Brand Box 1 - Know Your Business - The Marketer's Ultimate Toolkit

BRAND BOX
Authors
Ashton Bishop
Jeffrey Cooper
Editing
Andrew Durack
Adam Long
Deanne Constantine
Art Direction
Ivan Langham
Megan Cassarchis
Design
Jason Gieng
Copyright Notice & Disclaimer
Copyright 2012 © Step Change Marketing ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
This book contains material protected under International and Federal
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used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use
one of these terms.
Credits
Contact
info@stepchangemarketing.com
+61 (2) 8028 6405
www.stepchangemarketing.com

BRAND BOX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3
Contents
BRAND BOX
The Marketer’s Ultimate
Toolkit

1
2
3
4
5
6
Book
Book
Book
Book
Book
Book
Introduction
Know Your Business
Know Your Market
Know Your Consumers
What’s the Big Idea?
How to Say It
When and Where to Say It
Brand Architecture
Branding
Positioning
Competition
Environment
Binary Analysis
Predatory Thinking
Profiling
Segmentation
Insights
Pricing
Launch or NPD?
Innovation
Communications
Advertising Idea
Tone & Message
Media Strategy
Connection Idea
Channel Planning

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
4
Introduction
Welcome to Brand Box, the marketer’s ultimate toolkit to driving business growth through successful brand building and innovation.
Whether big or small, your brand has a number of secret weapons ready to be unleashed on the market to drive your business forward.
The power of a brand’s voice is potentially the most under valued and under utilised weapon of all. We’ll teach you how to use it to its
full potential.
In this book we will uncover the power of your brand and give you a set of tools and distinctions to unleash the power of your brand and
business, all while teaching you how to drive truly deep, emotional connections with your audience.
It’s about information that’s consumable in the information age; distilling, compiling, combining and simplifying; making great thinking
accessible and taking the mystery out of great marketing strategy.
This book also gives you the tools to facilitate workshops and collaborative sessions to arrive at the answers you will need to drive
business growth.

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
5
This book only reaches the heights that it does because it’s standing
on the shoulders of industry giants
... a tip of the hat back at you all, Sirs!
Dave Trott Edward de Bono Malcolm Gladwell Bill Bernbach David A. Aaker
CST Advertising Creative Genius The Tipping Point Legendary figure in the
history of American
advertising
Globally recognised
marketing consultant
and author

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
6
The Authors
ASHTON BISHOP
Ashton Bishop is Australia’s Predatory Marketer –
an expert in pinpointing how brands can grow by
outsmarting their competitors.
However, his path was a somewhat unusual one.
After graduating with a commerce/law degree he
turned his hand to street performing, TV presenting,
stand-up comedy and film directing, and even
literally ran away with the circus.
Fortunately, Ashton eventually found his niche in
marketing, where he has spent the last 14 years
working internationally on some of the world’s
biggest brands. He’s a business owner, serial
entrepreneur, challenging, sometimes even
controversial, but always focused on what gets
results.
He’s run million dollar campaigns for billion dollar
brands, received film awards, guest lectured at
leading universities, won creative and strategic
recognition from his peers and, in a world first,
brought marketing strategy together with digital
technology.
JEFF COOPER
Jeff learnt his most valuable lessons in marketing
by spending his own money.
Some marketers might be happy with a career
that saw them conceptualise and implement
million dollar campaigns for some of the world’s
largest brands, including Vodafone, CommSec,
Commonwealth Bank, Sony, 3M and The Australian;
being crowned as one of Australia’s top marketers.
As the recipient of the B&T and Antill magazine
30-under-30 Award, Jeff strives for perfection
and excellence; pioneering world first marketing
technologies; co-authoring a six book series
on strategy; guest lecturing at Sydney’s top
universities on marketing strategy; and taking the
helm as the country’s first Gen Y General Manager
of a strategic marketing consultancy.
That’s Jeff’s career to date and, at the ripe old age
of 28, he plans on achieving a lot more.

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INTRODUCTION
7
Who do they work for?
Step Change Marketing
Leverage to grow: talkability and sharability
Step Change Marketing takes the most powerful tools and secrets of
the world’s largest organisations and makes them available to all.
Using a series of interactive and engaging workshops, Step Change
Marketing delivers a clear path for your business development, no
matter what your specific marketing and communications experience
or needs.
The solutions are designed to deliver you actions, based on insights,
that will drive your business growth. A foundation of essential theory
leads quickly into the population of proprietary marketing models
and idea generation sessions, leaving you with a myriad of powerful
and actionable ideas to drive your business forward.
Our presenters and authors of this book, Ashton Bishop and Jeff
Cooper, have decades of experience working with billion dollar
brands around the world, including Nestle, Pizza Hut, KFC, GSK,
Time Out, DHL, Sony and Nokia.
Find out more at www.stepchangemarketing.com
Client List

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INTRODUCTION
8
Theories and
Definitions Case Studies Tools
Examples and
Verbatim
How to use these books:
Each page of these books contains either theory and definitions, case studies, tools or examples and
verbatim. Use the logo in the top left hand corner of each page to see what the content relates to.

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
9
Marketer’s Ultimate Toolkit: User’s Guide
At the centre of the Business Growth Opportunity Tool is the word
“growth”. This word is the fundamental driver of any successful
business.
The model is broken down into two sections – insights and
actions. This is because effective marketing can only stem from
rich insights that then drive actions. Insights without actions are
meaningless and won’t drive growth.
Six chapters clarify the tool:
Insights
Know Your Business
Be clear about who you are and what you stand for
Know Your Market
How should you define your category? Who are your competitors?
What forces drive your industry, now and in the future?
Know Your Customers
If you’re trying to talk to everybody, you’ll probably be relevant to
nobody. You need to find out who you need to be talking to, what
they’re like and what motivates them.
Actions
What’s The Big Idea?
Innovation is your business lifeblood. Product, Process,
Placement and People are some places you can look for your next
breakthrough.
How To Say It
Make sure you’re noticed for the right reasons. Your message
needs to stand out and deliver a potent message to your
prospects.
Where To Say It
With over 573 buyable media options (not to mention the free
ones), you’ve got to be pretty clear about where’s the right place to
put your message.
And remember, growth is generally derived from areas where your
business is currently spending the least amount of time and focus.
Use the Business Growth Opportunity Tool to determine where
that currently is and therefore where your biggest opportunities
lie. To drive real success, spend the most time on the segment
that currently lacks focus or goals. This tool is designed to tap into
each section individually; however, to drive real business growth in
all areas it is recommended to complete the entire model.

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INTRODUCTION
10
GROWTH
Know Your Business
Brand Architecture
Branding
Positioning
Know Your Consumers
Profiling
Segmentation
Insights
Pricing
Know Your Market
Competition
Environment
Binary Analysis
Predatory Thinking
Launch or NPD
Innovation
Communications
How to Say It
Advertising Idea
Tone & Messaging
When and Where to Say It
Media Strategy
Connection Idea
Channel Planning
ACTIONS from INSIGHTS

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INTRODUCTION
11
An Apology
This toolkit has been assembled from over 20 years worth of practical
experience and literally hundreds of sources around the world.
We have tried to always acknowledge, and edify, the sources of the thinking
that inspired our model, however, given the frailty of human memory this might
not have always been correctly attributed.
Therefore, we request that anybody who feels like they’ve been misquoted or
missed in being quoted, please contact us via info@stepchangemarketing.com
and we’ll happily attempt to rectify.

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INTRODUCTION
12
Getting Started
Marketing is an art masquerading as a science.
Great marketing requires both sides of the brain
to be working in harmony, because if either side
dominates it’s easy to get “creative wank” or
“boring self-focused twaddle”.
The next few exercises are designed to “kick
over” your marketing engine (brain) and make
sure both sides are humming.
You can use them to warm up a group for
brainstorm, or just warm up yourself – what’s
important though is that you put aside what you
think you know. Come afresh and look for your
next marketing breakthrough with “new” eyes.
Creative wank
Boring
self-focused
twaddle

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INTRODUCTION
13
Familiarity Exercise
No matter how much marketing
knowledge you have, you need to let
things go – things aren’t always as they
seem! Art and Science engage both parts
of the brain.
So who read the phrases to the left and
missed the second “the” in each one?
Paris
in the
the Spring
xx
Bird
in the
the Hand
xxx
Read the following two boxes aloud, exactly as it’s written:

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
14
Once we see the word “FLOP” we tend to
exclude all other possibilities. Yet if you look
at the “O” you can see a white “I”. Now if
you read the white outlines of the letters you
will see the word “FLIP”.
Flip-flop is the complete message, and
seems so obvious you wonder why you
didn’t see it in the first place!
Flip Flop
Thinkertoys: A handbook of creative thinking techniques by Michael Michalko 2006

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INTRODUCTION
15
Raw Creativity
Aoccodrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrdige Uinvrevtisy,
it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod
are, the olny iprmoettnt tihng is the frist and lsat ltteer.
It’s a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a
porbelm. Tihs is besauae ocne we laren how to raed
we look for the eenssces of the jmulbed ltteers. The
huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but preecsievs the wrod as a wlohe. We do tihs
ucnsoniuscoly wuithot tuhoght.
We have a raw natural talent to interpret the essence
of things. Raw creative techniques are designed
to remove the constraints of logic and free your
imagination to be creative again – to once again think
like a child.

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
16
Infinity Stairs
If you try to come up with new ideas without
having a specific goal it would be like trying
to climb these stairs – moving up and up
forever without actually going anywhere.
“A problem is nothing more than an
opportunity in work clothes. A successful
businessperson pays attention to problems,
converting the problems into opportunities
and deciding which opportunities are worth
pursuing. These opportunities become
productive challenges.”

