Slow Brand » loyalty builders http://slowbrand.com taking a slow approach to brands Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:25:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 A formula for Brands http://slowbrand.com/2008/05/19/a-formula-for-brands/ http://slowbrand.com/2008/05/19/a-formula-for-brands/#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 00:57:14 +0000 Shannon Clark http://slowbrand.com/?p=8

Arthur Einstien Vice President of Marketing at Loyalty Builders

My post about What is a Brand Anyway prompted my friend Arthur Einstein to write an email to me where he took issue with the simple, and I agree it is too simple, definition that a brand is a promise.

The formula which Arthur offers in place of that simple definition is:

Your Brand = awareness + expectations + engagement + experience

Awareness is simply the knowledge that you’re there.
Expectations pretty obvious. It’s the promise you speak of.
Engagement is the quality of the interaction that turns a consumer into a customer
Experience is the customers perception of how his/her expectations have been fulfilled

(and continue to be fulfilled over time)

Arthur Einstein is the Vice President of Marketing at Loyalty Builders. He has over 30 years of experience in the marketing and advertising industry, including as an agency president.

He ended by noting that:

What’s important about this view of branding is that each of these quantities can be measured and each of them can be managed.

I agree with Arthur that his definition captures a more nuanced approach to the entirety of what a Brand is and that certainly the ability to measure is important. Though I also worry that measuring too much (and especially measuring the wrong things) can be counterproductive. What’s more, it can lead you to focus on what is easiest to measure versus what will have the largest impact over time.

And rapid measurement can lead to rapid adjustments, which is counter to my view of how a Slow Brand should approach building and enhancing their Brand.

Instead I would suggest balancing immediate measurement and reactions to those measurements with setting long term goals and then giving your planned methods time to prove themselves. Especially in todays media rich world, I argue, it takes more persistence and especially consistency to associate your brand with your messages around the brand.

What would you offer as a definition of a brand?

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