Branding & AI

Leveraging Technology to Generate Brand Revenue

Chahat Aggarwal

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781637420812
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Digital Marketing
• Index: Business

Open the doors to the world of branding and artificial intelligence, the future of building efficient revenue!

Unlike anything else out there, the book is an authentic and lucid representation of what branding is and the role it plays with artificial intelligence in the success of businesses.

The book would be singularly profound to entrepreneurs, marketing professionals, brand strategists, students, and anyone aspiring to take a hungry bite out of the knowledge repository built from first-hand experiences of creating a brand from scratch and running it successfully in the digital age.

Highlights:

• Explains in-depth theories, tools, and models explaining the core ingredients of creating a successful brand;
• Discusses how branding on an organizational and personal level is directly proportional to profit and return on investment along with measuring tools;
• Includes case studies that dissect successful and unsuccessful marketing strategies of huge brands;
• Covers the role of AI in branding, with its potential in facilitating companies in achieving their goals through targeted marketing.

CHAPTER 1

Overview

Branding 101 introduces the reader to the art and science of branding. A brand is more than just a logo that upholds the values and principles it caters to. The name and tagline is the brand’s immediate face, the first sight element that projects the brand to the world. A brand becomes successful when it succeeds in arousing a certain level of attachment in the customer, making them return to the product despite the never-ending list of newer products and brands that sprout in the market like mushrooms in monsoon. The exploration of the idea of a brand helps in the evolution of the brand and branding process. The Theory of Brand Culture is further explained through its offers for an improved model of business branding. Defining strong brand values allows a brand’s consumers to measure those values against their own. The fundamental elements include the brand compass, company culture, name and tagline, identity, voice and messaging, website, and brand architecture. Brand architecture is the coordinated system of names, colors, symbols, and visual language that defines a brand or brands. Maximizing authenticity with branding can open up the doors to every corner of the world, thereby becoming the most impactful and cost-effective way to deliver a holistic branding experience to the target audience.

Branding 101

Years ago, Aristotle’s footnotes about Tragedy and Drama, most commonly known among the lovers of literature as “The Poetics,” threw new light into understanding a genre intricately woven with many complexities. The most remarkable discovery that enhanced the knowledge was the central idea of “catharsis.” However, ironic as it sounds, Aristotle never defined catharsis despite being the defining element of a Tragic play. And to this day, catharsis is a defining element without a proper definition.

So is a brand. Defining a brand can be quite a nebulous road because of the amalgamation of different concepts that build up one’s understanding of the word. And one reason for this is that brand is not a mechanical aspect displayed into a linear set of terms and sentences or rather a consistent frame. The brand is about perceptions, and perceptions differ from person to person, place to place. A brand is the manifestation of the idea that humans are extraordinarily diverse and view everything through their customized filter of unique experiences and choices. And this innate personal element is the source of its growth potential. Despite technological advances and machines invading the realm of uncertainty, the fact remains that humans are emotional beings. Tapping into that source is the best way to capture their attention because when a business or a product can be free, the personal aspect is still light-years away.

A brand is one of the company’s most valuable assets. It represents the company’s face, in the form of a recognizable name, logo, slogan, or an identifying symbol, mark, word, and/or sentence that companies use to distinguish their product from others. A combination of one or more of those elements can be utilized to create a brand identity. The brand is how a company is often referred to as, and they become the same. A company’s brand carries a monetary value in the stock market (if the company is public), affecting stockholder value as it rises and falls. For these reasons, it’s crucial to uphold the integrity of the brand.

Despite conducting research and analysis to deduce this idea into a simple definition, one will find oneself stuck in an unknown territory since customers themselves at times cannot pinpoint or underline a reason for their preference for a particular brand. And this lack of factual knowledge is not an empty space or void. Instead, it is a vast space with opportunities and scope, wherein you can build up newer and better territories and add in new layers to the understanding of the idea.

And when faced with this dilemma or when in need of a more fixed idea, it is best to cater to the argument put forth by Marty Neumeier, author and speaker who defines brand by laying out what a brand is not. “A brand is not a logo. A brand is not an identity. A brand is not a product.” He goes on to say that “a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organization.” It is an ideal strategy since striking off the negatives paves a more straightforward path for the positives.

And as stated previously, this personal element or rather the gut “feeling” is what creates a pitch for a brand. A brand becomes successful when they succeed in arousing a certain level of attachment in the customer, making them return to the product despite the never-ending list of newer products and brands that invades the market day-by-day. Therefore, we can say that its effect on the customer can define a brand because it precisely becomes the customer’s path back to the product.

Another reason for the fuzzy haze surrounding the question, “what is a brand” is its broad scope that cannot be limited by a fixed definition. The additions to the idea of a brand eventually help in the evolution of brand and branding. This fact is attested by the example of using the word “brand” over the years. From a mere naming tool used by cattle ranchers to the idea that dominates skyscrapers and sophisticated products, the evolution has indeed caught up the pace. And there indeed is scope for more. Despite their temporary nature, brands are business tools that drive commercial value.