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
17
Necker Cube
Try and look at things from a different
perspective.
Can you make the ball move from being in
front of the cube, to inside the cube and
finally behind the cube?

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INTRODUCTION
18
Are you sure of what you see?

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
19
Are you sure of what you see? cont...

BRAND BOX
INTRODUCTION
20
Are you sure of what you see? cont...
Things aren’t always
as they seem!

KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
21
GROWTH
Know Your Business
Brand Architecture
Branding
Positioning
Know Your Consumers
Profiling
Segmentation
Insights
Pricing
Know Your Market
Competition
Environment
Binary Analysis
Predatory Thinking
Launch or NPD
Innovation
Communication
How to Say it
Advertising Idea
Tone & Messaging
When and Where To Say It
Media Strategy
Connection Idea
Channel Planning
KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
ACTIONS from INSIGHTS

KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
22
Let’s get Started!
Who are you?
If you don’t blow your own horn, it’s unlikely others will bother to do it for you.
Some marketers get so caught up in where to put their messages and what their
competitors are doing, they forget to figure out what they’re really about.
Small businesses sometimes forget to separate the principle from the business;
big companies sometimes lose the clarity about why they’re even in business.
What’s important to note is that before you waste any time or effort trying to speak
to others, you need to have a long, cold, hard look in the mirror and figure out
what you’re really about as a business and as a brand.

A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
What are they?

KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
24
A concise definition...
It’s such a common term, yet so few really understand what it is with any clarity. We
searched for a thorough definition for so long we got sick of it and just made one up! It
isn’t sexy, but it is clear and it starts with what a brand isn’t...
A brand is not:
A brand is not merely a synonym for a product or service.
A brand is:
A brand is created, and lives, in the mind of a consumer; it is a combination of all
communication and experiences, both good and bad, intended and unintended, that are
identified with a name or symbol and occur both in the consumption of the product or
service and in the course of day-to-day life.
What is a
Brand?

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
25
A Brand is more than just the Product
A brand is the identity of a specific
product, service or business. It can take
many forms, including a name, sign,
colour combination or symbol. This then
encompasses the personality of a product,
company or service.
Product
• Scope
• Attitudes
• Quality
• Uses
Brand Personality
Symbols
Brand-Customer
Relationships
Organisational
Associations
User
Imagery
Brand
Building Strong Brands, David A. Aaker 1996
Country of
Origin
Self-Expressive
Benefits
Emotional
Benefits

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
26
A Brand is more than just the Product
What does this brand bring to mind?

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
27
Brands are like Clothes Hooks
While the previous definition is accurate, this analogy tends to help people
understand brands.
...easy! But most minds are more complicated and messy...
So remember that this is what you’re walking into the next time you think about
stepping into your customers’ mind – the messier things get, the bolder and
clearer you need to be.
“If you’re loud or relevant a consumer will start a clothes
hook in their mind where they store their experiences of
your brand – everything goes on the hook, which means
one damp addition and everything gets wet!”

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
28
• The brand lives in the consumer’s mind
• Every contact with the consumer affects the brand
• Every contact with the brand is a brand building opportunity
• Every contact with the brand is a selling opportunity
• Every contact is an opportunity to create an experience
The following definition is not only accurate, but delicate and beautiful.
“The way people build brands is in their heads. We build an
image as birds build nests – from scraps and straw we chance
upon.”
Jeremy Bullmore, Non-Executive Director of WPP
Described as “quite possibly the most admired man in advertising” (Campaign Magazine’s A List)
Why Brand Building is so Important
Of course, brand building is more than just marketing!
A philosophy on brand building

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
29
Brand Building
Of course, there’s no point in just building a brand
without linking this brand building to sales.
Effective brand building has to have a goal in mind
beyond just awareness.
The most sensible sentiment we’ve heard around this is:
“You build the brand by selling the
product in the most appropriate way”.
Dave Trott & Murray Chick, CST (UK Advertising Agency)

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
30
Why bother with
all this brand
business anyway?
Because if you get
it right people will
love you for it!

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
31
Commitment Beyond Belief
Those who master what a brand is and earn the love of their customers benefit from unconditional loyalty. Below is a list of a few who
command such respect...
3 to 4 weeks
For a reservation at the Le Caprice
restaurant in London
Up to 1 month
For an underground tour of the Mt Isa
mine in Queensland
3 to 12 weeks
For a Padron Millenium cigar
Around 6 months
For a reservation at Tetsuya’s in Sydney
6 to 18 months
For a Harley-Davidson Softail Deuce
2 years
To join the Reebok Sports Club/NY
Up to 2 years
For Aston Martin’s V12 Vanquish
2 to 3 years
To have your Japanese sword polished in
Japan
Around 3 years
For Kelly and Birkin bags by Hermès
5 years
For a Rolex Daytona watch
Up to 5 years
To be one of the towns hosting a Tour de
France start or finish
Up to 25 years
For an MCG membership

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
32
Lovemark Theory
Saatchi and Saatchi developed this model
that demonstrates how the strongest
connections require elements of love and
respect working together.
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi
High respect
+
Low love
=
BRANDS
High respect
+
High love
=
LOVEMARKS
Low respect
+
Low love
=
COMMODITIES
Low respect
+
High love
=
FADS

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
33
Why do People Need Brands?
People use brands to satisfy a need or desire, whether this need or desire is
conscious or subconscious. To break this down:
• People don’t buy products, they buy the benefits of those products e.g.
you don’t buy a new vacuum cleaner unless it will save you time and effort
• Money can’t buy happiness, but brands can buy a sense of belonging
e.g. look at any clothes brand and ask “Why would people buy it?”
• We think we make decisions rationally but most of our decisions are
actually made subconsciously. When we buy a particular brand, we are
proving that brand has developed its own meaning in our subconscious
e.g. Panadol versus generic paracetamol

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
34
5 Ways Brands can Influence Consumers
There are many ways brands can work; here are the 5 we feel are most important:
• A brand can make identical products seem different e.g. commodities: water, petrol, milk
• A brand can set up positive expectations which are self-fulfilling e.g. Moët and Chandon
• A brand can instigate trust and take away risk e.g. Huggies
• A brand can inspire loyalty and encourage repeat purchases e.g. Apple
• A brand can influence the price consumers are willing to pay e.g. Sirena Tuna
Pay more. Buy again.
Believe the product
is better.
Dave Trott & Murray Chick, CST (UK Advertising Agency)

A brand can make
identical products
seem different

A brand can
set up positive
expectations which
are self-fulfilling

A brand can inspire
loyalty and encourage
repeat purchases

A brand can
influence the
price consumers
are willing to pay

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
39
Brand Failures, Matt Haig 2007
The Bad News?
90% of new brands fail within the first 5 years
This shocking statistic (we have other less dramatic sources that
pitch the figure at about 64%) highlights the fact that most brands
get it wrong. If you fail to connect, you’ll fade away.

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40
The average person is exposed to:
• $6.72 billion advertising spend in Aus*
• Over 1,000,000 branded messages a
year
• 3,000 branded messages each day
BUT
• They only notice 80
• And only react to 10
AND
• 57% are remembered negatively
*Nielsen data 2006
**BrainWave Connection, UK, 2004
What are some Brands in your World?
Behind the failure is the immense mess and noise that is the marketplace of today.
You’re never just competing with the businesses in your own category, you’re competing with
all the marketing NOISE!

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
41
So how do I build a Brand?
A Brand Identity Model
Developed from work done in the 1990s, David Aaker’s seminal work demystified a lot of
the talk about branding and compiled it into a logical model.
• If you can get your thinking on one page then you’ve got a chance
• If you need more than a page to get the essence of your brand down, then you need
to spend a bit more time thinking
• Once you have a brand identity model you’ll have the best chance of creating a brand
via consistent communications
• You’ll also have an independent reference to decide what’s on-brand and what’s not
• This is used internally (with all staff) and with external suppliers
• Get it to the point where you’d be happy to put it up on everybody’s wall
If you’re interested in developing your own brand on a page,
Step Change Marketing run Business Growth Plan workshops.
Visit www.stepchangemarketing.com to find out more!

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42
Brand Roles
Be clear about the role of a particular brand, especially
in the context of a brand portfolio. Brand roles will be
informed by looking at the competitive environment.
Brand Roles
Endorser
Driver
Silver Bullets Branded Benefits
• Features
• Components
• Service programs
Strategic Brands
Sub-Brand Roles
• Describe offerings
• Structure and clarify offerings
• Augment/modify brand identity
• Exploit market opportunities
• Support extensions

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43
Brand Roles cont...
Strategic Brands
Brands that may have small sales now but will gain important
sales and profit in the future.
Endorser Brand
A brand that adds value or endorses a second brand. Should the
endorser brand be rolled back?
Branded Benefits
Services/features/ingredients which are unique to your product.
Which of these should be branded? Would branding them add
value?
Silver Bullet
A brand within a portfolio that brings breakthrough benefits to the
range. What brands or benefits could play a silver bullet role? Are
they being exploited properly?
Range Brand
A brand that covers a range of products. Identify the range
brands. Should the range be modified for the future?
Co-Brands
Where two brands partner together to launch a product. Are there
opportunities to partner or co-brand? Would a co-brand enhance
the identity?
Extension Options
Can your brand be extended sideways across ranges and
categories, or vertically into services before/after? Could there be
line extensions with different variants?
Vertical Extensions
Identify a brand that should move up or down.
Clarifying with sub-brands – Could sub-brands be used to
minimise confusion?

