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By
Nancy Marshall, Principal
Nancy Marshall Communications
Augusta, Maine
Inside, You’ll Learn How To:
• Establish a Brand Your Customers Will Identify With
• Use Public Relations to Build Brand Loyalty
• Brand Without Breaking the Bank
• Choose a Branding Team That’s Right for You
Download an Adobe PDF version of this White Paper here.
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Table of Contents:
What Is A Brand Anyway?
The term “branding” is a pretty common word in
business circles these days, but if you’re not involved
in advertising, marketing or public relations, I wouldn’t
be surprised if you find its meaning to be a bit hazy.
One person might claim that a company’s logo is its
brand. Another might insist that you can’t have a real
brand without a slogan. Still another might assert that branding
is about communicating the company’s mission.
These are all components of a brand, but they don’t
capture the whole package. Not by a long shot.
In reality, a brand is much more than a single image or string
of words. A brand is not tangible. A successful brand lives
in the minds and hearts of your customers. It is all of the
things they think of when they think of your company or your
product.
Almost anything can be branded – manufactured goods,
a service, a location, even a person. Elvis. Paris Hilton.
Amsterdam. Las Vegas. IPod. Rolex. Fed-Ex. Kleenex. And one
which I’ve been working on for years -- Maine. These
are all established brands. For most people, they bring very
specific images to mind.
The most successful brands hold a powerfully positive position
within our psyche.
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Case Study #1: The Walt Disney Company
Think Disney. What immediately comes to mind? For me,
it is family values, happiness, quality, a place where
fantasies come to life.
Disney is one of the world’s most recognizable
brands. The company started with a good product that
had strong appeal: Wholesome entertainment that enables
the young and young at heart to enter a world of fantasy.
The company built, and continues to build, its brand
through an integrated approach utilizing advertising,
marketing and public relations.
Do you remember the “We’re Going to Disneyland”
TV ads featuring Superbowl MVPs and other sports stars?
This long-running ad campaign created a lot of excitement
for the Disney brand. Or how about the 10-year exclusive
marketing partnership Disney forged with McDonald’s
in 1995, enabling Disney to promote its brand and the
products associated with it in 30,000-plus McDonald’s
restaurants?
The company has also been very successful in utilizing
public relations to generate coverage for the Disney
brand. Since the opening of its first theme park in
the early ‘70s, it has treated reporters to a
VIP preview of new parks, rides and other offerings
through a special media day. These events attract hundreds
of journalists from around the world and generate lots
of press coverage.
The strength of the Disney brand has helped the company
successfully ride out the storm during turbulent times.
You might remember the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
accident in 2003, or the French people’s condemnation
of Euro Disney when it first opened in the early ‘90s,
or most recently, the downfall of Michael Eisner. Thanks
to savvy crisis management and its Teflon-like brand,
the company’s image and bottom line sustained
no long-term damage despite the negative media coverage
generated by these events.
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Everybody Needs a Brand
Nike. Starbucks. Target. Victoria’s Secret. John Deere.
American Express.
These major companies have established a strong bond with
their customers through branding. Each company has created
a brand identity that has connected it with its target market
through a shared ideology or system of beliefs. The brands
have staying power because the companies consistently deliver
on the promises made through the brand.
But you don’t need to be a corporate giant to benefit
from branding. All companies need a brand strategy –
whether you are a small business manufacturing product for
a local market or a start-up firm with the long-term goal
of going global.
Sometimes, a winning brand strategy can actually earn small
companies with small budgets a place at the table with the
big guys. Ben & Jerry's started out in a converted garage
with a $12,000 investment and strong brand appeal in the late
‘70s. This small business with a large following was
acquired by Unilever for $326 million in 2000, and Ben &
Jerry's ice cream is now available around the world.
Over the past 20 plus years, I have worked with large and
small companies in many different types of industries –
manufacturing, communications, tourism, economic development,
outdoor recreation, hospitality, and food service, to name
a few. As a PR practitioner, nothing makes my job easier than
a management team that understands the value of establishing
a cohesive, consistent and unique company identity that accurately
portrays what the company has to offer its customers.
