BRAND - A STORY TOLD BY A COMPANY We've all heard of brands, it's a word we associate with a product or a company. In majority of cases, the company itself is a brand, it carries the same name and shares the same idea or a vision. A brand contributes to a whopping 70% of companies intangible assets. When we take into consideration that companies value consists of 90% intangible assets, it's clear that we should treat our brand as the backbone of our company.
It's important to understand brands intangible value so we could understand the entirety of the brands complex nature. A brand isn't just a product, a random name we put on something tangible so we could identify it more easily. A brand is something much more, it's a story told by a company. A story that transcends the physical appeal and speaks to our more basic nature. A brand is something more, something we identify with and see a glimpse of ourselves in it.
BE THE STORYTELLER We must pour our vision, our ideals and our mission into the brand and do it through a story. Something that speaks to customers on a more natural level. After all we're all drawn to a good story. Since the beginning of time good storytellers were those who drew the most attention.
In this highly competitive market, we have to make sure that our story is the one that people see a glimpse of themselves in. That way we will be the storyteller who draws the attention.
There's a great story of a famous pizza chain in the USA... On one particularly busy day, one of the restaurants ran out of pizza dough. Restaurant manager, out of breath and afraid of letting his customers down called the national Vice President of Distribution. After explaining the situation arrangements were made and a private jet full of pizza dough was on it's way to the closest airport. Unfortunately this isn't a story with a happy ending. The jet didn't land on time and most of the customers were left with their thirst for pizza unquenched. Pizza chain in question took this incident seriously, after all they failed to uphold their brands vision that day. For a whole month after the incident, employees wore black mourning brands to work. Even dough (intended) this story doesn't have a happy ending it speaks of dedication and provides a great anecdote if you will which falls right into the lane of storytelling. It differentiates this pizza chain from all the others, because it's THEIR story to tell.
OUR STORY We as a company value and cherish our stories, they are the basis upon which we build our future. As much as we value them, we share them with our clients and are adamant to create new stories together. In words of a well respected professor Jan Benedict Steenkamp „The real competition takes place not on the shelves or on website pages but in the hearts of consumers.“ - And in the hearts of our clients and consumers is exactly where we want to be.
By: Petar Miletić
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