Brand Power

I am reading a branding book right now that I just love! It's called "Killer Brands" by Frank Lane and it illustrates my thoughts on naming and differntiating your brand in such an easy way I'd like to share a portion of it with you.



Imagine I am setting you up on a date. I tell you about six guys. In essence six brand choices.

Jack...Bob...Mike...Rudy...Jim...and Rob

Which name do you remember most readily?



Well I remember "Rudy," the quickest....and according to the author so do most people. Rudy as a name is distinctly different than the typical Jack..Rob's and Bob's. Currently thinking of a name for your new company or brand....make a point to use your name--your most visible brand property to help you stand out from the crowd.

The second part of his example deals with the power of focus. A lot of us are very scared to hang on to one attribute about our brand. What if we're all about color...and also all about fit....and also use a one of a kind cotton from the south of France. How can we choose one of these attributes to play up more than the rest...they're all very appealing and conventional wisdom would tell us that combined they just would make the most perfect garment ever.

But we have to prioritize and isolate. The viability of this strategy is illustrated in Frank's next dating example.

Remember I am setting you up with one of these guys. Here are the details......

• Jack...Divorced, Loves Kids and Plays Polo
• Bob....Single, Works in Finance and Makes a Lot of Money
• Mike...Physically Fit, Played Pro Football and Sells Real Estate
• Rudy...is Kind, Sensitive, and also Sells Real Estate
• Jim....Divorced, Loves Golf and Wants Kids Soon
• Rob....Makes a Lot of Money, Loves Women and is Difficult to Tie Down

Now Look away from the computer for 20 Seconds....


Don't Look back at the list....


Remember what you can about the six choices and if you can only choose one, which one do you remember and how did you remember them?

Like most readers I found it very difficult to remember and decide....

Now Lets Consider a different list where he gives one focused point on each guy.

• Roy...Is Rich
• Wilson...Plays Jazz
  
• Max....Is a Painter
• Phillippe....Owns a Vineyard
• Josh...Is a World Traveler
• Pete....Is Hard to Tie Down

Now look away again for about 20 seconds.


Which one would you want to be set up on a date with? Which one amongst the choices do you remember most?

Well if you don't remember exact names you may remember someone loves Jazz...and another is really rich and another is a world traveler. If any of these attributes match your interest the "brand/guy" will come to the top of your mind. Even with less information these guys resonate a lot more with one clear attribute than they do promoting multiple attributes.

Lesson learned...the less information we are given the more likely we are to remember it.

If you're in the process of building or improving your brand get this book... "Killer Brands...Create and Market a Brand that Will Annihilate the Competition." by Frank Lane. It's a fantastic read!