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A BIT ABOUT BRANDS
44
Glossary of Terms
Whatever team you’re working with to
develop your brand model, please avoid
the bullshit lingo and get a clear set of
definitions that you can work from.
The attached set from Aaker is a pretty
good start.
Brand Equity
A set of assets that are linked to a brand’s name:
brand name awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand associations
Brand Image
The current perception of the brand. This should not become the brand identity
Brand Identity
What a brand aspires to be
Core Identity
The timeless essence of the brand
Consumer Value Proposition
The relationship enhancers and reasons to purchase:
functional, emotional and self-expressive benefits
Brand Positioning (Evolving)
The strategic territory or “rung” in the consumers’ mind we wish to own.
The parts of the identity and the consumer value proposition to be communicated
Strapline
Consumer line that tags all communication, reinforcing positioning

KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
BRAND EXPERIENCE
46
What does Brand Experience mean?
These days, for brands to thrive they can’t just offer either a functional or emotional benefit – they need to be able to fuse the two
together to create an experience and establish themselves in the minds of consumers. How do they do this?

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BRAND EXPERIENCE
47
Functional Benefits
Functional benefits have direct links to customer decisions and user experience
e.g. a usb key provides a functional benefit.
If a brand can dominate a key functional benefit, it can dominate a category,
e.g. who competes with Blu-Tack?!
There are a few problems with functional benefits...
• They can fail to differentiate
• They can be easy to copy
• They can reduce strategic flexibility
• They can inhibit brand extensions
Functional benefits are important to help justify decisions.

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BRAND EXPERIENCE
48
Emotional Benefits
Emotional benefits occur when a customer gains a positive feeling from purchasing or
using a particular brand e.g. Louis Vuitton makes the wearer feel premium, Volvo makes
the driver feel safe.
Emotional benefits add richness and depth to the experience of using the brand.
There can be a few problems with emotional benefits also...
• They often take more work to create and maintain with communications
• They can leave you vulnerable to predatory marketing
• They are dependent on consumers having a high emotional attachment to the category
Emotional benefits are important in helping make decisions.

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BRAND EXPERIENCE
49
Experience: Functional and Emotional
The strongest brand identities have both functional and
emotional benefits.
A study showed that 47 TV commercials that included an
emotional benefit had a higher score than 121 TV commercials
with only a functional benefit.
This just goes to show that money can’t buy you happiness, but
brands can buy you a sense of belonging.
ExperienceFusing Functional and Emotional Benefits
Product: What it does
Brand: How it makes you feel
Experience: How it fits into your life
For example, when Cristiano Ronaldo buys another countless
Porsche he probably won’t have the same experience as a
blue-collar worker who has saved all his life to buy one
Emotion in Advertising: Theoretical and Practical Explorations, Stuart Agres 1990
The Idea Generator: Tools for Business Growth, Ken Hudson 2007
Fusing the emotional and functional
benefits give the user their experience.
We use products, we buy brands, we live
experiences.

POSITIONING AND VALUE PROPOSITIONS

KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
POSITIONING & VALUE PROPOSITIONS
51
Man do we know how to “marketise” things! Anybody who’s sat around a boardroom
table with a big agency as they roll through the lexicon of terms (that nobody in
the room really understands) will know how much can be said without any clarity
whatsoever.
The definitions in the attached sections might not be dead right – we’re not even
sure if there is a right! But what we must do as marketers is be clear. We’re expert
communicators, so we need to start internally. The ‘90s was all about having a
lexicon for marketing that nobody else understood (helps to justify an inflated salary).
In the digital age it’s time to get real, get grounded and make sure
we know what we’re trying to say to our customers, why and how
it fits into our marketing plan.
In this section we get clear on how you should start with your features, see what
value they present, roll it up into a value proposition, then see what part you should
be currently communicating to your customers.
This leaves us with your positioning.
Welcome
to Jargon
Land!

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52
Features, Value Propositions and Positioning
An overview
Positioning
Value
Proposition
Features,
Benefits and
Implications
The strongest and most persuasive thought we wish to be
known for in the customers’ mind. Informs our tone, language
and focus when discussing features
Emotional and rational value to customers
The part of your value
proposition you currently
wish to communicate
to achieve your comm’s
objectives
A summary of all the value
you represent to your
customers in a statement
Comes from a thorough
understanding of
your product, service,
competitors and market
Importance/Resonance Rational/functional sales tool

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Features, Benefits and Implications
Before you can decide on your positioning, you must first gain a very thorough understanding of what makes your product or service
so valuable and unique.
Most businesses talk about the same things and forget to mention the things that make them truly different. If you’re competing with
a giant in your category and talk about the same things, you’ll lose.
You need to focus on what makes you different.
Use the chart on the next two pages to note down exactly what your features, benefits and implications are.
FOR FEATURES: Make your features as specific as possible. Don’t just say “quality”; you have to mention what makes the quality
so good: e.g. the source of ingredients; or that each staff member has four weeks specialist training; or that each product is hand
checked on the production line. You don’t necessarily need to communicate all the features you list, but it’s great to have a full list.
FOR BENEFITS: Make sure you’ve thought about it from the customers’ point of view.
FOR IMPLICATIONS: Think about what is now possible in your customers’ lives that wasn’t previously. While product features are
important, always remember that customers are not buying your product or service; they are buying the benefits they get from your
product or service.

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How do you provide Value?
Your business can add value to a customer
in many different ways. Assess the above
dimensions (or ones we haven’t listed) and
see how you’re helping your customers out.
Speed
Service and delivery
Lots of features
New or unique features
Guarantees
Performance
Customisation
Cost savings
Derived from use
Value for $
Self-experience benefits
Value
Benefits
Look and feel

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Value Proposition
“A brand’s value proposition is a statement of the functional, emotional and self-expressive
benefits delivered by the brand, that provide value to the customer.”
A good way to explore your value proposition is to fill in the template below.
To people who ... (target audience need-state), (product/service/
company) is the (role it plays) that (reason to believe).
In a world where it’s all a bit “too serious”, Coke is the catalyst
for the young at heart to cut free and experience summer, music,
movement, and life.
Coca-Cola Example:
Value proposition: Building Strong Brands, David A. Aaker 1996

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What do you do with Value Propositions?
Positioning through to Strapline (Tagline)
Not all businesses have or need a strapline/
endline/tagline, however, all businesses
should have positioning.
Value Proposition:
Why consumers buy, a summation of all
their reasons
Positioning Line:
Internal line that repositions the competition
and guides action
Strapline:
Consumer expression of positioning line
(optional)
Bring out the inner sports star in
everyday people, every day
Just do it!
NB: Don’t confuse with a Call To Action
(which is a motivating statement designed
to prompt a customer to the desired course
of action).
Nike are always innovating to be on
the cutting edge of sports technology

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57 Impulse gives me the confidence to explore and enjoy the
sometimes bumpy journey into womanhood. As I experiment with
the emerging me, Impulse surrounds me with an energy field filled
with vitality, spontaneity and the courage to be myself.
Value Proposition Example:
Impulse

Value Proposition Example: Jaguar
The difference between Jaguar and other cars runs deeper than sheet metal and engineering:
It’s about soul, passion and originality
A jaguar is a copy of nothing... just like its owners

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Why do you need positioning?
We’ve seen how cluttered minds are and we’ve seen how the only way to build a brand is
to get a rung in your customers’ mind.
Positioning is about defining that single rung in your customers’ minds, in the category
(the ladder) that you belong.
It’s about figuring out the single thought or idea – “rung” – you want to own and then
focusing on owning it.
It must be true to you, relevant to your audience and must make it difficult for your
competition to compete.
Positioning
The Battle for
your Mind
“Positioning is about defining that single rung in your customers’ mind.”
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries & Jack Trout 1981

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Brand Identity and Positioning
Why?
Differentiates versus competition
Brand Identity
&
Positioning
Guides Extension
Options
Guides Brand
Strategy
Improves Brand
Memorability
Internal Focus for the
Organisation
Adds to the Bottom Line:
Provides a Consumer Value
Proposition

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The Battle for the Mind
So it’s as simple as deciding which “rung” you’d like to own and
taking it from there, right? No way! Unfortunately there are a
few barriers in the way...
• Minds are limited
• Minds hate confusion
• Minds are insecure
• Minds don’t change
• Minds can lose focus
Our perceptions are selective. And our memory is highly
selective. Harvard psychologist George Miller proposed that
only seven “chunks” of information, like seven brands in a
category, can easily be held in short-term memory.
• 98% of all American homes have at least 1 television
• 96% of all households can receive 4 or more channels
(one-third can receive 10 or more)
• The average American family watches television more
than 7 hours a day
• One weekday edition of The New York Times contains
more information than the average person was likely to
come across in a lifetime in 17th century England
• In Sweden, the average consumer receives 3,000
commercial messages a day
• Within 24 hours people forget up to 80% of what they
thought they had learned
`
• And this was back in 1981; in the present day it’s even
more cluttered.
What does the battlefield look like?The mind

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Effective Positioning
A quick quiz...
• Who was Charles Peter Conrad?
• What is the second highest mountain in Australia?
• Who was the second man to fly solo across the Pacific?
Well...
• Charles Peter Conrad was the third man to walk on the moon
• The second highest mountain in Australia is Mount Townsend in NSW
• As for this...we’re still not sure even after trawling the Internet!!
The point is...who really remembers number 2 or 3?
The amount of ladders in your mind is very much limited, and the more “rungs” you can
command the more interest you will hold.
So, research suggests you can only retain about seven pieces of information in your short-
term memory, and historical data shows that first brand to brain, on average, gets twice
the long-term market share as #2, and twice again as #3.
So...who was the seventh man to walk on the moon?!
Be a Market Leader in
a smaller market!

