Your Brand Needs Energy

Your brand needs energy!

Brands without energy have not fared well over the last 15 years, a fact documented by John Gerzema and Ed Lebar using the Y&R Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) database, which measures forty thousand brands across more than forty countries against over seventy-five metrics. The data shows that brand equities—measured by trustworthiness, esteem, perceived quality, and awareness—have been falling sharply. For example, in a twelve-year period, trustworthiness dropped nearly 50 percent, esteem fell by 12 percent, brand quality perceptions decreased by 24 percent, and even awareness dropped by 24 percent.  

Remarkably, brands with energy have resisted this decline. In fact, the BAV team has redefined differentiation—now calling it energized differentiation—because without energy, differentiation impact is compromised. Further, a BAV modeling effort by Bob Jacobson of Washington and Natalie Mizik of Columbia shows that only the brands that increase their energy and attitude drive stock return.

A brand that has insufficient energy, in addition to suffering image declines, has two additional potential liabilities. First, it will lack visibility and become lost in the noise of the environment. As a result, it will not come to mind when a consumer is considering a purchase. Second, it runs the risk of becoming “yesterday’s” brand or “my father’s” brand, not relevant for me. 

So what is energy?  I would say that there are several routes to energy that include being:

• Interesting and exciting: There is a reason to talk about the brand. (e.g. AXE, Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, Pixar, FedEx Cup)
• Involving and engaging: The brand is be part of a valued activity or lifestyle. (e.g. Lego, Disney. Starbucks, Google, Amazon)
• Innovative and dynamic: The brand is constantly innovating and creating “must have” offerings that form new subcategories. (e.g. Apple, Virgin, Dove, GE, 3M).
• Passionate and purpose-driven: There is a higher purpose that propels passion among employees and consumers. (e.g. Whole Foods Market, Patagonia, Muji, Nike).

One way to energize a brand is to invigorate the business connected to the brand. Companies such as Apple, Dove, Virgin, 3M, and many others have generated long-term interest and visibility by continually reimaging their products and services. In other cases, it’s smart to use a marketing program to communicate what makes the brand interesting, involving, and dynamic. It could be creating an engaging promotion (such as asking customers to post videos on their product usage), supporting a higher purpose program (Patagonia’s program to encourage repair, reuse, recycle, and reduce), or promoting a symbol (Oscar Myer Weinermobile, the hot dog-shaped vehicles that visit kids’ events and support the Oscar Myer jingle contest).

There is another option too: Create an own-able, branded experience, which is not part of the offering per se, to energize the target brand or sub-brand.  The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, for example, provides energy to the cosmetics firm that could not be obtained through the its standard offerings. Sephora’s BeautyTalk provides an outlet for women to discuss issues of interest. To be effective, the experience needs to be connected to the brand, have energy itself, and be regarded as a long-term asset and managed accordingly.

Still another option is to find an existing external event and connect your brand to it as an active partner. The right sponsorship, as long as it is handled well, can energize and even transform a brand, by adding a meaningful higher purpose. Home Depot, for example, sponsors Habitat for Humanity. Home Depot supplies volunteer homebuilders, some of the materials, and supports in raising money and awareness. It is easy for a Home Depot shopper to recognize the connection because of the signage, programs, and continuity over time. In order to work, an external energizer needs to involve a long-term association and allow the brand be perceived as an active partner, not a passive sponsor.

Too seldom is energy a focus.  For a current brand to remain relevant, it is imperative that generating continuous energy the brand becomes a top priority.