AbuLLard Talks About a Brand He Loves

Is There a Brand You Love?

When asked by a colleague who I thought did branding well, I answered, “UPS.” When she continued, asking me "Why?" I mentioned the campaign promoting “Brown”, a color rarely in vogue, and “What can Brown do for you?” as a clever way of capitalizing on what might have been considered a handicap.

As we proceeded with the conversation though I realized that my loyalty to UPS did not derive from their clever use of a color, or the brown trucks, or the consistent logo. Those things help build my awareness of UPS. However, my loyalty to UPS is entirely due to the driver in my neighborhood, Donna English.

Donna has been delivering packages to my office for four years. On numerous occasions she has gone out of her way to ensure that I received a package. She knows my “friendly” neighbors who will accept deliveries on my behalf. She knows my pet sitter and will leave items with her when I’m out of town.

Most recently I was anxiously awaiting a delivery from Gateway Computer after a long involved customer service issue. When Donna came shortly before noon with the package, no one was in the office. I was disappointed to have to wait another day. At 4:55 PM the doorbell rang. I knew who it was. Donna had come back on her afternoon rounds!

My colleague, who asked me the question of who I thought did branding well, has a completely different experience. In her neighborhood, she doesn’t know who the driver is, they change regularly. She has had packages mis-delivered, despite specific instructions, and has had shipments go astray. She won’t use UPS. Same “brown” trucks. Very different people.

This story exemplifies the personal aspect of branding and the need to instill brand values throughout an organization. Branding is a holistic discipline. People do not buy a logo – they by a product or a service, and the people that they deal with in delivery of that product or service have a huge impact on “brand loyalty.”

For me, Donna is a good will ambassador for UPS and has created a very vocal loyal customer. If they could replicate Donna’s values throughout the company, I suspect they would have many more loyal fans.

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Brand Element of the Month:

PowerPoint

Lorette Pruden, Inventive Strategies
Management Consulting to the Technical Community

Click here to visit Lorette's website.

Make your PowerPoint Sing

We met Lorette Pruden at a business expo in September of 2002.  This summer she called us and said, "It's time for me to upgrade my PowerPoint presentation!" She was frustrated with the busy and too colorful "standard" templates and wanted something that represented her brand image more appropriately.

Of course after waiting two years to contact us she needed it done "by next Friday" but we were able to accommodate her request. We kept it simple. We incorporated her logo into a template, added a few design elements that complemented it, and created a color scheme consistent with her brand identity.

The feedback we both got from the effort was very gratifying. Said Lorette, "Thank you so much for your great design and hard work. One of the comments I got from the training I used the template for was – “the written materials were excellent – way above what we usually get!” Your work had a lot to do with that impression!"

Hayloise's Book of the Month

Lovemarks: the future beyond brands
By Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi &Saatchi
Powerhouse books, New York,  April 2004

Lovemarks focuses on the idea that customers make purchasing decisions based on emotion. Customers will ‘fall in love’ with some brands, and become very loyal to them. Thus, the secret to creating a really successful brand is to tap into that emotion. Roberts suggests that traditional branding techniques have focused on gaining Respect (or trustworthiness). He introduces a simple grid with two axes: Love and Respect.

Throughout the book he describes techniques for how to create a Lovemark – a brand that people will love and respect. He says, "A Lovemark’s high Love is infused with these three intangible, yet very real, ingredients: Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy." He makes his point with numerous anecdotes and examples.

Unfortunately, the design and layout of the book make it very difficult to read. It's a good example of how a good message can get lost in a sea of distracting images. It is creativity and design run amok.

There are many variations of text and a rainbow of colors. The colored backgrounds make the text quite difficult to read. The content could use a good editing as ideas are repeated and disorganized. And there is an arrogant tone which some may find offensive. It's interesting that if you read the reviews on Amazon, people either love the book or hate it.

Click on the book cover image to go to its page on Amazon.com

Brand Tip of the Month

Make it Personal with Personality

We've talked about a company’s brand being it’s “personality”. Bring yours to the fore. Apple Computer and Ben and Jerry’s are good examples of companies that had distinct, quirky personalities. They built it into their marketing strategies and generated fanatically loyal customers.

Remember that “marketing” alone doesn’t sell anything. It creates awareness. It encourages people to consider your product. If you make an emotional connection with a potential customer you can increase your chance of closing the sale. Effective marketing focuses on what’s in the customer’s mind. It makes a connection on a personal, emotional level.

For example, does anyone really need a cell phone with a built in digital camera? A commercial for a camera phone showed a scenario of a young woman taking a picture of baby’s first steps and sending it to her husband on a business trip. It made an emotional connection and sold camera phones. It was much more effective than explaining how the camera worked.

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Copyright 2004 CattLeLogos Brand Management Systems, LLC.
All rights reserved.

AbuLLard, AbuLLard's ABC's of Branding, the CattLeLogos Method are trademarks of CattLeLogos Brand Management Systems, LLC.

Published February 15, 2005

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