Audacious Brand Building Through Differentiated Storytelling

Audacious Brand Building Through

Differentiated Storytelling

Andrea Syverson

President, IER Partners

June 17, 2013

IER Partners Celebrating 15+ years of

IDEAS, EXECUTION & RESULTS!

Why Branding Matters

Brand Ambassadors: Internal & External

Strategic Storytelling

The Power of Touchpoints

Why Being Sticky Matters

Branding Homework

And, why you must, JUST DO IT!!!

Agenda

Why Audacious

Branding Matters

“Brands matter most

when every dollar

counts.”

- A.G. Lafley, P&G’s CEO

“Branding is the only

way to stand out in a

crowded marketplace.”

- Tom Peters

PASSION

DOLLARS

TIME

BRAND

ENERGY

“Brands offer us mental

shortcuts, helping us cut

through the clutter of

everything we buy and

enabling us to communicate

certain concepts quickly and

easily.” - Lucas Conley, author of OBD: Obsessive Branding Disorder

With thanks for the inspiration and education to Kevin Roberts, author

and creator of Lovemarks, The Future Beyond

Brands and The Lovemarks Effect

All book excerpts © Saatchi & Saatchi

“Lovemarks are the

charismatic brands that

people can‟t live without.”

- Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi

Brand

Ambassadors:

External

“The customer is the

boss of us all.”

- Al Kalmbach,

Founder Kalmbach Publishing Co

Target Audience

Consumer

Eyeballs or Wallets

Customer

Human Being

“The race will go to

those who listen to

customers and respond

most intently.”

- Tom Peters

Brand

Ambassadors:

Internal

Customer

Merchandising

Marketing Creative

The Grand Brand Collaboration!

© IER Partners, Inc.

BRANDABOUTTM Approach

© IER Partners, Inc.

“Nothing limits

achievement like small

thinking. Nothing

equals possibilities like

unleashed thinking.”

- William Arthur Ward

Created by IER Partners, Inc.

BRAND

INSPIRATION

Strategic

Storytelling

“ „Tell me a story‟ still comprise

four of the most powerful words

in the English language.”

- Pat Conroy

How will your

brand stand

out in the

competition?

What’s your brand

experience?

What’s

between

the covers

of your

brand?

“Strategy is not about streamlining

or improving present operation or

organizational structure. It is not

about a budget, a yearly plan, or

solving a specific problem. It is a

compelling story about discovering

the firm‟s unrealized possibilities.”

- Tony Golsby-Smith, CEO of 2nd Road

The Power of

Touchpoints

“A brand is a living entity and

it is enriched or undermined

cumulatively over time, the

product of a thousand small

gestures.”

- Michael Eisner, Disney

Enhances

Detracts

Brand Touchpoints

“By aligning every customer touchpoint in your organization, your brand

accumulates power and your customer relationships gain depth through the

coordinated effort of your entire organization.” - prophet.com

© IER Partners, Inc.

“Every touchpoint

becomes a potential

brand-building activity

and a potential point of

activation.” - Ken Madden

“A great brand is a story

that is never completely

told.”

- Scott Bedbury

“Question

everything.”

- G. Lichtenburg

Enhances

Detracts

Why be sticky?

* According to Dan & Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick

SUCCESS CRITERIA *

S • U • C • C • E • S • S Simple + Unexpected + Concrete + Credible + Emotional + Stories = Sales

“Me Too”

“Our energy at Amazon

comes from the desire to

impress customers

rather than the zeal to

best competitors.”

- Jeff Bezos

“Insist upon yourself.

Be original.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just Do It!

CONFRONTING

THE FEAR

FACTOR

“There is only one thing

that makes a dream

impossible to achieve:

the fear of failure.”

- Paulo Coelho

BSITDD!

1. Beachball Team

2. Brand audit…grade yourself

3. Dare to dream

4. Customer listening strategy

5. What’s your story? And, your short short story?

6. How will you show and tell

your story so it is sticky?

7. Touchpoint prioritization

1. Delivering benefits customers truly desire (Is there a system in place for customer feedback?)

2. Stays relevant (Investment in improvements? Marketing decisions based on these?)

3. Pricing – consumer’s value (What is the consumer’s perception of value?)

4. Properly positioned (Establish comparable points of difference?)

5. Consistent (Programs sending conflicting messages?)

6. Portfolio + hierarchy makes sense (Seamless umbrella? Does anything take away from the core? Do the individual brands hold their niche? Overlap? Where? Upcoming products?)

7. Full repertoire of activities (Do touch points maximize brand awareness? Integrate customer/consumer?)

8. Managers understand brand (The beach ball)

9. Given proper support (Stick to something vs. all over the place)

10. Monitors sources of brand equity (Brand charter? Brand audits?)

The Brand Report Card by Kevin Lane Keller

Andrea Syverson

IER Partners

Black Forest, CO

(719) 495-2354 asyverson@ierpartners.com

Copyright 2013