In an era of intense competition, brand strength is a decisive factor in a company's success. This content cluster illuminates various aspects of brand building and positioning, showing how companies can use their brands as a driving force for digital transformation.
The brand as a driving force for digital transformation
This module highlights how brands emerge from the interplay between identity and image. In an increasingly complex business world, identity is the foundation from which changes can be shaped. We show why brands continue to gain importance in the digital age.
- The brand arises from the interplay between lived identity and the resulting image.
- Increasing complexity requires a high degree of learning and adaptability from companies. Identity is the basis from which change can be shaped and intelligence can be utilized.
- Brands serve customers and employees as anchors of trust, providers of meaning, and aids for orientation. In a world with many uncertainties and choices, brands are becoming increasingly important.
- For a brand to emerge, a company's intention must resonate with the needs of customers and employees.
- If everyone understands themselves as part of the identity, the chances are best to reach the right people through coherent behavior and consistent communication.
What a brand is (not)
This section clarifies what a brand actually is. We clear up widespread misunderstandings and show how brands truly emerge and what effects they produce.
- Brands are intangible assets that are of great importance to both companies and individuals.
- Often, however, there is confusion about what a brand really is. Brands are the result of all touchpoints that people have had with a company or a person.
- “Brands are the result of all touchpoints that people have had with a company or a person.”
- A brand is not what you say about yourself, but what the people out there say about you. It's about the emotions, images, and associations that are linked to the brand and evoked by it.
- A strong brand creates resonance and leaves a lasting impression. Brand building occurs through repeated consistency in behavior and communication based on a meaningful identity.
- The brand (reputation) is the result and the key to ongoing business success.
The brain makes the music! – Why we remember some brands and forget most
This module explores how our brain forms and stores brands. Furthermore, we demonstrate how brands help us make efficient decisions.
- Our brain remembers brand names to be right in future decisions and to save energy.
- Brands help us draw on past experiences and produce expectations with the goal of making the right decisions.
- The mental availability of a brand determines whether and in which situations someone remembers the brand, recommends it, or chooses it.
- A brand is valuable when it is mentally available to many people at the right moments. This requires corresponding memory structures in our brain.
- Creating associative brain structures is achieved through quality that meets expectations, ongoing visibility, and increased distinctiveness.
Brand perception – how to stay in memory with your brand and the role our senses play
Here, the importance of brand perception through our senses is emphasized. Perception is selective and constructive, which causes brands to be perceived differently by different people. The approach of multi-sensory brand experiences is examined in more detail.
- Perception is selective because our brain has only limited resources available. Therefore, certain information must be prioritized and other information filtered out.
- Perception is constructive because it is a personal representation of reality based on experiences, expectations, personality traits, and social factors.
- Brands are perceived differently by every person because everyone has their own perceptual filters and constructions of reality.
- Brands are the result of our sensory perceptions. Addressing the senses holistically enables a highly emotional brand experience and promotes the buildup of associative brain structures.
- Companies that design multi-sensory brand experiences have better chances of reaching their desired customers through communication.
