Intangible assets do not have physical entities, but are represented by certain legal rights or technologies. Therefore, intangible asset moats include three categories, namely brand moats (trademark rights), patent moats (patent rights), and government-authorized monopoly moats (statutory licenses).

Brand moat concept:

All companies can have their own "brand", but not every company can build a "brand moat". Determining whether a company has a brand moat can be measured from two perspectives: first, your brand can generate purchase intention among consumers; second, your brand can consolidate consumers' dependence on goods. For example, Moutai in liquor, Coca-Cola and Pepsi in carbonated drinks, and P&G and Unilever in daily chemical products are all typical representatives that have established a strong "brand moat".

How to build a brand moat:

Building a brand moat can be divided into three steps. The first step is to establish the optimal brand positioning. The second step is to convey the brand positioning to consumers in an easy-to-understand way. The third step is to leave everything to time.

To establish optimal brand positioning, three musts must be met. 1. Must know where you are now? (Be sure to look at how consumers position you, not where you think you are) 2. It must be clear where you want to go in the future? (Which is the ideal brand positioning or positions?) 3. It must be clear where it can go in the future? (What are the company’s own advantages? Is the competition for the ideal positioning fierce? Can consumers accept the change in brand positioning?)

The transmission of brand positioning must be simple, direct, and easy to understand on the consumer side. . Take high-end liquor as an example. What kind of liquor is high-end? It can be "wine for state banquets", it can be a wine that corporate bosses are drinking, it can be a cross-border co-branded wine with a luxury brand... In short, it must bring the most intuitive feeling to consumers, and it must be that kind of wine. A way of expression and presentation that you can get immediately without thinking.

Last and most important, I repeat three times, time, time, time! It can be said that without the precipitation of time, it is impossible to form a brand moat. This is why few cutting-edge brands can form a brand moat, not because of poor brand positioning, but because of insufficient time. Of course, I have also seen too many mature companies half-heartedly change their brand positioning every one or two years, leaving only feathers in the end. Companies that frequently change their brand positioning mainly have the following two situations. The first is when personnel changes lead to a change in brand positioning. From the CEO to the brand manager. Every new person who comes on board wants to prove their worth by making some changes, but in the end, it hurts the company. The second situation is eager for quick success. Once you find that the current brand positioning has not established a brand moat for the company in a short period of time, you immediately rush to try other brand positionings. According to my previous experience in brand health tracking projects, there is a lag effect of 1-2 years in the creation of a company's brand image, that is, the effect of brand marketing activities in the first year (the effect here specifically refers to the creation and delivery of brand image) It won’t be obvious until the second or even third year. It was particularly interesting to serve a client of a wine company in the past. For two years, I promoted the high-priced product A to create a high-end brand image. The results of the survey found that the effect was not obvious. In the third year, I switched to the medium-priced product B to create a popular brand image. , As a result, in the third year, the mention rate of product A was greatly increased, and the high-end image was also improved accordingly, so the company turned around and mainly promoted high-end products... Over the past few years, not to mention wasting a large amount of advertising production budget, brand positioning It’s also a mess, let alone building a brand moat. Therefore, after having a good brand positioning, you must believe in the power of time.