.........Quick question?
How important is branding? Matter
of fact what does branding even mean in today's society? In
the scheme of business priorities, it always felt like the word branding was
considered an afterthought. Like it didn't belong in the same conversation as
terms like finances, administration and projections. It was almost like the
word was crossing into the realm of a stepchild.
My how times have changed and anyone who pays attention knows it has. Branding
is now everything in today’s economy. If economics is the blood of the proverbial
business body, then brand identity is the soul. For those who don’t know or
haven’t paid attention to the term, branding is the personality of a business.
How it looks, speaks and how it
represents itself in the public eye which begs the question. How important is
your brand's perception to the consumer? Does it matter what the consumer thinks
of your brand? Or does it only matter what perception the business wants?
For example, when creating a business, corporations use marketers, ad men, PR firms and etc. to create an image of themselves to appeal to their target market. Fashion companies like Ralph Lauren depict their brand as high end and cultured which is the general perception of the brand my most consumers. This is one of those cases where a brand’s perception of itself matches that of its perception in the market place. Now on the other hand, you have a company like Nike which has tried to recreate itself over the years from an athletic clothing company to a casual lifestyle brand. Their marketing over the last few years show images of people in non-sports related situations trying to convince us (the consumer) of this change. But when you think of Nike don’t you still think of it as the company that makes half decent cross trainers, as opposed to the company that makes a nice t shirt for Saturday night?
For example, when creating a business, corporations use marketers, ad men, PR firms and etc. to create an image of themselves to appeal to their target market. Fashion companies like Ralph Lauren depict their brand as high end and cultured which is the general perception of the brand my most consumers. This is one of those cases where a brand’s perception of itself matches that of its perception in the market place. Now on the other hand, you have a company like Nike which has tried to recreate itself over the years from an athletic clothing company to a casual lifestyle brand. Their marketing over the last few years show images of people in non-sports related situations trying to convince us (the consumer) of this change. But when you think of Nike don’t you still think of it as the company that makes half decent cross trainers, as opposed to the company that makes a nice t shirt for Saturday night?
This is the conflict that most
companies have to deal with in terms of how to portray their brand. Do you stay
true to your (the business) plan, sculpting the image of the company as you see it? Or do we follow
the perception of the consumer………decisions?