Creating Brands For Competitive Advantage PIPE INNOVATION CAMP

Creating Brands For Competitive Advantage - PIPE INNOVATION CAMP – - May 9, 2003 – Raimonds Bricis

My Background Born: • Cēsis, Latvia Education: • Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong • University of Latvia, Faculty of Business Administration (Bachelor Degree, Int’l Relations) • Stockholm University, School of Business (M. Sc. of Business Administration)

Current Job Placement Adell Saatchi & Saatchi (Riga, Latvia) Account Manager

Saatchi & Saatchi World Wide • • • The Ideas Company We believe that nothing is impossible We are passionate, competitive & restless A hot house for world changing ideas. We strive to create Lovemarks.

What is my job about? • Brand navigator • Set strategies and visions, implement them in the real world. • Customer & market research to make an intelligent decisions. • Work with clients to enhance their competitive advantage • Work with creative teams • Be with open eyes. Non stop.

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi • BLIND test: Pepsi Light vs Coke Light – Prefer Pepsi – Prefer Coke – No Opinion 51 % 44 % 5%

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi • OPEN test: Pepsi Light vs Coke Light – Prefer Pepsi – Prefer Coke – No Opinion 23 % 65 % 12 %

Marketing vs Brand Management • Marketing – – • The commercial functions involved in transferring goods from producer to consumer. Satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process Brand – A brand is a promise. A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer.

Brand Rational Elements Emotional Elements Can be copied. Touchable. Unique. Untouchable. Brand Building Is Emotional Product Development

Brand Equity • Brand equity is the brand assets which are linked to a brand’s name & symbol that add to particular product or service.

Nokia vs Ericsson

Brand Equity There are four dimensions of brand equity: • Brand Awareness – Do consumers know the brand – How does awareness affect their perception about the brand • Perceived Quality – What do consumers think of quality • Brand Associations – What are consumers associations with the brand – Imagery, product attributes, brand personality, symbols • Brand Loyalty – The heart of any brand!!

Brand Identity • Identifying brand identity elements that differentiate and create customer-brand relationships is one of the first steps towards establishing a set of brand equity measures. • Brand Identity: a vision of how that brand should be perceived by its target audience. • Brand Identity represents what the organization wants the brand to stand for. • Brand Identity Value Proposition Relationship

Example: Virgin Brand Identity • Brand Essence – Iconoclasm • Core Identity – Consistent best-of-category quality delivered with humour & flair. – First with truly innovative, value-added features and services. – A fun & entertaining company. – Provide value in all its offerings, never just the high-priced option.

Extended Identity • Underdog – Fighting the established bureaucratic firm with new creative offerings • Personality – Flaunts the rules – Sense of humour, even outrageous. – Competent, always does a good job, high standards. • Virgin Symbols – Branson & his perceived lifestyle – Virgin script logo

Value Proposition • Functional Benefits – A value offering with quality, plus innovative extras delivered with flair & humour • Emotional Benefits – Pride in linking to the underdog with an attitude – Fun, good times • Self-expressive benefits – Willingness to go against the establishment, to be a bit outrageous.

• Relationship • Customers are fun companions.

Nike • Nike: the world’s best sports & fitness company. Winning! • 24 year old on the decision to get a Nike swoosh tattooed on his navel. • “ I wake up every morning, jump in the shower, look down at the symbol, and that pumps me up for the day. It’s to remind me everyday what I have to do, which is, “Just Do It. ”

Lovemarks • At Saatchi & Saatchi we strive to create Lovemarks. • We say that Lovemarks are brands that inspire loyalty beyond reason.

WHY LOVEMARKS MATTER TO PEOPLE To become a Lovemark you must follow the same path as a passionate love affair: • Finding – Seize my attention in the clutter of the attention economy and listen for what I truly desire. . . see me • Desiring – Create experiences that make me turn weak at the knees. Transform my desire into delight. . . want me • Testing – Delight me with sensual, the mysterious and the intimate. . . touch me • Committing – Inspire me to loyalty beyond reason. . . love me

• Lovemarks have evolved from an understanding of the latest discoveries into how the mind works. • Lovemarks have evolved from a deep understanding of relationships with consumers. • Lovemarks have evolved from the real needs of people, not marketing/brand managers. • Lovemarks have evolved from a unique perspective on emotions in relationships. • Lovemarks have evolved without rules and formulas but with robust framework of ideas, insights and tools. They are responsive, not regimented.

• Mystery – A relationship that reveals everything has nothing more to offer. • Great stories; Past, Present, Future; Taps into Dreams; Myths and Icons; Inspiration. • Sensuality – Emotional relationship demand on the senses being engaged. The senses are the portals to our emotions. • Sound; Vision; Smell; Touch; Taste. • Intimacy – Being close enough and knowing well enough to satisfy their desires before they become needs. • Commitment; Empathy; Passion.

Ok. That’s great! But how to make brands alive?

Before we move on I need your imagination!!!

• Black & White TV commercial (more like documentary) • Silent, except for a simple voice over. • Rough-looking skinhead running on the sidewalk in an old industrial town • Car stops at the end of the street. Looks like that is car chasing someone. • A woman, standing at her doorstep, looks little afraid as skinhead runs past her. • Calm voice says: “An event, seen from one point of view, gives one impression. ”

• The same scene from different angle. • As runs by the women, we see him approaching an old man, wearing coat & carrying a briefcase. • The old man raises his briefcase to defend himself as the skinhead grabs him. • Calm voice says: “Seen from different point of view, it gives quite different impression. ”

• The 3 rd scene is the same action, but shot from high up on a building across the street. • We see an old man standing by the building. It is very obvious that large bricks are about to fall down. The skinhead has noticed that & is running towards the old man. • Calm voice says: “But it’s only when you get the whole picture that you truly understand what’s going on. ” • The skin head grabs the old man and pushing him aside so that he is protected from falling bricks. • The commercial fades, still silence. • Written Text: “The Guardian. The whole picture. ”

The key point is that you have to look holistically. Never stop to be curious. Understand the consumer See the opportunities.

Let’s make brands to act!

What makes your ideas alive? • At Saatchi & Saatchi we have developed Ideas Brief, which is the bridge between smart strategic thinking and great brand communication.

Questions to be answered before creative solutions. • Why do we make this brand communication (advertisement)? – What is the opportunity in the market place? • What is the challenge? – The statement which should be transformed by the communication. Inspirational. • Who we are talking to? • Where & when will we reach them? • What are the ways to meet the challenge?

You have to navigate your brand. You have to see where it is now & where can it be taken. You have to be with open eyes 24 h & you might see unexpected opportunity to communicate your brand.

Examples • Head & Shoulders – Brad Pitt & his dandruff • Virgin Airways – and their reaction on British Airways CEO’s statement that Hollywood celebrities are “gutless cowards”