B RAN DS FO R LI FE
COCOS BRAND CONCEPT 2002/2003
JONAS BERGVALL
We choose parts to play in our lives
according to our blurred, longterm goals.
Brands can help individuals to strengthen their roles and confirm
that their choices are the right ones.
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Introduction
If you work with brands you probably want your brands to mean a lot to
people, right? That is the principle of branding, to fill a purpose to people
at the right moment so that you may attract and maintain your audience’s
attention and interest. But even though branding basically is about people
it may seem like something else to people outside the business, since we
talk so much about brands themselves and about models and cases. The
fact that it is like this is not that strange, the subject branding origins
from economics and marketing and we have always been keen on boxes
and arrows. We deal with values that you can’t touch and to the critics
they seem to be easy to reject as irrational and therefore irrelevant. If you
can’t touch it, it does not exist, and something that does not exist is not
worth paying for, right? We are more or less forced to present branding
as something static, to make those with strict economical eyes realize
its economical value and defend an investment in branding. But the real
strength of branding lies in its dynamic nature and when we accept that
we also unleash its whole economical potential.
This paper going to be about human beings and how brands fill a purpose
in their lives.
Last I present a model, called Brand Matrix, which was born out of the
reasoning in this paper. I admit, there are a lot of boxes and arrows in
this model too but I have incorporated one important aspect - the factor
called Time. It allows you to categorize your brand differently, analyze
your brand portfolio and it helps you to find new aspects of your target
groups.
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Life Management
With a company you should have a clear idea about why it exists, you
probably have a plan for how you will accomplish what you want and you
have a management that is there to show you the way in the operational
actions. One management theory after another tells you about possible
routes of action and different ways to consider strategy. But what about
ourselves? How do we go about to plan and govern our own way to
manage our lives? There may be some people who has a very clear vision
of what they want to become, but for most of us this road to happiness
is more blurred. We rather have a hunch of where we are going, a sense
of direction rather than a specific road we will go down. It seems like we
early in our lives create a highway for ourselves that we think is going to
take us approximately in the right direction. No matter how clear this plan
is to you we all lead ourselves according to some plan, our individual life
management theory.
In what way you lead your life is probably caused by many different
aspects, for example in which part of the world you were born and raised,
who your parents are, which schools you have attended, which values
you have been fed and to which degree you consider yourself able to
navigate your life in the direction you want. Naturally, we also have our
basic human needs that drive us (Maslow’s ladder) and sometimes they
make a mess of things. You are probably not even aware yourself what
it is that rule your decisions but you do adjust and manage your life with
some sense of direction, don´t you? You choose a highway which you
think is going to take you in your wished direction.
Which role do you play?
No matter which highway you have chosen for yourself, you most
probably have adjusted yourself accordingly to be the way you think will
grant you the most success. Let us take an example, let us say you have a
vague sense that you need to be respected. Further more you look upon
money as a measure of success and you feel that responsibility towards
other people is fulfilling. You also have an urge to contribute to mankind
and you consider yourself to be someone who can do that. In that case, if
you choose to become a doctor, as your vehicle on your highway, would
not be too far stretched.
The business world is sometimes described as a theatre where each
company should seek a scene to act on. Each company has an audience
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BRANDS FOR LIFE
which it should try to entertain in different ways and with the ambition to
become the main attraction in the play that is being given. It is the same
thing with individuals, each individual plays his part in his life’s theatre.
When we have chosen our direction, our highway into the future, most
of us adapt to play our part as well as we can. We become the person we
think is required and expected. The doctor becomes a doctor.
But there is no manuscript in the theatre of life. There is no casting and
you are forced to be your own director. What you have is rolemodels,
other people who seem to have gone in the same direction as you are
going, someone who has taken the same highway before. The problem is
to find a rolemodel who has the same characteristics and experiences as
you do, which of course is impossible since that person would then be in
the same phase as you are and would not have come any further on his
highway than you have. Do you follow? In the end you are left out with
your own compass which sometimes shows right and sometimes keeps
spinning around as a real compass would do if you were on the North
pole. How on earth are you then going to be able to orientate yourself?
Yet another problem is that the view is not very clear, your highway
does not have any asphalt and it is not clearly defined. The future is so
unknown to us that our highway seems to end somewhere at the horizon.
We are simply forced to time limit our horizon. When you are a kid your
horizon is to become a teenager, as a teenager your horizon is to become
an adult and start to work. After that it seems like there is a horizon at
30 since a lot of people get into a personal crisis at that age, you simply
have not planned for your life after 30. After 30 your ability to make
plans follow a 10-year interval, with a following big or small crisis at every
decade. It is not until you reach your golden age, when you feel that
your highway is coming to an end, most of us feel more comfortable with
ourselves and start to enjoy looking back at the highway we have taken.
Why do you play your part the way you do?
During some periods of our lives we think we have a pretty good idea
of who we are, and you know why you play your part the way you do. In
english we even have a saying for this which goes “he really seems to
have his act together”, in which we must mean that he really seems to
know how to play the act he has chosen to play. But I dare to say that
these moments of clarity are quite rare in most people’s lives. For the
most part we try to make our way with some help from our spinning
compasses, sometimes we correct our direction and at other times we
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just go with the flow. It is in this stumbling where you need support and
confirmation that you are heading in the right direction, and you need
confirmation that your choices are the right ones.
Brands for life
Certain roles you play in your life demands certain symbols and thereby
certain brands. Strong brands act along with people and their acts,
they support and strengthen their play. A human being’s engagement
in a brand is based opon the brand’s ability to support her in the right
direction. If we can understand which part an individual has chosen
to play, then it is possible to imagine a possible co-part for our brand,
otherwise it will just become a temporary extra.
