Successful Branding: Connect with Your Audience Mary Jane Braide & Brenda van Ginkel

October 17, 2011

MaRS Best Practices Lean Branding for Start-UpsOctober 17, 2011

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…start thinking about brand strategy sooner

…practical tools to build the brand as you evolve

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A bit about me

1. First career: Organizational change management, time based competition, lean manufacturing

2. Second career: Corporate brand strategy3. Fun: Volunteer MaRS brand advisor

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BRAND IS

Value - as seen by others - that comes from promising and delivering something relevant and different.

BRAND IS NOT

AdvertisingPrint materialsLogosSlogansWebsitesDirect mail campaignsPR

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?How do we brand a moving object?

Will we over-promise?

What is the right level of investment?

Do we brand to the investor or the customer?

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

I don’t really have time for this right

now…..

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GEEK?

MARKETER?

OR

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“A strong brand is the customer’s shorthand for making good choices in a complex, risky and confusing marketplace.”

Kevin Randall, Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Moveo Integrated Branding

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Brand matters to investors...

“Compared to scale, proprietary technology and monopolies, brand is an equally powerful, leveragable and more sustainable advantage.”.”

Credit Suisse

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Brand matters in your category

“Industries that show high-potential for brands include those where trust is a growing purchase criteria, either because of lack of product track-record, proliferation of unknown competitors or risk to health or safety.”

The Power of Brand Investing, Credit Suisse, Research Institute, February 2010

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67% cumulative outperformance

The Power of Brand Investing, Credit Suisse, Research Institute, February 2010

Brand index versus S&P 1500Source: Credit Suisse

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Brand matters to employees

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Brand matters for start-ups

Low barriers

toentry

Low switching

cost

App-brain

Speed of viral

WHY YOU?

Clutter

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At what point in the process should a start-up think about brand?

?

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NOW!…if not sooner

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But how?

• The business model is unfinished• The product is changing• We have 200 feature requests• We don’t know how we will go to market• Regulators are stalling us• We’re not fully funded

Get used to it.

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Lean Lean Start-Up

Brand Strategy

Lean Branding for Start-

ups

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Lean management principles

Know customer

value

Create value

stream

Maximize flow

Customer flow

Perfect over time

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The Lean Start-Up: you are a learning machine

VisionDefineLearnExperiment

SteerLeapTestMeasurePivot or preserve

AccelerateBatchGrowAdaptInnovate

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Brand strategy principles

• Be relevant – you’re only as valuable as your markets think you are

• Be different – but only different where it matters• Always deliver – good to have a dream, but not likely to

get there overnight• Have a story - connect your big idea to hearts and minds

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Lean Lean Start-Up

Brand Strategy

Lean Branding for Start-

ups

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Lean branding for start-ups

Know your big idea

BUT

Only build the minimum viable brand

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Your big idea

What’s your hypothesis about the difference you will make?

What was the source of that insight? Examine it in depth.

Have you tested it? Did you really listen to what you heard?

Can you boil it down to one core promise?

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Minimum viable brand

Promise Story

ValuesName,

look and feel

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Standard brand framework

Vision Mission Values

Positioning Promise

Name Tagline

Personality Visual Identity

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StoryAudience Messaging5

Brand Architecture

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Promise Values

Name, look and

feel

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PROMISE[What will you allow me to do]

This is not a promise of what YOU will do. It’s a promise of what the customer can do with youin their life.

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EVERNOTE. Remember everything

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WIND. Conversations matter

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Promise Story

ValuesName,

look and feel

A story has a beginning, a middle and an end. It begins with a powerful anecdote, explains why it matters

and then pays off with a solution.

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Micra Electronic Transaction Solutions is a proprietary, integrated transaction delivery platform targeted to small and medium sized businesses and individuals not previously able to conduct micro transactions using card technology.

Working off a BlaBla network with a Yadda Yadda micron Bit Bibbildie Boo Bob, the METS system could enable up to 40 million transactions per year in the $2 billion dollar micro transaction market.

Our first wave of financing supported a six-member development team and one general manager. Our next phase requires new financing to cover a sales team dedicated to working with VISA in Asia.

