Should Brand Strategy be Actual or Aspirational?

During our Distiliy 1day1brand events, participants ask: “When we are developing our brand strategy today, should we be thinking of the brand we are now? Or the brand we aspire to be?”

For instance, one client has a multimillion dollar capitol project that won’t be completed for three years. Should that be factored into the brainstorm about the improved brand? Or is that too far into the future? The answer depends on the state of your brand.

The Neglected Brand

For clients with great products but neglected branding, we recommend that they focus on credible capabilities they have now or will have by the brand launch. There is no need to gaze into the future to unlock a winning brand promise, position and personality.

The Brand Transformation

For clients with healthy brands undergoing a major transformation, we still recommend that they focus on current authentic, credible attributes. However, we will also allow for more forward looking ideas, so that the brand faces more to the future than the past. This allows some stretch room for the brand. Even so, we insist that these clients stress test their brand strategy. It cannot be anything other than authentic and credible to truly succeed.

others

Author: Distility Category: Branding Evaluation Tags: Brand strategy, Branding

Abergstrom

Agree in principle, but a word of caution! What’s most important is that during an assessment of the brand you must discover the brand’s permissions and limits. Too many brands develop strategies that are focused on “wishes or fantasies” that the brand cannot achieve or positon themselves as something they are not nor can be in the mind of customers/the market. Knowing these boundaries will save time, $$, and failure. There are many examples of brands that set out on strategies that were just wrong for the brand and ending up costing $$$ and a loss of brand equity. And just launching a new product in the future may not give the brand permission to position itself there. Happy to share real examples with anyone interested!