Brand Bending
Marketing Strategies
By Philip D. Zaleon
Branding
is more than just a marketing buzzword. Your brand
should define you as a designer and a professional, and
your company as a business.
There are, of course, some simple rules to branding
yourself effectively. But what if you want to bend those
rules a bit?
Many big companies have gained tremendous success by
bending or even breaking the rules when it comes to
branding. But before you think about whether bending
your brand is right for your firm, you need to truly
understand what a brand is, what it does and what role
it plays in how your customers perceive you.
According to the Website of the American Marketing
Association (www.marketingpower.com),
a Brand is defined as “A name, term, design, symbol or
any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or
services as distinct from those of other sellers. A
brand may identify one item, a family of items or all
items of that seller.” When identifying Brand Image, the
Website notes, “The brand image is the perception of a
brand in the minds of persons. It is what people believe
about a brand – their thoughts, feelings, expectations.”
The
traditional concept of developing a brand is a process
that begins with defining the company and those who run
it, as well as the target market, and then developing an
image that allows the business to make an emotional
connection with that target through marketing channels
and reputation.
Creating a personality for a brand includes designing
a logo, determining colors, creating a unique message,
coining a positioning line that distinguishes the brand
from its competition, and consistently using each in all
marketing and advertising to create the “look and feel”
of the business. It is that look and feel that makes the
company and brand recognizable to the target market and
generates the emotional response that helps make the
sale.
Tim Aden, CMKBD, a principal at Sawhill Custom
Kitchens & Design, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN, adheres to
this tenet. “Our name and logo are one in the same, so
we are easily able to maintain consistency,” he
comments. “We will vary photography and text to
correlate with a given audience, but the logo and name
always remain constant.”
Karen
Dry of Garrett Interiors, Inc. in Westlake Village, CA,
adds, “We are always consistent with our logo. It is key
for us to consistently place our logo in strategic
areas, whether it is on signage at a model home complex,
on our designers’ cars [via magnetic signs] or on every
office form we use.”
The Pepsi Challenge
But what if someone changed the rules of branding?
What if a brand leader – an internationally, instantly
recognizable brand – decided to toss a monkey wrench
into the world of branding? Well, that’s what Pepsi
decided to do, and the results can provide a valuable
lesson to kitchen and bath professionals.
In February, Pepsi began a branding campaign designed
to create an affinity with sub-markets of its target
market. In the words of PepsiCo’s own press release:
“The first, most visible piece of this effort will be
new package graphics for Pepsi-Cola that change every
few weeks to reflect themes close to the hearts of teens
and young adults, such as sports, music, fashion and
cars. The new graphics will be on more than eight
billion Pepsi-Cola cans, bottles and cups throughout the
world.
“The iconic Pepsi globe logo and name lettering will
remain the same – as will Pepsi’s great taste – but the
background graphics will change every few weeks, marking
the first time Pepsi has altered its look so frequently.
In its 109-year existence, Pepsi-Cola’s look has changed
just 10 times, but this year alone it will change more
than 35 times. This steady rotation of designs reflects
the fast, ever-changing interests of the elusive
‘millennial’ generation.
“Not only will the packages look different, but
they’ll be different. Pepsi bottles, cans and cups will
give consumers access to exclusive online content,
games, contests and sweepstakes through unique Web
addresses on each of the designs.
“Pepsi’s global brand restyle will be highlighted in
new thematic ad campaigns. The restyle will also come to
life in-store with merchandising, account-specific
promotions and point-of-sale materials that will
showcase an array of packaging representing the wide
range of design graphics.”
PepsiCo’s initiative raises the question, “should a
kitchen and bath showroom alter its ‘packaging’ to
‘reflect the changing interests of the elusive
‘millennial’ generation?”
While kitchen and bath firms are not interested in
today’s kids, they may well be looking at adding a
market within a current market: ultra-luxury kitchens,
kosher kitchens, outdoor kitchens, kitchens and baths
for people who frequent the arts, gourmet kitchens or
any number of vertical markets within a community.
So, what does a billion-dollar company’s branding
have to do with the typical kitchen and bath showroom’s
branding? Everything.
