Branding : More than Just a Logo Part 2
Pia Bertone-Gross
July, 13 2010
When we last checked in with “John”, he was given suggestions for best-practices that would set him up for success, as well as a few basic questions to answer that would give us a better idea of who he is. (If you have yet to read “Branding:More than just a Logo:Part1”, you can find it here – http://www.hsgglobal.com/brandingmore-than-just-a-logopart-i/)
The next most important thing is to turn John’s personality traits into power words!
The attraction of a strong personality is irresistible. A strong personality is one that provokes an emotional response in the listener. Not only is John establishing an identity, but authenticity and authority as well. The message he wants to resonate in the mind of his voters is– a simple targeted message that will differentiate him from his competitors. In other words, John’s goal is to tell voters what they can expect if he is elected to represent them (why should they vote for him?). John’s vision is, “be a highly respected political figure in the community who is known for attaining results, to be recognized as someone who stands for fiscal responsibility.” He wants the people to see him as someone who knows and cares about the community in which he was born and raised, where he has a proven track record of success!
John’s exercise was to attach rational traits to the brand he wants to portray, we were then able to help him translate those into emotional terms that will resonate with voters (the target audience).This will serve as the basis for which John will build his brand.
What are John’s Personality Traits?
- Proven Results
- Respected
- Rock-solid
- Heritage and belief
These are all strong personality traits, but also replicable by competitors. It is important to tailor these traits to make them more specific and to evoke a positive emotional connection to the audience. So the following emotional values were created to produce characteristics that are felt to be much more powerful and expressive of John’s image, and differentiated him from his opponents.
Translated to Emotional Traits
- Authority (as opposed to a generic ‘respect’)
- Authenticity (as opposed to ‘heritage’ which give an old-fashioned feel)
- Visionary Leader (assumes the position that John already has his ‘ducks in a row’ and is looking forward to improve on a ‘solid’ foundation in leading his community in the right direction because he cares)
What’s next?
Equally important is John’s slogan (tagline). The tagline is the key phrase that identifies what John stands for by capturing the spirit of his mission, values, and promise. A tagline is not what he does, but rather why he does it. The most widely used example of a great tagline is Nike’s, “Just do it”, and for good reason. It’s clear and simple but at the same time stands out and compels someone to listen. This is where John needs to get in the heads of the voters, figure out what they want, and give it to them. Voters say, “What’s in it for me?” Or “How will it benefit me to vote for you?” Now that John has completed our task list of who he is, he must now find out who they are, the voters.
This brings us back to Sun Tzu Philosophies of Know thyself, know thy enemy, know thy terrain. In our last blog, we challenged John to gain a better understand of who he was. Now he poses the challenge of figuring out his audience.
John’s Brainstorm
- In one sentence, what do your voters want from a leader?
- In two words, what do your voters want from a leader?
- In one word, what do your voters want from a leader?
(Think about words that encompass your political image)
Now a little math for you. Subtract any words that are not screaming at you, then take the summary of your benefits, bake it into your mission, and voilà! You have yourself a tagline!
Example: HSG Global Services Tagline is “Enabling Business Excellence”.
HSG in a sentence – Business services designed to grow revenue, reduce cost, and improve efficiency.
HSG in 2 words? – Business Improvement
HSG in 1 word? – Consulting
Why we do what we do? – Because each and every one of us has a passion for helping businesses be better.
As stated, this is brainstorming. John should take the time to think about different ideas, words, and phrases that are important to his voters and that capture his mission. No one person is going to give him the perfect tagline all wrapped up with a pretty bow. Some places to start might be for John to start a whiteboard, ask friends, ask kids (we all know they have the ability to be blunt), use a thesaurus (or what I like to refer to as, ‘Shift-F7’). Once established, John’s tagline will be used over and over in an attempt to resonate in the minds of the people until that one faithful day that they head to the ballots and they hear John’s tagline ringing in their ears.
Pia Bertone-Gross is the Director of Creative Development at HSG Global Services. HSG Global Services provides management consulting and outsourced services to the international business community.
Tags: branding, Business, business worth, creative, google, HSG Global Services, identity, innovation, marketing