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Determining a Brand Position
Positioning is about seeing what fits best and what holds your communications needs
together.
Positioning
Principles
How is it done?
Brand
Positioning
Brand Identity
Highlights of Customer Value
Proposition
Consistent with your Brand Essence
Brand Image vs. Identity
Strategic Imperatives
What do we need to do/own?
Associations
Category
Defined clearly
Complementary
Supplementary
Competition
Share or Grow
Predatory Positioning
Relative or Absolute
Target Audience
Segments
Insights
Drivers

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Positioning: USP and ESP
Your positioning works at a brand building level.
It may form the basis of a proposition for a communications brief, however, your
communications brief may be purely tactical and have a specific role that’s very
immediate, i.e. it might not be ABOUT your positioning.
It all depends on the purpose of the communication.
Therefore, at this point it’s worthwhile cracking a few old chestnuts and looking at the
textbook Unique Selling Proposition and the newer Emotional Selling Proposition in the
context of Positioning.
USP
Positioning
ESP

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USP: What is it?
S
P
U
P
U
S
P
Selling Proposition
Something that motivates the behaviour of critical mass but is not unique to the brand.
E.g. News Corp have hard news, gossip, guides, reviews, etc., but so do all the competitors
Unique Proposition
A proposition that is unique to the brand but not sufficiently motivating to drive consumer
behaviour of critical mass.
E.g. Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg, but that’s not why you joined
Unique Selling Proposition
Is both unique and motivating to consumers. If you have one, this is gold. It’s a single thought
that will usually be used to drive your positioning.
E.g. Pepsi tastes better than Coke in ¾ of blind taste tests
David Trott, CTS Advertising UK

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ESP: What is it?
Examples:
Coke = Refreshment (they have no USP other than taste which is extremely subjective. When blind
researched, ¾ of people consistently prefer Pepsi but buy Coke anyway)
Kleenex = Softness (can anyone truly say that Kleenex are softer, or better, tissues across the range?
No, but it’s the leading brand anyway)
BMW = Performance (realistically, for the money the new Audi’s are giving them a run on value and
performance, and at the same price point the Mercs are very good. Yet BMW are “sheer driving
pleasure”)
It’s the ESP of these products, not a USP, that makes them sell. In some cases, they have rational
supports for this, but nothing that is motivational enough and unique on its own.
E
S
P
Emotional Selling Proposition
An Emotional Selling Propositioning captures a relevant emotion that drives consumer behaviour.
N.B. A brand can own a single emotion within a category

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67
USP & ESP
working together:
Kleenex
David Trott, CTS Advertising UK

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68
Positioning: How is it done?
The basic positioning approach is not to create something new and different but to
manipulate what’s already up there in the mind; to retie the connections that already
exist.
So how is positioning done? You position a product in the mind of the prospect.
E.g. “Avis is only No. 2 in rent-a-cars, so why go with us? We try harder.”
Sometimes positioning can be confused with simply trying to change people’s minds.
The lesson to be learnt here is:
Mind-changing is the road to advertising disaster
“We’re better than our competitors” isn’t repositioning. It’s comparative advertising and
generally not very effective.

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69
Developing a Brand Position
Positioning a brand starts with a simple piece of market
research called a “Top-of-Mind” Awareness (TOMA) survey.
The basis of brand positioning begins by discovering:
1. The current position of your brand
2. The position of your competitors’ brand(s)
3. Where you want to be positioned
4. What you need to do to get there
True to
the brand
Different from
everything else
Relevant &
desirable to
target market
The
Sweet
Spot

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Positioning Principles
Customers act on perceptions, not market facts
What people believe is very strongly influenced by past experiences and beliefs
Minds are limited
Companies must only focus on the few important things in customers’ minds
Minds are hard to change
Everything a company does creates an image in the customers’ mind which is very
difficult to erase or change
Be first,
Be competitive,
Be clear

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Positioning: A work over time
While positioning is the part of your value proposition that you currently wish to
communicate, it might change with time.
That said, you’d want a very good reason to change it (i.e. a fundamental
change in market conditions).
This is because it’s bloody hard to be known for anything (good that is), and
once you’ve spent time and money on a positioning, you want to think long and
hard before moving.
The following case study
is a great example of the
long-term commitment that
positioning entails...

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72
Back in 1974, BMW sold 15,007 automobiles in the
American market, which made the brand the 11th
largest-selling European vehicle.
The following year, BMW’s new agency, Ammirati
Puris AvRutick, launched an advertising campaign
that would make both the agency and the brand
famous: “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”
It’s been 31 years since the launch of the ultimate
driving machine. So how is BMW doing? Not bad.
Last year BMW was the largest-selling European
brand in the American market.
BMW Case Study
The Ultimate Driving Machine

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73
BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine cont...
The importance of positioning longevity
One of the most important conceptual ideas in marketing is “owning a word in the mind”. In almost every market, in almost every
category, the leading brands are brands that can be identified by a single word or concept. BMW owns “driving”. Mercedes-Benz owns
“prestige”. Volvo owns “safety”.
1974 Top 10
European cars in US market
1. Volkswagen 334,515
2. Capri 75,260
3. Fiat 72,029
4. Opel 59,279
5. Volvo 53,043
6. Audi 50,432
7. Mercedes-Benz 38,170
8. MG 25,015
9. Porsche 21,022
10. Triumph 18,396
11. BMW 15,007
2005 Top 10
European cars in US market
1. BMW 266,200
2. Mercedes-Benz 224,269
3. Volkswagen 224,195
4. Volvo 123,587
5. Audi 83,066
6. Land Rover 46,175
7. Mini 40,820
8. Porsche 31,933
9. Jaguar 30,424
10. Bentley 3,654
The Ultimate Driving
Machine
11th 1st

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74
Be Relevant
But what does this mean?
• Consumers don’t have NEEDS anymore – these are all being met
• They have many DON’T NEEDS
• And occasionally they have WANTS
You need to be the solution for a
need,
not a solution looking for a need.
How is this done?
Your UNIQUE SELLING
PROPOSITION
Being remarkable for remarkable’s sake is flash-in-the-pan rubbish. The fire burns bright
for all the wrong reasons and the brand (and the business) tend to disappear very rapidly.
Remarkablilty without relevance is showboating.
If you have both, you have outstanding marketing.
A warning

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75
Be a challenger
The web is a wonderful thing. It has opened us up to an audience of billions of people,
however, it’s also put us into direct competition with trillion pound gorillas like Google!
Therefore, every business should ask themselves what Google will do when it comes time
to enter their category... and don’t be so cocky as to think you’re safe. If it’s not Google, it
might be Apple, Walmart, Woolworths, Telstra, Harvey Norman or Amazon – the list goes on.
We might think we’re big in our category, but what happens if a true giant enters? How will
we compete then?
The solution
The solution? Think like a challenger. No matter where we are in the market we can take
on a challenger mindset, make ourselves competitive and defend our patch from whoever
walks through the door.
The leader on challenger thinking is Adam Morgan (see his model on the next page). Buy
his books and sign up to whatever he’s selling, he’s a genius!
Challenger
Brands
Building a
Challenger Brand
“Take on a challenger mindset, make ourselves competitive and defend
our patch.”

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76
Positioning as a Challenger Brand
A 4-Stage Process
Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, Adam Morgan
You can download a summary from his website www.eatbigfish.com
STAGE 1: Attitude & Preparation
STAGE 2: Challenger Strategy
STAGE 3: Challenger Behaviour
STAGE 4: Sustaining Challenger Momentum
Break with immediate past
Build a lighthouse identity
Assume thought leadership
for the category
Create symbols of
re-evaluation
Sacrifice Over
Commitment
Use Advertising/PR
as a high leverage asset
Become idea centric

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77
• We believe that being a Challenger is a state of mind – not a
state of market. Challenger thinking is as relevant for a market
leader as for a niche player
• We believe that Intelligent Naivety – intelligently applied
inexperience – has changed the face of most of the categories
around us more profoundly than a lifetime of applied category
experience
• We believe in values and belief-based branding. That brands
should have a strong point of view. That this internal compass
helps drive every decision they make
• We believe that Challengers with this clear sense of
themselves act like a Lighthouse. They take a stand, on solid
foundations, and intensely and consistently project their point
of view in everything they do. They encourage the consumer to
“navigate” by them
eatbigfish.com by Adam Morgan
Positioning as a Challenger Brand
Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, Adam Morgan
You can download a summary from his website www.eatbigfish.com
• We believe that if you are not the market leader in the
category, you have to be the Thought Leader
• We believe that you have far more media at your disposal than
you think you do. You are just not recognising them as media
at the moment
• We believe that innovation is embedded in a culture, not a six
sigma innovation funnel
• We believe successful brands are idea centred – not
consumer centred; that momentum is the currency of a
Challenger that sustains its appeal; and ideas are the fuel of
that momentum
• And finally, we believe that the Challenger model is the
strategic business model of the future

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78
The Positioning Game
You must have vision. There is no sense building a position based on a technology or
product that is too narrow.
You have to learn how to separate your efforts from the general movement of the economy.
Today, only the obvious idea will work. The overwhelming volume of communication
prevents anything else from succeeding.
The secret to establishing a successful position is to keep two things in balance:
1. A unique position, with
2. An appeal that’s not too narrow
Positioning
Traps
“Only the obvious idea will work.”

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79
Positioning Pitfalls
Marketers generally don’t trust commonsense as much as they trust some complex
piece of research.
The problem is that you can get niched in the customers mind and limit your future
options if you follow them.
Remember, don’t be cute or complex. Tell it like it is.
Example:
Volkswagen’s “Think small”
Volvo’s “Drive Safely”
Peter Drucker once wrote: “What business am I in? The question can be answered
only by looking at the business from the outside, from the point of view of the
customer and the market.”
Positioning has to line up with the perceptions in the mind, not go against them.

