Understanding, Identifying and Building Distinctive Brand Assets

Abstract

Distinctive Brand Assets are non-brand name elements that are uniquely linked to the brand in the memory of the vast majority of consumers. Many creative elements (such as colours, logos, slogans and characters) have the potential to become Distinctive Assets. However, merely using one of these elements does not necessarily mean it is an ‘asset’ for your brand.

What defines an asset is its ability to be used to replace brand name in communications.For an element to be a distinctive asset it must evoke the brand, and only that brand, without prompting, for close to 100% of consumers. Only then can the distinctive asset be considered strong enough to solely identify the brand and replace the brand name in marketing activities.

To develop a distinctive asset, consumers must learn its association with the brand; it is not innate knowledge. Therefore, to turn potential branding elements into distinctive assets, you need to make a long-term commitment to consistently co-present the distinctive element and the brand name across all consumer touch-points. Once developed, distinctive assets give a wider creative pallet for branding strategies, and widen a brand’s footprint throughout its marketing activities. This gives a better chance of these activities being correctly branded.

1. INTRODUCTION

For a brand to be bought it must be identified in a buying situation. For advertising to be effective, consumers must be able to identify the brand that is advertising. This process of identification should be easy and without confusion. Using the brand name is one method to enable brand identification. Another is by developing brand distinctive assets. Some of the most famous examples include the Nike Swoosh, the Aflac Duck and Mastercard’s Priceless advertising style. All of these are able to represent the brand name without needing the brand name to be articulated.

In this report we explain the background to distinctive brand elements.

We cover:

The elements that can be used to make the brand’s identity distinctive;
How elements are built into assets;
How distinctive assets can fit into the overall brand strategy; and
How to properly identify if your brand has a distinctive asset.We conclude with our distinctive asset testing agenda and provide tips to avoid common pitfalls when measuring the strength of distinctive elements.

2. WHAT ARE DISTINCTIVE BRAND ELEMENTS AND ASSETS?

Distinctive brand elements are anything that can potentially be used to identify the brand name. However, an element only becomes an asset when it has achieved sufficient levels of uniqueness and prevalence that it can be used as a part of a brand’s identity. These terms are explained later.

There are a range of distinctive elements from which distinctive brand assets can be developed. Here we provide some common examples:
Logo: This is a graphic design element. Logos are possibly the most widely used distinctive element in that they are typically present in all forms of brand communication, to the public and within the organisation. Examples are the McDonald’s Arches and the BP Sunflower.

Figure 1: McDonald’s logo

Slogan: This is a short phrase, sometimes using word-play or wit to gain attention. Examples include “Just do it” or “Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s …….”.
Colour: Colour can be used as a single block (as in the electric green Garnier Fructis example shown) or in combination. Colour’s potential as a distinctive asset grew when changes in trademark law in the US and UK in the mid-nineties enabled organisations to ‘own’ colours and block competitor usage.

Figure 2: Garnier Fructis’ colour

Shape: The physical dimensions of a product or its packaging can be particularly useful for product recognition. Examples include Toilet Duck toilet cleaner which has its ‘beak like’ bottle neck or the triangular Toblerone box.

Figure 3: Toblerone’s shape

Typeface or font: This is the shape of the lettering used. Examples include the curly Coca-Cola font, or that used by Disney and IBM. While often used to convey the brand name, the test is if a font can be used to write another word and still evoke the brand name.

Figure 4: Coca-Cola’s font

Character: A character can be the embodiment of a person, living or deceased, or a fictional creature. Examples include KFC’s The Colonel, Guiness’ Toucan or M&M’s Red and Yellow. They often have personalities and voices to deliver scripts in advertising and impart brand messages.

Figure 5: M&M’s characters

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 1.56.50 PM

Celebrity: Celebrities can endorse a brand and are usually seen using or praising the brand in its advertising. For example George Clooney features in the Nescafe Nespresso ads. To become a distinctive asset however, the celebrity needs to be used over multiple campaigns and uniquely linked to the brand.
Jingles and/or music: A jingle is a piece of music that is composed with the brand in mind and sometimes includes the brand’s slogan. Brands can also use popular music performed by mainstream artists. Examples include the Oscar

Mayer jingle and song (see http:// www.youtube.com/watch? v=rmPRHJd3uHI) or 3 Mobile, which uses ‘Three is a magic number’ by nineties rock band Blind Melon.

Sound: Sounds are not necessarily composed but are generated from real-life. For example, McCain uses the ‘ping’ sound from a microwave oven light and Intel has a sequence of sounds that resonates in its advertisements to indicate ‘Intel Inside’.
Advertising style: Brands can develop a unique creative concept or theme, and consistently use this theme across many advertising campaigns over time. Without this consistency, the ads will not be recognisable to the viewer without the brand name from one campaign to the next. Mastercard’s Priceless campaign, Absolut’s print campaign using the bottle shape or Red Bull’s animation style are all well known examples of unique advertising styles.

