Same-Same Brand Communication Insanity.
They say it’s a sign of insanity to continue doing the same things and expect a different outcome. When it comes to brand communications, we couldn’t agree more — especially when everyone else in your category is also doing what you are.
In our lives as a creative brand communications agency we come across client after client who want to make a bigger impact with their brand and marketing campaigns. Yet one of the most critical contributing factors is regularly overlooked — are they actually communicating to their market in an original way, or are they saying the same things with the same brand imagery that the rest of the market says. For the unconfident marketer, mimicking the leaders in their space has long been seen as the safe way to manage their brand communications.
We believe the first port of call in the foundation of every brand communications campaign should be an assessment of the marketplace. This approach is equally as relevant for small brands as for big. All brands live in the minds of their customers and potential customers relative to the competitive set — no brand is an island. Understanding the positioning of the competitive brands, and auditing the visual language they use to communicate to the marketplace forms the perfect basis for establishing your own successful positioning and brand communication design. This approach is not necessarily about just doing things differently, nor is it about continuing to mimick the market, but about setting the framework for strategic decisions about your brand’s strengths and weaknesses, the ideal position to capture in the hearts and minds of the market and the best direction for the design of your brands visual language and communications campaign.
Dave Ansett, Brandamentalist
Designer of Strategic Brand Communications
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Great post Dave. A great reminder to keep focusing on the fundamental brand rules.
It might just be me, but for some reason the Nestea ad seems to be a little more effective.
Love it Ted. Some fundamentals — whether brand communication or otherwise — remain true.
It’s easy to paint a brand’s picture, which stands alone in the field. It’s more difficult for this brand to live up to it.
Ted — Nestea is more evocative, but also more sexualised. I find the Nestea ad to cater specifically for the male gaze. The image deliberately leads the viewer to follow through with the idea of the drink dripping from the woman mouth onto her chest (ie, the arch of her neck and back).
Coca cola has the safer image, but it doesn’t resort to cheap ‘sex sells’ tactic.
Thanks for your comment Louise. I think you’re spot-on, but only just (for me Coke’s version is only a little less provocative). This form of visual is something more reminiscent of the 1980s when brand communication was a less subtle craft. However, the real point here is that many brands follow the same path with their brand communications as their competitors in the market, leaving the opportunity wide open for a competitor to zig when everybody else is zagging.
David — too true. Why take on the style of a competitor — there’s nothing like being awash in much of the same to make you disappear against the competition.