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Repositioning
Has your company lost focus in the mind of the marketplace? It may be that it’s
time to reposition.
Have a look at one of the great success stories: Pork: “The Other White Meat”.
This refreshed and invigorated a tired old stalwart.
But why go to the effort?
Because if you don’t change you become an easy target.
How can it be done?
• A complementary approach
• Different names
• Different positions
• Different target audiences

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81
Minds are Hard to Change
Volkswagen found it very difficult to convince people that
the company was able to produce cars other than the small,
reliable, economical car like the Beetle.
It comes back to what we’re familiar with and what we’re
already comfortable with.
The consumer shouldn’t have to take too many mental steps.
Easier said than done

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
83
Carl Jung distinguished that every society ever
created shared knowledge via stories.
In the stories are characters. The interesting thing
is the characters in the stories are the SAME!
It didn’t matter if it was a Hollywood movie or an
Indonesian pygmy hill-tribe, the same characters
kept on popping up.
Humans have an innate filing cabinet that stores
and sorts characters and their attributes.
So if a brand’s role is to be remembered, then
tapping into this filing system is a massive head
start...
There is argument as to whether there are 12 or 16
archetypes. Our model uses 12, although we throw
a couple of extras in later.
Brand
Archetypes

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
84
Brand Archetypes
Archetypes are historic truths that capture different
types of human characteristics.
Archetypes have existed ever since humans
started telling stories.
Archetypes are personified symbols that allow
the conscious mind to identify with, or access,
subconscious desires, meanings and truths.
Brand archetypes go beyond stating product
features and benefits to connect with the customer
in a deep and profoundly meaningful way.
A stereotype is simply a perceived set of values
attached to a person or product.
Brands rooted in cultural-specific
norms are simplistic and undefined
Brands rooted in universal and
eternal truths are rich and distinctive
Stereotype
E.g. SNAGS
1980’s Sensitive New Age Guy
(He’s long gone and the
metrosexual now reigns)
Archetype
E.g. Virgin/Domestos
The difference between Stereotypes
and Archetypes

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
85
The 12 Archetypes

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
86
The 12 Archetypes cont...

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
87
The 12 Archetypes cont..

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
88
Knowledge
Reassurance
Anti-
Establishment
Excitement
Leadership Confidence
Trust Partnership

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
89
Knowledge
Reassurance
Anti-
Establishment
Excitement
Leadership Confidence
Trust Partnership

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
90
3-Step Tool to Finding your Archetype
1. Find archetype(s) that you want to project yourself as – you can have up to 3.
Think about historic/credibility. Decide on a Core – your essence, and decide on
a Future – the influencer that will shape you as you evolve.
Find Iconic Archetype1
Define Nuances and Refine2
Continually Contemporise3
2. Place no more than 4 descriptive words around any one archetype that you
would like to project. Make sure the words are not inconsistent with the essence
of that archetype.
3. Review at least once a year and look at the language, cues, associations and
celebrities that best represent your archetype. You want to be contemporary;
as society evolves the expression of our archetype might change, whilst the
underlying values and nature probably shouldn’t.

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
91
3-Step Tool to Finding your Archetype
Core
Archetype
Clarifier
Clarifier
Clarifier Clarifier
Influencer
Archetype
Influencer

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
92
An Archetype Example: FutureThread
Core
InfluencerInfluencer
We are an expert alliance of business
provocateurs (visionaries)
Brand Essence:
The vision that business visionaries need
Mission:
We are the agent provocateurs that CEOs
turn to for the radical shifts required to
produce radical profits
Experience:
Makes me feel: ballsy, inspired,
courageous, edgy and smart.
Says I’m: a progressive visionary who is
open to ideas and who is ahead of the
game
Advertising Line:
World’s Next Practice
An Example:

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
93
Additional Archetypes
As discussed earlier, there is an argument as to how many archetypes there actually are. Some additional archetypes that aren’t
always included in the first 12 are shown here.

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
94
Additional Archetypes

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BRAND ARCHETYPES
95
What do I do with my Archetype?
Now that you have a better understanding of who you are, use your archetype’s personality traits as a check for every time you create a
piece of communication. Ask yourself the question: Is this how my archetype would speak? Is this the kind of language my archetype
would use? Is this the kind of place my archetype would be found?
If you find yourself doing anything out of character then you will need to refine the message to ensure it
fits in with your archetype’s personality. Remember: consistency is key.

NAMING BRANDS
Tricks and Traps

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NAMING BRANDS
97
A good name...
A good name can pair your business with a need and then set off the positioning process
in your customers’ mind. Every time they hear, read or speak your brand they will be
reminded of that need, and the association between the need and your brand will grow.
The problem is that sometimes the brand name can become outdated but difficult to
change. Sub-branding can be used to lock an old brand to a new product, and way of
thinking, without changing the whole name.
Names,
Names,
Names!
“Every time they hear, read or speak your brand they will be
reminded of that need.”

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NAMING BRANDS
98
The Power of the Name
The name is the hook that hangs the brand on the product ladder in the prospect’s mind.
In the positioning era, the single most important marketing decision you can make is what
to name the product.
The name of the product should never become too close to the product itself as it will
become generic – a name for all products of its class rather than a trade name for a
specific brand. When this happens, the brand name becomes a surrogate or substitute
for the generic name – “Grab the Esky and the Thermos” – and your brand champions the
whole category, rather than just itself.
One name can’t stand for two distinctly different products. When one gains in popularity
the other invariably must go down.
An experiment using two equally beautiful girls demonstrated that beauty is only name
deep. The girls were named Jennifer and Gertrude and a group were asked to vote on
which woman was prettier.
The results showed that 158 people said that Jennifer was prettier while Gertrude only
received 39 votes. The name “Gertrude” seemed an unpleasant sound that distorted
people’s views on things*.
So the lesson is that your headlines should sound good as well as look good. The rhyme
or rhythm of the words can be powerful memory devices.
* apologies to all Gertrudes!

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NAMING BRANDS
99
The Ear and the Eye
Don’t forget that a brand’s name is more than just what they see. Your brand will need to
be as easily recognisable and memorable when heard as it is when seen. A customer’s
relationship with a brand is through the eye and the ear.
Consider this...
• People remember more words if they hear the words than if they see them
• The mind holds spoken words in storage much longer, enabling you to follow the train
of thought with greater clarity
• 35% of meaning from a spoken word depends on the tone in which it is said
• You see what you hear, what the sound has led you to expect to see, not what the eye
tells you it has seen

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NAMING BRANDS
100
How the Ear Failed...
...the Shawshank Redemption
The Shawshank Redemption was a terrific movie. To its financial backers, it seemed
to have everything going for it: interesting plot written by Stephen King, talented
cast – Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins – well produced, beautifully crafted and it
received 7 Oscar nominations!
So imagine their disappointment when it bombed at the box office!
But why? Because the name sucked!
“Shawshank Redemption? Huh? What’s that about?” said millions of cinema goers,
“Let’s go see Speed instead – the one with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock getting
together on a speeding bus!”
The problem is that most names have already been chosen by someone else! In the
US there are about 1.6 million registered trademarks, and another 3 million in Europe.
Nine out of ten times you’ll find that the name you search for has already been taken!
The problem with good names

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NAMING BRANDS
101
So How do you Choose a Good Name?
The name and the positioning tend to work
hand in hand. It’s always best to consider both
together (see “Positioning” section). Between the
names and your positioning line you should be
communicating what you stand for to customers.
The below helps you explore the dimensions that
this opens up.
Credible
& Clear
Cut-through
& Edgy
Clear Name
&
Clear Positioning
=
Unremarkable
Cut-through Name
&
Cut-through Positioning
=
Lack of Credibility
Cut-through Name
Clear Positioning
(Most effective!)
Clear Name
Cut-through Positioning
(Most effective!)

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NAMING BRANDS
102
Give a dog a good name, and it will answer
..but remember, a good name does not equal a good business. You can
still have a great business with a bad name and be successful, and you
can have the best name in the world without having a good business.
True success lies when you couple a great name with a great business.
Give a Dog
a Good
Name!

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BRAND PROTECTION AND STRENGTH
104
Even if you just skim through some of the brands at the front of this
book you’ll be able to see how much some brands are worth.
In a business sense they can be summarised as the intangible value of a stock beyond its
net assets.
Some examples are Nokia worth over $26 billion, Sony over $12 billion and KFC and Pizza
Hut (both YUM restaurants) combining to be over $10 billion.
With this sort of money at stake, it’s clear why the big brands are happy to pay big
agencies the big bucks to make sure they’re getting the best advice on the market.
The following presents the case for why spending time and money on developing your
brand through marketing can be the difference between profits and failure.
Protecting
your Value

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105
Real Brand Value
Brand Protection, The Economist
Coke’s Market Cap
Including Brand Value:
$120 Billion
Coke’s Market Cap
Not Including Brand Value:
$50 Billion
It’s easy to see why brand is
important:
Without the brand, Coca-Cola’s
bottle would be half empty!

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Brand Strength
BRAND driven purchases 84%:
• Insurance
• Luxury Cars
• Banks
• Perfume
Millward Brown, BrandZ UK 2007, 33 categories,
500+ brands, 6000+ consumers
84%
6%
10% }
}
}Other purchases
59%
6%
10%
25%
}
}
Goods bought on price alone
Goods bought on strength of
brand
} Bought for other reasons
} Compromise between brand
and price
PRICE driven purchases 10%:
• Utilities
• Mineral Water
• Apparel
• Fuel
The chat below documents the purchasing drivers for a variety of products bought in the UK. It highlights how perception, created by
brand, is the most important factor in purchasing decisions.

