Brand(s): It's Different!

Powerful brands enable people to do what they couldn't otherwise do. They must do more than simply endorse functional products, either by helping them to do something physically, or by building confidence and belief in their minds. Sony, for example, is all about helping people "go create", encouraging their innovation and inspiring their action, helping them to do what they couldn't previously achieve.

Brands can typically help people to do more in four different ways:

• Do what they seek to achieve better, through improved functionality or support


• Be how they want to be perceived, through a strong identity that gives recognition and is admired by others


• Belong to a community that they seek to be part of, through improved real or perceived connections


• Become somebody more than they are, adding personal esteem or the capabilities and confidence to do what they couldn't otherwise achieve.

Once a brand creates such a strong attachment with people, one that they find emotionally or practically essential to their lives, then the brand becomes an "anchor" which can be more trusted, more permanent, more desired than many other things. Without anchors we can easily become lost in the maelstrom of competitive intensity. Imagine the drinker who couldn't get their favourite drink, or the weekly shopper whose visit to a certain supermarket becomes part of their routine, or the high fashion wearer who stays loyal to their favourite designer label.

Anchor brands give people something positive to hang on to, whilst their markets or even their personal worlds are constantly changing. This rollercoaster of desire and choice can destabilise even the most confident buyer, creating confusion and anxiety, prompting expense and insecurity. More messages, more alternatives, more functionality, more versions, more incentives . it can all become too much.

Brands that reflect people more personally, and do more for them, are likely to be the best anchors. 

Graphic designers hang on to Apple, serious runners hang on to Nike, business leaders continue to rely upon McKinsey. However brands that seek to serve mass markets, to mean something to everyone, and therefore struggle to have strong bonds with discrete audiences, are unlikely to become the chosen anchors. Brands like Marks and Spencer, Reebok or Budweiser have succeeded by trading on mass popularity, convenience and ubiquity. What made them great could easily become their biggest handicap.

Today, to be cool is to be different, and for young people that is likely to exclude wearing the same jeans as their parents, or even their peers. Today, people are more different, and therefore brands must reflect these greater differences, and recognise that to be king of a niche is better than foolishly trying to conquer the world.