Figure 6: Absolut’s advertising style

Screen Shot 2016-02-24 at 1.56.56 PM

Taste, texture and scent: These three elements are largely tied to using a product or service. In this aspect they are different from all other elements, which consumers can learn purely by exposure to brand advertising or seeing the product on-shelf. Examples include the 11 herbs and spices of KFC, the texture of the air bubbles in Aero chocolate and the smell of Subway bread baked in-store.

All of these elements have the potential to become distinctive brand assets, but what does a distinctive element need to achieve to become an identifying asset to the brand?

3. HOW DO YOU TELL IF AN ELEMENT IS A DISTINCTIVE ASSET?

We have developed four criteria that are important when identifying a brand’s distinctive assets:

Uniqueness: This is the degree to which only your brand is linked to the element. Uniqueness is the most important criteria because if consumers link multiple brands to the element, multiple brands may be retrieved when presented with the element. This can cause confusion and, importantly, is difficult to unlearn. Ideally you want 100% uniqueness within your category.
Prevalence: This refers to how many consumers link your brand to the distinctive asset. The more people that do so, the stronger and more valuable the distinctive asset becomes. Ideally you want 100% of consumers thinking of your brand when they see the asset. When you use the distinctive element rather than the brand name as a branding device you then spend money to reach someone, but if they do not link the element to your brand then they will not understand that the advertising is from you and the exposure is wasted. For this reason we consider prevalence to be an absolute measure. That is, the higher it is the more effectively the asset can be used. Although uniqueness is critical, the element must also be prevalent to achieve market level success, even if your competitors do not have distinctive assets to call their own.
In the mind of the consumer: What may seem an obvious distinctive asset to a marketer may not be the case from a consumer perspective.Consumer interaction with a brand is often infrequent and separated by lengthy periods of time, consequently making the learning process that much harder. Consumers also encounter competitor activities, which may prove similar or more salient, therefore retrieving this information from memory is a highly competitive process. Only by asking consumers can you detect the long term effect that exposure to your marketing activities has had versus competitors.
Evokes the brand without prompting for the brand: The most common use of a distinctive asset is to replace the brand name. To be able to do this, it must evoke the brand from consumer memory by only prompting for the category (e.g., What bank brands do you associate with the colour yellow?). Links between concepts in memory travel in two directions; in this case, from the distinctive element to the brand and from the brand to the distinctive element. The strength of a link in one direction is not necessarily the same as the link in the other direction (Gaillard and Romaniuk 2006). As such, the test of a distinctive asset is if the presentation of the element results in the brand being evoked.

To enable you to classify the many possible distinctive elements, Romaniuk’s Distinctive Asset Grid has been created. By plotting your distinctive elements on this grid, you can work out which can be used to replace the brand name; which have potential but need investment; and which should be avoided.

4. IDENTIFYING YOUR CURRENT AND POTENTIAL DISTINCTIVE ASSETS.

When measuring distinctive assets, it is important to (a) present the element, and (b) ask consumers which brands they link to the element from the category unprompted (i.e., do not provide a list of brands from the category), to realistically assess the strength of its link to the brand name.

Then to classify the element, you need to calculate its prevalence and uniqueness scores.

Prevalence is the proportion of people that recall your brand when provided with the element. For example, if 30% of your consumers recall your brand when prompted with your slogan, then it has 30% prevalence.

Uniqueness is the number of times your brand is linked to the element divided by the number of times any brand in the category is linked to the element. For example, if your slogan has 30% of people recalling the brand, but a further 10% associate the slogan to other brands, this is 30/40 or 75% uniqueness.

The strongest distinctive asset is one where all consumers (prevalence) only name your brand unprompted (uniqueness) when provided with the distinctive element.

This is then plotted on the grid. The grid is divided into four broad quadrants. The quadrant in which the element falls provides some guidance as to the current and future potential of the distinctive element. The star in the top right hand corner indicates the ideal point.

If an element falls in the quadrant labelled:

Use: This means the element is a strong distinctive asset. It evokes your brand from memory regularly for the vast majority of consumers. Therefore it can be used to replace the brand name in advertising. While 100% prevalence and 100% uniqueness is ideal, and the higher it is on both dimensions the more effective it will be, after exceeding 50% on each you can start using the element as a replacement or supplement for the brand name.