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Value to Consumers
Value to consumers is not
based on price alone
Millward Brown, BrandZ UK 2007, 33 categories,
500+ brands, 6000+ consumers
65%
35% } Price related
} NOT price related
When you look at the breakdown below, the majority of purchases are not based on price at all – which means that 65% of purchases are
related to how strong your brand actually is.

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Short-Term Benefit and Long-Term Risk
The next two pages give us a long-term case study
looking at the importance of marketing, particularly during
recession. During recession it is tempting to cut the
marketing budget in order to “save money”. The graph
below shows what happens to overall profits with varying
levels of marketing spend...
When you compare this against the table below you can
see that cutting the marketing budget doesn’t actually
save you any money in the long run – in fact, you can end
up taking 5 years just to recover to usual profit levels.
The lesson to be learnt? Brand Building
is a long-term view.
ROI defined as the increments
in revenue generated from
advertising per unit of spend
Data2Decisions
Profit when marketing budget is maintained
Profit with zero advertising for 1 year, then back to usual budget
Profit with half advertising for 1 year, then back to usual budget
Profit
Time
Zero Budget (year 1)
Half Budget (year 1)
Budget Saved Sales Foregone Profit Foregone Bottom-line Loss Time to Recover
$1.8m
$0.9m
$8.6m
$4.3m
$3.5m
$1.7m
$1.7m
$0.8m
5 years
3 years

BRAND EXTENSIONS
Theories and Explanations

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You may think that you have a strong brand. However, the true strength of a brand only
shows up in the face of strong competition. This might be an entrant into a market or
technology change.
Think about Nudie (Innocent Smoothies UK) bringing the values of the “Innocent”
archetype and completely transforming the category.
Think about Sony Walkman and the introduction of the iPod.
Think about Nokia and the introduction of the iPhone.
As marketers we need to take great care to understand how strong and vulnerable our
brands and products REALLY are.
How
Strong is
my Brand?
“The true strength of a brand only shows up in the face of
strong competition.”

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111
Leveraging your Brand
The “family tree” of brand extension
Line Extensions
in existing
Product Class
Stretching the
Brand Vertically
in existing
Product Class
Brand
Extensions
in different
Product Class
Co-Branding
Leveraging
the
Brand
Stretching
Down
Stretching
Up
Ad Hoc Brand
Extensions
Creating a
Range Brand

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Line Extension
Extending a brand name to other forms and varieties of
the original product that offer the same benefit and usage
behaviour e.g. Gillette, Nescafe
Types of Extensions
Brand Extension
Extending a brand name to other products in other market
segments e.g. Virgin, Yamaha
VS.

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Line Extension
The rules to not disrupt your house brand
1. Expected volume
Potentially huge brands should not bear the house name so that they can stand on
their own. Small-volume products should.
2. Competition
In a vacuum, where the brand doesn’t need to stand out, the brand should not bear the
house name. In a crowded field, it should.
3. Advertising Support
Big-budget brands should not bear the house name so their message can stand alone.
Small-budget brands should.
4. Significance
Breakthrough products should not bear the household name in order to minimise
disruption. Commodity products such as chemicals should.
5. Off-the-shelf items
Should not bear the house name. Items sold by sales reps should.
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, Al Ries and Jack Trout 1981

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Brand Extension
When it can work
1. Generally, the more things a brand stands for, the weaker it becomes. For some
brands, however, the brand is powerful and versatile enough to enter a completely new
category.
2. It’s useful to ask why a brand exists and therefore what it can bring to a new category
3. The factors of production efficiencies, distribution, customer awareness, loyalty and
competitive set should all be carefully reviewed before forming an opinion on whether
the brand is right for the new category.
4. Virgin’s essence of “David slaying Goliaths wherever they sleep” makes it the king of
x-category brand extensions, adding value for staff and customers alike.
5. That said, it’s reputed that over half of Virgin’s new category launches never make it, so
this strategy should be treated with caution.

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To Extend or Not to Extend?
Brand extensions can strengthen a business as they provide new revenue streams,
new news and new ways to enjoy the brand,
BUT...
A new product will weaken a brand as it now stands for more things – the more things
something stands for the less brand strength it has.
As marketers we need to be very strategic in deciding:
whether to launch a new product under an existing brand (leveraging its strength/but
risking its dilution of equity)
VS.
the challenges of establishing a new brand (and the low success rates launches have)
Launch a new
product under an
existing brand
VS.
Establish a new
brand

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New Brands VS. Extensions
When to use which
In a large scale test it was proven that brand extensions did not perform as well as products launched with new brand names.
But what other options do you have?
More brand
extensions
Less
Focus
Less
Sales
= =

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Compete with Yourself!
Don’t slaughter tomorrow’s opportunity on the altar of yesterday!
Having a competitive streak within your business is always good; sometimes it is good to extend this competition to the marketplace.
Gillette use brands to compete against themselves.

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Life After the 30-Second Spot, Joseph Jaffe 2005
Colgate’s enormous line extension creates confusion
and an excess of choice. Conversely, they have a
wall of Colgate in a supermarket that’s hard to ignore.
This might be due to lack of a very strong competitor.
Example: Colgate
BRAND EXTENSIONS

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Overview of Growth through Brand Extension
Single Brand Product Line Extension Category Extension Business Extension
Evian Colgate
Whitening Tartar Control
Dove
Deodorant Hair Care
Virgin
Shower Gel Mobile Phones Credit Cards

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The Problem of Extensions
Minds can lose focus!
Remember our clothes hook example? Well the same can happen within a brand.
For Example:
Budweiser has brought out 15 new products – do you even know which one you
have in mind?
Unchecked product line expansion can weaken a brand’s image, disturb trade
relations and disguise cost increases.
The more variations you attach to the brand, the more the mind loses focus, the
more you lose focus and the more vulnerable you become.
In most cases the specialist or the well-focused competitor is the winner as they
can focus on one product, one benefit, one message. The specialist also has the
ability to be perceived as the expert or the best.

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Brand Glossary
Parent Brand • Key driver of preference and conviction
• Key source of brand equity
• Purchase consolidator
Heinz, Cadbury
Driver Brand • Driver brand is purchase driver
• Driver brand has its own personality independent
of the parent brand
iPod - part of Apple but stands on its own
Sub-Brand • Sub-brand is a secondary driver
• Sub-brand has its own personality, akin to a sibling
of the parent brand
• Sub-brand does not have to be descriptive
Arnotts Savoys
Range Descriptor • Range descriptor primarily describes a product
range for ease of navigation
• Often not trademark-able due to its descriptive
nature
Continental Cup-a-Soup
Product Descriptor • Product descriptor simply describes a product
type for ease of selection
Essential Herbs and Spices
Term Definition Example

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This model illustrates that any single purchase decision is a
mix of master brand appeal and individual product features
(sub-brands). Understanding what it is and what it should be
helps a marketer plan for messaging hierarchy.
Communication
and Brand
Relationships
Master Brand
Sub-Brand/
Individual
Product Features
Purchase
Decision

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Brand Relationship Spectrum
A different approach to Brand Management
Branded House
Single brand across
organisation
IBM
Virgin
Nokia
Share House
Endorsed brands
Microsoft
Apple
Sony
McDonald’s
House of Brands Proctor & Gamble
GSK
Unilever
Types of Brand Organisation Brand
Windows
iPod
Walkman
Big Mac
Pampers
Nicabate
Lux
Individual Brand
Brand
Parent
Brand

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Brand Relationship Spectrum
Branded House
Same Identity Different
Identity
Sub-Brand
Master Brand
as Driver
Co-Driver
DESKJET
Endorsed Brands
Strong
Endorsement
Linked Name Token
Endorsement
BY
House of Brands
Shadow
Endorser
Not Connected
G.D Searle
Star Co-Star Support Role Backstage

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“Master Brand” Casting - An Alternative View
Star:
Solo
Driver: master brand,
with product descriptor
Heinz as the master brand
Co-Star:
The Lead
Heinz as master brand with Organic as
descriptor
Co-Star:
Equal Billing
Heinz and Alphaghetti together
Support Role:
Back-up
Baked beans endorsed by Heinz master
brand
Support Role:
Minor Cameo
EZ Squirt sub-brand consolidated under
Heinz master brand
Driver: master brand,
but range descriptor adds something
Driver: master & sub-brand
Primary/Secondary, roughly 50/50
Driver: master as endorser
Driver: Sub-brand
master brand consolidates

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Brand Life Stage
What are the classifications?
Cash cows are units with high market share in a slow-growing industry. They typically
generate cash in excess of the amount needed to maintain the business.
Dogs are units with low market share in a mature, slow-growing industry. These units
typically “break even”, generating barely enough cash to maintain the business’s
market share.
Question marks are growing rapidly and thus consume large amounts of cash, but
because they have low market shares do not generate much cash.
Stars are units with a high market share in a fast-growing industry. The hope is that
stars become the next cash cows.
Question
Marks
Dogs
Cash Cows
Stars
Business Return
Positive (+)
Negative (-)
www.wikipedia.org - BCG Growth Matrix

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BRAND TRACKING
128
The head of P&G, the world’s largest advertiser, once famously said, “I know half of my
advertising is completely wasted, I just don’t know which half.”
Just as consumer decision making is very complex, the way marketing works in totality is
complex too.
So as well as tracking each individual element, we also need to take a look at the bigger
picture and look how they work in combination to build value in our businesses and
brands.
Tracking can be a minefield, and difficult to do, so the following are ways to quantify your
marketing.
Brand
Pulse
“I know half of my advertising is completely wasted, I just don’t know
which half.”