Think of any brand that pops up in your head first, whether Apple, FedEx, or Coca-Cola. For the sake of consensus, let us consider Apple, given the celebrated brand’s vast popularity and reception.

The Apple logo does not encompass the entirety of the idea of a “brand.” It turns out the Apple brand is not anything in the real sense of the word. You cannot hold it, see it, or touch it. But that does not negate the fact that its brand is the single most valuable thing owned by the company. This “brand” is the reason why you cannot pay or even convince a good majority of apple users to taste or try another brand. Innovation, forward-thinking, flawless experience of the Apple brand has become an inextricable part of a legion of devoted followers’ identities. For this reason, its brand is its ultimate competitive advantage. Nothing else can match its stride.

A strong brand improves the possibilities of customers choosing your product or service over your competitors. It not only attracts more customers, but it also lowers the cost per acquisition.

A brand is more than just a logo, it is an embodiment of the most profound principles and values that a brand wishes to convey itself as a representative. And hence, deserves rigorous focus.

Building nonoscillating brand values

How does a single brand have such an impact?

The answer lies in our core—according to anthropologists, humans are hungry for meaning. People use various symbols and structures to build an ever-evolving sense of self. Some of that purpose and meaning is coming from the brands.

Theory of Brand Culture provides a deeper insight. It states that the old model of branding, based on building an external, fictional, brand image, is no longer relevant. People today want honesty and real connection.

Theory of Brand Culture offers an improved model of branding. It proposes that a brand may work like a culture, in the anthropological sense of the word. It uses the Clifford Geertz definition of culture, which is:

“A historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which [humans] communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life.”

What does it signify? Well, let us take an example. Suppose a culture—say Hopi Indians—is deep-rooted in a core set of values. A custom of viewing the world, and a way of acting in the world that continues unmodified. This culture has survived hundreds of years of occupation, first by Spaniards and then followed by Americans, all this ought to be credited to the values that have remained consistent. But the same should not be equated to stagnation. The Hopi culture has morphed sufficiently enough to be able to adapt to the gusts of change.

Theory of Brand Culture extends the same philosophy to brands. Based on anthropologists’ studies on consumers, this is exactly how a brand should operate. By building brand values that happen to be uniform throughout, a brand allows consumers to contrast those values against their own. When consumers find a brand that compliments their moral fabric, they willingly associate with it. It works fairly similarly with employees.

This is why a brand isn’t just a producer of goods and services exclusively. The trend of brands upholding specific principles and values—values that sincerely accelerate every action and conversation, both inside and outside of the brand, has marked its arrival. The trend often reveals itself in a multitude of brand experiences that have successfully displaced the older advertising campaigns.

To better understand why your brand is so valuable, let’s start by breaking down its fundamental elements.

The fundamental elements include the brand compass, company culture, name and tagline, identity, voice and messaging, website, and brand architecture.

Brand Compass

The brand compass shows the direction discerned during the strategy phase, thereby helping a company navigate smoothly—it comprises five elements; Purpose, Vision, Mission, Values, and Strategic Objectives.

Company Culture

Company culture is the fruit of an idea based on core values and principles that act as lamps on your brand’s journey to success. It is a spirit of collective purpose where diverse individuals breathe as one whole with a sole aim. At its deepest level, company culture drives the employees to work with motivation and determination to act as ambassadors and flag bearers of the brand.

Brand Personality

Brand Personality is the streak of unique elements that make its canvas one of a kind. It is the spectrum of thoughts and ideas, and patterns that define a brand at an individual level. It is the key that opens the door to healthy personal relationships with the customers who can identify a particular brand through the connection aroused by its personality.

Brand Architecture

Brand architecture is the coordinated system of names, colors, symbols, and visual language that defines a brand or brands. Superior and advanced brand architecture has its foundation on thorough research to enhance customer experience, and it has to it a particular intentional and intuitive element. Brand architecture systems can be classified as either monolithic, endorsed, or pluralistic. The monolithic brand architecture comprises a particular master brand and multiple sub-brands. Endorsed and pluralistic include parent brands with varying relationships to the divisions over which they preside.

Name and Tagline

Name and tagline is the brand’s immediate face, the first sight element that projects the brand to the world, and therefore, it should be treated with utmost care. Naming a brand is not a random process. Instead, much planning, brainstorming, and creativity go in to put forth a name that appeals to the potential customer and captures his attention. The complicated nature of creating words and taglines is a testament to their importance. A firm name conveys a brand’s unique value propositions, differentiating it from the competition and leaving a strong impression.

Brand Identity

In simple words, compare the bran...