Invest: This is an element with unharnessed potential. It meets the most important criteria; it is highly unique to your brand for the people that are aware of it and this is why it has potential. However, not many people are aware of it (low prevalence) and so this restricts its ability to be used to replace the brand name. Therefore, it needs further investment to convert it into an asset.

Avoid: If the element falls in this quadrant, you should avoid using it as a distinctive asset to replace the brand name. Despite a lot of people thinking of your brand in relation to the element (high prevalence), the element is just as likely to bring competitors to mind. This can happen when an element becomes representative of the category. For example, the use of the colour red for tomato sauce packaging or advertising will not be a point of visual uniqueness or identification for only one brand; it is an expectation hat any or all tomato sauce brands will use red to signal the product. We recommend to avoid using such an element unless it is accompanied with strong direct branding to avoid confusion with competitors.

Ignore: If the element falls into this quadrant, it has no real strengths to draw on. So it is best left alone. These elements are not well known within the market, and there is no strong link to any one brand even amongst those who know it. The exceptions are elements that are at the beginning of their development. Obviously all distinctive elements start from 0% prevalence and uniqueness when they are first introduced, but can become a useable asset with investment. However, if after receiving an extended period of marketing support the element is still not developing both uniqueness and prevalence, then the distinctiveness strategy should be re-thought.

Figure 7: Romaniuk’s Distinctive Asset Grid

Romaniuk’s Distinctive Asset Grid

(1) We include some tips for them measuring distinctive elements in Appendix 1.distinctive elements in Appendix 1.

5. HOW DOES AN ELEMENT BECOME A DISTINCTIVE ASSET FOR A BRAND?

An element has the potential to become a distinctive asset if it is not already linked to a competitor. There are many distinctive elements out there, but once you find something that you want to develop into an asset, what do you do?

It is important to remember that links between distinctive elements and brands need to be learnt by consumers. This means you need to invest in engendering this learning. You can use the following principles to help build these links:

Co-presentation: For consumers to develop links in memory between two previously unrelated concepts, they need to see both of these concepts together at the same time. Initially you must present the distinctive asset with the brand name for the connection to be made. This should also be reinforced over time to ‘teach’ those that have not encountered the element with the brand name before. For example, before the Swoosh was able to be used to replace “Nike”, both were present on marketing material and packaging.

Consistency: As marketers, we see our own brands everywhere. For consumers, exposure to an individual brand typically consists of a series of sparsely interspersed events. Therefore, you should take any opportunity where the consumer is exposed to the brand to build up links to distinctive elements. Consistency across all communications maximises the opportunity that any consumer that encounters the brand receives this reinforcement. This includes packaging (where relevant).

Commitment: Building and maintaining distinctive assets is a long term commitment. Consumers need to be taught (which takes time) and once taught – to maximise the value of the asset – it should be used as much as possible. When a radical change is made (e.g., a new slogan is introduced) you are effectively ‘reinventing the wheel’ and starting again from 0% prevalence and uniqueness.

6. WHY ARE DISTINCTIVE BRAND ASSETS USEFUL TO BUILD?

Not all brands require distinctive assets. Some very successful brands have nothing that would be considered to be a strong distinctive asset. Examples include Microsoft, General Electric and Visa. However, developing distinctive brand assets gives several benefits over always having to use only the brand name:

They provide more creative alternatives to directly showing the brand name. For example, the Red and Yellow for M&M’s can be used as focal points across a series of ad campaigns, showing the characters in different scenarios. Similarly the bottle shape of Absolut provides many options for print advertising. These elements can provide greater scope for advertising creative than if they were absent.
Distinctive assets make the brand footprint larger when used in conjunction with the brand. For example, Coca-Cola written in text has a smaller brand footprint on- screen than Coca-Cola written in text in the foreground of the bottle silhouette on a red background. As the footprint of the branded elements increases within an advertisement, the more likely it is that the brand will be noticed or gain attention.
The use of non-word elements such as colour, visual images, sound, etc., provide a multilayered process for entry into consumer memory. This can enhance brand memorability. However, there is still a great deal we have to learn about how distinctive elements are cognitively processed by consumers compared to direct branding.
They can be used to make brand identification easier outside of the advertising context, for example on-shelf or as a retail outlet. Most in- store decisions are made very quickly, and distinctive assets may make it easier for the consumers to find the brand on shelf.

7. DO DISTINCTIVE ASSETS HAVE TO HAVE A MEANING FOR CONSUMERS BEYOND THE BRAND NAME? (OR IS IT BETTER IF THEY DO?)

We see no evidence to support having distinctive assets with meaning beyond the link that is developed with the brand. Importantly however, we see reasons to be cautious about using additional meaning as a key criteria for selecting which distinctive elements to develop.

