A man on an airplane told me his organization was considering hiring on a “brand consultant.” This interested me since branding and brand recovery is something I teach on at the National Institute of Christian Leadership. As we talked further, however, I realized that he had several words very confused: brand, logo and tag line. Since that conversation I have come to realize that many folks, even in some sophisticated businesses, suffer considerable confusion in this area. What my friend actually was hiring was a “logo design expert.” It was not my job to define terms without being asked and our snippet of a conversation certainly did not afford us the time. What I couldn’t help wondering was if the company he was consulting with was confused. Surely the consultants will clarify the terms in the course of the contract. For the purpose of today’s Notebook: some brief definitions are in order.
I: BRAND
A brand is a promise, not a logo. No matter how creative and attractive a logo your organization can design or pay to have designed for you, it will do no good if your brand cannot deliver on its promise. In fact, if the brand is not respected, a nifty logo may actually rub salt in the wound of your disappointed customers. Nike’s brand is the promise of high quality sports shoes.
II. LOGO
An arty check mark is not Nike’s brand. Its a cool, simple, easily remembered and pleasing to the eye LOGO.
III: TAG LINE
Likewise, “Just Do It” is neither the brand nor the logo. A tag line is an advertising phrase, an ever-so-brief, punchy, memorable phrase. What you want from a tag line is an emphasized differentiation that will stick in peoples’ minds. If the tag line can become as famous as the logo you double your clout, but the two together cannot overcome a shoddy brand.
Take Maxwell House for example. Their famous logo is a tilted cup with one last drop of coffee escaping its lip. The tag line is even more famous than the logo. “Good to the last drop.” The combination of the two really works and has been an enduring symbol of a successful brand of coffee. In other words, the coffee itself is the real deal. A good logo and a great tag line cannot sell a bad brand of coffee, not for long anyway.
When a brand is damaged, recovery can be a complicated, painful and expensive process. A major callback can damage a brand. A scandal can really hurt. One type of brand damage has nothing to do with scandal or callbacks, but it can be just as difficult to overcome. That is gradual brand fade, usually caused by a failure to keep up with changes in culture, science, and markets. What causes such a collapse? Usually it’s laziness combined with arrogance.
Was there no one on the entire Kodak team who understood that film was disappearing? Were they completely asleep at the wheel? Apparently they just felt that no matter what happened in the camera world, folks would always need film. Uh oh. There are college students today who have never seen a roll of film, who may not even know what film is.
Whether it’s a chain of department stores or a Christian college or a church, brands can devolve into irrelevancy, promising what is desired by only a disappearing market. Dominance in a disappearing market is the doorway of brand death. A brand can also be damaged by scandal or product failure. A major brand of tires blasted with bad press had to fight back from being labeled “unsafe.” Changing the logo would have been an effete response to such a devastating brand-wrecker.
A Christian college whose brand became associated with financial mismanagement, theological confusion and faded glory faced brand damage in spades. Such a college had to find a way to change its image, improve its product, make its promise contemporary and communicate its differentiation among other such colleges.
What can be done in cases such as these? Here is a brief list of some actions that can aid in the process of brand recovery. I teach an entire lecture on branding and brand recovery at the National Institute of Christian Leadership.
1) You must, ABSOLUTELY MUST, know what is the prevailing public perception of your brand in your desired market. You’ve heard it said, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, but I say, you may not know it’s broke if you don’t seriously want to know. Defending yourself is counter-productive. The perception of your brand among the public(s) you are targeting is essential knowledge for a brand recovery.
2) You must make the quality control changes necessary to get your product back online. Do what it takes. Now. Change personnel. Contemporize your product, improve delivery systems and above all things, FIX CUSTOMER SERVICE.
3) Get your message out and get it right. Public relations is indispensable after brand damage is done. Now you can deal with your logo. Now comes the new tag line. Now spend your money on advertising and consultants, etc.