While waiting in a checkout line the other day I thumbed through a grilling recipe book that was stocked there at the registers. I wouldn’t have reached for it except for one thing – it had the Kingsford logo emblazoned on the front in all its glory.
I am an avid griller. Not one of those gas pretenders mind you but a true charcoal connoisseur. Yep, I’m the guy that watches those Barbecue Championships on the food network. No gas grills in site. Charcoal just tastes better (ha, I mean food grilled over charcoal tastes better). Kingsford makes the best charcoal … period. Pretty much all of their marketing claims are true. It lights easier and faster, burns hotter and more evenly. I have proven their claims to myself through painful experience. They are the market leader for good reason. Kingsford didn’t create a great brand, they created a great product.
Powerful or leading brands usually have these simple characteristics in common. 1) A fantastic product or service that has withstood the test of time and competition to become one of the top choices in its market. 2) An uncompromising dedication by the company to keep that product the best possible product for its customers and retain a loyal customer base. 3) A simple, recognizable identity that is consistently managed across product labeling, collateral, advertising and anywhere else it appears; The graphics that sum up that product experience when someone sees it.
Branding is a much used term today and it has come to mean many things but the term itself is irrelevant. The components are everything. You don’t have to be a big company. You can be a powerful brand in a small, local or niche market but if you are not aiming at those 3 components you probably don’t have much. My advice? Forget branding altogether. Instead, set out to create a fantastic, consistent and highly identifiable product or service. The brand will take care of itself and chances are it will become a powerful one. If a brand doesn’t mean something great to your customers then it doesn’t mean much.
