What a brand means to me

I still remember the day when the brand Rishad Bathiudeen called me from Temple Trees saying that he had been made the Minister of Industry and Commerce and the challenge he had in his hand. My first thoughts to him were that this was going to be the birth of a strong brand in Sri Lanka and it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Last Friday when I was watching TV and saw that the whole country was commending brand Rishad for standing up to his constituency in his home electorate of Mannar, to me it was how a brand that was launched to Sri Lanka around two years back has understood the DNA of the soul of the brand and be it industry/commerce or resettlement issues, the same vibes are communicated to a targeted consumer.

What we saw last Friday was how the brand has captured the hearts and minds of a Muslim voter that has now made the brand strong and powerful voice for the Muslim voter. To me, it was one of the best cases in point that explain the power of marketing; in this case ‘personality marketing’ in a country just like a FMCG brand like Nike, Signal, Surf or Dialog.

What is a brand?

Let’s get deeper into this interesting subject – brands. To me, a brand is all about choice, especially when it comes to marketing a political candidate, given that there is so much of share of voice (SOV) that is freely available.

Brands in the political arena compete in such a crowded and noisy environment, how one is heard and remembered has continuously intrigued me. I believe that a great brand is built on a compelling idea that anchors the consumer’s attention and loyalty by filling an unmet or unsatisfied need, which is what brand Rishad has done successfully in the last two years.

If this connection is made, communication becomes more sharp, leading to a strong brand in the consumer’s mind. This can actually add stature to a mother brand like the UPFA in this context and increase the value of the brand.

I guess the thousands who came out to show confidence in brand Rishad is the value of this brand. As some media pointed out over the weekend, the fact was that the brand was not known to many who are not into industry and commerce but due to the Mannar episode today, Rishad has become a household brand. I guess that is the power of media.

The brand DNA

If I move to a global brand like Nike to take this discussion to a new terrain, my mind goes to the famous press ad headline which said ‘There is no finish line’. This essentially encapsulates the Nike brand’s DNA.

Nike symbolises an unreachable destination in pursuit of physical fitness and wellness. The idea is both inspirational to a universal audience seeking personal betterment. Overtime, a great brand idea doesn’t change; only its expression does. Renewing and refreshing the expression to ensure continuing relevance is a challenging journey.

A Sri Lankan example that comes to my mind is my favourite brand Dettol, which I managed for Sri Lanka for over three years. The brand has today launched many variants of soap, plasters and hand sanitisers and in the future might launch diapers, prickly heat powder and may be even creams, but the DNA that characterises Dettol remains – germ protection.

This reinforces the idea that a brand’s promise does not change but only that its expression does.

This expression is based on the changing life style of the consumer, which is why Dettol keeps launching brands and coming out with new advertising and promotions but will never move away from its DNA. This is what differentiates a strong brand from the herd.

Right connection

Let me take another case in point: the brand Surf washing soap powder. The brand is all about the ‘Champion Mother’ and yesterday’s mom believed that old-fashioned mothers have dirty kids; modern parenting is all about good mothers who allow their kids to get dirty. Hence a modern day mum will allow kids to be themselves whilst trusting Surf to do the task of removing the dirt from their kids’ clothes.

I believe that ensuring that you make the right connection with the right consumer at the right place and at the right time is a critical component of keeping the idea compelling and contemporary, which is what Surf as a brand has successfully done. I guess the 21 districts that came out to show support for brand Rishad also means that the right connection has been made and the time was right for this brand to appeal to a wider market.

The promise

To explain this point, let me take a globally exciting example from the world of perfumes – a brand called Axe, which is actually a globally acclaimed male perfume. What the brand actually tries to do is to connect with real life, real fantasies and real feelings of 18-year-old boys.

The core of the brand is ‘successful attraction of a female’ and it connects with a target that likes to talk and fantasise about it, but is not very good at it in real life and the brand Axe perfume works because it is a rite of passage: from feeling like boys to feeling like men.

So what the Axe brand does is help reinforce masculinity and makes them believe they can attract the Cleopatras of the world. In doing so, Axe becomes distinctive in the eyes of the consumer and makes it personal to the brand. This is the science of brand building at its best. But the real challenge for a brand is that the product must deliver a promise, which is what makes a brand strong, with a loyal following trailing behind.

New media

Now that we know the key ingredients of a strong brand, let me share a thought on the spiralling new media that is gaining currency because of their potential to engage consumers intimately. It’s all about touch points – the variety of ways in which you can connect your brand with your consumers.

In today’s environment, whether it’s via mainline media, the internet that includes vehicles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or for that matter just traditional email, has now changed the name of the game where brands are built.

In the case of outside-home initiatives, the communication tools like point of sale material have been replaced by tri-vision LCD alongside the road that gives avenue for multi-dimensional salience and relevance. Nike does this really well with its target consumers with outdoor vinyls where joggers can interact with them, in gyms you can sample the product and in the department store there is a built in mondor track that one can actually try the shoes they intend purchasing before real purchase takes place.

Surf provides a new contact point for mothers with contests for kids at schools, announcing the contests in print and TV, so that the brand experience takes place at two points – at school and at home.

The contest encourages mothers and teachers to unleash children’s potential by allowing them to explore and experience the mesmerising but messy world of colours and crayons. Axe hosts the longest dance party in the world in some countries and the result is an event rich in emotional content that creates a continuum of experience for the consumer.

Next steps

So while the old idea was to give a brand awareness and salience on media, the new way is to give it some buzz and experience. I guess for brand Rishad too, the Mannar episode has given the brand a buzz and experience on what this brand DNA is all about to a Muslim voter. Now the next phase of brand building must take form so that the real value of the brand can be unearthed.

(The author is an award winning marketing personality who has over 15 years of brand marketing expertise in top multinationals Reckitt, Johnsons and Lever and is an alumnus of Harvard University, Boston. The above thoughts are strictly his personal views and not the views of the organisations he serves.)