The System Driving Brand Growth

By Sharon Zimmerli

We herald brands like Lego, L'Oréal and Lululemon for continuously delighting customers and driving growth, but beyond great branding - what are they doing that makes them masters of brand building??

Enter the new lexicon of ecosystem brands.??

These brands think about what they are bringing to the world differently. They behave like intuitive operating systems determined to remove departmental barriers and friction points. They are rooted in delivering real value to the human beyond chasing a share of wallet. They adopt a more holistic understanding of how colleagues, customers, cultures and communities connect in a value exchange.??

?

The brand that adopts an ecosystem approach also adopts a more systematic way of embedding the brand. Strategies and plans for deploying the brand essence infiltrate all corners of the business beyond marketing, with four foundational components:?

?

1) A shared brand DNA?

Ecosystem brands enjoy a unique form of symbiosis with their target audiences. They know who they need to be to engage who they want to be with. They crystallise the character traits of their audiences and build their brand DNA to align. The closer the brand's DNA is to the makeup of its most desired audiences, the more connectivity it will gain.??

?

Having an aligned DNA with a set of human-centred character traits helps build a common language for the brand that goes beyond communication. A framework that codifies the unique signatures of the brand and how they manifest across different audience outcomes is key to unlocking the adoption of the brand across the organisation.?

?

2) A scalable brand strategy?

Activation at scale requires principles that are actionable by all who work for or with the brand. Most brand strategies and guidelines stop at marketing’s door. Ecosystem guidelines describe the narrative and nature of the brand and, more importantly, explain how this comes to life for each moment of the lives it touches.?

?

Anyone in any role should know how to make decisions in the brand way. Google call it ‘Google-y'. When assessing the merits of any given activity, they ask: “Is this Google-y or not?”.

Guided by core principles, the correct answer is filtered through a brand lens rather than a personal lens.??

?

3) A design-led brand ethos?

Design plays a central role in the delivery of the brand across touchpoints. Products, packaging, merch, signage, service, experience, environments, websites, apps, content – however the brand hits the audience, design capabilities are required to make it happen.???

??

Bringing the complementary disciplines of design together to work with strategists, analysts, developers, and operators to shape solutions leads to superior results. This is why ecosystem brands give design a high status and ensure that brand and design practitioners co-create strategies that work in practice.??

?

4) A dynamic brand loop?

To keep up with a tidal wave of influences affecting customer behaviours, businesses need to be more responsive than ever. Monitoring how the brand performs across a plethora of touchpoints is a critical aspect of ecosystem brands.?

?

In a restless battle to do better – better solutions, speed, quality, value, convenience and relevance, they enlist their audiences to help guide change. Leveraging technology to capture authentic and real-time feedback informs the business of experience peaks and troughs in the customer journey.?

An ecosystem brand establishes a core set of principles that guide harmony in the business, shaping how it lives in the world and evolves as needs change. Different parts of the organisation coexist to prosper as one entity. The stronger the connections within the company, the stronger the brand will be when connecting with customers.? ? ?

?About the Author

Sharon Zimmerli is a creative and strategic brand consultant providing tools and techniques that reimagine, reframe and rejuvenate the brand narrative into a language that inspires action.

Educated in design and brand management - her global experience has been gained agency-side as a brand designer working on large-scale brand programs and as a leader managing brand teams at Barclays, Vodafone and Chelsea FC.

Born in Australia and now based in the UK, today she collaborates with a broad range of brands, providing plug-in bespoke solutions that aim to design the brand DNA into every customer connection, leading to a healthier brand with a brighter future.

About NEON Leaders

Founded in 2019,?NEON Leaders?is a global community of leading marketing experts, working independently; committed to the potential of collective support.? Together we unleash our best potential to unlock greater value for ourselves and the businesses with which we work, whilst having fun along the way.? We welcome the best senior independent marketing talent to our community whilst building a diverse collective of skills and expertise.????

Find out more at?www.neonleaders.com