Brands are Promises

A brand is more than a mark: A logo, icon, or company name in a fancy font. As pretty as that mark
may look, it isnt the brand in the true senseand it certainly isnt what makes the brand valuable.
Rather, a companys brand is a promise. And successful brands deliver on their promises. Its by
delivering on their brand promises that companies create brand value.
Whats a Brand Promise?
A brand promise is, yes, what the company promises to the people who interact with it.
But it isnt a description of what a company does in a literal sense. Its a description of the companys
character. To some extent, its how the company does what it does. Also, its the feeling the company
conveys to its stakeholders. One restaurant and another may have substantially similar menus, but
they provide different atmospheres, different associations, and different customer experiences based
on their brand promises.
Examples may be the easiest illustrations.
Coca-Cola: To inspire moments of optimism and uplift.
In none of the above cases is the brand promise what the companies do or provide.. Coca-Cola doesnt
talk about providing the best soft drinks in the world. Good brand promises, like these, talk about
what these companies promise to be for you, the consumer.
Brand Attributes
Strongly branded companies take their brand promises and drill down further into what are called
brand attributes: The values and beliefs inherent in the brand promise. What are the values or beliefs
involved in/required by making the brand promise?
Again, examples make this easier to illustrate, and well use the same companies as before because
weve already covered their brand promises. Now lets look at their brand attributes (values and
beliefs):
Coca-Cola: Simple pleasures, optimism, happiness, human connections/bringing people
together

Brand Promises as Business Decision Makers
Companies with strong brands take their brand promises seriously. They use these promises as
frameworks for decision making on a grand scale. In fact, using brand promises to make serious
business decisions is how smart companies build strong brands and strong brand value.
Looking again at our example companies:
Coca-Cola has become one of the strongest brands in the world through making strategic
business decisions based on its brand promise, from what products it offers to how it offers
them. For most of us, its easiest to see Coca-Cola living its promise through the commercials
it chooses to air: Commercials like the ones showing scary football star Mean Joe Green
turning friendly after a young boy gives him his drink and people from disparate countries
coming together to teach the world to sing.
Sometimes, delivering on brand promises means that companies have to make challenging
decisions.
And yes, in some cases, something might look great from a number of anglesbut not fit within the
companys brand promise. Does the company go ahead and move forward or evena truly bad
propositiontry to change the brand promise to make the idea fit? Or does the company kill an idea
that looks good in every other way?
Companies with faith in their brand promises will kill the idea, as painful as it may be in the short
term. Yet in the long term, the increased strength and value of the companys brand will more than
make up for the loss.

INSIGHT I: THE PRESENCE OF A BRAND
One of the worlds most powerful brands is Coca-Cola, with an estimated brand value of around
$50 billion1. Recently, a history of Super Bowl commercials was broadcast. It was interesting how
often Coke has changed their slogans, taglines, and even the tone of their ads. A small sample of
taglines includes A Coke and A Smile, Its the Real Thing, the recent The Coke Side of Life,
and the current Open Happiness. Through the years, spokespersons have ranged from Santa Clause
to Max Headroom to an international group of hillside singers to Bill Cosby.
The Coke brand has been built on the image of delivering a special, fun, refreshing, emotional
experience. You cant imagine a family get-together without Coke. Their sponsorships reinforce it.
Their ads are always non- controversial. When Pepsi tried to represent Coke as stodgy or out-of-
date, the ads were often entertaining, but were seldom effective in dethroning Coke.
In fact, the biggest threat to Cokes brand was self-inflicted on April 23, 1985, when Coke decided to
compete on the sweetness of a new formula. The resulting New Coke was one of the largest
commercial disasters and resulted in a loss of image, reduced sales, and the sacrifice of Bill Cosby as
their celebrity endorser. Coke quickly reverted back to the formula, actions, message, quality, style,
and values that they always stood forand to this day, it is how they stand out.
1The value of the Coke brand was estimated at $67 billion in 2006 by Interbrand and BusinessWeek
and at $44 billion in 2007 by MillwardBrown Optimor in the BrandZ top