Brand Communications

Brand communications
are the means by which companies attempt to
inform, persuade and remind customers
- directly or indirectly.
 Brand communications
represent the voice of the brand!
 A means by which
it can build relationships with
customers.
 Communication happens
when the consumer meets the brand.
 Imperative to ensure that
every ‘brand meeting’ builds the brand.
But, is it happening?
 Brand communications
• Consumers are constantly meeting the brand
– Through advertising
– With editorial mentions
– By sponsorships
– On the point of purchase materials
– Over the supermarket shelves
 They often meet our brands,
but how often do they notice them?
What is the need for communication?
 The need for communication
• The need for impact

• The need for an involving, positive experience

• The need to affect behaviour

• The need for high payback

 Communication imperatives
• Communication process begins after identity
process is clearly laid out

• Remember, brand communication is just a

reflection of strategy

• Put differently, strategy leads creative and not

the other way around
Communication model
 Non-receipt of message
• Selective attention
– Due to message explosion

• Selective distortion
– Receive what fits into their belief systems

• Selective retention
– Only a few remain in memory
 Effectiveness influencers
• The greater the influence of communication
source over recipient, the greater the recipient’s
change / effect in favour of source

• Communication effects are greatest where the

message is in line with the receiver’s existing
opinion, beliefs and dispositions
 Effectiveness influencers
• Communication can produce the most effective
shifts on unfamiliar, lightly felt, peripheral issues
– That do not lie at the core of recipient’s value system

• Communication is more likely to be effective if the

source is believed to have expertise, high status,
objectivity or likeability
 The communication process

• Communication is not a one-way street

anymore

• Communication is an interactive dialogue

between the company and its customers
– Takes place during the pre-selling, selling,
consuming and post-consuming stages
 Companies must ask not only
‘how can we reach our customers?’
but also,
‘how can our customers reach us?’
 Communication imperative

• Managing and coordinating the entire

communications process calls for a
unifying mechanism…

Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications
• IMC is a concept of marketing communication
planning that recognizes the added value of a
comprehensive plan

• It evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of

communications disciplines and combines all
these disciplines
– To provide clarity, consistency and maximum impact
– Through seamless integration of discrete messages
 Why IMC
• Fragmenting mass markets into a multitude of
mini-markets, each requiring its own approach

• Proliferation of new types of media

• Growing sophistication of customers

 Advantages of IMC
• IMC produces stronger message consistency
and greater sales impact

• Forces management to think about every way

the customer comes in contact with the company
– How positioning is communicated
– Importance of each vehicle and timing issues

• Assigns responsibility to unify the company’s

brand images and messages as they come
through thousands of company activities
 In essence…

IMC will improve the company’s ability

to reach the right customers
with the right messages
at the right time
and in the right place!
Communication
Development
 Communication plan
• The communications plan is an investment plan
– Need to establish goals
– Identify alternative routes
– Weigh up the risks, potential benefits
– Decide which route is likely to be effective, within your
financial limitations

• By using this as a model for investing, in

different channels, brand value can be increased
Hallmark of a good communication plan
• A good plan will provide a strategic framework to
identify different goals for brand communication
– Assign these to channels which will be most effective

• Will provide a blueprint against which campaigns

in different channels will be briefed & evaluated

• Will aid priority setting, and a check on how

realistic brand objectives are

• Will provide an overall work plan for the

communication team, company and agency
What role would the communication play
in the overall scheme of things?
Role for Communication 1:

Introduce the brand

Role for Communication 2:

Make Brand TOM

Role for Communication 3:

Alter perceptions
Role for Communication 4:

Reinforce attitudes
Role for Communication 5:

Claim leadership
 Role for communication

• Define the role creatively and persuasively

• The case of Vaseline Lip Guard…launch

– ‘I have to’ to ‘I want to’

• The case of Vaseline Lip Guard…relaunch

– ‘Move the brand from the shelf to the hand bag’
 Communication strategy
• What would be the communication strategy?
– The strategic route to achieving our intended goals

• Some examples…
– Shift focus from functional to emotional benefits
– Increase visibility
– Establish brand superiority
– Create launch excitement
 Take a creative leap…

• Vaseline lip guard

– ‘Appropriate the property of smile’

• MasterCard
– ‘Give an emotionally bankrupt brand, a heart’
 Tone of voice
• Define the tone and manner of communication

• Some examples…
– Leadership
– Empathy
– Humour
– News
The 8 Essentials
 • Address the key business issue
• Communication to be developed in context of
business goals and brand strategy
• In effect, what is required is a clear definition of the
role of our brand communications – a need to be
able to answer the questions
– What is the purpose of this communication?
– How does our communication fit into the life of the brand?

