BDA considers factors for brand success

Buckingham Design Associates has revealed the factors that businesses should consider when developing a brand.

A Coca-Cola executive once said: 'If Coca-Cola was to lose all of its production-related assets in a disaster, the company would survive.

'By contrast, if all consumers were to have a sudden lapse of memory and forget everything related to Coca-Cola, the company would go out of business.' A business's brand is the set of thoughts and feelings people associate with it.

More than just an eye-catching logo, a brand can provoke positive emotions, such as excitement, trust and desire, which seduce people into wanting a relationship with it.

People prefer to interact with those they like and trust.

So a business's brand is its biggest intangible asset because of its influence on customers; if you can influence the way they think, you can influence the way they behave.

People don't buy Nike trainers because they feel more comfortable, but because they want to buy in to the lifestyle promised on adverts and endorsed by some of the world's biggest sports stars.

When Nike's customers see its 'swoosh' logo they see a status symbol and feel a set of positive associations which they want to be a part of.

Howard Schultz, chief executive of Starbucks, once said: 'A great brand raises the bar - it adds a greater sense of purpose to the experience, whether it's the challenge to do your best in sports and fitness, or the affirmation that the cup of coffee you're drinking really matters.' It's not always the best product that wins, but the one with the best branding.

When people are in a shop choosing between two products, they are not merely pondering which has the most speed settings or loudest volume, but how the products make them feel.

People make buying decisions based on pragmatic and emotional triggers.

To encourage them to pick your box from the shelf you need to make them feel good about you when they see your logo.

People are often happy to pay extra for a branded product because of the positive emotions triggered by the brand's charisma and advertising.

Bob Pittman, president of AOL, once said: 'Coca-Cola does not win the taste test.

'Microsoft does not have the best operating system.

'Brands win.' When assessing what your brand should say about you and how it should make people feel, you need to consider the following: What is your big idea - what makes you special? What's at the heart of what you do? Ikea, for example, sells stylish furniture at affordable prices based on the big idea that well-designed furniture should be available to everyone.

Values - what do you believe in? What do you strive for in the service you provide? Easyjet's brand is built on the values of easy and cheap.

Vision - what are your aspirations and plans for the future? Personality - how do you want to talk to your customers? In a witty 'Innocent' drinks style or like a straight-talking 'John Smiths' Yorkshireman? These questions provide a blueprint for the thoughts and feelings you want your brand to communicate to your customers.

Once you've identified your big idea, values, vision and personality, you need to communicate your brand's message through everything you do, including your business's culture, customer service and advertising.

The tone, visual identity and appeal of your advertising must be consistent and carefully designed to reflect want you want people to feel when they see your logo.

Whether it's trust, excitement, reliability or prestige, the emotions triggered by your brand will influence how people respond to you and whether they'll buy your products.

Selling bottled water is environmental insanity, with water being shipped half-way around the world from Fiji and millions of barrels of oil used to make the plastic bottles.

However, the successful branding of bottled water as a purer, more natural and healthier alternative to what you can easily pour from the tap has seen sales increase 60 per cent this decade and created a market worth GBP2bn a year.

This just goes to show that if you can influence how people feel, you can influence what they will buy as well.

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