First, a distinctive element with a strong meaning will likely hamper the brand’s ability to attach the brand name to the distinctive asset. The (strong) meaning will be evoked in consumer memory when the element is presented, which will then dominate and interfere with the development of links to the brand name. This is similar to selecting a brand name with a meaning. A brand name with a strong meaning helps build initial associations linked to that meaning. However, it also hampers acquiring additional associations that are not directly linked to that meaning (Keller et al. 1998).

Second, any additional meaning is unlikely to be equally interpreted by all. I might see purple as regal and adore the colour, but you might see purple as repre-senting the eggplants your parents forced you to eat as a child. As a marketer you cannot control these perceptions, so it is better to pick a distinctive colour based on what you can own, relative to competitors, rather than based on some other meaning.

Third, the core meaning of the brand may change over time in response to consumer or market trends. This means that the distinctive asset will also need to change, negating the value of past investments.

Choosing a distinctive asset that is essentially a ‘blank slate’ where the brand name can be the primary link is the least risky long term strategy with the most potential.

8. ARE THERE ANY DRAWBACKS IN USING DISTINCTIVE ASSETS FOR BRAND IDENTIFICATION?

While distinctive assets represent some opportunities, they do present some risks. If you use the brand name to identify the brand in advertising, all who notice the brand name will know that it is that brand that is advertising.

However, if you brand with only a distinctive asset, any unprompted link to the brand name that is below 100% unique and prevalent means there will be some people who see the distinctive asset but don’t think of the brand name. To explain with an example:

If 60% of consumers (prevalence) link your brand name exclusively with the distinctive element (100% uniqueness), then 40% of the people who see that element will NOT evoke the brand. Therefore the use of the element as a branding device will fail for this group.
If prevalence is at 80%, then the risk is only 20%. However, if prevalence is 80% but uniqueness is only 80%, then the proportion likely to evoke the brand when presented with the element is 0.8 x 0.8 or 64%. Therefore, the risk rises again to 36%.

Every time you use a distinctive asset that is less than 100% prevalent and 100% unique, you will waste some advertising exposures as there will be people who see the advertising and saw your distinctive asset, but did not know who was advertising. However, even brand names are not universally used to identify/notice the brand ‘on shelf’. There is clear benefit in promoting all the assets that consumers to use to ‘see’ brands.

Another risk is in using a celebrity as a distinctive asset because his or her own reputation may overwhelm the presence of the brand in advertising.

So while there may be some benefits in additional creative power when using distinctive assets, these benefits must also be weighed with the associated risks. These risks are higher when the distinctive asset is used instead of the brand name entirely.

FUTURE RESEARCH

We feel that much of the past research into distinctive assets has been misdirected as it has focused too much on how consumers interpret and feel about distinctive assets, rather than examining how they are used. Here are some of the issues we hope to address in our future research:

Are there types of distinctive elements that are better to cultivate than others? For example, are characters more effective than slogans?
Are there types of distinctive elements that are better to cultivate than others? For example, are characters more effective than slogans?
Are distinctive assets processed differently to direct branding in consumer memory? Are they more likely to attract attention? Does the potential richness of the visual and audio cues enable easier and/or deeper processing by consumers?
How much do distinctive assets influence advertising effectiveness? Is it only in correct branding or are advertisements which use distinctive assets rather than direct branding also enjoyed more by consumers?

If you would like to talk to us about being involved in our future research agenda, or evaluating your distinctive assets, email Jenni@marketingscience.info

APPENDIX

Tips for avoiding common mistakes when measuring distinctive assets:

Rely on consumers, not your own judgment: You are involved in your own brand, but consumers receive not just signals from your brand, but also from competitors. Therefore they are the only ones who can judge the strength of an asset vis-a- vis competitors.
Cue with the distinctive element: The direction of the link is important for testing, cueing with the brand finds what is evoked when the brand is present, but not what evokes the brand (for a more detailed discussion on this see Holden and Lutz 1992).
Do NOT prompt for the brand: You want to gain some indication that the element makes people think of the brand and the direction of the link. Providing brand names makes this process (a) too easy for people to answer/guess, and (b) blurs the direction of the link. This makes it harder to properly assess the strength of the distinctive asset.
Allow consumers to give multiple responses: Brands compete for retrieval in memory and multiple brands can be linked to the same element. It is important that a measure of distinctive element strength captures when associations are not unique.
Capture association, not evaluation: Measure if the brand is linked to the element, not the consumer’s assessment of the quality or appropriateness of the link or that element. So avoid using words like ‘best’ or ‘more strongly’ associated with the element. These descriptors narrow the response set from consumers and so reduce the ability to capture all links to distinctive elements. This will overstate uniqueness and understate prevalence.

Ehrenberg-BassSponsor Website