Whether you are competing on a local or global scale, having
a great product is no longer enough. There are lots of great
products. And because there are more products to choose from,
the customer’s expectations are higher. Furthermore,
we are constantly bombarded with promotional messages, so
it’s much harder to capture the customer’s attention.
You can no longer sit back and wait for the customers to come
to you.
You have to establish a distinctive identity – like
a thumbprint – in the minds of your customers. Find
what is unique and different about what you have to offer
– something your customers will relate to – and
then use it to set yourself apart from the competition.
And creating a successful brand doesn’t have to cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Targeted public relations,
an important component of brand-building, is cost effective
and has proven to be a very effective means of generating
excitement about our clients’ identities.
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Case Study #2: The Cola Wars
Without branding, all colas would be perceived exactly the
same. Brown, syrupy liquid -- not visually appealing. Branding
is what gives colas their identity.
Packaging comes into play. Taste tests are held to position
one brand against the other.
Brand messages are tailored to appeal to very specific target
audiences.
Coke reached out to racing fans by establishing Coca-Cola®
Classic as the Official Soft Drink of NASCAR. Generation Y
was the target in the recent Pepsi commercial that featured
rap mogul P. Diddy. In the commercial, P. Diddy hitches a
ride to an awards show in a Pepsi truck. Soon, all sorts of
celebrities popular with the Generation Y crowd are following
suit with their own decked-out versions of Pepsi truck transportation.
The cola wars are proof that branding works. Think about
it – even non-cola drinkers can distinguish between
the Coke and Pepsi brands. Some cola drinkers are so loyal
to one brand or the other that they will only drink their
brand of choice, even if they have a mighty thirst and the
competing brand is the only thing in the fridge.
On a more localized level, Moxie soda is a great example
of how good branding can generate a fiercely loyal following
for your product. Moxie is a distinctively flavored soda concocted
in the 1870s. The cola was heavily marketed in New England
in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In the State of Maine,
its popularity stuck. Over 100 years later, Moxie still enjoys
a wide cult-like following. Many Mainers firmly believe its
name embodies the spirit of the state’s residents: spunky,
gritty and determined. There is a Moxie Festival held in Maine
every summer. Car bumper stickers proudly proclaim, “Moxie
Makes Mainers Mighty.” In 2005, Moxie was made the official
state soft drink. How’s that for brand loyalty?
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Case Study #3: Madison Business Gateway
Business parks are everywhere. All tout the same qualities:
the best location, the best mix of services, and the lowest
cost of doing business. So how do you set your business park
apart from the rest? You guessed it: Branding.
Nancy Marshall Communications started working with Madison
Business Gateway, a 55-acre business park in rural Maine,
in 2002.
The business park is surrounded by beautiful mountains and
pristine lakes. Some of New England’s best spots for
outdoor recreation are literally right at its doorstep. The
area has a very low crime rate, housing is very affordable,
and the public school system is excellent. The key differentiating
factor to this business park? There’s a municipally-owned
electric company located at the entryway to the park. Electric
costs are the lowest in New England due to the nature of the
municipal electric company.
In doing research for the Madison Business Gateway branding
effort, we determined that quality of life was an important
factor, but it was the low electric rates that would grab
the attention of the number crunchers.
We had the basis for our brand. Our target audience valued
quality of life, and they were looking for a cost-effective
location for their business. We began assembling an arsenal
of promotional tools to convey the Madison Business Gateway
brand:
• A slogan: “The Power for Success Comes with
a Beautiful View”
• A logo resembling a mountain vista and a surge of
electricity
• Advertisements conveying a feeling of family and
community in an affordable setting
• Quality of life testimonials told by real people
living and working in the area
• Commercials, aired on a local ski resort’s
cable station, targeted at business executives vacationing
in Maine
• A Web site and promotional booklet that reinforced
the core messages of the brand
Brand building takes time, particularly when it comes to
a competitive field like commercial real estate. However,
the effort is paying off. In 2005, Madison Business Gateway
welcomed its first major tenant and signed a letter of intent
with a commercial greenhouse company.
The greenhouse company plans to make a $20 million capital
investment in the area and create approximately 75 new jobs.
