Consistency is an uphill battle in the dynamic change worshipping culture of advertising.
After all, the setting up and solving of new issues is what excites the momentum of the marketing process.
The task of staying consistency is made harderthese days withy the number of multimedia touch points a campaign must maintain with clients, along with the increasing number of hands guiding it through these various permutations and extensions.
Toyota in the US dropped their “Oh what a Feeling” campaign within a couple of years of it being devised in the late 1970s. But the notion lived on other markets, like Australia, where it became the best-known slogan in any advertising category, as well as the most creatively awarded campaign, in the country.
Meanwhile, the US Toyota client was spending tens of millions of dollars striving to set in a different tagline, then another, and another, without capturing the burr-like quality of the original.
There are several global blue chip advertisers who could gain knowledge from Toyota’s percipience. A number of systems can make consistency easier to accomplish, like the creative use of brand properties, mnemonic devices, and demonstrably campaign able ideas, for a start. An advertising property is like a house; maintain it, freshen it up every couple of years, and it will last a lifetime.
In the East, the trader mentality still prevails: buy and sell. It is tough to accept a formula that suggests one should build anything like brand equity for the long term. When Asian brands look to global markets, a wholly different mindset is needed.
One upside of thinking short is being able to move fast; and that is the bottom-line attraction for the Asian investor. But, in the marketing arena, expediency regularly lessen brands in a flash. Obviously, the advertising communications services industry in Asia has been delinquent.
The ways of the West have reached into the heart and soul of Asia, and teenagers – the big Asian clients of tomorrow – are appreciating and embracing it all. And why not! In the face of this, the main thing is to preserve one’s core values.
But no marketing model should be so rigid that you can’t finesse it. No corporate marketing mantra can be so rigid that any change, any flexibility, verboten. Corporately, one can say: “Here’s the model we’ve always used; so let’s see if it works in a particular society.”
For instance, Marlboro has never significantly changed its platform since the 1970s, whether it’s talking to men who dig ditches or the men who sit in boardrooms. Global consistency in its advertising has been the cornerstone of Marlboro’s power. Because it is visually very strong and simple.
Everyone can understand it and the values it projects. Marlboro’s achievement among young and old in Asia is a fine example of how a well established Western brand identity has triumphantly crossed all Kinds of cultural and social barriers and has stayed true to itself in the process.
Marketing a global brand that seeks substantial growth across a large group of people should strive to follow much the same model anywhere. It’s just plain common sense. This fast-shrinking world of communications and the fast- growing movement of people across continents are two reasons for consistency.
What is consistency?
Lifetime bonding is the ultimate dream of all ambitious brand owners. People love to be loved and, predictably, they incline towards brands that know them, understand them and reach into their hearts. For this, consistency – a single message – must be retained across time, geography, media product and ad channels.
Brand Equity
Although only formalized as a concept about 20 years ago, brand equity is by far the most valuable asset of most companies. It has been described as “the upstream reservoir of cash flow”. Consumes inspiration to buy or to pay more has taken place, nevertheless it hasn’t yet been turned into actual money turnover.
The very fact that brand equity is indefinable makes the job of caring and enhancing it that much harder. Being true to the brand begins by ensuring that the brand owner’s staff, distributors, partners and agents understands the brand’s identity.
They should have a good grasp on what the brand stands for: What is timeless about it and what is not. Any genuine global brand-building endeavor should contain programs that educate employees. If the brand owner’s own staff don’t understand and take in what he is to build, what chance has the public got?
Global brands are naturally obliged to transcend borders; sometimes those borders are jealously guarded with in the company itself. More seminars, workshops, field visits and work-exchange programs will knock down walls.
Cross-border bonding not only cherishes a free flow of information and co-operation, it also lets a company develop its own marketing vocabulary and templates. Systems can also be put in place to track when brand-building efforts doze off strategy.
Getting employees to vote on the ad campaigns they think best illustrate the essence of the brand builds involvement; more importantly, it signals whether employees fully understand what the brand is all about. Every brand owner has to get his own way of being true to his brand nevertheless whatever model is used, enthusiastic support of the program at local market level is fundamental.
