Thursday, August 21, 2008

What is the moral of your brand story?


The art of brand building has been severally interpreted as a deliberate narrative of brand footprints through consumers’ binoculars in compelling stories organised like “Tales by moonlight”. You remember the now-rested series on the NTA network every Sunday evening.
They are a special kind of tales—they are well-crafted to transverse time as they build on themselves chapter by chapter and updated to respond to changing customers and transiting markets.

When a brand is expressed as a story, it allows for a coherent articulation of the various entities that enrich its relevance and deepen its meaning beyond an everyday commodity. A brand story identifies the core brand heroes (like characters in a movie), the structural context (hook, plot, and mood), the core message (defined values and point of view) and most importantly the dialogues between the various sub-units.

Brand Story is beyond your 60’ commercials, popular documentaries and slogans, it’s the unique and differentiating story that consumers cherish and relish as a result of their everyday engagement with your brand at every touchpoint.
A compelling brand story creates enduring affection, enrich the usage experience, sustains repeat usage that makes the brand a part of their lives and provide the bequeath to endow the brand from one generation to the next.

In reality, brands can become the collective reference point that unite our desire, forge our sense of choice and become a memorability trigger for the desired brand meaning.

However, at the core of the brand stories, is the moral dimension. The moral expression of a brand is the anchorage for brand’s sustainability because it defines the eternal truth on which the brand stands. They are the transformational appendages that give energy to every brand to outlive time and space. Like our collective experience during childhood, every story is only worthwhile if it ends with a good moral that the listeners can live by. I remember the several tortoise stories taught us contentment.

The question for our modern brand strategist is the need to truly test if there is any moral in our modern brand stories. Volkswagen Beetle’s taught us simplicity, Adidas advanced the cause of possibilities and MasterCard demonstrated many things that are priceless. Dove's new campaign says "dont try to become a model that doesn't exist"

Modern consumers are not just looking for products to buy, but moral standpoints that they can share and associate it because it’s beyond good BUYS, most times it’s the good GUYS.