Are the concepts of brand and trust contradictory? Charles Green of Trusted Advisor Associates ponders this and related questions:

What’s the difference between trust and branding? Or are they the same? Is Brand Trust an intuitively meaningful term? Or an oxymoron?

While the folks at Brandtrust may recoil from a characterization of the phrase brand trust as an oxymoron, these are valid questions, particularly as we see a direct link between great branding and truth telling.

Green suggests that branding be considered “in terms of [his] Trust Equation: a mix of credibility, reliability, intimacy, and low self-orientation.”

So, the real question becomes: do we or do we not trust the people behind the brand? Do we believe in the integrity of the organization putting out the product or service? Do those people in that company really believe what they say? Do they mean for their product to serve us? Or could they just as well be in currency trading or reinsurance as well as whatever they’re doing, because they’re just in it for the money?

That makes sense to me. In the traditional, personal sense of trust, I trust a brand because of what I believe about the people branding it…

Then Green offers this, the money quote:

Branding may be the social version of the individual connection we call trust. It’s accessibly meaningful in narrow senses like reliability. And, it can have that personal meaning when it comes to the authenticity and trustworthiness of those behind the curtain—the ones charged with delivering the brand.

We could not agree more.

Rather than an oxymoron, branding at its best is all about developing trust.

The outcome of effective branding confers upon a product or place a very human ability to rely upon — to trust — a haloed reputation in selecting among competing choices.

Green’s idea that branding is the social version of personal connection commonly referred to as trust is extendable.

One example. Recently we were asked to explain the differences between the branding of a product, and of branding a place, in this instance a city.

Our answer — there is no difference as both engage in efforts to attract and influence people — may have surprised our questioner, as authorities and consultants with assumed expertise often claim a difference, on occasion confusing advertising with branding.

However, places are like companies — those with effective branding find it easier to sell their products, services and experiences, and easier to attract people and investment.

As with a product, a place can offer personal meaning when it comes to the authenticity of those behind the curtain—those charged with delivering on the experience of a place.

As Green suggests, it’s all about trust.

[More posts about Brand Reputation | More posts about Brand Trust | More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More blogs about Brand Reputation]

Brands and branding are big business.

A handful have clearly understood this truth all along.

Now another respected voice is saying the same thing, in this from Brands in the Boardroom: Key branding issues for senior executives, a publication of Intellectual Asset Management Magazine:

The world’s most famous brands have values that can be measured in tens of billions of dollars –real sums that can be realised through securitisation and other methods of monetisation. You need only look at the interest generated today by techniques for calculating brand value to see that brands are now recognised as corporate assets to be audited and managed along similar lines as a company’s more traditional, tangible revenue generators. Employers, investors and other stakeholders expect those running companies to understand the major principles that drive and sustain brand value: after all, we are talking about what can often be the single most important asset a corporation owns.

We agree.

There is more, of course:

Without question, a brand’s ability to communicate an instant message to target audiences is where much of its power and value lie. A strong brand instils trust in consumers, making them feel confident that the choice they are making offers them high levels of consistency and quality. And a strong brand needs to have an identity and a personality that can be protected in all markets where its owners operate or may wish to do so in the future.

Could not have said it better ourselves.

[More posts about Branding Definition | More posts about Brand Equity | More posts about Brand Management | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Asset | More posts about Brand Personality | More blogs about Brand Asset]

A new site is catching a fair amount of attention.

With Miss Teen South Carolina, Obama Girl, and YouTube as inspirations, here is a bit of the thinking that led to the creation of SexyPolitics.com:

We are here to inform. Our access to politics has really changed. We’re forced to adapt to the times. And the present times are interactive. Innovative. We are making use of what is not only an innovation revolution, but an engagement revolution…

We believe sexy is being informed. Sexy is clear and simple. Sexy is understanding why global events often have local impacts. We think a political news story is sexy when it simplifies a misunderstood concept or illuminates a trend that should be followed. When a person is sexy, they inspire those around them. When a movement is sexy, it makes others jump on board.

Those behind SexyPolitics understand the difference between engaging an audience through a unique personality, rather than chasing an audience.

Take a look. You might learn something.

[More posts about Brand Personality | More posts about Branding vs Advertising | More posts about Branding vs Public Relations | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Branding vs Advertising]

A demonstration of how to own the conversation® within a business category, by exuding an engaging brand personality in alignment with a well thought out brand strategy:

[More posts about Consumer Goods Branding | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Brand Personality | More posts about Brand Promise | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Apparel Branding | More posts about Footwear Branding | More posts about Havaianas Brand Reputation | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More blogs about Brand Personality]

The Los Angeles Times reports on the success of Alibaba:

Alibaba.com was founded in June 1999 by Jack Ma, who saw an opportunity to play matchmaker for small and medium-size Chinese manufacturers, which lacked access to global markets for products as varied as bamboo toothpicks, bath towels and machine tools. Likewise, international buyers interested in goods from manufacturers in China lacked the communications channels to find them.