• The question to ask are:

– What is the business-based purpose of communication?
Why are we doing it?
• Build consistent long-term brand equity

• Ensure that all brand communication delivers a

clear, relevant and competitive consumer benefit

• Communication should bring consumer close to

brand and enhance the quality status of brand

• Need to make people feel that brand is playing a

real role in their lives, and is relevant to them

• The question to be asked: Is every communication

derived from and reflective of the BPS?
• Be focused on single-minded strong
idea
• A ‘Strong Idea’ binds all communication together
so that they are cohesive / consistent

• What constitutes a ‘Strong Idea’?

– Must be related to the brand; must involve the brand
– Must be related to, or evolved from BPS
– Must be involving for the consumer and hold their attention
– Should be unique
– Is proprietary
– Should work across all forms of communication
– Should be enduring over time
 • Be highly visible
• It costs the same to run a TVC whether it is dull and
boring or whether it is relevant and involving
– A good ad is the best media discount possible

• Ensure all communication investment is money well

spent, and this means communications have impact
– Impact that is relevant to our brand

• Some possible ‘clutter breakers’ include…

– Making communication simple
– Developing additional communication channels
– Being innovative in media
– Making better use of sampling and relationship marketing
• Be locally relevant to core target
• Need to catch the eye by planting a relevant
idea in the consumer’s mind
– ‘This is just right for me and the way I live my life’

• Focus the message / execution on the core

target and not over-worrying about the
‘alienating’ effect on others
 • Be likeable

• All communication should be likeable

– Achieve best scores in tracking research for
‘likeability’ of brand vs. competitors

• All communication should be

contemporary, both in content and tone
– Reflecting life as it is lived today, and
positioning the brand as relevant to today’s
way of life
 • Be executionally excellent
• Many brands are consumed for pleasure,
enjoyment and indulgence
– Consumption shots should realistically communicate
this in a totally credible way

• Unique, proprietary product shots and mouth-

watering consumption sequences appeal to
senses
– Help create appetite appeal, differentiate our products
and motivate purchase
 • Bring about a sale
• Seek to create communications which have…
– The consumers’ interests at heart
– That are involving in content and execution
– That are original and provocative
– That get talked about
– Have the ‘must see again’ factor

• To help ring in the cash registers!

Unilever Principles for Great Advertising
(UPGA)
 1. Concentrates on one big idea

 Brand’s benefit is conveyed, not just by a

selling message or a series of messages
– But single-mindedly, by one big idea

• A visual and or aural expression of that one big

concept exclusively linked to the brand
1. Promise discriminates brand from competitors

 The advertisement must communicate a benefit

– But different from competitive brands

• The brand must therefore communicate

uniqueness
– Uniqueness in physical brand itself or in some other
value inextricably associated with brand
 1. Involves target consumer

 It elicits a favourable emotional response

by appealing to the consumer’s self
interest
– Relating to a known need or problem
– Promising satisfaction of that need
– Solution to the problem
1. Establishes relationship with consumer

 The ad should induce a strong feeling in favour

of the brand

• It should establish a preference for brand, so

consumer feels confident choosing it
 1. It’s credible / feels genuine

 Though manner of presentations may involve

humour / hyperbole, the fundamental benefit
must be obtainable

 The consumer should buy into the brand story

 1. It is simple and clear
 The execution should be simple and the
expression unambiguous

• It should be clear from the ad what target is

expected to do
– This doesn’t mean everything needs to be spelled out

• Communication is two-way
– The consumer should participate
1. Integrates brand name with central idea

 The big idea must be inextricably linked to the

brand name

• It must be remembered only in association with

the brand
 1. Takes advantage of each medium
 Ideally, big idea should find expression in all media
– TV, Print, Radio, Outdoor, Direct mail

• Each medium has its own characteristics, which

offer opportunities for exploitation

• The big idea itself is fundamental

– But the ad should take maximum advantage of media possibilities
available
 1. Idea must be campaignable
 The big idea will and must endure
– It is not a single ad but a campaign
– It is not one campaign but a series of campaigns
– This is more than simple repetition or even variations on
a theme
– The big idea will not only endure, it will grow
1. Must help build brand personality
 Each ad affects consumer’s perception of brand
– If an ad conflicts with that perception it will cause a negative
feeling
– And several such ads will begin to weaken brand personality

• It is vital therefore to ensure consistency

– Each ad helps to build or reinforce the desired brand
personality