How to Build a Powerful Brand
Just do it.
Three words. No further context. It’s an association so strong, that you can’t help but think of the Nike brand. You may even see the swoosh, sportswear, or sneakers.
Why is that?
When you see the silhouette of a bitten fruit, why do you envision the iPhone? You may say that it’s because that’s Apple’s logo.
But what is Apple?
Well, whatever it is, it’s certainly valuable.
According to Forbes, the Apple brand is valued at just over $240 billion. There’s no question that building a strong brand yields massive benefits. But to understand how you can build a strong brand, you need to understand what brands are in the first place.
What is a Brand?
Of course, a brand today is much more than a “product manufactured by a particular company”. A brand is an identity. It’s a story. It’s associations. Or as the neuroscientist and bestselling author, Dr. Thomas Z. Ramsøy highlights in his book, How to Make People Buy:
“A brand is a web of thoughts”
As you’ve seen in the introduction, brand associations are powerful. This is how a tagline or a description of a logo captures your mind and puts ideas in your head. Still not convinced?
You can test this for yourself. If you write down the first words that come to mind when you think of Volvo, you’ll likely write words different from when you think of Ferrari. Why is that? Because you have deeply ingrained associations with both brands.
Your brand is a story. It’s a concept. A perception.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- Why branding matters
- How to build a brand identity
- How to establish a brand story
Let’s dive in!
Why Branding Matters
A Strong Brand Adds Value to Your Products
Studies have consistently shown that drawing attention to brand elements before a product increases price acceptance by up to 100%. Of course, for this to work, the brand has to be known and respected. It’s a two-way relationship.
Good products create positive customer experiences. Those experiences, in turn, add value to brands, as customers associate the positive experiences with the brand. But once you have a strong brand, it adds value to your products.
Brands imbue value.
Nothing can better illustrate this than:
The Pepsi Challenge
In the 1970s, Pepsi noticed something interesting: when they asked customers whether they liked Coca-Cola or Pepsi better, customers most often reported that Coca-Cola was their preferred choice. However, in blind taste tests, customers consistently preferred Pepsi.
This insight led to the infamous Pepsi Challenge.
The Pepsi Challenge is an ongoing marketing promotion run by PepsiCo since 1975. It’s a simple experiment. Participants are asked to taste several different brands of colas without knowing which is which. The goal of the experiment is to show that many who claim to prefer Coca-Cola are largely influenced by the power of the brand, rather than the actual taste.
The Neuroscience Behind the “Pepsi Paradox”
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The Pepsi Challenge was so successful at highlighting the preference for certain brands, that it inspired numerous studies exploring the “Pepsi Paradox”.
In 2004, Dr. Samuel M. McClure and his team at Baylor College of Medicine conducted the first neuroscience study on branding that gained significant attention. The research used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how brand knowledge influenced participants' preferences for Coke and Pepsi.
When participants were aware of the brand they were tasting, those who preferred Coke showed increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a brain region associated with emotional responses and decision-making.
The study concluded that brand knowledge and the associated cultural and emotional factors could influence sensory experience and consumer preferences. This means that building a strong brand benefits not only your bottom line but also enhances the genuine customer experiences you provide. Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s dive into how you can perfect your branding strategy:
How to Build a Brand Identity
Choosing Your Brand Values
To build a brand identity that your customers love, you need to not only know your customers but also understand the values you represent. You need to understand your customers' needs, the gap you’re trying to fill, and the social and economic trends impacting your market.
As Simon Sinek’s famous Golden Circle illustrates:
Customers don’t buy what you’re selling; they buy the why behind what you’re selling.
Of course, this is a bit of an exaggeration. Short-term success doesn’t always depend on deep emotional connections with consumers. If you’re selling water next to a marathon, the runners won’t care about the why behind the product. They just want to quench their thirst.
But we’re talking about branding. Branding is a long-term game. The goal of branding is to build a deep connection with your customers. To make them return again and again. And for that, you need to tap into your ‘why’. As you’ll see in the next sections, your brand values should dictate how you approach your communication.
Choosing Your Brand’s Appearance
Brands may be a web of thoughts, but they undeniably have physical, tangible attributes.
Brand colors, fonts, and product qualities help customers recognize your brand. Not only do they help build recognition, but they are actively influencing the way your brand makes customers feel (see more in our study with Monotype). After all, what is a positive brand experience without the ability to recognize the brand in the future?
Attributes like the logo, tagline, and slogan all contribute to the overall brand image you’re building:
Be strategic in your selection.
Think of all the connotations, subconscious associations, and social trends.
If your brand values sustainability, choosing natural colors will help convey that message through visual cues. Sure, you can choose a glossy pink logo with neon blue accents, but that might turn away the audience you want to attract.
Choosing the right brand visuals may take time. You don’t have to get it perfect on the first try. But once you’ve made your choice, try to stick with it.
Recognizability is everything when it comes to brand identity.
