A brand is a famous brand, a brand is a trademark, a brand is trust, a brand is an impression, and a brand is a promise? There are many different opinions about brands. So, what exactly is a brand? What kind of brand can survive in the future? Let’s talk about this topic today.

The new era requires new definitions

Over the past 20 years, our living environment has undergone earth-shaking changes. However, in the face of the innovation in the mobile Internet era, some entrepreneurs' perception of brands has hardly changed. Wrong definitions and misperceptions of brands have seriously affected the healthy development of Chinese enterprises. There are even many entrepreneurs who have asked: Do we need brands in this era?

It seems that in the face of the new era, we also need to let more entrepreneurs re-understand brands. To define a brand, use a correct theory to guide practice.

Four elements of brand definition

In the new era, what kind of brand definition can correctly guide our marketing strategy and help the company develop healthily? A complete brand definition , at least the following four major components are required:

1. Representative category.

The first thing that must be understood is: What is the origin of the brand?

This question is answered clearly by the American positioning master Mr. Al Rees: The origin of the brand is the category. . If the category no longer exists, the brand will be meaningless.

A good brand must represent a category. Just like when people think of "Air Conditioner", they think of "Greek", and when they think of "Coke", they think of "Coca-Cola".

If your brand does not represent any category in the minds of customers, it is likely to be in a weak position in the competition, which will bring many difficulties to the company's marketing behavior.

2. Clear positioning.

If the "representative category" is explained from the product perspective, then the "clear positioning" is emphasized from the value perspective.

It is not enough for a brand to just represent a category, it must also represent a unique and clear value. Just like BMW, it is not enough to represent luxury cars, it must also represent "driving pleasure"; Head & Shoulders, it is not enough to represent shampoo, it must also represent "anti-dandruff".

The more prominent this value is, the more competitive the brand will be, and vice versa.

Also, clear positioning helps you represent the category. Just as Wong Lao Kat has always strengthened its positioning of "preventing internal heat", people have become aware of the category of "herbal tea", and Wong Lao Kat has quickly become synonymous with "herbal tea".

3. Distinctive personality.

In Chinese companies, this element is most easily overlooked. Even, many entrepreneurs believe that "positioning" and "personality" are the same thing. Not really.

Positioning solves left-brain problems, and personality solves right-brain problems. The left brain is good at thinking about highly logical elements such as value, size, quality, quantity, and cost-effectiveness; while the right brain is good at thinking about non-logical elements such as feelings, colors, shapes, emotions, and emotions.

From an experience perspective, a complete brand must have a distinctive personality, be pleasing to the eye and irreplaceable in the right brain of customers, and become their "favorite".

Just like Nike emphasizes "sports spirit", Apple advocates "extreme simplicity", and Johnson & Johnson highlights "full of care". The more distinctive the personality, the greater the buzz generated in the right brain of customers, and the more helpful it will be in driving the market.

4. Rejuvenate.

Another defining element of a good brand is energy. Because the biggest difference between a brand and a trademark is that a brand is alive, while a trademark is dead.

Kodak used to be a brand, but now it is just a trademark; Nokia used to be a good brand, but now it has also become a trademark.

For a brand, the company's marketing activities are particularly important. As a brand, if people don't feel the warmth and popularity, it will easily fall out of people's sight and decline. This is also the reason why "Wong Lao Kat" and "Jia Duobao" had a fight, but "Wang Lao Kat" and his wife died.

So, what exactly is a brand? These four elements can give us a clear answer:

A brand is a pronoun that can represent a category in the minds of target customers. An irreplaceable value.

A brand is also a magnet for people with a distinctive personality, a unique and complete visual system, and is always full of vitality.

Why do big brands fail at the drop of a hat?

Motorola in the early days, Kodak recently, Nokia now, etc. are all famous brands, and they all had a glorious period of time. However, to this day, they have all encountered problems? Why did these once big brands collapse? The answer lies in the four major elements of brand definition. This is an important factor for the continued strength of a brand and requires careful maintenance. OK.

The two words here are very critical: focus and innovation. Focus is three "focuses": focus on category, focus on positioning, and focus on personality; innovation is three "innovations": innovative models, innovative products, and innovative activities. If these two points are not achieved, no matter how good the brand is, problems will arise.

The decline of Motorola is a very typical result of lack of "focus"; while the decline of Kodak and Nokia is caused by slow "innovation".

Assuming that if Nokia were the first to lead smartphones and implement platform-based business models, it is difficult to say whether Apple would still be where it is today. However, Nokia was slow to act and lacked innovation, and was defeated by Apple.

Therefore, we must remember: no matter how powerful a brand is, as long as it is not focused and innovative enough, the four major elements of brand definition will be disintegrated, which will bring you disaster.

The future will only be more cruel

Under traditional economic conditions, we see the existence of the "law of duality" in many categories: each category is led by two big brands. For example, Western fast food is led by McDonald's and KFC, Coke is led by Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, and room-temperature milk is led by Yili and Mengniu.

Therefore, the survival rule of a brand in that era was: either be first or be second.

However, in the mobile Internet era, information is becoming more and more symmetrical, and choices are becoming more and more convenient, which has inspired people to value the first and despise the second. In the near future, it is very likely that only "the first one will survive".

As a result, the future will only become increasingly cruel for businesses.

Only in the future can a brand be expected to survive if it is not only synonymous with a category, but also the leader of that category. If you are not the "boss" in this category in the minds of customers, it will be very dangerous.

So, in this sense, what is the knowledge of branding? I think: branding is the knowledge of being the "boss". The purpose of our branding is to be the "boss" of a category.

Once upon a time, Midea's "second-tier strategy" was called a successful strategy. Under traditional economic conditions, it has indeed created the brilliance of Midea. However, it is worth examining whether this strategy will work in the future.

Times are changing, the market is changing, and customer psychology is also changing. If we want to continue to survive and develop in the future market environment, we must firmly establish the "boss" mentality and achieve the ultimate in the four major elements of "representative category", "clear positioning", "rejuvenation" and "distinctive personality". OK. Brand