Live from Congility: Branding isn’t Bollocks

Branding isn’t Bollocks, by Mike Atherton

What’s the message behind the messaging?
The people who buy the products aren’t always the people who use the products

• Makes marketing and UX a mess
• Products get so complex that consultants get brought in so that users don’t have to use products
• Need begets new need – competitors come along
• Add features, they are empowering
• We end up with users saying “Now I can’t do the ONE SIMPLE THING I bought this for!”

How long does it take for a product to get 50mill users?

• Radio – 38
• TV – 13 years
• Facebook – 4 years
• YouTube – 6 months
• Angry Birds Space – 50 days

So products are getting features added faster and faster

• Sometimes this happens when users aren’t sure what the product is supposed to do
• People don’t buy features. They buy empowered versions of themselves.
• The products that stay true to themselves stay simple.

The first law of branding: focus

• If a company focuses their product around a few small things, they are more likely to be remembered
• What do we care about, and how can we reach out to the people who care about these same things?

You can’t do this in a silo

• Brands live in the minds of our customers
• Our brand isn’t what we say it is – it’s what they say it is
• We can’t create a brand in a boardroom
• We create a brand by connecting to our users
• People don’t buy what you do. They buy why you do it.

A mission is compelling to everyone

• Compelling to the people who work there – they feel a sense of purpose
• Compelling to customers – they buy why you do it
• Create a brand story – tell the tale of your past, present, and future
• Work backwards from what you do to what your core purpose is by asking “why” over and over again
• Core values: the qualities we care most deeply about (goes hand in hand with core purpose)
• Our values are not who we aspire to be. They are a reflection of who we are.

Having a personality isn’t enough

• Can’t have the same personality as everyone else
• Be true to yourself
• Be honest, authentic, talkable, appropriate
• Will users recognize your voice as your own, if they see it out of context?

Branding and “personality” is great, but not until the basic needs are met

• Must have core functionality
• Must have usability
• Only then do people care about personality

Choose words carefully – move from personality to positioning

• Marketing doesn’t run the brand
• Marketing is only part of the brand
• Retain the meaning behind the meaning
• Do fewer things better

If you are better than you look, fix your brand. If you want to look better than you are, fix your company.