Big brand theory

A brand is a set of associations and emotional connections a person makes with a company, product, service, individual or organisation. It’s a force that exists in the mind that drives people to take action.

Dance to the same tune

Go with this, I’m going to talk about Riverdance.

When Michael Flatley appears on stage, he’ll grab your attention. When he’s joined by other dancers, all perfectly synchronised, creating a coherent whole, the effect is much more profound. Suddenly, something’s happening to remember, talk about and share.

That’s the same effect as when everything about a company is working in unison: a single brand.

As a company, you need to know what lies in your heart, what your vision is and how you want to be perceived.

If consumers don’t understand you, they’ll ignore you. If you deliver a clear message around how you work and your proposition, you can create a strong reason for them to engage with you.

Everything about you needs to dance to the same tune, whatever the channel. By coordinating your operation to a single set of values, your whole will become greater than the sum of its parts.

Consumers and you

What now seems to be a long time ago, the brand-consumer relationship was transmit-receive. With the rise of the internet, consumers have found their voice and can influence what others think about you. The brand-consumer relationship has become a matrix.

An unrelenting focus on being who you are is more important than ever. If you famously make a syrup-filled chocolate egg, downgrade its recipe at your peril! Your customers will not restrain the volume of their discontent and the fuss will move beyond your control in a matter of moments.

On the other hand, if you always do what you should do, independent, online voices can be a powerful brand-building tool.

One big, all-encompassing brand

A Coca-Cola executive once said, “If Coca-Cola were to lose all of its production related assets in a disaster, the company would survive. By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.”

If you always are what you are, the relationship between you and the consumer will grow, allowing you to build brand equity and extend your product offer, ensuring longevity and guaranteeing success.