Categories: Business, Marketing
How do you advertise perfume on television? That was a real dilemma for the advertising folk when the first fragrance companies started to buy television spots. Normally, products are advertised by showing what they can do – or what they look like. It’s quite difficult to advertise a smell.
The answer was not to advertise the product, but advertise the feelings associated with it. This is why you see women running around the beach in black and white, with someone whispering “Aluy: the new fragrance for women.”
This is the same formula used in branding. Rather than showing you the product during the thirty-second slot, they try to make you associate the brand name with certain feelings – success, freedom, attractiveness, happiness, etc. Desirable qualities you want.
A Brand is a name detached from any individual product or service, that is meant to mean something rather than to be something. Companies that use brands can move into a different field, and successfully grab a chunk of the market quickly. Think of Richard Branson’s Virgin – trains, flights, music, Internet, mobile phones – even cola. The one thing all of these have in common is the name “Virgin,” which we associate with youth, energy, excitement, innovation, etc.
Brands are unique – and the trademarks are heavily guarded. That’s for good reason. Imagine someone set up “Virgin Arms” and started selling torture devices to North Korea. People would start associating the Virgin name with disrespect for human rights.
With a brand, you build up images in the customers’ minds. Nike pays millions to put their tick on famous sportspeoples’ backs. That is so, when you go in to buy a golf club and see the Nike equipment, you immediately think of Tiger Woods winning. By buying that club, you tap into his success. It’s subconscious.
Branding costs a lot of money – make no mistake. It’s long term, and you need to use blanket advertising to get the messages across continuously. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about branding for small enterprises.
If you are intending to move into other areas in the future, be careful what company name you choose. If you call your company “Edinburgh Shoes,” it’s going to be quite difficult to move into selling jeans. If, however, you call your company “McGrogan Shoes,” you could then extend the brand by changing to “McGrogan Jeans,” or “McGrogan Clothing.”
Your brand name needs to be as unique as possible. Generic terms cannot be trademarked, so try to be creative.