When women in Japan line up for hours to buy a Louis Vuitton bag they can’t afford, it’s much more than a bag or some accessory they hope to own. They want an image – a lifestyle even. They want a modern brand.

A brand is a promise: it contains a set of emotional attributes for which a customer is prepared to pay a premium. Every aspect of a company’s message, product and service needs to be aligned with the brand promise. That promise must be unique, valued and consistently delivered. And whereas branding may once have been the primary domain of marketers, it is now the concern of everyone at a company.

In the past, brand marketers have benefited from a one-way relationship that consumers had with brands. Today’s consumers are conscious of what branding is, thanks in large part to information technology and that developed economies employ more people in the business of delivering brand-based content. Ten years ago, the book A Brand Called You introduced readers to the idea that even individuals can and should have a brand, just as much as a company might.  

Such awareness accentuates the need for a brand to deliver on its promise. People who willingly find an identity in a brand will not be satisfied by empty slogans. They need a brand to fulfil its promise in order to feel like they are part of something important.

A brand must be more than a guarantor of product quality. It must be the guarantor of an experience. McDonald’s is associated with speedy service. If a menu item is not available at the moment it is ordered, a server will tell you in how many minutes it will be ready. In the developing world, McDonald’s is associated with modernity. The opening of the first McDonald’s in Moscow was a media sensation. 

Above all, the leadership of a business must believe in the importance of its own brand, and in the importance of building a brand. Managers face constant pressure from executives to cut costs and improve short-term numbers. But a brand is a long-term investment. Often the returns are only starting to be recouped after the initiating manager has left the company.

This means brand-aware leadership is essential. Employees take their cue from their supervisors, and managers need to feel that actions taken to guarantee or improve the value of the brand will be rewarded.

Seeing the whole
Just over a decade ago, the nightly news TV broadcast was the public focal point of almost every developed nation, giving advertisers a one-way, direct line to consumers. Thanks to the Internet, the situation couldn’t be more different today. If you want to buy a digital camera, just check any number of websites that offer a complete list of brand names, models, features, comparison prices and user reviews, plus editorial comment. No longer will a simple slogan and jingle do.

The new media creates opportunities, such as viral marketing via the Internet. Almost unheard of a few years ago, viral marketing is now essential. A good example is a commercial called The Cog, which features parts of a new Honda car to create a chain reaction as parts fell into each other, much like a line of dominoes. It makes the viewer aware of fine engineering, thanks to the precision of the set up. The ad created a sensation and spread via email to hundreds of thousands of people. In fact, The Cog was more likely to be viewed by someone sitting at an office computer than by someone at home watching TV – a startling consideration given that the ad was originally intended for TV.

It can also go horribly wrong. During 9/11, a story circulated on the Internet that a Starbucks near the World Trade Center had refused to give water to rescue workers, insisting the workers pay. The story spread via email and chatrooms, creating a PR disaster. Within weeks, Starbucks put US$1 million into a fund for the victims’ families.

However, brand managers should not be completely seduced by the Internet. A survey by public relations firm Ketchum and the University of Southern California Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center in September 2006 showed that while older generations are less likely to rely on new media such as the Internet or blogs for information, adults under 30 are likely to be well-rounded in media usage. In fact, new and old media often work well together. Radio can be broadcast on the Internet, most magazines and newspapers have a website counterpart, and movie trailers can be sent to video-enabled mobile phones.

This means a number of things for people communicating a brand promise. A brand must have a central idea or theme, and all communications across all media should stick to it. Internet users, TV viewers, radio listeners, newspaper readers and bloggers should come away with the same set associations attached to the promise of the brand.

Of course, there are instances where one form of media is more conducive to the brand’s target audience and emotional appeal. Luxury brands might, for instance, benefit more from magazine ads with svelte models in an exquisite setting, as opposed to mobile marketing, which would better suit small electronic products.

The sameness of products and services – even brands – combined with the proliferation of media channels means that the emotive aspects and associations of a brand must be more prominent. This is true even for business-to-business brands.

Consumers are clustering around brands that best define who they want to be. For example, the Apple brand of computers and musical devices has attracted a core group of people who regard Apple as a cool counterpoint to the supposedly monolithic edifice of Microsoft and the PC.

Brands like Apple have an image that works with other brands. The slogan “Think Different” and product launches made by casually clad Steve Jobs all give the impression of stylish rebellion. Any other brand, be it in clothing or food, that cultivates an appeal of stylish counterculture may find a ready audience among the Apple tribe. People who like the Apple brand may also gravitate towards other brands that are perceived to have similar attributes as Apple.

Industry experts may disagree about the actual merits of Apple products, but none can deny its brand power. Followers can be counted on to buy its products even if there are competing products that are technically superior, but lacking Apple’s brand cachet.

And Apple is not alone in terms of brand power. In many other product categories, brands are building that kind of immediate response to their image, goods and services. Nike, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Toyota, Quaker Oats, Intel and many more companies have developed brands that influence consumers in ways far beyond simple rationality.

A brand purchase is not the reasoned decision made by a self-enlightened person imagined by early economists. It is a decision made by a 21st century creature: the brand agent.

Charles Brian-Boys and Chris Fjelddahl are managing partners of Eight Partnership, a brand communications agency.