“We need a stronger brand” or “Brand needs to drive our growth” are probably the most common phrases that we hear from clients that come to Northbound for brand strategy work. These clients may be marketing managers, or product executives, or CEOs. They all use the same words, but do they mean the same thing?
As the conversation continues, it is clear that “brand strategy” may mean very different things to different people. For some it means getting noticed in new markets or driving revenue by stealing their competitors’ share. The brand is about the external exposure: appeal to specific audience segments, communication, promotion, and competing in a differentiated way.
Yet, for others it’s about creating clarity of the brand to (re)energize the company, streamline business priorities, decisions and operations. For these people, the brand is about the internal alignment and the core idea of why the company exists in the first place.
These are two distinct concepts of what “brand strategy” or “brand work” means. Neither is right or wrong. But each has its time and place. And, neither is a substitute for the other.
- The external exposure work is brand or marketing campaign work. It is the right kind of work when the brand needs to make moves in the market and reach very specific goals. The success of campaign work is relatively easy to measure by things like revenue increase, market penetration and other ROI metrics. Campaign work usually has a set timeline – it has a target date – and has very specific activities and creative executions associated with it.
- The internal alignment work is brand foundational work. It is the right kind of work when an organization needs to clarify, evolve, or reinvent its place in the world, including its role in the customers’ lives. Foundational brand work is geared toward accomplishing virtuous goals. There is no timeline or time horizon for brand foundation – it doesn’t expire at the end of the fiscal year or a promotional season. It is evergreen. Brand foundational work is about defining the brand – or organizational identity – through foundational elements like positioning (who, what, why of the brand), brand purpose, personality, verbal identity and visual identity. It oftentimes includes brand narratives and core messaging. All brand work transcends, but informs, any campaign work.
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Brand Foundational Work |
Marketing and Sales Campaigns |
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Objective |
Unite the company with a single idea to create efficiency, affinity, and cross-sell/stretchability of the whole portfolio |
Promote, sell specific solutions, offerings, or products |
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Timeline |
Evergreen – the longer you can use it, the better, provided it’s still relevant in the market
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Temporary – change it as often as your goals, KPIs, and sales targets change
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Variations |
None/Singular – there is one brand, and these elements need to work in every touchpoint from product to HR to sales to service to marketing |
Multiple/Varied – test multiple campaigns and messages against one another to determine which reaches the specific goal or KPI best with each segment or for each product or channel |
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Assets |
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Creative campaigns specific to a channel, a persona/segment, or a product line:
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Financial metric |
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ROI or IRR on specific revenue investment activities and campaigns – an incremental percentage of the investment is returned, with higher return for more highly effective investments |
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Role |
Whole company, inclusive of all segments and products |
By segment, persona, product, channel, or industry |
In my career, I have done both kinds of brand work – at various agencies and in different kinds of client-side roles. When people say they need a “stronger brand,” they don’t necessarily distinguish between the two. They oftentimes conflate the foundational work with campaign work – causing a false binary. I believe a lot of the confusion comes from using the term “brand strategy” in both cases.
When I worked on the Miller Lite rebrand a decade ago, we didn’t start the advertising planning, packaging design or social media promotions (i.e. the campaign work) until the brand foundation work was complete. In fact, it took months of consumer research and brand discovery work to figure out the positioning and identity strategy for the brand (i.e. the foundational work) before various creative teams could be briefed on the campaign work and deliverables in their respective areas. More recently, I worked with a technology client searching to bring their organization together around a core idea of who they are, so that disparate business units could be aligned and benefit from being together and a part of something greater. The foundational work unlocked new growth opportunities because the brand positioning showed untapped demand spaces for innovation that could drive and multiply the business results over the years. And while they pursue these opportunities, now they have brand foundation as a platform to launch targeted segment campaigns to drive specific quarterly goals.
Developing a brand foundation is like having an architect before building a house. The architect develops a vision and blueprints for what the house will look like – it aligns the owners and contractors and suppliers around a greater vision. Without the architect, while every trade of homebuilding may be masterfully done in isolation, the house may just not come together for the owners’ long-term enjoyment.
Ready to discuss your brand strategy? Contact Northbound for a consultation.