Ma established two websites to address those markets: one in English to facilitate international trades (alibaba.com) and one in simplified Chinese for domestic business (china.alibaba.com), from which the company derives more than 70% of its revenue.

Alibaba.com Ltd. shares began trading on the Hong Kong exchange Tuesday and tripled in value by end of the day.

There is, however, an interesting backstory to Alibaba, and that is how the company acquired its name. Our sister naming group, Igor, offers the story on the brand name, Alibaba.

[More posts about Brand Naming | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Brand Narrative | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Branding Companies | More posts about Branding Technology | More posts about China Brands | More posts about Alibaba Brand Image | More blogs about Brand Naming]

A new example of Bran Identity is offered in this 30 second spot for Kellogg’s All-Bran cereal:

As this report indicates, the All-Bran demographic is 45 and older grown-ups. Kellogg’s believes everything works out in the end by using a potty humor personality with this crowd:

“Talking about regularity is a really tough thing to do,” admitted senior brand manager Matt Lindsay, who helped create the ad. “We liked the idea of leveraging visual metaphors to make it a more approachable subject.”
…

“Inherently, given the subject matter, it’s going to be a bit polarizing,” Lindsay says. “You are going to get individuals who don’t want to think about the functional effects of regularity. But we bring it to life in a little more subtle way. A lot of our consumers don’t even notice the visual metaphors right away.”

With a tagline of Do It. Feel It. the spot is short on subtlety. Whether it translates into sales in the grocery aisle is the true measure of success. But, as the the ad admits the obvious in a new and entertaining way, and the All-Bran brand promise has always been all about eradicating crap, we think it will.

[More posts about Advertising Campaign | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Promise | More posts about Brand Personality | More posts about Breakfast Cereal Branding | More posts about Packaged Food Branding | More posts about Kellogg’s | More blogs about Advertising Campaign]

Always on the lookout for brands able to grab market share without advertising, we discovered a success story while in Portland, Maine.

We stepped into a local restaurant for lunch one day, and were introduced to a beverage our server referred to as free range root beer, otherwise known as Maine Root. As a root beer junkie, this was a real discovery, which led to our ordering another, and stopping by two days later for another.

The brew we enjoyed has become a success any entrepreneur [or corporate type] would envy. And, its a success achieved without advertising.

How have they done it? The short answer is, literally, organically. But the real engine behind Maine Root success comes in adopting and living a distinct attitude, casting themselves as the “little guy” vs. the Goliath purveyors of “corporate” root beer. As good as the product is, this brand personality is the driver behind Maine Root success, nowhere epitomized more than at this site declaring:

FreeRangeRootBeer.com is a movement. We believe that root beer deserves to be free. Free from chemicals, artificial sweeteners and confined spaces; the very things that strip a root beer from all its inate goodness, and the very things “corporate root beer” is guilty of committing…

The site directs the user to Maine Root.

Maine Root has created a passionate following through this own the conversation® strategy, changing the market beverage conversation to a basis they can win, and building the brand organically through endorsement and word of mouth [click on the Tell A friend link]. Sounds familiar.

[More posts about Brand Personality | More posts about Maine Root | More posts about Portland, Maine | More posts about Own The Conversation® Strategy | More posts about Branding v Advertising | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Free Range Root Beer | More posts about Beverage Branding | More posts about Root Beer | More posts about Restaurant Branding | More blogs about Brand Personality]

Architectural design conceived as part of an overall brand strategy can effectively demonstrate the promise behind a brand.

An architect with Seattle’s NBBJ remarks:

[B]randing [i]s the chemical reaction in the back of your head that happens when you are exposed to a brand. For instance, when I’m exposed to Volvo, I think of safety. Physical space in a building speaks to you the way branding does. Architecture is a form of branding; it is more than making a place functional. It can affect emotions and decisions, just like great marketing does.

We agree.

For example, Starbucks works to ensure their retail and business office spaces are designed to demonstrate to every employee and customer the essence of their brand.

Great architecture addresses basic human needs, attracting the equivalent of members to a club by projecting inclusion and the opportunity for affiliation. It is branding. By design.