Building Brand Associations
Magnum strategically draws attention to brand elements (Attention Heatmaps by Neurons AI)
Magnum’s “Pleasure Express” is a great example of how brand identity can shape a marketing campaign. Magnum’s slogan is: True to pleasure. Having pleasure as a core value guides the brand’s visual communication.
This includes colors and symbols on the packaging, as well as imagery in advertising campaigns: people enjoying moments of joy - floating, spinning, laughing. The ad sends a simple message throughout the entire campaign:
Magnum = Pleasure.
Not only that but throughout the ad’s entire duration, the brand logo never leaves the screen. This is no coincidence: Attention to branding in ads boosts brand recall. The campaign shows how a brand can create specific associations with its products.
Magnum knows exactly what it stands for and what makes it unique. This includes everything from the unique flavor of its products to the consistent look of its packaging. With a strong brand identity, building associations can become a strategic choice.
Brand identity allows brands to take control of their narrative and create desires around their products.
How to Build a Brand Story
Defining your values and visual identity is one thing; communicating them to your customers is another. Building a brand requires you to not only effectively convey your message, but also transmit the ideas and concepts behind your brand to your ideal customers.
This is where storytelling comes into play.
According to The Drum, 55% of consumers are more likely to buy a product if they love the brand’s story. Weaving your branding into effective stories pays dividends throughout your journey. But why is brand storytelling so effective?
The Storytelling Brain
Stories have been with us since the dawn of time and are a part of every culture. Societies are filled with archetypal stories like the hero’s journey and the voyage and return. The recurrence of these stories among diverse cultures suggests that storytelling may be an inherent part of the human mind.
A research paper on the neuroscience of storytelling by Susana Martinez-Conde and colleagues notes that the power of stories lies in their ability to:
- Activate multiple brain regions beyond traditional language areas
- Simultaneously engage us on an emotional and intellectual level
- Evoke mental images, helping with empathy and understanding
In short, human beings are wired for stories.
By tapping into this natural inclination, brands can create deeper connections with their audience and communicate their values more effectively.
Oatly: an Example of a Strong Brand Story
To illustrate the power of storytelling in branding success, Oatly’s brand strategy stands out. Oatly’s storytelling is unconventional – and it works. The brand clearly reflects its values in every aspect of its communication.
From the tone of voice to cardboard-cutout-like letters in its logo, Oatly supports its disruptive strategy in a way that few brands can.
Why?
Because Oatly itself is a story:
Oatly is unapologetically authentic.
But what feels like authenticity is actually a well-executed branding strategy. The audience feels connected to the brand because we know what it stands for, recognize its tone, and know its products. The company uses billboards, social media ads, and even its product packaging to broadcast a consistent message across all channels.
Everything, from the fonts to the quirky Super Bowl ad featuring CEO Toni Petersson singing in an oat field, is strategically chosen to tell the brand's story.
This consistent strategy across various channels leads to a successful omnichannel marketing strategy.
Omnichannel Marketing & Consistent Brand Stories
Human beings are multidimensional.
Customers may interact with your brand on social media, your website, your physical store, or all of the above. Omnichannel marketing brings all these brand experiences together through overarching storytelling elements.
This practice has gained significant traction in recent years as a method for brands to tell their stories across multiple channels. The strategy connects experiences across locations, bridging the gap between the physical and digital realms. Think of experiences like the Nike House of Innovation, where customers order products online and pick them up at a physical store location.
There, they can discover a locker labeled with their name, which can be accessed using a smartphone app. This little element of surprise helps the brand connect more deeply with its customers and boosts brand loyalty in the process.
Depending on the type of business you run, exploring an omnichannel marketing strategy could be beneficial for building a strong and engaging brand story.
Summary & Key Takeaways
Building a remarkable brand takes time.
But that doesn’t mean that you cannot lay the groundwork for brand success now. Having a strong brand identity and brand story doesn’t require you to be a Fortune 500 company.
Yet, they can affect not only your brand reputation, but also your reach, your communication style, and your marketing activities across channels. Every interaction with your brand is an opportunity for you to leave lasting impressions.
So make the most of them.
Key Takeaways
1. Brands as Stories and Associations: Brands are a web of thoughts. They are not merely logos, colors, and products. They are stories and associations.
2. Branding Impact on Customer Experience: Brands imbue value to products and services and have a profound impact on customer experiences. They can alter the brain chemistry of customers to the degree that customers can literally feel like your products taste better.
3. Branding the Why, Not the What: Customers don’t buy what you’re selling. They buy the why behind what you’re selling. Choosing your brand values is an essential part of building a strong and memorable brand.
4. Differentiation through Brand Values: Your brand identity and brand story are both informed by the values you choose to stand for, and these are your opportunities to stand out from your competitors.
5. The Power of Brand Storytelling: Brand stories are effective because stories activate multiple brain regions simultaneously, allowing for higher levels of empathy and understanding. Stories and narratives are an integral part of the human experience, and using this inherent property of storytelling can help you communicate your message more effectively.
Did you know?
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