As Paul McDonald of Royal Cabinet Co. in
Hillsborough, NJ, states, “Remember that branding is how
the public – your potential customers – sees you,
whether your reach is a 10-mile radius of the showroom,
statewide, regional or global. How you manage your brand
will help drive your targeted prospects to approach you
as their cabinet provider.”
The Pepsi press release states, “The iconic Pepsi
globe logo and name lettering will remain the same – as
will Pepsi’s great taste,” reassuring the public that a
Pepsi-Cola will still be instantly recognizable on the
grocer’s shelf through its logo. Regardless of what the
delivery system (can, cup or bottle) looks like, it will
still taste like Pepsi.
To make this idea analogous to a kitchen and bath
showroom business, regular use of a logo will keep the
business recognizable in the marketplace. The “great
taste,” in your case, is “great design and customer
service,” something all kitchen and bath customers
expect. For that reason, Pepsi’s “brand bending” might
be worth a closer look.
As discussed earlier, the look and feel, or
personality, of a business is determined by the primary
components of the brand: the logo, the colors, the
message, the positioning line and the placement of the
message. Based on Pepsi’s most basic changes, what could
be adapted and altered to reach a specific audience?
Creating
a Logo
A corporate logo should be an extension of a
business. Business owners should look for an image that
is conducive to the target market – something legible
and unique that creates the “right” impression. Over
time, the logo in a market should be as instantly
recognizable as the Pepsi logo is internationally.
That’s the power of branding.
Michael Luzier, CKD, of ML Designs in Aurora, CO,
states, “To establish branding, a logo would remain
consistent, although the message and other features
could benefit by changes aimed at a particular target
market. For example, a showroom currently focusing on
the elaborate traditional decides that it wants to
refocus on the more contemporary. The showroom would
likely need to change the ad image, particularly if that
image projects a very traditional look. It may also need
to reexamine the current logo. A local company recently
changed its 1960s logo to a very simple one using the
letters of the company name in a very bold and more
contemporary fashion. With that change, it brought in a
new contemporary cabinet product line to reflect the new
image adjustment.”
Dry warns about taking care when altering a logo. “I
would not change the core look or value of the Garrett
Interiors logo. We have equity in our logo,” she says.
“Once your logo has become recognizable in your
market area, be careful to be consistent in its use,”
advises McDonald. “However, if you’re ready to embark on
a new business or are looking to re-launch your current
one with a new focus, a new image, including a new logo
makes good sense.”
Color Cues
When
looking at branding, it’s important to remember that
each color has a psychological impact. How colors are
used in combination creates emotion. Colors can bring
back memories and trigger specific responses. Therefore,
companies should take time to consider the colors when
creating a brand. Even before choosing corporate colors,
know your target market(s), understand your company’s
positioning, consider the message and know what the
competition is using. It is common to select a primary
color and one or two secondary colors to be part of a
brand.
While Dry notes that her firm would not change its
brand colors, “I am starting to elaborate on the
colors,” she offers. “The three colors in the
fleur-de-lis of our logo each represent the three areas
of design we specialize in: green for model
merchandising, purple for commercial design and
gold/yellow for residential projects. We have been
printing our collateral in these colors depending upon
the project shown. It looks great when we go to trade
shows or place items into our marketing package for
builders. The colors really complement each other, but
they can stand alone, too.”
Aden
recognizes the value of maintaining and being consistent
with company colors. “Consistent use of the same colors
has an incredible recognition value. Just look at how
the red in Target’s marketing works. Or, consider the
Coca Cola Company; regardless of the product, if it’s a
Coke product –such as Diet Coke, Coke Zero or
Caffeine-Free Coke or – red is part of the logo and
brand.”
Projecting the Right Message
A company’s message should exploit its competitive
advantage. It should talk about the company’s services,
its capabilities and perhaps even name drop some
company-exclusive brands. How this is accomplished may
vary by audience.
McDonald notes, “Royal Cabinet Company, like other
kitchen and bath companies, has more than one target
market. Our primary marketing focus for the past five
years has been to develop a network of dealers
throughout the East and Midwest, but we still service
our traditional local builder and remodel clients.”