In this perspective it does not really matter if the brand is a consumer
brand or a B2B brand, they just play different parts. Among fast moving
consumer goods the short part is the most common as a brief relaxation
or an escape from the daily routine. A brief flirtation which makes us feel
better about ourselves. In B2B the brands take on a more responsible
role since it must confirm that the individual is the responsible person
which he feels his act is demanding. All depending upon which business
and product or service we are talking about of course. But closest to the
individual’s heart is the brand which best confirms the individual’s choice
of act and highway. And it does not necessarily have to be about the
individual’s choice in line of work, although it is likely that he has chosen
his line of work according to his chosen highway.
Life as a process
Life does not let itself to be described in instantaneous images. Imagine
you coming home from a vacation and proudly show a friend a picture
from a wonderful day at the beach. This picture means a lot to you since
it represents a whole process, it represents the emotions you had and
you can almost feel what it felt like at that moment, the scents and the
sounds. Your friend who was not with you on this wonderful day at the
beach may with some imagination understand what it must have been like
but he can never understand and feel the whole process. It is the same
thing with life, it is going on all of the time, we are constantly plowing new
ground and we are constantly at a time where we never have been before.
The now.
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We are constantly changing and the only thing that connects the one
you are at the moment, with the one you were at earlier stages, is
your memories and a sense of travelling the same highway into the
future as you always did. Sometimes drastic things happen that make
you reconsider your direction and maybe change the part you are
playing. That may happen when you get a new job or perhaps you do a
career change. When you get children your part in your life changes so
dramatically that it might be one of the more profound role changes a
person goes through. Still, life is something that goes on. Life is a process
which never stands still, even though it may feel that way sometimes.
Strong brands are timeless
We people have trouble dealing with time. During the process we call life
time goes on and we need our highway to connect the present with our
past. No wonder brands like Coca-Cola and Disney are so strong, they
have been around for such a long time that they are part of my own
highway. I remember my buddy Coca-Cola from my childhood, through
my teens to the present. These brands present a bridge through time,
they connect the present with the past, they were then and they are now
as parts of our way to experience our world.
A strong brand is not an instantaneous image, it follows us and shows us
that it presents something permanent. The personality of the brand can
evolve and change but the part it plays can seldom be exchanged.
Pre-choice era.
Childhood and
teens. Basic
values are set.
Birth
Choices made.
Guided by current
concerns, or/and by
your inner compass,
which you think
guides you towards
your #1 Future.
You act mainly
within your Brand
Matrix™
#1
FUTURE
Alternative
Future
”My vision of who I
want to become”
Abrupt change.
Something
causes you to make
a disruptive change
of your #1 Future.
Within your new
culture you deal
with a new Brand
Matrix™
Brand Matrix™
An individual’s
social and cultural
context
Brands play different roles
when choices are made
Your inner compass guides you
towards your #1 FUTURE. As a
mean to reach your vision you
take on an act, you choose a part
to play within a certain social and
cultural context, a Brand Matrix™.
Within your Brand Matrix™ there
are a set of brands that play
different roles. These brands
can be divided into three large
groups:
1. Guru Role
Brands that act as rolemodels and
leaders. These brands are based
on values which are very close to
your own and seem to have a very
similar #1 FUTURE as you do.
2. Supporter Role
The brands take on a supportive
role. These brands tell yourself
and others that you are on the
right track. These brands let you
make a statement about your
choices.
3. Flirt Role
These brands have the least
impact on your path towards your
#1 FUTURE. These are brands
that deal with your current
concerns and make you feel good,
look good and make the present
slightly better and easier.
Different kind of
relationships are formed1
Guru brands experience the
highest level of loyalty. But since
these brands are looked upon as
leaders they better live up to it.
Otherwise you feel truly betrayed.
(Apple, Harley Davidson)
These brands are more
extroverted than the Guru
Brands. The relationship between
you and the brand is still evolving
and you are living in a symbiosis.
The level of loyalty is medium.
(BMW, Designer clothes)
”All relationships start with
a flirt.” You are constantly
expecting to be courted and
dazzled. These brands experience
the lowest level of loyalty.
(FMCG, fads)
Different relationships -
different brands
Find yourself. Be a rolemodel.
Create a vision. Make others join
you. Seek new ways. Take risks.
Support cooperation. Support
others. Show appreciation.
Celebrate success.2
These brands have to be explicit,
extroverted and distinct. They
have to be set within a social
context and support their
communities. Communities are
extremely important on a tactical
level.
Getting noticed, getting
acquainted. This is all about
short-term effects and benefits.
Those brands who seek to evolve
up to one of the two higher levels
must however base their dazzling
on proper effects and benefits.
Brand Matrix™
The
individual
Brand Matrix™
1. Target Group Definition
Start with researching and defining one
individual’s #1 FUTURE. Your goal is to to
find which Brand Matrix™ he or she is acting
within. The Matrix itself forms up to a communcative
target group.
2. Brand Position
See if there is room for a guru role, a supporter
role or a flirt role within your Brand
Matrix™
3. Brand Management and Brand Portfolio
Should we have one brand for each role?
One brand in just one or two categories?
Or could our brand evolve through all three
levels on an individual basis?
COCOS BRAND CONCEPT
Jonas Bergvall
Phone +46 152-15001
e-mail jonas@cocosbrandconcept.com
www.cocosbrandconcept.com
References
1. Inspired by Professor Susan Fournier.
”Presentation to the HBS Marketing Club”
2002.
2. The Ten Commitments of Leadership
”Leadership Challenge” by Kouzes/Pousner
2002. |
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