Bernt Ullmann. The Man Behind the Brands

Bernt is referred to as “The Man Behind the Brands” and shared some of his expertise with me on my podcast The Cardone Zone recently.

We discussed how he’s built brands and marketed for Tommy Hilfiger, FUBU, Jennifer Lopez and many other celebrity brands. 

Ullmann started Norway’s first pizza restaurant offering delivery. Pizza Pronto was launched and was so successful in the beginning that it almost ruined itself. The reason Bernt told me was because he didn’t have the fundamentals in place. Not having these in place hurt his brand.

He became fascinated with brand and brand growth. He wanted to master how to accelerate that growth because organic growth traditionally takes too long. So, the question became, how do you expand and build your brand?

Mr. Ullmann describes a Brand as a symbol or name of a product or service and is visibly different from the competition. Brand Equity is the value of the brand. It is how the brand makes people feel.

He says that great brands have three things going for them.

1. Authenticity. True to oneself, representing the true nature of what the brand is.

2. Credibility. Believable, worthy of trust.

3. Aspirational. Aimed at people who want to attain a higher social status or standard of living.

To start growing a brand, Bernt’s advice is to begin with authenticity. For example, if your company is called Honest Plumber, how do you drive that premise home? You prove it. He suggests an easy way to reinforce this message is by starting with testimonials.

We then talked about brands that are celebrity figures. This area is what Bernt specializes in. He told me that a brand can be bigger than a person or personality. But there needs to be a strong person that sets the vision for the brand and is its champion.

When I asked him if a person can communicate or do too much and hurt their brand, Bernt gave me this advice, “If you deliver value, then do it all day long!”

Then we discussed the definition of Brand DNA.

D: Design.

How does the brand look? Is it quality? Is it designed well and clearly?

N: Name.

Is the name strong and aspirational? Is it distinctive and personify the brand while at the same time giving the brand room to grow? For example, Ray’s Hats is going to have a hard time expanding to other clothing items with that name.

A: Aspects around the brand.

These are areas like advertising and packaging. It’s ways the brand is represented. Do these areas support and strengthen the brand?

The conversation drifted to licensing, an area that Bernt is an expert in. He says that licensing is a great way to expand your brand and audience exposure with low costs. He discussed Territory and Product Licenses. Just like it sounds, Territory is geographic and Product is product-based.

He then cautioned not to get branding and advertising confused.

Advertising is your message and brand is what you are. 

Don’t mix the two up. By having a strong brand, you can build trust and loyalty in your customers and they become brand ambassadors for you.

Take care of your brand. Nurture it. Grow it. Protect it.

Be great,

GC

Grant Cardone is a New York Times bestselling author, the #1 sales trainer in the world, and an internationally renowned speaker on leadership, real estate investing, entrepreneurship, social media, and finance. His 5 privately held companies have annual revenues exceeding $100 million. Forbes named Mr. Cardone #1 of the "25 Marketing Influencers to Watch in 2017". Grant’s straight-shooting viewpoints on the economy, the middle class, and business have made him a valuable resource for media seeking commentary and insights on real topics that matter. He regularly appears on Fox News, Fox Business, and MSNBC, and writes for Forbes, Success Magazine, Business Insider, CNBC, and Entrepreneur. He urges his followers and clients to make success their duty, responsibility, and obligation. He currently resides in South Florida with his wife and two daughters.