Their operation requires a huge amount of electricity, and
it was the brand message about the low-cost electricity that
attracted them to Madison. This project is expected to have
a significant economic impact on the region and will help
a mill town to reinvent itself for the future.
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The Integrated Approach to Brand Building
Advertising, marketing, and public relations are all part
of building a strong and sustainable brand. When all three
tactics are used together, you can hit your target market
from all angles.
Advertising is buying space – on television, in a
newspaper, on-line, on a billboard, etc. – to promote
a product.
Marketing is about making sure that you're meeting your customers’
needs and getting value in return. Marketing initiatives include
market research, pricing, promotions, and sales.
Public relations helps the public understand a company and
its products. PR allows you to tell your story in a thorough
and authentic way. It helps a company achieve ‘transparency,’
which is what customers demand in today’s economy. Working
to generate positive media coverage is a big part of public
relations. Stories in the media are like third-party testimonials,
and people are more likely to believe what they read in a
news story than in an advertisement.
If you have the resources to use the integrated approach
to brand building, advertising, marketing and public relations
should have an equal place at the table when formulating your
strategy. The whole creative team should work together to
develop the key messages and images that will compose the
brand for your product or service. Each brings a different
area of expertise to the table, and their combined knowledge
will help develop a sound brand image that will resonate with
all target audiences across a broad spectrum of mediums.
Marketing establishes who your customer is and what makes
them tick.
Once the framework for the brand is established, public relations
starts the buzz going prior to the roll-out.
Marketing devises the packaging that’s going to make
your brand stand out from the rest and communicates directly
with potential customers to promote it.
Public relations and marketing work together to devise innovative
promotional materials and a cutting-edge Web site that will
catch and keep your target market’s interest and enable
them to interact with the brand. They team up again to stage
an unforgettable product unveiling event that will generate
direct sales as well as tons of glowing media coverage.
The advertising contingent continues the momentum by developing
attention-grabbing ads that reinforce the brand image and
communicate brand value to the customer. The ads are placed
in strategic locations that attract your target market.
After the roll-out strategy is complete, the team continues
to work together to ensure communication of the brand remains
clear, consistent and constant.
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Case Study #4: Cold River Vodka
Brothers Lee and Donnie Thibodeau grew up in the heart of
Maine’s potato country listening to their family talk
about turning potatoes into vodka.
In 2002, as they were driving back to their childhood home,
the idea resurfaced. Donnie, whose father taught him about
the potato business, and Lee, a Maine neurosurgeon, decided
the time was right to explore the possibility of commercially
producing potato vodka.
Soon, the concept for Maine Distilleries, LLC, Maine’s
first distillery, began to take shape. The Thibodeaus, along
with their strategic business partners Bob Harkins and Chris
Dowe, named their product “Cold River Vodka” after
the river from which the distillery would take its water.
After spending nearly three years on product development,
the Thibodeaus contracted with the creative partnership of
Briggs ADV of Bath, Maine and Nancy Marshall Communications
to create a distinctive brand for the vodka.
The popularity of super premium vodka brands was soaring.
But, with the vast number of vodkas already on the market,
the creative team knew they had to establish a very unique
niche for the new Maine potato vodka if it was to succeed.
The hook was a no-brainer. Maine already possessed a solid
brand image, and there were strong parallels between the Maine
mystique and the Maine Distilleries product.
The vodka would be 100 percent Maine-made, using pure Maine
water and Maine potatoes. It would be made by a family who
had lived and worked in the state for generations. Maine’s
scenic western mountains provided the backdrop for the family
farm.
Also, Maine has long been considered a wellspring of creativity
for artisans. Maine Distilleries, LLC would be a small artisan
distillery – a new addition to Maine’s traditional
cottage industries.
It was decided that the creative team would leverage the
power of the Maine brand to establish a name for the Maine-made
vodka.
Briggs ADV, Nancy Marshall Communications and the Maine Distilleries
team set to work on building the brand from the ground up.
Open lines of communication and collaboration throughout the
process ensured that the messages and imagery were consistent
throughout the marketing, advertising and public relations
aspects of the brand strategy.
