In the last blog, we continued the discussion of formulating your Brand Strategy with a discussion of your brand personality.
If you are an off-premise retailer, you sell brands. If you an on-premise retailer you may sell brands and create your own. Either way, you need to understand how the brand icons you sell or create are perceived by your customers. Perception is reality!
What is a brand icon?
Icons relate to our sensory side. Sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. We crave certain things as consumers, and our senses help guide us in certain directions. For example, in the morning, you may go to Starbucks for a latte, McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin, or Dunkin’ for a cup of coffee. In the afternoon, it might be Chipotle for a burrito, Panera for a panini, or Five Guys for a burger. At night, it might be your corner bar or favorite watering hole to hang out with friends and watch the game.
You can also define an icon as something that is unique to your brand and brings up an image in the customer’s mind when they are exposed to one of the five senses.
Some examples of this are:
Visual – A frosted mug with your favorite beer inside
Sound – The sound a beer bottle or can makes when opened
Touch – Pillsbury doughboy
Smell – Starbucks coffee
Taste – McDonald’s fries
Next, we have the power of people and characters.
A great example of this is the comparison between Jim Koch from Boston Beer and the former spokesman for Dos Equis, “The Most Interesting Man in the World.” Both brands are very successful and have used iconic figures in their marketing
It took much longer for Jim Koch to become an icon. He chose a path very similar to Frank and Jim Perdue. Over time, he was able to convince consumers of his passion for brewing great beer. The message was always about the beer and the process that they went through to ensure that we were always getting a hand-crafted beer made by someone who cared.
On the other hand, we have The Most Interesting Man in the World. He didn’t brew the beer, inspect the ingredients, or manage the people. He just drank the beer. It took years to build brand equity with him. It will be interesting to see what happens with both brands now that they are going after Gen Z.
Other great examples of iconic beer logos are Guinness, Heineken, Molson, Pabst, Yuengling, and DogFish Head. Think about how these logos look on a beer tap, bottle, or can.
All of these companies provide plenty of marketing communication materials for you to use in your business.
And don’t forget your personal icons. Your décor, the uniforms the staff wears, hats, pictures, ambiance etc. Go into a Trader Joes and see how they merchandise, the kind of people they hire, and what they wear. Chick-fil-A is another great example in food marketing. I am constantly amazed at how my students revere this brand and its products. To them it’s more than breaded, fried chicken – it’s the customer experience that sets them apart.
You and your staff are what separates you from everyone else. Make sure everyone is properly trained and educated on the differences in each product that you sell.
In the next issue, we will wrap up our discussion on building your brand strategy.
Marketing is a race with no finish line!
