Leg Zero: Porter´s model explained. Industry Rivalry (part VI). Brand Identity.

eleonoraescalantestrategy 4 Sep 2017 Leave a Comment

Good day to all of you.

Today is the turn of Brand Identity. We are still stuck at Porter´s Model Force Number One, and Brand Identity is the key determinant for today.

BRAND IDENTITY: The fundamental differentiating device for all products and services is the brand. The brand is the combination of name, words, symbols or design that identifies the product and its source and distinguishes it from other competing products. Without brands, the consumer couldn´t know or differentiate one product from another, and also advertising them would be nearly impossible.

Different Brands Chocolate Ice Cream

What is brand identity? A company’s brand identity is how a business wants to be perceived by consumers. A brand identity is the group of components about a brand that the firm can control.The components of the brand (name, logo, tone, tagline, typeface, and shape) are created by the business to reflect the value the company is trying to bring to the market and to appeal to its customers. Brand identity is the message the consumer receives from the product, person, or thing. The brand identity connects your business with the product recognition by the customers. Brand identity is defined by the firm. It also promises consistent, reliable standards of quality, taste, size or even psychological satisfaction, adding value to your beautiful business. The ultimate goal of all brand advertising and promotion is to build a greater brand identity.

The basics of branding

Brand identity is not brand image (the term for how consumers actually perceive the brand). Brand Image is what people outside your company think about your brand. Your brand image can´t be controlled by you. The brand image is how customers and/or potential consumers perceive your brand. Individual judgments, individual backgrounds and experiences are going to affect the perception of it.

Branding Books recommended by Martine Warburton

Since social media and its most frequent platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter disrupted the world, the whole process of brand identity is also changing. There are several books in the market about brand identity. But all these books only contemplate how we did brand identity before social media disrupted the world. At the moment, branding experts are doing changes. Brand modeling will change a lot in the coming years.

I wonder how are we going to include social media platforms in our brand identity proposition? How can we reach hundred of millions of people using social media? Are we going to be able to sell our products and services by designing and implementing a social media branding identity strategy? Or do we have to be more cautious with these tools?

I would like to share with you a video about the 2017 top 18 youtube stars (with the most amount of subscribers), such as PewDiePie, called the top worldwide Youtuber for many. PewDiePie content has been able to attract more than 50 million subscribers. Do we mind to see how the world is changing with social media? And how our beautiful businesses and brand identity will be able to adapt to this trend? How are we going to do brand identity in our industries or economic sectors in the future?

Social media platforms are pretty normal for Millennials. If we want to target the Millenials niche, I wonder, we must talk using their same language and channels. And we can´t be blind by dismissing social media channels to interact with them. Our brand identity must contemplate these new manners of communication. Even for top brand management experts, “a decade in, companies are still struggling to come up with a branding model that works in the chaotic world of social media”.