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Objectives
What is the aim of your marketing?
• Sales volume
• Margin
• Brand awareness
• Advertising awareness (both spontaneous and prompted)
• Brand image
• Brand predisposition (likelihood to buy)
• Recall of advertising
• Recall of claims made by the advertising
• Recognition of unbranded ads and the degree to which they are attributed to the correct advertiser
Before you try to accurately measure anything, you need to be sure you’re actually looking at the right thing.

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Value Equation
Value
(Perceived)
Price
Benefit
=
Price Elasticity - A measure of the change in demand in response to a change in price of
a product or service. Low price elasticity indicates little change in demand; high elasticity
indicates a relatively large change in demand.
Having a low price elasticity is a wonderful goal to have as a marketer. The ability to put
your price up and not lose demand indicates you’ve built significant value in your brand
and have strongly differentiated it from your competitors.
We’ve seen the lows of things like the Pizza Wars where Dominos, Eagle Boys and Pizza
Hut all just undercut each other until the margin was extinguised, resulting in insufficient
elasticity to protect their bottom lines.

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Brand Differentials
Brand Preference - The measure of brand loyalty where a consumer will
choose a particular brand in the presence of competing brands, but will accept
substitutes if that brand is not available.
Brand
Preference
Brand
Equity
Brand Equity - The added value a brand name identity brings to a product or
service beyond the functional benefits provided.
VS.

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Brand Equity - Ten Measures
1. Price Premium
2. Satisfaction/Loyalty
3. Perceived Quality
4. Leadership/Popularity
5. Perceived Value
6. Brand Personality
7. Organisational Associations
8. Brand Awareness
9. Market share
10. Market Price and Distribution Coverage
In his book, David identifies the factors
that correlate most highly to brand equity.
Not all brand attributes affect equity
equally. Leadership, innovation and
perceived quality actually correlate the
strongest and are standouts for those
trying to build value in their brand.
{Loyalty Measures
{Perceived Quality/
Leadership Measures
{
Awareness Measures {
Associations/
Differentiation Measures
Market Behaviour Measures {

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Interbrand’s Top Brands
Interbrand is a methodology which uses a set of criteria looking at the business
prospects of the brand, brand market, as well as customer perception. The
evaluation uses 7 influences:
Leadership - reflects against the leader brand in the market
Stability - the longevity, power and value of the brand
Market - the strength of the market in which the brand resides
International - the global reach that the brand has
Trend - the overall long-term trend of the brand in terms of sales
Support - the consistency of investment and support
Protection - the strength of the brand’s legal trademark
Interbrand uses its brand ratings to determine a multiplier to apply to earnings.

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Recognition of a Brand
Whether or not a customer recalls your
brand can be the deciding factor in getting
on a shopping list or receiving a chance to
bid on a contract.
Niche brands fall below the line because
they are not known to a substantial group of
consumers, causing low recognition.
Dynamics of brands in the upper-middle
or upper-right part of the graph can be
important predictors of the brand’s future
health.
Low
Low High
High
Recall
Benefit Zone
Recognition
x
Niche Brand
BrandGraveyard
Recognition VS. Recall: The Graveyard Model

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Top of Mind vs. Spontaneous Awareness
Top-of-mind awareness = are you the first brand thought of when someone mentions a
particular category?
Spontaneous awareness = the other brands thought of when someone mentions a
particular category, which do not require a prompt to be remembered. For example, when..
hen someone mentions toothpaste, what do you think? Probably Colgate. This means
Colgate has top-of-mind awareness. You probably next think of Macleans, meaning they
have spontaneous awareness, but not top-of-mind awareness (for most people).
Top-of-mind awareness = brand salience and is an important purchase driver, especially in
impulse categories e.g: snacks.
Total spontaneous awareness = a brand’s ability for recognition, which is important in
establishing trust and removing risk associated, facilitating an easier purchase.
There is a quasi exponential relationship between the two. Bigger brands are generally
on the steeper part of the curve, therefore extracting greater benefit. If you can raise
your awareness across one of these parameters then you will gain an advantage across
both, sending you up the curve and therefore growing your brand. Once you are a
leader, increasing either of these parameters will result in almost exponential gain for gain
increase.
A couple of things to remember:
• Top-of-mind is important especially for impulse brands and snacks.
• It’s not linear. The bigger you are in spontaneous awareness the easier it is to shift top-
of-mind measures.
U. van de Sandt/Ammirati Puris Lintas 1999
Spontaneous Awareness
Top-of-mindAwareness
Low
Low
High
High

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Building Strong Brands
Muir and Miller propose an alternative model to
identify brand strength and opportunity in their book
The Business of Brands.
Affinity - ‘It’s my kind of brand’
Challenge - ‘A brand that is making waves; challenging
existing orthodoxy’
Fame - ‘The most famous brand in the category’
Price - ‘A brand that offers very good value for money’
Difference between weak and strong brands
Affinity
Challenge
Fame
Price
The Business of Brands, Jon Miller & David Muir 2009

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Brand Ranking and Research Tools
An international branding consultancy with 40 offices in 24 countries. Interbrand designed
a methodology which put a value on the financial benefit of owning a brand. Interbrand
annually release a ranking of the best global brands by value.
Interbrand
(www.interbrand.com)
A brand equity database that holds data for over 23,000 brands over 31 countries. The
database is used to estimate brand valuations and generate annual lists of top brands.
Australia’s largest independently owned research company with offices in each state.
It is considered to be the authoritative source (or “currency”) of information on financial
behaviour, readership, voting intention and consumer confidence.
Brand Asset Valuator - a tool created by Young & Rubicam (Y&R) used to measure brand
equity across products.
450 global brands and more than 8,000 local brands in 24 countries
were measured. The measures were broken into:
Differentiation - measures how distinctive the brand is in the marketplace
Relevance - measures whether a brand is meaningful to the respondent
Esteem - measures whether a brand is highly regarded or the best in its class
Knowledge - a measure of understanding as to what a brand stands for
BrandZ
(www.brandz.com)
Roy Morgan Research
(www.roymorgan.com.au)
BAV
(www.brandassetconsulting.com)
Developed by Total Research and based on a simple set of brand equity questions:
Salience - the percentage of respondents who have an opinion of the brand
Perceived quality - measures quality and usage associated with price
User satisfaction - the average quality rating a brand receives among consumers who use
the brand often
Equitrend
(www.equitrend.com)

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7 Online Brand Monitoring Tools
Shows who has mentioned you on Twitter without a bookmark. This will make it simple to
get tweets about any link.
Backtweets (Free)
(www.backtweets.com)
Shows you all of the conversation from various social media services e.g. WordPress,
Blogger, FriendFeed, surrounding a post or article.
Keeps track of conversations that mention you, your products, your company or any
keyword you like with hourly updates. You can even keep track of who’s tweeting your
website or blog.
A more comprehensive brand-monitoring solution for your business with more advanced
statistics about your keywords and mentions.
Backtype Connect (Free)
(www.backtype.com/connect)
Tweetbeep / Twilert (Free)
(www.tweetbeep.com)
(www.twilert.com)
Filtrbox (Free Trial Version) /
SM2 (Free) / Radian 6 (Paid)
(www.filtrbox.com)
(www.techrigy.com)
(www.radian6.com)

BRAND TOOLS
We encourage you to use these tools in your internal workshop
and brainstorming sessions. We just ask that you leave the
source reference on all pages as credit.

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140
Business Model Canvas
Key Partners Key Activities Value
Proposition
Customer
Relationships
Customer
Segments
Key Resources Channels
Cost Structures Revenue Streams
Business Model Generation, Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur 2010
and co-created by an amazing crowd of 470 practitioners from 45 countries

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Asset Sale
The most widely understood revenue stream derives from selling ownership rights to a physical
product
Usage Fee
Ways to generate Revenue Streams
7 Ways to Generate Revenue Streams
This revenue stream is generated by the use of a particular service
The more a service is used, the more a customer pays
Subscription Fee
This revenue stream is generated by selling continual access to a service. An example of this
would be a gym who offers access to their facilities for a membership fee
Lending, Renting,
Leasing
This revenue stream is created by temporarily granting someone the exclusive right to a particular
asset for a fixed period in return for a fee
Licensing
This revenue stream is generated by giving customers permission to use protected intellectual
property in exchange for licensing fees
Brokerage Fees
This revenue stream derives from intermediation services performed on behalf of two or more
parties. An example would be a real estate agent earning commission every time they match a
seller and a buyer
Advertising
This revenue stream results from fees for advertising a particular product or service
Media industries, event organisers and software services rely heavily on advertising revenues

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Brand Potential Analysis
Product Share
Leader
Entrant
LargeSmall
MarketSize
Snapshot
Brand Strength
Loved
Irrelevant
GrowthDecline
MarketMomentum
Prediction
Derived from Boston Consulting Group modelling, these two tools help assess a brand’s
potential when allocating marketing resources across a portfolio. Used in conjunction, the
snapshot gives a point of view on the current status whereas the prediction looks at the
potential of a brand.

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Turning Brand Essence Inside-Out
© Copyright 2010 All rights reserved by Step Change Marketing in perpetuity
Brand Essence
Internal Culture
Values and Belief
Missions and Method
External Culture
Who are the company
representatives?
How to represent
the company
Customer
Experience
Rewarding
Brand
Experience
Consistency
StaffImpactCustomerImpact
Unifying
Creates focus
Pride
Loyalty
Staff retention
Staff satisfaction
Expectations are
set and met
Guide actions
Guide style and tone
Consistency and Clarity
leads to:
Repeat purchase
Customer advocacy
A brand can affect many dimensions of your business beyond just external communications. The chart below maps out
some of these opportunities.

