Brands are so much more than a mark, a color or a familiar phrase. Brands are the combination of all of the sensory messages that they consistently send and the emotions and memories the audience receives. Because of this, brands not only derive meaning from people, but people derive meaning from brands. Because of this engagement phenomenon, brands are built over time but can be destroyed in an instant.
This is why is it critically important to realize that branding is all about people. And it begins at the inside of an organization. In his best-selling book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink describes the shift taking place from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. A major component of this paradigm shift is the new importance of meaning in business and in all aspects of our lives. In addition to explaining the traction that the environmental movement has rather quickly generated, the importance of meaning further explains why corporate social responsibility has become a top issue in executive suites around the world. And this is why branding takes place from the inside out.
A more holistic approach to business is taking place. Integral business or conscious business is focusing more on the building value through getting in touch with people and the unique human values that they bring. Maya Angelou’s famous quotation, “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” has relevance to building brands today. Whether it is how your employees make them feel, how you make your employees feel or in the type of messages that your brand delivers — marketers need to be taking a holistic or integral approach that connects people in meaningful ways.
“Get Into Their Lifestyle, Get Into Their Mind”
When you engage your internal and external audiences for the purposes of communication, motivation or recognition, you have the opportunity to build on the emotions, meaning and goodwill of established brand names. Many powerful brands are available for the corporate market to use as marketing tools. And you can use the inherent positive messages of established brands to build your own.
Strong established brands can help you infuse your programs (and associate your own developing brand) with inspiration, aspiration and positive messages. When you engage your people or your prospects with high-end aspirational brands, you are telling them that you believe in their value and self-worth and that your brand shares similar qualities.
By offering the right brands for rewards, recognition and communications, you are telling people that you understand them, value them and want to meet them where they live or where they aspire to live.
Making Sense of the Sensory
Engaging people to build your brand requires touching people in all six senses. So much of traditional media is made up of sight or maybe sight and sound. But when you connect with all of the senses and different senses, you can touch the sixth sense — that sense of meaning. Consider the most valuable brand in the world — Coca-Cola. What color comes to mind immediately? Did you know that before their famous advertisements, Santa Claus was associated with green. Imagine, Santa wasn’t always Coca-Cola red!
But Coke didn’t stop with sight, or with taste, or even with sound. (They did teach the world to sing according to one of their memorable jingles). In 1915, Coke challenged the Root Glass Company to design a bottle that would be recognized by touch in the dark resulting in the classic shape that has defined the brand.
Each of the senses has power to trigger strong emotions. With positive messages and emotions, these can be the building blocks for a strong brand. Smell connects you with memory and is one of the most primal of our senses. Name a brand of modeling clay that transports you to your childhood based on the scent. How does the smell of baby powder make you feel? And sound transports your mood. How often have you heard a song and not only remembered an event, but all of the emotions and moods that came with it. Amazing isn’t it, how we have our own MTV stories triggered by a song, a note, a melody?
Consider the sensory connections of the brands you use. And consider building your own brand through the senses. By selecting the right promotional products, you can touch people’s lifestyles and extend your branding messages beyond sight and sound. Three dimensional media can build your brand. But choose it wisely. Make sure the messages you’re creating are the ones you want reinforced.
Take a look at ebay some time. How many advertising media do you see being auctioned other than promotional products. Promotional products are the exclamation point on the experiences that you are delivering. Because of the multi-sensory nature and the memories and emotions that can be imbedded into them, they retain brand value long after the campaign has passed. Some of the most valuable brands in the world were built through the creation of valuable, useful products that reinforced brand usage while prolonging the brand experience.
Connect People with Your Brand and Your Brand with People.
It’s not what the product does. It’s what the product means. Your job as a leader, as a marketer, as a communications professional — is to create meaning. You can do that by associating and co-branding with the brands that make the emotional statement that reinforces your efforts. And you can extend and build your message through three dimensional media such as promotional products. But people are the most important element of any rewards and recognition program. They are the reason. They are the brand creators. Without people your brand has no meaning.
Paul Kiewiet MAS+ is an industry speaker, writer, consultant and coach. He serves as the executive director of MiPPA. Kiewiet was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame and the MiPPA Hall of Fame. He served as Chairman of PPAI in 2007. A former distributor, he founded Promotion Concepts, Inc in 1982 and worked with some of America’s most valuable brands including Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, and Whirlpool.