ONE: THE POWER OF BRANDS What is a brand? Why branding? TWO: NEW REALITIES Using the brand to propel the company 4D-leadership The art of calculating quality Branding and the new economy Copying the entrepreneur: being practical Branding for the future THREE: AUTHENTIC REPRODUCTION Friendship branding Tightening relationships The art of giving Loyal friends Real & perceived reality The importance of authenticity The brand as differentiation code FOUR: 4D-PARAGONS The challenge of Adidas The juice of Orange The star of Starbucks The innocence of Virgin FIVE: CREATING A 4D-BRAND Branding in a transparent market Production or relation brand? How do we choose brands? The stage The functional dimension The social dimension The mental dimension The spiritual dimension SIX:4D-eBRANDING The role of the band on the web BrandMindSpace in cyberspace Create philosophy! Tell the story! Be authentic! Build customer communities Entertain! Give a brand experience! SEVEN: TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR A BRAND WITH A FUTURE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF 4D-BRANDING 1. A 4D brand is created in a person's mind. The traditional view of branding is product and service-oriented, focused on the unique benefits of the product or service. The world is changing and is increasingly full of examples of phenomena which do not meet the criteria of the classical product or service. The new virtual brands lack the substance that we are used to attaching to a classical brand. We must create substance. That substance is the brand. For the buyer, a product or service without a recognized brand is pure utility and availability, and can be easily replaced. A brand set in the mind of a person is much more unique and, most importantly, individual. 2. A 4D brand must stand for something, be different. It's better to be something to someone, than nothing to everyone. Never truer. The traditional brand does not want to turn anybody down. It is typically a mass-market product defined to attract a mass audience. Trouble is such brands are emotionally very shallow. For the new individualized audience, the brand must stand for something special. It must have a philosophy and to be different not only in features, but in attitude. Such a brand will create brand fans, or even brand groupies who, through sheer loyalty, will not only stand by the brand but will also enthusiastically introduce it to others. The additional plus here is that it is often easier to stand for different attitudes and values than to continue to differentiate a product or service. 3. A 4D brand involves people in a relationship akin to friendship. Brands have to involve people. It is like friendship. Personal attention, recognition, surprises and doing exciting things together are the essence of friendship - and 4D-Branding. As an added extra, find a common cause to passionately engage in, and you'll then have the most perfect recipe for success as a brand builder. 4. A 4D brand is always regarded as the company's most valuable asset. The brand is not just a marketing tool, it is often the essence of your company. Though this may be recognized, it is often not acted upon. More attention is paid to property, machinery, and technology than to brands. The truth is that a weak brand, losing trust in its markets, renders an apparently sound company worthless. Brands are valuable. While auditors and lawyers take their time in recognizing this, the new generation of managers already acknowledge the change. Their focus on the brand, or the brands, of their companies is totally different from the old generation of managers. 5. A 4D brand is used by the management to drive the company. There is no tool better than the brand for uniting the forces and the stakeholders inside and around your company. Managing is all about focusing mental energies. Any leakage of energy, any unproductive connections, will cause a loss of voltage, affecting the power of the brand on the market. And conversely, a powerful brand in the marketplace will charge up not only the people working inside the company but also the owners and public opinion. The good news is that managers have control to act or not to act. They can start the process from the inside rather than waiting for something else to happen first. 6. A 4D brand is crystal clear about its role in the marketplace. There was a time when you could do a little bit of everything. There was no need to focus your energies. Internationalization and tougher competition have brought this to an end. Focus is all. And, brands also have to be focused. You not only have to focus on which business you are in, but also what role in that business you want to play. Are you a production brand, with unique know-how in particular methods or technology? Or perhaps you are a relation brand with very special knowledge about your customers and a unique platform of distribution? This new focus on the role of your brand in your business is driven by the transparency of the market, which in turn is induced by the Internet. 7. A 4D brand encourages creativity, not the least among its customers. Interactivity and creativity are necessities not occasional indulgences. A 4D brand has to feel as though it is interactive. It has encourage a feeling of ownership among users. It must feel as though it has been created by its customers and employees. Customers are beta-testers, playing a vital role in achieving constant improvement. Beta-tester help make better products and, as a happy by-product, they feel like ambassadors, insiders and supporters. Look at Linux, a gigantic creative joint venture, where all participants feel like owners -- in a way they are, since no one really owns this freeware. 8. A 4D-brand enjoys alliances with other brands. Traditional brands were very anxious not to involve themselves with other brands. And maybe rightly so, as few were really brands in the way we now view brands. Yesterday's brands were often simply trademarks, shallow pools where we now seek to create mind changing and challenging oceans. Strong, distinctive brands, which stand for something special and are based on deep values, have nothing to fear from connecting themselves to other brands. Sharing common ground can make everybody a winner. Brand strength means little - indeed, a strong brand might gain strength through co-branding with an apparently weaker brand. Every brand has everything to gain by connecting itself to the right things, in the right environment, with the right people. 9. A 4-D brand is best protected by the brand itself. Traditionally, trademark legal protection has been central to brand protection. Now, thanks to internationalization and the transparency of the Web, it is very difficult to control all the legal aspects of a brand. Great brands need not fear. If you have a deep relationship with customers, bad copies and imitations hold no fear. Actually a fraud against a brand that maintains a base of loyal customers will probably further strengthen the bond between the customers and the brand under attack. 10. A 4-D brand is a vehicle for the transfer of both value and values. The purpose of the brand is to transfer both value and values. The brand transfers value and values from one product generation to the next; from one product to its derivatives; from one kind of a product to another kind. It transfers value and values between company and product, and vice versa. Between the company, product and its customers, and between buying occasions. And between the company and staff, owners and public opinion. The brand is not simply an economical mechanism; it is also a philosophical mechanism. It's not just about money, it's about culture and humanity as well. The 4-D brands of the future will need philosophical strength to gain economical results. The value chain will giveway to a chain of values.