A slogan was developed to reinforce the Maine connection.
“The Spirit of Maine” was used consistently throughout
the campaign on all promotional materials including packaging,
publicity materials, and advertising.
Maine Distilleries set the price point at $31.99 a bottle,
comparable to top-selling super premiums such as Grey Goose
and Belvedere. All promotional pieces and packaging were designed
with a classic look and feel to reinforce an image of exceptional
quality.
The long-term goal was national distribution, but the product
would initially be distributed in Maine and New Hampshire
only for quality control purposes and to reach out to the
regions where the vodka would have the greatest initial brand
appeal.
An exclusive bottle design, created by Maine artist Bruce
Hutchison, tied together all elements of the brand with its
depiction of the Cold River flowing out of the mountains and
meandering through potato fields. Elements of the artwork
were carried through on the Web site, in the press kit, and
on the invitations to the first tasting.
Before the invitations to the first tasting were even sealed,
Briggs ADV launched a beautiful Web site for the brand at
www.coldrivervodka.com. Nancy Marshall Communications worked
with the media to create a buzz about the product far beyond
its initial distribution area. The brand began to catch on
immediately.
An Associated Press story that appeared over a month before
the official November 2005 first tasting reiterated the messages
that were at the heart of the brand. Other articles appeared
in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and stories ran on every
Maine TV station.
In early November 2005, Nancy Marshall Communications helped
the Maine Distilleries team forge a marketing partnership
with the four-diamond Harraseeket Inn of Freeport, Maine,
to stage a first-class unveiling, inviting key restaurants,
liquor purveyors and media to a “first tasting.”
Cold River Vodka was served neat and in uniquely Maine cocktails,
including a blueberry martini made from local wild blueberries.
Media guests came from all over the state and New England
to test the product and meet the people behind it. As a result,
articles in major national magazines are in the works and
will be appearing in the months to come.
Because the Cold River Vodka brand image was communicated
clearly and consistently, target audiences were able to clearly
understand what the product stood for and what specific value
it held for them.
Since the first pour, the demand for the product has been
overwhelming. In fact, Maine Distilleries has been working
hard to keep up with the demand and has literally sold out
on several occasions.
The creative team continues to work to penetrate markets
beyond New England in anticipation of the product’s
increased distribution.
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Public Relations: The MVP
When it comes to the brand-building game, public relations
is your star quarterback. You need marketing and advertising
to run the ball, but you won’t make the touchdown without
PR.
Advertising and marketing are great when it comes to reinforcing
a brand, but PR is the most important player when it comes
to building brand affinity.
PR gives a brand substance by telling its story. PR lets
you get down to the who, what, where, when and why –
little nuggets of information that people will remember and
relate to.
When I find a product or service I connect with, I want to
tell everyone about it. The people that work in my agency
are the same way. The best place to buy shoes, the hottest
new movie, a great new restaurant . . . we tell our friends,
they tell their friends, and so on. That’s what PR is
really all about – creating a buzz. Good PR gets people
talking.
With advertising and marketing, you control 100 percent of
the message 100 percent of the time. With PR, you relinquish
control over exactly what will be said.
This distinction is exactly what makes PR such a powerful
tool when it comes to establishing credibility in the mind
of the customer. People are skeptical about claims made in
ads and marketing materials because they are subjective. With
PR, the information is coming through an objective third party
that does not have to endorse your message – the media.
This builds trust.
There are many ways to get the news out to the media –
press releases, pitch letters, video news releases. A skilled
PR practitioner generates “hits” (what we call
media coverage in the world of public relations) by offering
the media useful, newsworthy information. The media, in turn,
uses that information to develop editorial. A “hit”
might consist of a brief mention or possibly an entire story
on your product or service.
When it comes to successful PR, the bottom line is that the
information has to have value to the journalist you are pitching
and their readers. If your brand value is strong, identifying
newsworthy story ideas will be a piece of cake.
PR’s power to increase brand affinity can build a strong
foundation for sales and advertising efforts. Because people
have seen your company’s message in the media, they
are more likely to remember it and be receptive to it when
they see it promoted in another medium.