He continues, “What we offer as a company is equally
important to all of our customers, so our message
consistently talks about our quality custom cabinets,
attention to detail and high service levels – important
buying criteria of all of our clients. We may wrap our
message differently to reach a showroom owner versus a
local builder, but we always drive home our competitive
advantages.”
Positioning Line
A positioning line, sometimes referred to as a Unique
Selling Proposition (USP), discusses the company, the
competition and what makes one better and/or different.
It should further define a business from the competition
and tell a target market why the one being focused on is
the best option.
Many times, the positioning is as much a part of the
brand as the product itself. Some of the better known
USPs include “Melts in your mouth, not in your hand”
(M&Ms) and “When it absolutely, positively has to be
there overnight” (FedEx).
Dry notes, “We consistently use ‘excellence in
interior and exterior design – purveyors of fine gifts’
as a positioning line, but I do tend to shift Garrett
Interiors’ positioning through press releases and other
publicity. I include that our diversity in reaching many
audiences is a real positive to each individual or
business we work with.
“For instance, I tell my home production builders
that hiring Garrett Interiors for their model home
design gives them a better marketing advantage over some
of my competitors because I have an extensive business
in custom and remodel residential. I let them know that
we design and install on a weekly basis items we know
our residential customers are asking for. We can bring a
real grounded ear to our builders and let them know,
from first-hand experience, what the ‘real world’ is
asking for in their homes. This can be a tremendous
marketing advantage to a production builder building 300
homes in a tract who needs staying power in the market.
We can provide sound advice as to where that builder
should spend money in offering upgrade options to
potential home buyers based upon our experience with the
residential interior design market.”
Message Placement
Where a message is placed can have the greatest
impact on how a brand is perceived by a target market.
Each medium and the channels within have target markets
that a business can choose to make its own. Bending a
brand to make a connection with the audience may be as
simple as altering the message. For example, reaching
the luxury market with an ad in the symphony program may
require a different headline than an ad in the local
religious newspaper, but the overall brand remains
instantly recognizable.
Taking the Pepsi challenge and deciding to make a
concerted effort to create an affinity with a particular
market through a branding campaign is certainly doable
in the kitchen and bath industry.
Luzier points to the Internet as a viable network.
“…it is figuratively broadcasting the front window of my
showroom 24/7,” he remarks. “We already know that over
70 percent of women shop online before they make a
purchase locally, and I can only imagine the GenXers and
GenYers are at an even higher percentage. As these
groups become a larger part of our customer base, I can
see myself adapting my branding strategies to their
comfort levels – not mine.”
As for Pepsi, Dry believes the company will be okay.
“If the company does it well, then each of its markets
will identify with the particular ‘look’ or ‘feel’ and
buy that item based upon those simple emotions. As long
as the consumer knows the item inside – the taste of
Pepsi – isn’t compromised, and the public is assured
that the only thing changed is the outside, then it
could be fun.
“The kitchen and bath industry could use some shaking
up and could accomplish the same thing,” she adds. “As
long as the public knows there is quality and customer
service inside, we are already selling on the emotional
level, so it is just a matter of creating the right look
and feel for the niche we hope to attract.”
She continues, “I believe many of the manufacturers
are beginning to do just that. I love the new colors and
textures being brought into the marketplace. I love the
marketing by some of our suppliers. They encourage our
customers to think and then rethink; that it’s okay to
be brave and think outside the box; that a 50+ consumer
can actually think a ‘Jetsons’ kitchen is now attainable
with beautiful results.”
At the end of the day, branding is about how a
company is perceived by a target market. Certainly, a
logo, colors, a message and placement should all work to
create a desired market position in every medium used –
from print ads to the Web.
By altering colors, message, positioning and media
placement, a kitchen and bath firm can attract a new
client segment. But, it is up to that business to
deliver the same great taste.
Remember that graphic changes are only a portion of
the Pepsi strategy. The intent is to create an affinity
with each group through exclusive online content,
sweepstakes, merchandising, etc.
Keep an eye on Pepsi and be open to new branding
ideas from companies both in and out of the kitchen and
bath market. A company doesn’t need to be a
billion-dollar corporation to effectively brand itself
and create an affinity with its target markets.
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