The Brand Anatomy Process: Becoming One of a Kind
The unkind truth – without conducting a Brand Anatomy, the process of becoming “one of a kind” is more like one of millions. A brand is not about you, or the organization, or the product and service, or even the customer – it’s about all those feelings, perceptions and experiences that occur between the brand (product, service or organization) and every other touch point it contacts in communicating its core qualities. If those qualities are not defined, or worse yet, ill-defined, then the brand’s foundation and its internal drivers need immediate attention.
Our exclusive Brand Anatomy Process was conceived for just this type of analysis. Whether your brand is new or well established, all brands and their equity attributes, at one time or another, need built, rebuilt, or sometimes just simply restored, regarding their defining attributes for superbrand success. Such attributes may include: quality, loyalty, familiarity and of course purchase intent – all working in concert at any given time to define Total Brand Equity – or the true total market value of a given brand, product or service.
Our Brand Anatomy is comprised of four distinct stages for prolific brand development:
- Pre-Audit brand Discovery
- Brand Architecture
- Brand Planning
- Brand Activation
Brand Architecture
This is the foundation of the Brand Anatomy Process. The brand Architecture’s primary purpose is to position the brand in achieving critical brand objectives such as increased awareness, engagement and preference. A Brand Architecture and its position supplies immediate focus, inertia and exacting initiatives to turn on brand momentum and emotive brand drivers.
A Brand-Build Architecture includes a purpose and position statement along with a well aligned crusade-catalyst tagline, which sets expectations and delivers promises, enforceable by internal brand ambassadors and promulgated by their intended targets. In addition, brand separation is created through a portfolio system of branded nomenclatures and brand differentiation (including Relevant and Positional Differentiation).
We believe Positional Differentiation is the single most cost-effective measure you can invest in before going to market, as it will affect every contact point of brand interface. Ultimately, C+A Positional Differentiation creates categorical separation, while reinforcing foundational architecture, resulting in the brand’s increased ability to garner greater purchase intent for true “return on marketing”.