For companies with a shoestring branding budget, using public
relations to get the ball rolling is the best approach. With
public relations, there are no media buys or large production
costs to contend with. And because editorial copy is far more
believable than a controlled message, media coverage will
generate a strong return on investment.
Major companies like Starbucks and JetBlue Airways initially
fueled their campaigns through public relations exclusively.
Today, they are worldwide brands that employ a triage of marketing,
advertising and public relations to continue the momentum.
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What to Look For In a Brand-Building Team
Even if you have an in-house communications staff, it’s
a good idea to look to the outside for input because it will
give you a fresh perspective and enable you to tap into the
knowledge of creative professionals who have real-time branding
experience.
But there are many agencies out there today promoting themselves
as brand building experts. How do you select the right one
for your company?
Word of mouth is the best place to start. I would suggest
talking with your peers in the business community to determine
who they have worked with and who they would be willing to
work with again.
Also, start taking note of other brand building campaigns
that catch your eye. Is there a particular ad that really
stuck in your mind? Is there a new product or service that
jumps out at you from the editorial pages every time you pick
up a magazine? Make note of these things, and research the
creative teams behind them.
Now it’s time to narrow the search. Contact the agencies
individually to determine which can best fulfill your needs.
You may choose to interview the agencies informally or issue
a “Request for Proposal” -- a formal request for
competitive bids that outlines your specifications for the
project. Before you start the process, be sure to have a budget
and timeline in mind.
If you are looking for a full-service creative team, don’t
nix more specialized agencies that seem to be a good fit.
It’s likely that these smaller agencies have partnerships
with equally capable firms concentrating in the other tactics
you’d like to utilize.
However you plan to tackle the selection process, it is critical
that you meet face-to-face with all of the agencies you are
considering. Synergy between company leadership and the creative
team is critical to the innovative process. The only way you
can tell if you have the right chemistry to make it work is
to get together with the individuals that would be handling
the account.
During the interview process, here are a few things to consider:
• Is the team capable of thinking outside of the box?
Remember, successful brands grab attention. Ask about creative
projects they’ve executed for other clients. Do they
devise new, different and innovative approaches for every
project, or does the team tend to stick to the same formula
for every client, regardless of the product or service they
are promoting?
• Are they excited about it?
Is the team passionate about your product or service? Can
they really get behind your brand vision? If they are truly
motivated and energized by the opportunity you’ve presented
them, they are going to do the best job possible in framing
up your brand.
• Do they have a strong network of contacts?
Contacts are critical, particularly in public relations,
where the media is much more likely to return your call if
they know it’s going to result in a good story idea.
Contacts are also important when it comes to setting up cross-promotions
and getting key groups to endorse your product or service.
Ask the team about their media contacts, what other businesses
they have partnered with in the past, and if they have connections
to any VIPs or government officials that might be useful when
it comes time to launch your brand.
• Do they have the right experience for the job?
First and foremost, you want to establish that the candidate
has real branding experience. Also, what types of industries
have they worked with in the past? Ideally, you want to select
a group that has direct experience working in your particular
niche market. However, it’s equally important to consider
the variety of industries they’ve worked with. A team
that has worked in a number of sectors, instead of specializing
in just one, will be able to draw from the breadth of their
experience to structure a truly unique and innovative brand
strategy.
• Do they have staying power?
How long has the creative team been in business? A well-established
agency or group of agencies – those that have been in
operation for at least five years – will have a greater
knowledge base and much greater access to the resources you
will need to execute your brand. Staying power is also a very
good indication that the team knows how to do its job and
do it well.
• Do they have the capacity to handle the account?
Some agencies make the mistake of biting off more than they
can chew when an exciting new account is offered to them.
Make sure each group you interview has the staff time available
to fully meet your needs. Establish how much time each member
of the team will be able to designate to your account. It’s
also important to ensure that your branding strategy will
be managed by a senior-level account executive, and that you
will have ready access to that person whenever you have questions
or concerns.
