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The New
Branding
By Michael Alan Hamlin
May 12, 2003
Most branding experts agree that
while branding, in its essence, is still branding, that it has changed,
at least in terms of how strong brands are built and sustained.
Frequently, this evolution is termed the new branding. Among the
foremost branding experts seeking to first explain how branding
has changed, and then how to leverage branding strategy in this
new context, is Nick Wreden.
Wreden is the author of Fusion
Branding: How to Forge Your Brand for the Future. The term Fusion
Branding must have been coined, it seems to me, to drive home the
idea that branding, while elegant in its simplicity, has become
a complicated thing to do. In the same way that modern man-made
inventions such as cars, airplanes and computers have become much
more complex, so have business practices such as branding, supply
chain management, and finance.
Ironically, a sophisticated set of
equipment, services, and consulting advice - collectively called
information technology - has grown up with the objective of taking
these very sophisticated tasks and simplifying them, so that their
complexity is hidden and their ultimate purpose - making it possible
to do business more efficiently, productively, and profitably -
looks easy. That's where Wreden comes in.
Wreden believes that the New Branding
involves the fusion of emotional, experiential, and functional bonds
between a company and its clients. "A Fusion Brand is a long-term
bond," he says. "This relationship is based on trust and
loyalty, backed by everyday operational excellence, and measured
by customer equity." Translated, he refers to fulfilling promises
diligently, doing so in a timely way, and confirming that all this
has been done by way of feedback, customer loyalty, and increased
share of the customer's wallet.
Building a Fusion Brand is a five-step
process, Wreden says. The steps can be described as attention, transaction,
trust, loyalty, and advocacy. By attention, Wreden is advocating
the need for companies to be more focused on recall when a customer
has a specific need to fulfill. He believes that companies too often
fall into the trap of assuming that awareness will translate into
revenue. But that's not the case. "When consumers are exposed
to thousands of messages daily, awareness is no longer the issue,"
Wreden advises. "It's attention."
Attention, or specific recall, provides
relevancy. "Without relevancy, awareness is no more than background
noise to consumers skilled at blocking messages," Wreden says.
The first objective of branding, therefore, is to be top-of-mind
for specific needs, desires, and compulsions at just the right time.
Other experts agree. David Aaker suggests that awareness without
recall is a branding graveyard.
"Fusion Brands start with a
single transaction," Wreden cautions, and unless it goes well
even the best branding strategy is doomed. This is the Yin and Yang
of the branding world, the tension between substance and style.
"Companies must have the people, processes, and systems to
not only meet customer requirements, but fulfill the expectations
raised by marketing efforts. A transaction won't be successful if
customers only walk away satisfied after having been promised delight"
and instead offered only satisfactory quality and service.
Regularly meeting customer expectations
results in the development of trust, which Wreden says "is
a powerful, yet fragile, competitive advantage. It cannot be bought;
it is only earned over time." Wreden argues that trust is a
fundamental requisite to building customer equity. Customer equity
encompasses loyalty and increased share of customer, leading to
an enhanced reputation for delivering the goods.
The advantages of customer loyalty
include lower marketing and communications costs, relatively dependable
revenues, insulation from competition, better employee morale, and
even lower cost of capital, according to Wreden. "Loyal customers
demonstrate brand insistence. If the Fusion Brand is not immediately
available, loyal customers will continue searching." That's
the bond.
Finally, Wreden argues that "trust
and loyalty create advocacy, or the willingness of customers to
recommend offerings. Such advocates pass along e-mails, provide
testimonials and references, and are always willing to try new offerings
from the firm." In short, they become boosters and virtual
owners as well as customers to die for. "Apple and Cadillac
owners represent classic Fusion Brand advocates." They're the
diehards. And in those two companies' cases, advocacy has played
a fundamental role in making them survivors when they did lose their
way, providing the chance to become resuscitated champions.
But the purpose of Fusion Branding
is not survival, it's strategic dominance.
(Michael Alan Hamlin is the managing
director of consultancy TeamAsia and the author of three books on
Asian economies and companies. His latest book is Marketing Asian
Places, of which he is a co-author (Wiley, 2001), and he is
currently at work on High Visibility: Building Strong Personal
Brands in Asia. Write him at mahamlin@teamasia.com.).
Copyright © 2003 Michael Alan
Hamlin. All Rights Reserved.
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