In our marketing class last week, we talked about brand management. We had slides that talked about all kinds of topics. Here are a few of the highlights:
Brands have two roles, identification and differentiation.
The brand value of Apple in 2020 was $322 billion.
There are functional, emotional, and self-expression benefits of brands.
There’s even a brand pyramid, with higher order benefits like social cache and personality.
Social cache and personality? Seriously? Absolutely. Let’s read on.
An interesting brand
Back in the early 2000s, a regional Mexican beer brand that had been founded by a German immigrant was looking to grow its market footprint. Unlike other Mexican lagers, this beer was brewed somewhat differently because of its German roots, giving it a different taste. It was interesting.
Although the beer had seen limited pockets of success in various regions, the brand hadn’t really caught on. The marketing agency responsible for promoting this beer was faced with the challenge of figuring out how to market this particular beer to a wider audience. They specifically explored the social cache and personality of the brand. What would this beer look like if its brand were personified?
As a result of this effort, they created the persona of the most interesting man in the world. This man doesn’t always drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis.
Take a look:
The ordinary heroes of the Taj Hotel
Not long after Dos Equis introduced us to the most interesting man in the world, a terror attack was unfolding in Mumbai, India (née Bombay) at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Armed terrorists with automatic weapons and explosives roamed free through the hotel. There were five hundred guests registered at the hotel, six hundred guests at various restaurants and events, and another six hundred staff employees. All six hundred employees knew the back routes to exit the hotel. And yet none of the employees left the hotel. None of them ran away. They stayed behind to serve the guests.
The Taj had been known for its exemplary service before, but emerged even stronger after the attacks, both from the perspective of customers and employees. How?
Let’s watch:
Two brands
The stories about Dos Equis and The Taj Palace Hotel are both stories about brand, and yet it’s clear that they’re fundamentally different. The story about Dos Equis fits right in in the marketing classroom. If only you hire the right marketing agency, you too can have a brand of your own.
The story about the Taj almost seems to escape the classroom. Their brand is the result of building an entire company that’s strategically aligned around a single mission: serving the customer. You can’t hire an agency to build that kind of brand.
While brand development absolutely can be part of a focused marketing effort, the point I’m trying to make is that building a brand can also be the shared responsibility of everyone in the company. When the company attracts, selects, and retains employees who are a reflection of its brand, the company’s brand emerges as a result.