This isnot a story

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The one area the credit card companies have not been able to penetrate is the micro transaction space for small business. We figure they’re leaving about $2 billion a year on the table.

Micra is an IP protected app and hardware combination that covers transaction support for SMEs and individuals to collect payment on any credit card on any web-enabled device.

We’ve got 2 VISA trials now which are giving us the revenue to cover development. We’re now into a second funding round to build the team we need to take Micro to AMEX in Asia.

This is a

story

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POSITIONING[Audience, need, benefit, proof.]

For...(audience definition)

...Who need (pain point or need)

...Company or product X delivers (offer and benefit)

...Which only we can promise because (main proof points)

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POSITIONING: For example[Audience, need, benefit, proof.]

For cost-conscious, tech-able homeowners......Who want to manage their growing energy costs

...Company X delivers online energy management and time of use tools that allow 24/7 remote and onsite

energy optimization...Which only we can promise because of our proprietary

bridge between homeowners and utilities, our multi-platform facility and our smart, learning systems.

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Promise Story

ValuesName,

look and feel

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GOOGLE: Ten Things

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.3. Fast is better than slow.4. Democracy on the web works.5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.6. You can make money without doing evil.7. There’s always more information out there.8. The need for information crosses all borders.9. You can be serious without a suit.10. Great just isn’t good enough.

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My start-up values

I believe in…………….

I care about……………….

I think these things lead to successful choices……………..

I don’t want us ever to…………………….

I’m doing this because I……………………..

I stand for……………..

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Promise Story

ValuesName,

look and feel

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SQUARE. Accept payments. Everywhere.

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InMotive – a brand pivot at the right time

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VISUAL IDENTITY: tips

• Pay for good talent• Don’t ask for spec work• Provide a design brief• Insist on being involved in concept and mood exploration• Get 2-3 logo options• Trust the talent you hire

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Got questions?

Mary Jane BraideMaRS Volunteer Advisor, Brand Strategy

www.mjbraide.commj@mjbraide.com647 407 5059@mjbraide

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APPENDIX

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NAME: Two types to consider

Facebook

Burger King

Evernote

1. Instant

meaningAmazon

Blackberry

Koodo

2. Invested meaning

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NAME: Pros and cons

Communicates for you

Can fence you in

1. Instant

meaning

Flexible Evocative

Can take time and money to build meaning

2. Invested meaning

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NAME: Criteria of a good name

Evokes the customer benefitEither descriptive, evocative or blank

slate. Easy to say and spellMemorable and different UnambiguousAvailableTranslatable or multi-lingual

• ThinkPad• Facebook, Twitter,

Amazon• WIND• Swatch• Whole Foods• Uniqlo• Dialogue

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NAME: The process

1. Create a brief and set the criteria ahead of time2. Crank out a long, long-list. Anything goes. Get people

involved. No contests please. 3. Shorten to 3-5 and test them informally. Use them in

context. 4. The right name will take time to grow on you. 5. Take 2 to full legal testing.6. Secure the top name in your immediate markets,

including online

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Tagline

An important discipline

Should be about what the customer will experience, not self-descriptive

Forces you to hone your core idea into few words

Focuses you on the external audience

Has to be credible internally

Great tags tell a big story• Just Do It• A Diamond Is Forever• We Try Harder• What Happens In Vegas, Stays

In Vegas• A Different Kind Of Company. A

Different Kind Of Car• The Future Is Friendly• Think Different

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Building a tagline

1. What is our vision of the possible?

2. What is our core benefit to the buyer/end user?

3. What is our core source of value creation?

4. How can we sum all that up in natural language?

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Name + Tagline

If you have a descriptive name, choose an evocative tagline

If you have a coined or evocative name, choose a descriptive tagline

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What about brand architecture?

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BRAND ARCHITECTURE

HOUSE OF BRANDS

BRANDED HOUSE

ENDORSED OR SUB-BRANDS

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BRAND ARCHITECTURE: logic

HOUSE OF BRANDS

BRANDED HOUSE

ENDORSED OR SUB-BRANDS

Unrelated productsSame channel

Available resources

Established brand equity

Product and channelsynergy

Minor or majorextensions

on a central strongbrand