The Danger of Change
While variety is the spice of life, change isn’t. Opposite to popular opinion, I figure that mature consumer generally refuse to change. Conversely, many marketers feel change is their salvation. So do advertising agencies. It is conventional to change; it is unconventional not to.
The world is changing so rapid, or so we’re told. Information technology is upon us, changing us. Everything has to change to continue to exist. It’s as though we are all racing down a fast-flowing river, pushing each other to lead the race, with little concern or acquaintance of where the river is taking us – and it could well be to Niagara Falls. You don’t have to jump blindly into that fast-flowing river. You don’t have to be completely obsessed about change. Sit back and calmly get the perspectives in balance.
Brands are Made Up of Three Parts: The Body, the Soul and the Conscience
The body is the change engine; it stands for the tangibles of your brand offering, the product developments and enhancements that are an ongoing process.
The brand’s soul stands for the emotional side of your brand offering; it is usually deep-rooted, and mirrors the unique character, personality and culture of your brand. The brand’s conscience stands for the company’s corporate “pay-back” responsibility to specific target client or to the public at large.
If large client marketers are serious about global growth for their brand, the three dynamics must come into play. The mission of the brand body is pretty clear – it is your engine of regular upgrades and innovations. Where things commonly go off the rails for marketers and ad agencies alike is the handling of the brand’s soul.
Getting the brand’s soul right is not an effortless task, but once you’ve nailed it, it needs not essentially change for decades. The brand’s soul is the mother of the brand, and like a country’s national flag and anthem, is should have a positive, long-term place in consumers’ hearts.
The brand’s consistency has been an fundamentalpart of the game among big global brand owners for generation. As it is more “corporate citizen” and institutional in character, it should tend to replicatethe values of the brand’s soul and not be the target of constant change.
Brand building is like building a relationship with a friend. If you connect fairly regularly, you stand a good chance of cultivating the friendship. If for some reason he or she declines to a chat once every six months, then once a year, or may be you may see each other every two years, you’ll gradually fail to remembereach other. It’s the same thing in advertising.
A Unique lcon or Property
Its unlikely that the Marlboro Man will be bettered as a visual icon, although some of the world’s most successful campaigns shave not had a graphic icon in their communications.
I just happen to believe that a compelling, exclusive graphic entity is a enormous asset in this game and that this ingredient should be firmly on the agenda in developing new brand-communications programs.
Apart from graphic characters, there are many other properties that can be employed exclusively to the brand’s advantage. A distinctive wordsmith style is one; the exemplary slogan is another. Then there are catchphrases that potentially become part of everyday language.
Creating and massaging exclusive brand icons or properties is an precondition in a brand-building exercise. Brand builders must be firm and focused. There are no half measures building a brand. If an ad isn’t right, if the language is wrong, if it is not the brand talking, say so. Every ad should be making a small investment in the brand’s eternal worth.
Success has its challenges. Once you become a global brand leader in both profits and reputation, there is a inclination to move to a defensive plan, to protect your treasure, to look for safeguards rather than preserve the adventurous sprit that won you fame and fortunein the first place.
I have no problem with the argument that different target audiences and different consumer feelings require different advertising solutions. What I do have a problem with is when the only thing that links all the different ads together is the company logo.
Keep in min, please, that every worthy brand has a soul, a special personality. It is a important responsibility for brand owners to leverage their personality in one form or another in all their advertising. It’s all part of the brand-building exercise. It’s part of consistently connecting in a certain way with your customer.
The brand’s core values ought not change, while the creative delivery of those values should constantly be at the cutting edge. One way or another brand owners get that confused; then they confuse their advertising agencies, and their final advertising reflects the lost path and confuses the reflects as well.
If you want to build a reputation for yourself, whatever you do, branding is the name, branding is the game. Branding has always been the main bugle player in the marketing battle. With the invasion of the Internet, the smart card and other technology, branding is now the Napoleon in the battle.
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