Singing the (Brand) Anthem
Every brand has an anthem. Or at least thats what we in agency-land like to tell the clients that manage them.
In every category, there exists an “ownable” territory that is worth a manifesto of empty thoughts all linked by a common theme. These anthems became useful in establishing what Adam Morgan (he of the “Eatbigfish” phenomenon) calls a ‘Lighthouse Identity’ – essentially, the idea that a brand can espouse values that consumers can live by, rather than brands whose values are informed by their intended audience. In this school of thinking, you could think of the more common brand-value associations: Coke and Happiness, Apple and Creativity, Nike and whatever you’re meant to take out of Just Do It.
Values are important to the brand and the organisation behind it. But if you don’t have tangible, solid proof of what these values offer as a point of difference you risk creating the sort of work that improves brand likeability scores but doesn’t work in selling a product or service.
Don’t get me wrong — I love the “art” part of the weird art/science mix that marketing is. And I admire its ability to create irrational response from an audience. But what I do get confused about is the reason for marketers to debut new “anthem” efforts in market in order to “refresh” what the market thinks about it.
Take Volkswagen USA. Having dumped creative hotshop Crispin Porter Bogusky for Deutsch LA, it landed during the Superbowl with “PunchDub”.
They continued with the “Das Auto” strapline, but what you have here is a cute device (Punch Dub!) that tells you absolutely nothing new about VW. So, there are 13 vehicles from VW: including the New Beetle from 2002? At least Apple’s “Think Different” manifesto in 1997 heralded the introduction of the then-revolutionary iMac.
For me, the brand anthem, brand manifesto – whatever you want to call it – is an important tool for Agencies and Brands. Here you have a rallying cry to bring together the many internal audiences on the Client side. Where it goes wrong, of course, is when the tidy slides you put together for the manifesto end up becoming the public-facing idea for the brand. “BMW doesn’t create cars, they create Joy?“. “Diesel is about Stupidity?“. Lets remember that consumers weren’t part of the offsites, the brand strategy workshops, the many steps involved in developing manifestos that are meant to inspire work afterwards.
But while the strategist always feels good that the manifesto was sold, the strategist should always work to actually figure out what the consumer should hear, not JUST what the brand manager was looking for in the assignment.
Here’s the rub: every brand has an anthem, but not every anthem should be sung in public. If you have a new product, service, innovation – SOMETHING – then you have every right to proudly stand and hit the high notes through a major campaign. If you don’t, then you should leave the pithy slides, the slick video edit and the beautiful script to the dealer or franchisee meeting.
Most brands would love to sing about themselves, but smart brands know that its better to actually DO things worth singing about in the first place. But maybe I’m just being, er, stupid.
Planner at Large 
Matt Jones 7:12 pm on March 28, 2010 Permalink |
Couldn’t agree more Aisea. Every brand needs a manifesto. Then comes the tricky but. Once a brand has a manifesto, the next job is to act on it…do something about it…translate it into action…make it real. That means engaging its people and partners before it starts shouting at its customers. It means interrogating its products and services, and focusing on the end-to-end experiences it provides for anyone who comes into contact with it. And it means looking at the brand footprint it already owns in the world (from websites and offices to retail spaces and delivery trucks). Only then should it even start to think about employing paid, earned, or social media to start spreading its story. Which is my whole problem with the continuing leadership of advertising and (paid) media agencies…you guys have the right intellectual and strategic tools but the wrong creative and client service muscle memory. So you need to start attaching your brilliant and insightful brains to creative hands that want to build on the brand manifesto from the inside out, putting people and owned media before the paid stuff. In other words, we need to have lunch!