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The Brand Litmus Test
OK. You’ve chosen your creative team, and they’ve
presented you with a brand concept. You’re about to
invest a significant portion of your marketing budget in rolling
it out. You like the look and feel of the brand, but how can
you be sure that it will resonate with your customers? Will
it establish an emotional connection between brand and consumer
-- the key to establishing a powerhouse brand?
Here are a few questions to ask yourself, and your team,
before taking that final step.
1. Does the brand communicate something new or different?
Does your brand convey a message that will make customers
say, “Hey, now that’s unique. I want to check
that out.” Think about Crest Whitestrips®. Proctor
and Gamble became the first to introduce an over-the counter
teeth whitening product in 2001. Soon, many other competing
products began turning up on store shelves, but P&G still
had the advantage because they did it first.
2. Will your customers perceive value in your brand?
If customers perceive brand value, they’ll become
eager buyers. For example, Old Navy and Chanel both sell clothing,
but their customers – and their branding efforts –
are very different. Both are successful because when it comes
to clothing, they know what is most important to their respective
markets. They convey the affinity through branding.
3. Can you live up to the brand promise?
A customer might try a product initially because of something
he or she saw on television or read in the paper, but if it
doesn’t do what it says it does, they’ll never
buy it again. And word of mouth works both ways: You can bet
they’re going to tell people about the bad experience.
Brand credibility is easy to lose and next to impossible to
regain. Make sure that you can live up to all of your brand
statements.
4. Are you targeting your market?
Mass marketing is a thing of the past. Now, it’s all
about niche marketing. Niche marketing is particularly important
if you are launching a branding strategy on a limited budget.
Marketing specifically to your target market will give you
a much bigger bang for your buck. For example, if your brand
involves organic pet products, sponsoring an animal rescue
program will build greater brand affinity than an ad placed
in the sports section of your local newspaper. Likewise, if
you are launching a new brand of running shoe, working to
earn media placements in running magazines should be the priority
when it comes to public relations.
5. Is everyone on the same page?
Do the goals of the marketing and advertising correspond
with the goals of public relations? Though each facet of the
creative team is responsible for different parts of the branding
effort, all of the pieces must match up if brand consistency
is to be achieved. Advertising, marketing and public relations
efforts must run parallel. They should be targeting the same
markets and communicating the same messages.
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Concluding Thoughts
Branding is a long-term investment. It will take time to
build a dedicated following for your product or service. However,
if you are successful, your brand will become your most important
business asset.
Establishing a strong brand ensures that you will have to
invest less in promotional initiatives in the long term. Once
you have a loyal following, its all about maintaining the
integrity of the brand and continuing the momentum. Following
a consistent branding strategy means you won’t have
to create a whole new promotional campaign every time you
develop a new product or expand. You’ve already got
the ball rolling.
A strong brand will also help you recover should your company
ever face a crisis. If you have consistently lived up to your
brand promise, you have established trust. That trust, a crisis
management plan and a willingness to communicate openly with
the public are the tools you will need to steer your business
through.
All companies need a brand identity. Competition for market
share is increasing across all industry sectors, so businesses
of all sizes must be proactive in promoting what unique value
they offer to their customers. While a strategy that incorporates
the principles of public relations, marketing and advertising
is the most comprehensive approach, many new and growing businesses
simply do not have the resources to launch a full-scale branding
effort.
The good news is public relations can build a strong foundation
for your brand without breaking the bank. The trust and brand
affinity that can be established through a well-targeted public
relations campaign will make the public much more receptive
to marketing initiatives and advertising placements as your
bottom line grows and you are able to move forward with the
next stages of brand development.
It has worked for big names like Starbucks, Red Bull, The
Body Shop, and JetBlue, and it can work for you.
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Resources:
http://www.brandchannel.com
Atkin, Douglas, The Culting of Brands, When Customers
Become True Believers. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.
Gladwell, Malcolm, The Tipping Point, How Little Things
Can Make a Big Difference. New York and Boston: Little
Brown and Company, 2000, 2002.
Ries, Al and Laura Ries. The Fall of Advertising and The
Rise of PR. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.,
2002.
Roberts, Kevin. Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands.
New York: Powerhouse Books, 2004.
Copyright ©2006 Marshall Communications, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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