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O
All
About Branding
Why We are Working Hard to Assess and Communicate our True Identity
In
2004-05 we will be involved in research that will evaluate who we are
and what defines our core promise. The perceptions and opinions
of our primary stakeholders are important in compiling this information.
Our research will result in a determination about who we currently are,
how our stakeholders perceive us, how we are unique, what we promise,
what we can deliver, and what our vision is. We will compile this
important information and shape it into a plan that resonates throughout
the organization. It will then be communicated to our constituents
using the new name and logo, and will assist us in marketing ourselves
as a college intent on delivering each aspect of our promise to all of
our constituents.
The Power of Branding
"A brand has been defined as the name, logo, and other outward symbols
that distinguish a product or service from others in its category. But
a brand is much more than that. It's the owner-employees who rent you
an Avis car or the owner-employees who book you a seat on a TWA flight. It's DHL's flying vans, the voice of Jack Lemmon for Honda or Eli Wallach
for Toyota, the prices you find at Office Depot, the no-spill spout on
a Clorox bottle, the lifetime guarantee on Tumi luggage, and the select
locations where Ralph Lauren is sold, and not sold. These characteristics
and many more make up the totality of a brand, and contribute to what
is referred to as its 'identity.'
"On
a deeper level, a brand is an assortment of expectations established by
the seller that, once fulfilled, forms a covenant with its buyers.
A brand covenant is an implicit guarantee that what consumers see is what
they get.
"Superior
brands promise and over-deliver, and are in the best of all possible positions
because they have consistently exceeded the expectations of their prospects
and users. Consumers around the world think of the stable of brands
on which they depend as packages of trust and performance, based largely
on the perceived value of the brand; that is, its performance quotient.
Brand performance that matches or exceeds brand promises has the highest
probability of harvesting brand loyalty. On the flip side, brand
performance breakdown means that all bets are off and a brand's user becomes
the rightful prey of competitive brands that are seen as more trustworthy.
"Creating
and sustaining trust within an enterprise requires the matching of what
is expected with actual performance. A formidable brand identity is the
end product of that process.
"Brand identity is a product of the melding of a brand's position
and personality, and is played out in the product/service performance,
the brand name, its logo and graphic system, the brand's marketing communications,
and in other ways tint which the brand comes into contact with its constituencies."
--Lynn
B. Upshaw
Building Brand Identity
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