How to use your Brand Strategy in your Brand Advertising

Don’t begin creating your brand advertising until you are clear on your brand strategy.

Your brand strategy — brand promise, brand position, brand personality — is your strategy for being known in the mind of your customer.  When it comes time to create brand advertising campaigns, it is important to ensure that your campaign embody your brand strategy.  To do that, we recommend that you:

• ensure that you are clear on your brand strategy,
• are explicit in identifying, and deciding on, whether your brand promise, brand position, brand personality (or some combination of these brand strategy elements) will drive the brand advertising campaign,
• ensure your brand strategy is actually embodied in the final brand advertising campaign.

1. Brand Advertising based on Brand Position.

Position-driven brand advertising is all about positioning your brand in the mind, relative to a brand category and other brands in the category. Because the mind remembers differences, this style of position-driven advertising remains a pillar of the advertising world. It is usually feature oriented — #1, first, biggest, fastest, etc. — and so may be more intellectual than emotional at the core.

Classic examples of position based advertising include:

• Avis — “We’re number two. We try harder.” — Against #1 Hertz;
• Pepsi — “The Pepsi Challenge” — Against #1 Coke-Cola;
• Burger King — “Have it Your Way” — Against #1 McDonalds.

Current examples of position-driven brand advertisements include:

• BMW — “The Ultimate Driving Machine” — As #1 in luxury automobile category
• Samsung — the “Next Big Thing is Already Here” against the Apple iPhone (see our post on “Viral Videos“)
• Audi — “Not BMW” — Against other German automobile brands

2. Brand Advertising based on Brand Promise.

Promise-driven brand advertising uses the brand promise which — if well formulated — is magnetic to the audience’s need.  Unlike Positioning-based advertising, promise driven brand advertising need not reference the competition. This makes it lower risk in terms of potential legal action from competitors. It can also give these campaigns greater longevity.

Well known promise-driven advertising include:

• Walmart — “Save Money. Live Better.”
• Mastercard — “Priceless”
• Harley Davidson — “Freedom”

3. Personality-driven Brand Advertising

Purely brand personality-driven advertising is for firms and products where style — not position or promise — is the driving force behind message. Certain fragrances, automobiles, even insurance companies are using this approach to get noticed.  In addition, one class of brands who often employ a purely personality-driven brand advertising are referred to as “brand-washers”; brand-washers are firms whose products provide little or negative value. For example tobacco companies that use ruggedness or sexiness as personality traits to create brand advertising.

Some examples of personality-driven brand advertising include:

• Charles Shwab — “Talk to Chuck” — Straight-shooter personality
• Mountain Dew — Daring & spirited personality
• Levi’s — Rebellious personality

Your favourite Brand Advertising

What is your favourite brand advertisement? Is it based on a brand promise? brand position? or brand personality?