Seven Elements of a Timeless Brand

by Nabankur Gupta
Founder CEO of NObby Brand Architects and Strategic Marketing Consultants

The article was published in Campaign of Mint, on 9th June 2008
www.livemint.com

Brand equity is developed over time and it is cumulative experience of the customer with the brand offering.

A brand leader at a point of time need not be invincible and have long life. Some market leading brands died quickly. BPL, Fiat, and Dalda are some case in point.

But some brands which are not leaders may have long life because they have been nurtured well.

A brand's value comes from the recall the customer has whenever he wishes to consume the product or service the brand offer. A brand needs to have adequate emotional content for it to last in the competition for recall.


How does one build a timeless brand.

1. Innovate:
Through innovation, the consumer needs to be surprised and delighted. Innovation is not limited to product alone. It is in any aspect of the brand interface with the consumer. Its physical availability, pricing, look and feel, sales transaction experience, enquiry transaction experience etc.

2. Brand Expression:
The consumer has a desired character and identity. The brand must have the character and identity desired by the consumer.

3. Emotional connect:
Along with rational connect, the brand must have emotional connect. Understanding what gives the consumer emotional satisfaction is important. Brand behaviour has to be such that the consumer always feels secure and satiated.

4. Ownership:
One has to ensure that the consumer is proud to own the brand. Also the consumer should feel like the owns the brand.

5. Value delivery:
every brand has value. Brand creators and managers know that. But is the consumer is getting 100% value of the brand offering? If internal branding is not done properly and the organization is not delivery 100% value, the brand is losing the sting or sharpness. For what is delivered, fall short of what the brand actually was conceived to stand for. People within the organization have to trained and made to understand the value and nuances of the brand and deliver 100% of the value of the brand.

6. Relevance:
The brand to be a timeless brand has to be relevent to the customer today. The brand must understand consumer behaviour as it is relevant today and all its parameters, aspects, rational or emotional, and must adjust to the times.

Brand has to be young in that sense, it is full of vigour today.

7. Communication:
The advertising and other communication messages must be in line with what the customer wants the brand to be seen as.