How are you going to describe the essence of the brand to your customers in one short, memorable, and motivating sentence? This should hint at the central organizing thought, without necessarily stating it.
As an example, the central organizing thought of the BMW brand is “competitive achievement”, but the slogan is “the ultimate driving machine”.
- The Personality of the Brand – If the brand were indeed human, what sort of person would it is – jovial, serious, sporty, aristocratic, and cunning? (Liril Girl)
- The Values of the Brand – What does the brand stand for? What does it believe in? What would it make a stand on?
- Tastes/Appearance – What does the brand like? What does it look like? What does it wear? How does it speak? This will include the iconography of the brand – the icons, the symbols, the trade dress, the typeface, and the look and feel.
- Heritage – All great brands have stories about them. Some are favorable, some are less favorable, but all of them work to explain what the brand is all about. Telling stories about the brand is one of the strongest ways of communicating the essence of your brand.
- Emotional Benefits – What does the brand do for its customers? These can usually be classified into –
- Avoids pain
- Reduces pain
- Gives pleasure
- Hard Benefits – What does the brand offer its customers in tangible, quantifiable terms? These are the benefits as in “Features, Advantages and Benefits”.