What is Brand?

Why Brand?

What difference does

Brand make?

1

Introducing Brand…

• A strong corporate brand is the evocative articulation of organisation‟s

purpose

• Beyond mission statements and objectives, the brand encapsulates a core

promise and answers „why choose us?” and “how we are different?”.

• Brands creates simplicity out of complexity.

• Brands take the rational and make it emotional through the use of language

and symbols as a shortcut to decision making and the guarantee of a

promise made.

• Strong brands energise people - for employees they create meaning, stir

emotions and engage people.

• Externally the brand creates a connection and commitment with customers.

XXX

They help businesses PERFORM

UNIFY

Make sense of the

business as a

whole

They PROTECT against

predators

They INSPIRE employees

to live by the brand with

enthusiasm and

conviction

They help organisations

CHANGE via unchanging

values which help the

organisation flex

What is the role of Corporate Brands?

Internal

Alignment

and

Engagement

Value

creation

• One simple, unifying idea delivered clearly and consistently

• A clearly articulated, vision shared across the organisation

• A point of differentiation from your competitors

• Understanding your stakeholder‟s needs, delivering and exceeding them

• Building on a solid foundation of strong business fundamentals

• Staff and executives who „live and breathe their brand‟ and walk the talk

However, this does not happen by chance. Businesses who do this well

have a sound strategy & positioning which makes branding look easy.

Characteristics of successful brands

Organisations & senior executives typically understand the

tip of the iceberg:

• Name

• Logo

The real power is aligning to the above whilst also creating

real meaning for your stakeholders,

What is your positioning?

• Is it Credible, Sustainable, Relevant and Unique ?

What do you stand for?

How are you truly different?

Are your internal stakeholders aligned with what you are

saying?

Do you know what your external stakeholders seek, expect

and want?

Why is this important?

Have you got the clarity beneath the surface?

Successful businesses align their proposition

• Customer facing Proposition – Why do business with us?

• Employee facing Proposition – Why join or stay with us?

• Investor facing Proposition – Why invest with us?

• Community “Values” Proposition – Why believe in us?

The Corporate Brand links these propositions

Successful branding projects

Great brands are a combination of :

» Insight and understanding of the business and marketplace

» A clear group vision/strategic positioning

» Clear brand values

» Creative inspiration that reflects the Role, Purpose and Values of the brand

» A consistent delivery throughout the marketing mix and to all brand stakeholders

Critical success factors include

» Senior management mandate and ongoing support

» A core team resourced and empowered to bring the entire project together

» Experienced branding partner with proven process and capabilities

» A deadline and the commitment to stick to it

Why Brand?

8

In the context of Financial Services…

• Financial Services marketing communications is characterised by numbing

sameness, commoditised product feature wars, and laundry lists of product

benefits.

• It‟s a sea of noise, parity, clutter and dullness...

• Branding helps cut through the morass of the market, get noticed, and

connect with the customer on many levels and in ways that matter.

• A strong brand becomes the client‟s “shorthand” for making choices in a

complex, risky, and confusing marketplace.

Is this rational???

• What we actually think or why we buy a particular brand of product is based

on stored memories, images and feelings – which is what a brand is all

about

– Will we really belong to some rebel tribe by buying a motorcycle?

– Does every woman identify with Audrey Hepburn because her gift came

in a light blue box?

• It is one of the key reasons why we operate from feelings over facts,

respond to emotion over reason, and choose great brands over their service

or commodity substitutes.

“The „surplus society‟ has a surplus of similar

companies, employing similar people, with similar

educational backgrounds, coming up with similar

ideas, producing similar things, with similar prices and

similar quality.”

Kjell Nordstrom and Jonas Ridderstrale, Funky Business

Enough already!

What difference does

Brand Make?

What is the value of a strong, differentiated brand?

Strong brand

• Clear understanding among target

market of your positioning & offering

• Increased ability to attract clients

• Ability to retain & attract higher quality

employees

• Increased brand equity & awareness

• Consistent representation of brand

and marketing messages

• Positive impact on share price*– See notes

• Potential to demand premium price*– Customers will pay 19% more for a leading brand name

– See notes

Weak brand

• Poor brand recognition and confused

value proposition

• Limited ability to differentiate

• Reduced ability to attract quality staff

• Market unclear of offering

• Confusion of relationship between

parent and sub brands among staff

and market

• Limited brand equity built

• Limited ability to build brand loyalty

and preference among stakeholders

Building brand equity - Moving to desired.

Where are we today?

Source: A.C.Nielsen

High brand Equity &

Low Market Share

Equity under leveraged

Weak Brand Equity &

Low Market Share

Growth Opportunity

Weak Brand Equity &

Strong Market Share

Vulnerable – build Brand

Equity

High Brand Equity &

Strong market Share

Strong brands

Low

Hig

h

Bra

nd

Eq

uit

y

Market Share

Desired

Current?

Improved corporate reputation & better known brand

More robust share price

Increased ability to withstand adverse news, results or economic downturn

Clear Differentiation

Increased ability to attract and retain quality staff

Focused workforce - staff all „singing from the same song book‟

Strong, unified culture

Consistent marketing, communication and brand representation

Symbiotic relationship between corporate brand and business units

Summarising the Corporate benefits

Benefits of an aligned Brand

Human Resources

» Improved access to and retention of employees

» Improved satisfaction of new and long standing employees

» Improved engagement and productivity of employees

Corporate and Business functions

» Deeper alignment, cohesion and understanding across the entire organisation: department, division, city, country region or globally and how it plays out on a daily basis

» Greater degree of focus and flexibility, reduces confusion and ambiguity

» Assists in ensuring that Fidelity becomes an outward-looking, flexible, integrated and more responsive organization

» Strategy and priorities are communicated and clearly understood by all staff and management

Customers and Distribution Channels – Existing and New

» Provides customers with a clearer understanding of the value proposition, delivering greater ease and more meaningful, dimensional and sustainable relationships,

Community

» Provides the community with a greater and clearer understanding of the reason they exist, how they are positioned, what they believe in and what role they play in the broader community

Potential Employees

» Greater clarity and simplicity about who we are, what we stand for and what a career with us looks like

» A distinctive and clear EVP, internally and externally aligned that attracts the best graduates

» A clear market leader to seek out amongst a myriad of competitors

Internal External

More Benefits of Building Brands

The emotional connections between brands and buyers leads to greater access, lower price

sensitivity, better openness, and more forgiveness for mistakes for well - branded companies.

In fact strong brands are reflected in these preferential actions:

• Increased willingness to try a product or service.

• Lower time required to close a sale

• Greater chance that the product or sale is purchased

• Willingness to give a larger sum of purchase requirement

• Comfortableness with paying a price premium

• Lowered sensitivity to price increases

• Lowered inducement to experiment with competitive offerings.

17

In Summary:

A strong brand brings tangible commercial benefits. It ensures you‟re a „must have‟ on

any shortlist. It justifies a price premium. It helps drive customer loyalty.

Summarising the outcomes

• Your brand strategy builds current brand positioning and extends the brand to develop a unique & sustainable market position across all sectors of the business & across all stakeholders

• It creates a platform to drive „connectivity‟ between business divisions – adding value at a corporate level and across business units

• It delivers a stronger understanding of and commitment to the brand among staff

• It can include a brand identity system and visual language (look & feel, tone of voice, etc) calibrated to present consistency, while aligning to the needs & wants of the business unit brands within the business

• Implementation then plans to bring the program to life for internal and external audiences

• Supported by tools to track brand performance and measure improvements in brand health

Thanks!