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A Mind Mapping Tool
The Brand
Quality
Service
Value
Brands
Products
Prior to undertaking any brand
architecture or positioning work it
might be useful to lay out and mind
map certain attributes as listed
above. This process will help identify
gaps (if any).

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Mind Mapping Example: McDonald’s
Value
Pricing
Portion size
Promotions
Service
Consistent
Convenient
Hassle-free
Fast
Clean
Meals
Products
Breakfast
Burgers
Fries
Drinks
Quality
Fresh
Consistent
Good tasting
Hot
Brands
Big Mac
McMuffin
Social Involvement
Charities
Ronald McDonald House
Kids, Fun, Family
Friendly/Warm
Happy Meal Toys
Birthday Parties
Playground
Ronald McDonald

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146
Ogilvy & Mather
A to Z
A Word Bank
This method involves using word association to articulate suppressed feelings and emotions.
It can be used in addition to Brand Audit to enrich vocabulary e.g. BMW (New Zealand).
How it works
1. Generate word associations for the brand beginning with the letter A and write them
down, then for the letter B, then for letter C, etc., etc. to Z
2. Review your Word Bank
3. Select one association for each letter
4. Write a summary

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A to Z: BMW Example
A Adult Active Arrogant Ambitious Achievement
B Blitzkrieg Bold Ballsy Better
C Cultured Classic Confident Conservative Competitive
D Drivable Dynamic Discerning Drive me
E Envy Energetic Engineered Expensive Elite
F Flat out Fast Fashionable
G Grunt German Glamour Goal
H Handling Harmony High-tech Hot
I Independent Individual Intelligent Integrity Important
J Jumping Jive Jazz
K Kraut King Killer Knowledge
L Look out Lover Luxury Long term Leader
M Modern Muscle Manly Meticulous Me

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BMW Example cont...
N Noticed Notorious Not old Nurtured Nuance
O Overt Overdrive
P Prestigious Passionate Pride Pleasure
Q
R Revs Refined Red Reliable
S Suave Stylish Sleek Silent
T Trustworthy Thrusting Tailored Throaty Torque
U Unbeatable Unique Understand
V Vamp Vibrant Virile Verve Values
W Wealth Wayward Wish Wanton
X Xcuse me SeXy Xciting Xuberant Xcellence
Y Youth Young Yearn Yes
Z 0-100 Zoom Zealot Zippy
BB

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BMW Example
23
BMW Example cont..BMW Example
We saw a BMW as:
• Having power under control
• A feeling of superiority achieved by being the tamer of a powerful, passionate beast
• A perfect sense of harmony and balance in a car which has pure power and passion under its skin
A to Z:
Arrogant, Aspirational, Ballsy, Bold, Comfort, Classy, Confident, Demanding,
Discerning, Exclusive, Engineered, Fashion, Glamour, Hot, Individual, Intelligent,
Jazz, Killer, Lovers, Manly, Not old, Not slow, Overt, Passionate, Quality, Red, Sleek,
Tailored, Unique, Virile, Wealth, Xciting, Yearning, Zealot

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Word Association Audit
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

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151
Positioning Matrix
Copyright Thought Leaders LTD
This tool is especially useful for B2B
businesses and those that have an element
of face to face introductions.
Obsession
What lights you up?
Uniqueness
What sets you
apart?
Purpose
Explain how what
you do helps them
get on with what
they do
Category
Pick something they
already know about
History
Edit out the
irrelevant bits
Analogy
How is it like
something they
understand?
Problems
Speak to their inner
thoughts, state a
concern they would
identify with
Examples
Use case studies,
comparisons,
and past clients/
experiences
Packages
Talk about some
of the ideas you
already have
LowMediumHigh
You It Them
Focus
Energy

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Positioning Matrix: Step Change Example
Copyright Thought Leaders LTD
Obsession
Big Secrets,
Big Growth
Uniqueness
The secrets of big
business marketing
now available for
growing businesses
Purpose
The world’s most
powerful marketing
tool for achieving
business growth
Category
The Robin Hoods of
Marketing
History
40+ years cracking
the marketing
campaigns for the
world’s best brands in
Australia and the UK
Analogy
Marketing map
and compass for
business growth
Problems
Show you HOW to
get maximum return
for your marketing
investment
Examples
Pizza Hut,
CommSec, The
Australian, Pork,
Nestle, Nokia, Sony
Packages
Actually work with
you on your Business
Growth Plan and
Marketing Plan
LowMediumHigh
You It Them
Focus
Energy

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Dimensional Positioning
Current customer frustration and category pain points Negative consumer perceptions
What you do to overcome the above Desired image response that overcomes the above
Category Issue Image Issue
Product Stance Projected Attitude
Positioning?

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The Brand Onion
Essence
The core,
unchanging
essence of the
brand
Personality
Tone and manner that guides
all interaction
Source of Authority
Credentials of brand
Why consumers should
believe
Attributes
Features that make/define
the product or service
Focus on attributes that are
distinctive and unique
Benefits
Benefits that arise from
attributes
Think of benefits that
arise from implications of
benefits
How it makes you feel
This is the emotive benefits
that occur during the product
experience, e.g. a Ferrari
makes the owner feel powerful
What does it say about you?
How it changes the perception of
you to others
Public image of the product, e.g. a
Ferrari owner looks successful and
confident

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155
Brand Atom
Brand
Essence
Strapline
Product Attributes
Personality
Positioning
Associations
Target Market
Consumer facing
expression
All physical and
functional things
associated with
the brand
The way the brand
expresses itself
The slice in the
consumer’s mind
the triggers
The things associated
with the brand
The type of people
who use the brand

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Portfolio Targeting Matrix
Name Variant Need-State
met
Target
Audience
(Comms)
Usage
Occassion
Strategic Role
(Silver Bullet)
Positioning &
Strapline
Master Brand Positioning:
In deﬁning a relationship between a master brand and several sub-brands, it’s useful to
get them on one page and review the above dimensions and nuances.

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The X-Track Tool
This tool is all about shifting brand attributes to reach objectives. In the origin column we identify up to 4 problems or opportunities from
the current brand make up. In the destination column we list 4 desired brand attributes and traits. To move from origin to destination we
will need to be certain things (personality) and do certain things (actions). It’s a useful tool for getting a brand back on track.
Origin DestinationBe (Personality):
Do (Actions):
1.
2.
3.
4.
1.
2.
3.
4.

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Authenticity Pillar Audit
In building brand authenticity, have a look to see what stories or brand credibility can be derived from these 6 pillars.
Heritage
Familiarity
Personal Utility
Originality
Declared Beliefs
Momentum

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Linking the emotional to the rational:
1. List emotional values
2. List rational facts and use
3. Use lines to link up the values and elements
that match
4. Use the centre of the Venn diagram to create
combinations and concepts that link up
Emotional
Value
Rational
Element
Emotional and Rational

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Benefit Laddering
The human dimension reinforced by the
benefit.
E.g. Every moment I save is a moment for me
A benefit to the consumer, usually based on
how the product delivers a positive result.
E.g. I save time when I serve apple sauce
A benefit to the consumer usually based on a
product feature or attribute.
E.g. Apple sauce is easy to serve
Aspect of the product, usually based on a
product feature or attribute.
E.g. Apple sauce spoons smoothly from the
jar
Characteristic of the product, usually
inherent or natural (intrinsic).
E.g. Apple sauce comes in a wide mouth jar
Values
Customer
Benefits
Product
Benefits
Product
Features
Attribute

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Personify the Brand
As the product:
The user:
The usage:
As a car:
As an animal:
As a song:
Brand name:
Image
Brand personified:

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Personify the Brand: Westpac Example
As the product:
The user:
The usage:
As a car:
As an animal:
As a song:
Brand name:
Image
Brand personified:
Banking, finance, mortgages
Westpac
Upper middle Australia. Socially responsible
Predominantly Internet with branch visitations
Honda Hybrid
Elephant
Imagine
Male, in his 50s, grey hair, rich,
management, formal suit and glasses, with
a caring social conscience side

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Brands Big Day Out
Morning/Work-out
Breakfast
Work
Social night
Joins a club
Weekend away
In doing this exercise you may also uncover
some tactical media opportunities or ideas.

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Visual Dimensions
Logo
Our Mission
Our Feeling
The Purchase
Our Consumers
Our Creation
Our Essence
The Purchaser
Our Occasion
Capture your brand
personality with a series of
images that bring to life each
of the sections. It’s a brand’s
personality mood board and
is useful to put on staff walls
to drive inspiration and as
Agency/Partner inspiration.

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165
Remarkability - Seth Godin
Seth Godin is a famous writer, speaker and agent of change.
He has written 12 bestsellers; one in particular deals with the concept of “remarkability”
in his book “The Big Moo”.
Remarkability is the trait of something that captures attention, to the extent that people
talk about it. It is remarkable and has remarkability.
Godin is all about encouraging people to rethink the notion of remarkability using this
simple test – “Is it worth remarking on?”
As marketers, this test is a great one to hold ourselves and our work up against.
We need to stop just running ads and focus on making remarkable products instead.
Relevant
&
Remarkable
“Remarkability is the trait of something that captures attention to
the extent that people talk about it.”
The Big Moo - by the group of 33, edited by Seth Godin

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Remarkable?

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167
REMARKABLE!

Congratulations on completing Book 1: Know Your business
The next book in the Brand Box series is Book 2: Know Your Market
Contact us to get yourself a copy hellostepchange.com | +61 2 8030 8655 | chat@hellostepchange.com
Know Your Business Know Your Market Know Your Consumers What’s the Big Idea? How To Say It When And Where To Say It
The Brand Box series

Brand Box 1 - Know Your Business - The Marketer's Ultimate Toolkit

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