John Gumas is CEO of Gumas Advertising based in San Francisco and co-author of Challenger Brand Marketing.
Promoting a brand identity is the substance of any marketing campaign. However, a brand is made up of multiple elements. There is your company name, logo, colors, graphics, brand promise, tone and more.
Taken as a whole, your brand is the identity that you project to the market, especially your customers, employees, partners and investors. Your brand identity comprises the visible elements that distinguish your business identity. But can you distill your brand identity into your brand essence?
Brand essence is that single word, phrase or sentence that captures your brand’s fundamental nature. Your brand essence represents the image you seek to project to the world, and it’s not easy to identify. Brand essence is intangible. It connotes an emotional response that customers and internal team members get from your brand. Revealing and capturing brand essence can be challenging, but the result is valuable, and the process of defining brand essence can be extremely revealing.
Capturing The Intangible
It’s important to remember that brand essence is intangible. It’s not defined by the color of the packaging or the features of a product. Offering athletic shoes that are incredibly light is not brand essence—but they may be “cool,” or in the case of Nike, “authentic athletic performance.” Brand essence is the intangible quality you want to express that differentiates your brand.
Brand essence guides every aspect of advertising and marketing when it’s well understood. Projecting brand essence becomes the litmus test for the success or failure of a campaign.
For example, there is a Disney experience that projects magic, whether you are going to Disneyland, Disney World, on a Disney cruise or to the next Disney movie release. You expect that feeling of “magic” as part of the Disney experience.
The Harley-Davidson brand has maintained cult status for decades. Harley Davidson isn’t just a brand. It’s a cultural icon and a lifestyle. Harley Davidson’s brand essence is adventure and freedom. It’s what distinguishes the “hog” from other motorcycle brands. For comparison, BMW Motorcycles has built its brand around long-distance endurance and racing success. Their brand essence is captured by the slogan “Make life a ride.”
We have found that brand essence is essential for challenger brands, which must compete against more prominent brand names with more marketing resources. Brand essence distinguishes challengers from their competitors and reflects the heartbeat of their brand. Understanding brand essence promotes consistent messaging.
Freeing The Essence From The Brand
Setting the brand essence free from the brand isn’t easy. Since brand essence is intangible, it lives in every aspect of the organization, including every company member. When Michelangelo carved David, people asked him how he created such a masterpiece. The artist explained, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Finding your brand essence requires a similar process, looking past the surface to find something not readily apparent and capturing it.
When we talk to clients about their brands and what makes them unique, they usually talk about “our people,” “our products” or “our customer experience.” This would be similar to asking the owner of a Michelin-star restaurant what makes their establishment unique and they reply, “Good food and good service.” It describes a basic expectation but fails to capture what makes the dining experience special or exceptional.
Freeing the essence from the brand requires critical insight that can only be gleaned from internal and external research. You can identify your brand essence by digging in and doing your homework.
Start with the brand promise.
Brand essence is reflected in your brand promise. A brand promise is a simple, one-sentence summary that explains the core benefits your brand provides: your commitment to your customers. The brand promise is not an advertising slogan or catchphrase but rather the expectation that serves as the foundation for your relationship with your customers. It’s the commitment to your customers that your brand consistently delivers. The brand promise reflects the company’s purpose and mentality.
Conduct internal interviews.
Talk to the company’s brand ambassadors and stakeholders. Brand essence is usually part of the company’s culture, and employees can generally identify the brand’s substance whether they realize it or not. Frank, confidential interviews will be rather revealing.
Conduct external interviews.
The customers’ perspective of the brand may differ from internal viewpoints. Talking to customers, resellers, strategic partners and other stakeholders can give you valuable insight into what others think about your brand. An independent viewpoint can tell you whether your internal brand perceptions align with the customers’ views.
Review the company history.
Brands evolve over time. Looking back over the brand’s history, including past logos, brand marks, colors, product names and more can reveal much about the personality of the brand and the origins of its DNA.
Final Thoughts
Finding your brand essence should not be easy. It requires a lot of digging and brutal honesty about your company, your products, and your relationship with your customers and stakeholders. If you take the time and commit to doing the work, the insights that are the result will form the foundation for future marketing success.
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