All Brands Have Meaning
Whether carefully and strategically considered or by default, all brands hold associated meanings in the market place. Well considered brands establish a competitive brand proposition (their brand strategy) with layers of meaning to both differentiate themselves from their competitors and to connect with their audience. These brand reinforce their meaning through all of their actions or brand touch points. As a brand agency we help brands to define their meaning and create the brand design for all their communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers.

A Snapshot of Brand Association
The clever people at Brand Tags have been busy collecting a comprehensive  list of more than 1.7 million associations that people have with brands. The result is a unique opportunity for those brands to compare the meaning and messages of their brand communication strategy with the brand associations of a cross section of the market.

Audi Vs BMW
Today we compare the brand associations of German Luxury, Automotive brands Audi & BMW.

A Comparison of Brand Association
As expected, both car brands have a high level of association with German-made, expensive, luxury and quality. When comparing either of these brands with cars manufactured in Japan, the US or Korea, these brand attributes would be seen as an advantage. However, when comparing these two brands to each other, German-made, expensive, luxury and quality as brand attributes are no more than table-stakes – they merely represent what is expected. The real differentiation comes with the other strong attributes.

The Audi Brand
Audi’s investment in aligning their brand with the values of the Olympic games continues to pay-off. Through their sponsorship of the 2010 US Alpine Olympic Team and smart campaign placements deliver a remarkably high level of association with this pinnacle of sporting events. The shared symbol of interconnecting rings provides a powerful visual link that reinforces the brand relationship. As a brand it is closely associated with an image of ‘cool, nice and classy.’ The appearance of individual Audi models in the list of top brand associations including the Quatro, tt and A4 suggests the brand has successfully built differentiated market propositions for the brands in its product portfolio. Further, the description of the ‘Audi rings’ reflects a high level of awareness and association of the visual properties in Audi’s brand identity.

The BMW Brand
BMW shares further brand associations with Audi including ‘fast, nice, class & cool.’ The concern for BMW is the combination of other associations that play out distinctly in the list creating a less than aspirational image of ‘rich, yuppie, asshole snob.’ Whilst no brand should wish to be all things to all people, Automotive brands are very conscious of the role cars play in the image their customers project of themselves to the market. I would imagine these negative brand associations would be a cause for concern for BMW. Interestingly, BMW the brand is associated with being ‘overpriced’ where the Audi brand is not. With no substantial brand association for their brand identity or range of models there is plenty of scope for BMW to improve their brands image and its associations.

If you’d like some help to define the meaning for your brand and create your communications in order to create a consistent association with these layers of meaning in the minds of their customers, why not drop us a line?

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.
Corporate Image

Word on the Web
I couldn’t help but have a look to see how Accenture was faring with cutting their ties to Tiger. As a Tiger sponsor, none were connected more closely to his image than Accenture, and as was to be expected, the split was always going to be messy. Certainly in the sentiment of social media as of today, Accenture has yet to shake the Tiger connection. As always, it’s worth reading between the lines (literally) – the smaller words tell the story of current sentiment – and the further you look, the more intriguing the narrative.

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.

Word on the Web
As some of the world’s largest financial institutions fight their way back to the top of the heap, it’s not all sunshine and kittens when it comes to their battered brand equity. We’ve illustrated a cross section of current brand sentiment for one of the biggest names in the business; Goldman Sachs. As always, it’s worth reading between the lines (literally) – the smaller words tell the story of current sentiment – and the further you look, the more intriguing the narrative.

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.

Word on the Web
Given the flood of blogs, tweets and mentions on the latest chapter in the Tiger Woods saga, it’d be remiss of us to not take a snapshot of current social sentiment. As Tiger announces he’s taking a break from golf, we’ve created an illustrated cross section of current sentiment on Tiger Woods’ personal brand. As always, it’s worth reading between the lines (literally) – the smaller words tell the true story of the current sentiment – the deeper you look, the more intriguing the narrative.

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.

Word on the Web
Social Brand Snapshot provides a visualized cross section of current blogs, tweets and social mentions of Starbucks, providing an instant view of current brand sentiment.

David Ansett, Brandamentalist
If you’d like daily updates of our brand thinking, you can follow me on Twitter here.
Brand Agency & Graphic Design Melbourne

Word on the Web
Social Brand Snapshot provides a visualised cross section of current blogs, tweets and social mentions of Tiger Woods, providing an instant view of current brand sentiment.

David Ansett, Brandamentalist.
Brand Agency & Graphic Design Melbourne.