Boring Quote: “The Brand Is Not the Logo”

Probably, the Most Boring Quote about the Brand

I don’t think a week goes by without our capacity for wonder being overwhelmed by the sheer number of likes, hearts and other emojis celebrating famous statements such as “the brand is not the logo”.

Is it that, after all this time, we’re still thinking about it? If so, then as a practice, branding has, at least, two serious problems:

• Having a collective self-esteem undermined by a lack of clarity, or an excess of egos that means that from within the sector we dedicate ourselves to mislead the community by seeking every day a new definition of something that should already be understood intuitively since kindergarten.
• Being affected by a growing noise of professionals from other practices who take advantage of the previous point by claiming that they also do branding. At this point, the most prominent are probably the SEO experts who know how to position, tactically and operationally, the brand at the top of the search engines, which is fine but is not branding – and of course, the new kids on the block, the Crytobros, beardless experts in all sorts of things.

Define the brand as you wish! However, keep in mind, that the true success of the brand depends on its ability to synthesise what the company is and what its business promises in a way that creates lasting value, generates short-term results and has a positive impact.

Linking Brand and Company

I will try to avoid going into definitions which start to become cumbersome.

Simply put, in our lives and in companies -which are nothing more than a group of people pursuing common goals- there are certain things that are clearly stable.

I won’t go into the speed of change and so on, because the world is characterised by being in motion -and much of it is generated by us. What is important to note is that for our mental health -or to appear somewhat sane- we need certain ‘anchors’, aspects that, while they may evolve over time, remain stable.

These definitions are what make up the foundational basis of any firm. Some companies make them explicit, others are slow to do so and others know them intuitively ([AN] intuition is a rational, non-executive process), although they never put them into words because they demonstrate it in their day-to-day good work.

At this stage, the brand must synthesise the raison d’être of the company and its projection into the future. The consistency and coherence of these aspects over time are what create value.

Values and Principles

The values and principles of a company are among the most stable definitions that can be found.

Some principles could be considered universal. For instance, the principles on ethical behaviour or those that ensure the transcendence of the company over time based on achieving a minimum profit that ensures its operability -note that I’m talking about minimum profit and not about maximising results, which is a specific business issue at a given moment in time.

Purpose

Purpose can be defined in two ways, answering:

• Why it exists: It is a deep-rooted definition that goes beyond thinking about customers and consumers and goes systemically into all of the company’s stakeholders -most commonly seen in European companies.
• What it exists for: It is a declamatory act based on what is done and what is offered. This is not a minor issue, but a simple way of justifying oneself through what is produced -most commonly seen in American companies.

Offer, Audiences and Differential Knowledge

The last level of definitions are based on generic and broad aspects of what is offered, to whom it is offered and what is the differential know-how applied.

What is important at this point is that these definitions need to be clear enough to recognise the company and its offer, and at the same time allow it to grow in range and variety, in geographic and socio-psychographic markets, leaving room for the entry of new technologies. All this sounds simple, but I swear it’s not.

Values will be translated into attributes, purpose into a stable part of positioning, offer, audiences and know-how into components of the solutions and benefits delivered.

Linking Brand and Business

The difference between a company and a business is that the former is a permanent entity that embodies and strengthens values and beliefs, while the latter responds to aspects of less temporal scope, the pursuit of opportunities and the subsequent economic interest -even though there are long-term, not eternal, strategic definitions.

This is not a conclusive definition, nor is it intended to be, although it is based on those given by Peter Druker. I only use it as a common starting point, which helps to share the meaning of what is written.

The truth is that the relationship between business and brand can be understood as two boundary spaces where the first gives intentionality and the second turns it into a promise.

Strategy

Strategy has different levels. Without going into too much detail, what we know as brand strategy requires at least a strategic business response in terms of:

• Mission
• Vision
• Growth objectives
• Transformation objectives
• Impact objectives – social and/or environmental

These strategies must be translated in a structured way by shaping functional benefits, reasons to believe, a solution and an emotional benefit of living the experience to which the brand is inviting.

Then come the personality aspects, tones and manners, and all those elements that serve to bring to life – operationalise – the brand.

Policies

There are three broad policy levels that should be considered:

• Measurement policies: Those that define the metrics that will be used to measure the success of the strategy. This is not a minor issue as the brand has both long and short term results -until the beginning of the century/millennium this was simpler because the focus was only on value generation, a long run issue.
• Satisfaction policies: These are the ones that define what goals you want to achieve -e.g.: 10% increase in value over the next three years, or a 15% increase in recognition of the company’s social impact.
• Resource policies: The tactical aspects that will then define how the brand lives. These are brand activation, marketing and communication plans that need to be developed.

Operation

Old school, LOL! From strategy to tactics to operation.

I won’t go too much into this issue because it could be the subject of a whole article.

It is important to say that the brand is brought to life here. The obvious is in its products, services, marketing actions, communication, website, social networks, physical spaces, and the list continues.

What is less obvious, but nevertheless more important, is that the brand lives and comes to life in the people who are related to it: employees and people in the system -how many times have you been angry with a call-centre operator who phones you to sell you something? A third party from an independent company, however under the umbrella of the brand- suppliers, partners, prescribers and of course, customers and consumers.

In Short…

The point is that, if you are thinking about the branding of your company, whether at corporate or commercial level, the discussion should not be stuck in an almost onanistic discussion about what a brand is.

For God’s sake, it shouldn’t be like that!

I think the issue is how to leverage what we know and understand as a brand in terms of the value, results and impact desired by the company, the business and fundamentally by people like you who have read this far.

Let’s talk about your business and your brand

Learn more about transforming and growing through your brand, people and experiences while raising its conscience. Read our other cases, visit our blog, subscribe to our newsletter, or join us for a good cup of coffee as we discuss the possibilities of helping you build your business towards sustainable growth in value, results, and positive impact.

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• Engin Akyurt, Pexels