THE “BOB” MANIFESTO! We need a new word for brand

We need a new word for brand, and “Bob” will have to do. Well, in reality, we don’t need a new word for brand—another clever name just to be different isn’t going to help anyone. Instead, what we DO need is a new understanding of what brand truly is. Brand is having a crisis. Abused and misunderstood, it has become everyone’s favorite whipping boy. Now let me state up front—I LOVE brands!

So I invite you to join me in my exploration of the new world of what I call authentic brands. This manifesto is a conversation about what that means.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA! How about we do the same thing with companies? Let’s create a brand—a logo—that will represent the company and put it on everything—our store, our literature, our products. Then people will easily know who we are. And the more they see it, the more successful we will be. From the time Paul Rand drew the ubiquitous IBM logo the deal was done. No company could be successful without a logo.

WHICH BRINGS US TO PERCEPTION.

Specifically, customer perception—what they think you are - is who you are. The holy grail of brand today is to “create” the right customer perception—that perfect mix of emotion and smarts that will drive boat-loads of customers your way. And the best way to “create” that perception—a louder, bigger message that is put in more places! Slapped on t-shirts and caps for employees and splashed across the pages of magazines, websites and television screens, how could anyone resist? Thankfully that isn’t the end of the story…

THE NEXT WAVE

There is another wave on the horizon. I call it the authentic brand. Authentic brands are deeply rooted inside the company. They are much more than the marketing veneer applied to the exterior face of the company. Authentic brands are honest. They are powerful mechanisms guiding decisions and direction across all functions of a company. They naturally filter out to the customer and everyone the company touches through those decisions and actions. This is the brand I love!

What does this mean for your company? Why does a company even need a brand? I was asked this question the other day. And I found myself struggling to find a good answer...why DO you need a brand? The conclusion I came to was this: perhaps you don’t need a brand, but you most certainly have a brand, so why not use it!

Sir Francis Bacon, December, 2007 (revised edition)

Vocabulary:

abused [ə'bjuzd] – adj. оскорбленный