
Let's be clear: the global-only campaign does not exist. It did
in the past, but as the Internet has secured a presence in everyone's
lives, all campaigns, no matter how parochially intended, are global
in reach the minute they go live. Ask the smallest online retailers,
and they'll confirm their client portfolios represent international
audiences, even if they rarely had such ambitions. On the other side
of the coin, the days when McDonald's was able to celebrate Christmas
in Scandinavia, offer wine in France, and abstain from alcohol in
Muslim countries are past. Or are they?
It's a difficult balance to strike. For brands to create an
impact, they must appeal to local markets. Needless to say, the
required tone of voice is different in each market. A global, single
message that appeals to everyone on earth would likely be bland and
rarely workable. On the other hand, we're reaching a stage at which
brands cannot retain local approaches within audience borders.
What's the solution? The answer is simple, but execution is
difficult.
Brands must take a stand and, more important, prepare themselves
for the inevitable challenge. As with all crises management,
preparedness depends on predicting conflict before it appears. If you
happen to be an airline company, for example, responding to an
aircraft crash should be part of your crisis management plans. If
you're a poultry grower, avian flu or other disease issues should be
accounted for. But these eventualities are obvious. When it comes to
global versus local culture clashes, the scope for crises is
unlimited. So, here's what you should do.
Comprehend your brand as a world citizen, and ask yourself how
your brand sees the world. What role would your brand take as a
sentient being? Here are three essential questions your brand needs
to answer, locally as well as globally, to prepare itself for
steadily increasing pressure to express an opinion:
* Should your brand communicate its country of origin, and should
its nationality be an important brand ingredient?
* What's your brand's stand on business ethics, world politics,
sex, religion, and other sources of socioeconomic controversy?
* What's your brand's opinion of its competitors? Does it
publicly recognize them and capitalize on their weaknesses when
opportune?
Once upon a time, not taking stand on these questions was a
strategic option. And it may remain so for some time to come. But as
brands increasingly swim with the tides of our lives -- we live with
them, drink with them, breathe with them, and sleep with them -- they
develop a greater presence in individual lives and collective
existences. As companions in consumers' lives, people develop
expectations of brands. Whether you've prepared your brand for its
role as a world citizen or not, your audiences will tacitly confer
such responsibilities on it. Your brand must rise to a growing
responsibility for having, and sharing, opinions.
Click
here
to access more than 200 complementary brand articles written by
Martin Lindstrom.
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The BRAND sense DVD
In perhaps the most creative and authoritative DVD on sensory
branding ever produced, Martin Lindstrom reveals what the most
successful branding companies do differently - integrating touch,
taste, smell, sight and sound - with startling and measurable results.
Click here
to order Lindstrom's groundbreaking 2 1/2 hour DVD packed with
around-the-world interviews, interactive training sessions and case
studies.
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What they say about BRAND sense...
Everyone seems to have a strong opinion about
BRAND sense...Lindstrom's
thinking simply seems to make sense for the world's business icons...
"Martin Lindstrom, one of branding's most original thinkers,
reveals how to break out of the two dimensional rut of sight and
sound, and connect emotionally with all five senses. His book
provides data and insights that will surprise even the most savvy
brand watcher."
Robert A. Eckert, CEO & Chairman, Mattel Inc.
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