Aaker on Branding. David Aaker
alt="image"/> Down-to-Earth—Family-Oriented, Small-Town, Blue Collar, All-American
• Excitement--Porsche, Absolut, Red Bull, Virgin
• Competence—AMEX, CNN, IBM, Toyota
• Sophistication—Tiffany, Four Seasons, Mercedes, Calvin Klein
• Ruggedness—Levi’s, REI, Harley-Davidson, Jeep
This set of fifteen traits provides one perspective, but can and should be augmented for nearly any context. For specific product markets some of these may not be relevant and others will emerge. That is especially true in different cultures. When the study was replicated in Japan and Spain, the Ruggedness dimension was not to be found. Instead, a Calmness dimension emerged. In Spain there was also a Passionate dimension.4
Like a person brand, an offering brand is not generally described by a single personality dimension. Harley-Davidson, for example, is a macho, America-loving, freedom-seeking person who is willing to break out from confining societal norms of dress and behavior. Patagonia is an environmental activist who is passionate about the outdoors as a participant and protector. Ben &Jerry’s Ice Cream is about environmental activism, giving back to the community, and having fun doing nutty things. Some brands might even have conflicting dimensions, Microsoft, for example, might be perceived as arrogant well as competent. The challenge is to manage that conflict so that the “right” personality dominates perceptions and discussions.
MAKING IT HAPPEN
A personality needs to be created and supported. This effort can be based in part on a visible CEO, brand positioning, attributes, packaging, price, user imagery, sponsorships, the category involved, and much more. Sometimes a personality option will emerge from some brand association like a symbol or sponsorship. If a personality cannot be created with authenticity, then its viability as part of the brand and its image should be reviewed.
THE BOTTOM LINE
A brand personality can help communicate offering attributes, provide energy, define a customer relationship, guide brand-building programs, and shed insight into customer’s attitudes and behavior. Selecting the right personality will depend on the brand image, its vision, and the role that personality will play going forward. Brands that are blessed with a personality have a big edge in terms of gaining and keeping visibility, differentiation, and loyalty, because it is usually difficult and ineffective to copy a personality.
Chapter 5
THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS HIGHER-PURPOSE DIFFERENTIATE
Purpose-driven companies have a huge competitive advantage.Employees and customers are hungry for purpose. —Rich Karlgaard, Publisher, Forbes
Just when you have an offering innovation that powers a meaningful differentiation, a competitor brand copies you. Or, worse, appears to copy.
What a competitor brand cannot copy is an organization—its people, culture, heritage programs, assets, and capabilities—because that is unique. Thus, any point of differentiation or basis of a customer relationship that is driven by the organization rather than by offering characteristics will be enduring and resistant to competitor brands.
The organization is usually represented and driven by its values. What is important to the organization? What is at its core? What is the priority in terms of strategy, performance measurement, and programs? Is there a focus on quality, innovation, social programs, customer service, or some other fundamental tenet? And why? What is it about its heritage, programs, strategy, or value proposition that make one or more values stand out?
Organizational values can be useful for any brand. However, in the case of service offerings, where the customer will have contact with people in the organization, organizational values will be particularly important. That can also be said about BtoB firms, where the expectation that the organization will have the necessary assets and skills to deliver behind the promise and the will to stand behind the offering can be a critical consideration.
The organizational brand can represent a firm, but it also can be an organizational unit within a firm, such as Ford’s Lincoln, Disney’s ESPN, or P&G’s Tide. The challenge for these organizational units is to create and communicate their own values with supporting heritage, cultures, and programs.
HOW ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES WORK
The brand-as-an-organization perspective, summarized in Figure 3, potentially contributes to a customer relationship in three ways: to support a value proposition, to provide credibility as an endorser, and to create a higher purpose.
Supports a Value Proposition
Organizational values and associated programs can provide a “reason to believe” behind functional benefits that are the basis for a value proposition. An organization that has a reputation for delivering high-quality and innovative offerings, and has attracted people and developed programs that reflect that culture, supports a value proposition around quality and performance. A GE jet engine can be described in terms of specs and performance data. However, just the fact that it comes from GE can be a more persuasive argument that the product will deliver at a high level of performance. People believe the stated or implied assertion that Lexus delivers the highest quality because of the belief that the Lexus organization has quality as an organizational value.
An organizational reputation around a priority like quality or concern for customers is enduring. At any given time, there