Brand Tribe

Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in the fantasy world of brands while the brand management processes are competing aggressively to broadcast their products. Branding is that all-important factor that helps in creating an identity for your product. Be it design, an emotion or a logo, branding makes up for the notable impression which puts the product in a league of its own. This is as truer for a personality as it is for a product.

Let me call out few names and figure what association comes to your mind.

A)  Michael Jackson

B)  Mahatma Gandhi

C)  Steve Jobs

D)  Arnold Schwarzenegger

Haven’t these names built some top of mind (TOM) association for you?

For ex: Michael Jackson – King of Pop / Mahatma Gandhi – Ahimsa-Non-violence / Apple – Innovation / Arnold Schwarzenegger – Muscle Mania

Products:

Amul Butter – Social messages, Surf- washing powder, Xerox- copier, Burnol - burns and so on. This is called top-of-the-mind recall, a benchmark every marketer wishes to score.

Sudhir Sitapathy, in his book ‘The CEO Factory”, rightly mentions that brands are trust-marks that have specific associations for consumers. The sharper the associations the more is the recall-association thus stronger is the brand.

What is a brand association?

Simply put, it is a connection between a concept and the product.  Each product has a personality which is told to the consumer in the form of a concept/idea. Over time the idea bolster the product strengthening its distinctiveness. Thus a brand is born. Effective branding connects beautifully through the use of relationships, places, humour. It is a skill to have clarity when building those specific associations for the product.

Classic Example:

Brooke Bond – Togetherness

Raymond – Quality

Amul – Tasty/ Social message

Amitabh Bachan – Intensity

Sachin Tendulkar – Commitment

Shah Rukh Khan – Passion

Remember, the brand has to sustain for a long time, maybe with different avatar during that time.

Failing to create the brand association is like launching a burger without a USP, story or mood. The chances are that the burger will not last long. It will soon be replaced by say a McDonald.  

The science behind brand association originates with Donald Hebb and his book: The Organization of Behaviour which was released in 1949. He theorized the idea of one thought stirring another thought if recalled together multiple times. This serial recall is called the Hebb Effect.

The science behind branding:

We all know that cells in our nervous system are connected. When one neuron is stimulated it fires an electrical charge to another neuron.  The kindles our subterranean emotions and feelings.

Another interesting implication of science is that the connection between neurons is a two-way street. If our brand association is with emotion the consumer is likely to feel the emotion when they see the product.

In my four years with Brooke Bond, I undertook extensive travelled.  I notice strong link with the brand both, from end consumers as well as trade, whenever they thought of Brooke Bond.

They relived emotions; the happy warm feeling of togetherness enjoyed over a cup of tea. The product played a critical role in bringing alive those sublime feelings. I must add here that I feel blessed playing a huge part of crafting commercial for the product based on strong brand association.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cN6G11JLhtg

And some other examples which I believe on how strong brand association can change the course of action for the brands:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EehbTWT4rOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DK7RsSt1Q0

Great brand across the planet is built out of the strong association. This is exactly what I learnt from my alma mater and in my 15 years of being a marketer. The brand association plays a pivotal role in building brand equity! Period.

To build a brand equity requires that consumers have a favourable and a unique link with the brand.

Too often, shortcuts are taken. We skip the basic branding considerations in favour of the flashier aspects of the product. Brand building in correlation to its own image has rarely worked.  

Being brief and directive about the associations can be a huge advantage in building meaningful and memorable brands and in return you get tribe who becomes your ardent followers.

Whenever you plan your next communication think about your brand tribes on what are they thinking about you currently and how you can enhance those sharp 3 or 4 tribe ethos which you have inculcated in them after carefully empathizing your tribe & the life rather than just following some whims & wishes of your own thoughts or agency. Creative agency output comes out well when your input to them is B.R.I.E.F and if its centre around human emotions and then followed by business requirement

But it all begins with earth shattering insight ….

To be continued

#stayinspired