[More posts about Brand Image | More posts about Retail Branding | More posts about Emotional Branding | More posts about Architecture Branding | More posts about Architectural Design | More posts about Brand Strategy | More posts about Brand Demonstration | More blogs about Architecture + Branding]

Here’s a story about successful branding from South Africa’s Fin24:

Savanna, the ‘dry but you can drink it’ South African cider advertised with a uniquely quirky humour…

Launched exactly a decade ago, and currently the fastest-growing FAB (flavoured alcoholic beverage) on the SA market with a volume growth of 60% for the 12 months to March 2006, Savanna is now also capturing the imagination of Britons…

“People regard Savanna as a drink they can stay with for the entire duration of an occasion, a pattern evident in most markets where it sells.”

…[B]rand loyalty is strengthened by Savanna’s consistent delivery of high quality taste and its humorous positioning in advertising and on the website.

Savanna successfully tells its story in a compelling way, understanding that everything matters as a point of human contact, from product to website.

Savanna does not rely upon a trite slogan as part of their brand tip of the spear. Dry, but you can drink it successfully demonstrates a compelling competitive difference with a benefit relevant to the consumer.

Okay, so we like this brand. Maybe the makers of Savanna Cider will send us a case.

[ More posts about Brand Personality | More posts about Brand Positioning | More posts about Savanna Cider | More posts about South Africa | More posts about Distell Group | More posts about Brand Benefits | More posts about Brand Differentiation | More blogs about Brand Personality ]

A number of readers commented recently about the USA Network tagline Characters Welcome, such as this one:

I get so annoyed hearing that insipid phrase over and over: “Characters Welcome”. I figured it was supposed to make one feel cool and unique, a real “character” for liking Monk, however it has had the opposite effect on me. I’m not watching USA anymore.

At the time USA Network announced their new brand strategy nearly one year ago, we saw the tagline as part of a promising strategy to differentiate USA from other US cable channels. But thus far, the power that could be generated by this branding falls short.

Here’s why. USA fails to demonstrate to viewers just what this brand position means to the audience it seeks to convert as regular viewers. Is the benefit offered to the viewing audience one of compelling programming content, or is USA Network simply an outlet for viewers to trumpet how they too are characters?

USA seems focused on defining characters as its audience, as these commercials demonstrate. But to the audience, it doesn’t matter why some viewers might explain themselves as characters. What matters instead is a promise that USA Network is worth watching, consistently, due to compelling programming with evocative characters and plotlines.

A tagline by itself is nothing more than an empty slogan. And that is exactly what USA Network has done…pushed the slogan out for public consumption without offering a compelling demonstration of why viewers should care.

While USA Network’s stab at branding is better than the mess at Paxson, it falls far short of the more effective brand position demonstrated by cable channel Bravo. Owned by NBC Universal Cable, which also owns USA Networks, Bravo viewers watch what happens, which puts the focus clearly on where it should be, the programming content.

In the financial services industry, the rebrand of Íslandsbanki to Glitner is informative due to the brand focus of Glitner’s CEO. From the organization’s press release:

Íslandsbanki has changed its brand name to Glitnir, at the same time adopting a new logo and appearance…

[Glitner] has evolved from an Icelandic bank into an international financial company operating in five countries. The Bank defines Iceland and Norway as its domestic market; …it [also] has operations in London, Luxembourg and Copenhagen, and later this year…will be opening offices in Halifax in Canada and Shanghai in China.

Bjarni Ármannsson, CEO, says… “We now work in the international financial market, and this means certain changes had to be made,” he says “Brands must reflect the environment in which they operate, and in our case we need a name that can be used all over the world. …Glitnir…has positive connotations for Icelanders, contains a historical reference, is both Icelandic and Nordic, is easy to pronounce in all the main languages involved and also contains no unusual letters or accents.” [Emphasis ours.]

As further stated in the release: “The new name comes from Norse mythology: Glitnir was the home of Forseti, son of the divine pair Baldur and Nanna. Those who came there received a pardon of their misdeeds and all quarrels were settled.”

Forseti is further described in other sources:

Forseti was considered the wisest and most eloquent of gods of [Norse mythology]. …Forseti presided over disputes resolved by mediation. He sat in his hall, dispensing justice to those who sought it, and was said to be able to always provide a solution that all parties considered fair. Like his father Balder, he was a gentle god and favored peace so all judged by him could live in safety as long as they upheld his sentence. Forseti was so respected that only the most solemn oaths were uttered in his name.

The new brand draws upon a deep well of existing imagery, meaningful to the markets in which it operates. This new name further draws upon a compelling story that evokes fairness, justice, and safety - benefits any bank would wish to be associated - and accomplishes this in an unexpected way. The name moves easily across borders in markets served by Glitner.

Glitner’s CEO is spot on; brands must reflect the environment in which they operate, and thereby become relevant and authentic to audiences they seek to influence.

Makes us want to consider changing banking relationships.