And yet many “brands” really are just labels: Familiar, strong on the
shelf, effective in pushing merchandise out the door and yet lifeless.
Just walk down the isle of any retail store. Watch and observe the mass
of “branding” presented to you. All was supposedly dialed to your taste,
dear customer. All is calculated and effective; you are buying the
“right” products, as the marketers intended. However, are you truly
impressed or convinced? Or is it that you are just presented with the
least-disappointing option? That is to say, all that branding comes down
to a mere labeling exercise, wrapped around arm-twisting back room
salesmanship. It’s that back-room maneuvering over sales channels and
product placement which is presented as branding. But it’s nothing more
than labeling, backed by the brute force of billions in marketing and
sales. It delivers the numbers yet very little glory.
For branding to succeed something else must happen: The brand must
become tangible. Regardless of the means, whether that’s ads, design, or
PR, brands work because they package emotions and attachments into an
experience that actually lives in the world. Logos do some of this,
packaging some more. Yet to my mind, a true branding test transports all
those notions into a completely new arena. The brand’s real muscle show
begins on a stage without spotlights, until now.
So let’s do some thought experiments. Can you imagine a Levis car? I
guess it’s probably a Jeep. How about an Apple car? I am sure you’ll
have no problems imaging that, right? By contrast, I’ll bet you’d be
hard-pressed to come up with a Coca-Cola car. And a BP car would simply
be a joke.
Read more full Article at here
http://newdealdesign.com/blog/a-new-gauge-for-brand-strength-the-tangible-brand-test
For branding to succeed something else must happen: The brand must
become tangible. Regardless of the means, whether that’s ads, design, or
PR, brands work because they package emotions and attachments into an
experience that actually lives in the world. Logos do some of this,
packaging some more. Yet to my mind, a true branding test transports all
those notions into a completely new arena. The brand’s real muscle show
begins on a stage without spotlights, until now.