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The “easy” brand began as an airline,
but its brand essence—“more value for
less!”—has been successfully applied
to more than a dozen businesses, from
pizza delivery to office-space rental.
first. With the rise in self-service
stores and supermarkets, brands
had to catch the consumer’s eye on
the shelf and also appeal on an
emotional level. Persil, for example,
played on a housewife’s pride in the
whiteness of her laundry with the
slogan: “Get your whites right.”
Creating a brand
Today, a brand is more than just a
logo or attractive packaging. Brand
creation has to start with an idea,
and the idea is more likely to be
successful if it is different than the
competition’s. Typically, it starts
with the customer and what they
want or need. It might also be based
on the way the new company or
product is fulfilling a gap in the
market. Pret A Manger, for example,
launched its healthy fast-food cafés
as an alternative to the ubiquitous
burger chains. The brand revolves
around the concept of fresh, additive-
free food prepared daily at every
branch. Alternatively, a new product
might be something that improves
on the existing technology through
new and innovative design, such as
Dyson’s bagless vacuum cleaners. Or
the idea might be something that no
one has thought of before, and did
not even know they wanted, like the
iPad, which has become
indispensible to millions.
One of the key things about a
successful brand, such as Apple or
Dyson, is that they build an
affiliated community—people who
like iPads or prefer Dysons, and are
happy to be identified with the other
members of that group. The most
powerful brands even have
identifiable ”nonbelievers”—think
Coke vs. Pepsi, or Mac vs. PC. The
sense of belonging to a group that
seems to share your own values is
a key part of consumer loyalty.Translatable brands
It is often hard to tell whether the
product makes the brand, or the
brand makes the product. EasyJet,for example, was a simple idea.
Company founder Sir Stelios Haji-
Ioannou wanted to make air travel
easy, cheap, and different than the
large airline approach. The “easy”
brand, which started in the UK
with the launch of an airline in
1995, is now used by more than a
dozen different businesses all over
the world. The “easy” idea had
many different elements that
brought it to life—from the way
people book their tickets online
to the no-frills service onboard—
but the essential idea of selling a
basic service at an affordable price
was translatable to many other
forms of business.Vision and values
The different elements that make
up a company’s vision and values
are integrated to create a brand’s
personality. Companies look to this
“personality” to provide the Unique
Selling Proposition (USP) that will
make their product or service stand
out from the competition, while ❯❯See also: Finding a profitable niche 22–23 ■ Stand out in the market 28–31 ■ Understanding the market 234–41 ■ Make
your customers love you 264–267 ■ Generating buzz 274–75 ■ Feedback and innovation 312–13
SUCCESSFUL SELLING
A product can be quickly
outdated; a successful
brand is timeless.
Stephen King
UK advertising executive
(1931–2006)