The key logic of brand building

This article analyzes the key logic of brand building through a large number of examples and discussions, such as the core and essence of the brand, the brand story and the brand spirit. Let’s take a look.

01

Even the most prestigious or mysterious brand is nothing but a shell without the products to support it.

This is also the reason why so-called Internet celebrity brands and supernova brands such as Perfect Diary and Huaxizi are gradually abandoned by consumers after investing billions of dollars in communication, promotion and brand explosion costs. The so-called "big brand substitute" strategy has not been successful.

To become a brand that gains consumer loyalty and repeat purchases , it is necessary to build its brand kingdom with high-quality products .

In today's era, this is beyond doubt. Yuanqi Forest's success at this stage, in addition to marketing, has a lot to do with its good product quality.

02

Consumers who have grown up surrounded by Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Zhihu, WeChat, Weibo, and Alibaba are already tired of empty propaganda, conceited swagger, and excessive marketing. They have suffered too much deception and thrown away too many junk products. At the same time, they also understand the consequences of unconscious consumption (live streaming sales on Douyin and Video Accounts have pushed unconscious consumption to the extreme).

More and more consumers are actively looking for truly high-quality products rather than blindly following the crowd.

Consumers are beginning to avoid vulgar things (such as Ms. Zhang Lan, the former founder of South Beauty, who is a representative of vulgar live broadcasts and product recommendations) and are looking for products that can stand the test of time, or products that are truly worth our money.

03

The reason why good brands can adapt to the new society and new environment has nothing to do with the environmental protection concept of the product. The reason why good brands are popular among people is that the quality of their products exceeds that of other competitors.

They strictly adhere to quality standards and are far ahead of similar products, which is why they stand out.

As early as five years ago, the so-called emerging brands were useless in singing the praises of Procter & Gamble and Unilever, but a few years later, these big brands are still the ones that truly dominate the market.

04

For brands that can win consumer loyalty and repeat purchases, products are the essence of the brand.

Products are not only incredibly useful, but they are also the key to a brand’s ability to create a legendary story. To do this, brands usually follow three methods:

The first way is to build the brand into a “holy grail”.

Brands create “convincing stories” rather than “convincing reasons”: stories can romanticize consumption, ease the tension in the consumption process, and make products more attractive.

In addition, these brands also draw inspiration from higher fields, pursue art and craftsmanship, and ultimately transform product transactions into ritualistic behaviors.

For example, we once served a brand called "Xino", which is the No. 1 brand of high-end thermos bottles in China. The product quality of this brand is first-class, but it lacks a "legendary brand story" that can romanticize the purchase and empower its brand.

What we continue to communicate with its founder is to make Sino a top brand through the creation of a "legendary brand story" and systematic brand management for such high-quality products.

The second way is to increase brand recognition.

Many top brands have their own unique designs to increase recognition and allow customers to know their products even if they don’t see the brand logo.

In the increasingly fierce market competition, a brand can only become a one-in-a-million product if it accurately conveys its own characteristics.

In addition, brands that gain high consumer loyalty must ensure the perfection of their products and keep them in the spotlight, because "heroes need the spotlight." It may not stay at the top of the best-selling list for a long time, but it will definitely occupy the sales market for a long time and maintain its freshness and popularity.

A brand icon also needs to evolve: it needs to appear in the market again and again and become a necessity for the masses.

The third way is to set a goal.

This requires brands to do a good job of product positioning and continuously strengthen the product's heritage.

But the prerequisite is that you must first create a sufficiently solid brand product, otherwise everything is empty talk.

05

Products are the core of the brand: Based on our past service to more than 60 leading brands in different segments and our observations of hundreds of top brands around the world, we firmly believe that only by adhering to the product-centric concept can we truly create a great brand.

In the process of creating a brand, the founder is very important. The founders of great brands are all great product masters. They don’t just rely on “concepts” to fool consumers. (The founder of Zhong Xuegao is a typical founder who fools consumers and regards concepts as productivity) Many founders who don’t take products seriously ignore that the higher the brand positioning, the greater the expectations of consumers.

Therefore, high-positioned brands must pursue perfection and work hard on product features, manufacturing technology, appearance design, etc. In the traditional and modern brand world, those top brands face people who are willing to pay higher than average prices to buy goods, and the pursuit of perfection is exactly what they expect. Apple's success is a perfect example of this.

At the same time, we must also realize that consumers are constantly evolving. They want to buy fewer products, but with higher quality and wider uses.

They hope to hear less empty words and gain more sincerity. That is why consumers are keen to understand the brand background, brand story and product details, and will not be disturbed by the superficial image of lifestyle.

Based on this, more and more brands are turning advertising into "history lessons". For example, LV has shifted the focus of its advertising from celebrities to travel records in recent years. Authenticity is a solid foundation, but it alone cannot create a top brand. We should also focus on the overall marketing plan, from production to packaging, from display to sales, and make sure it is perfect. All factors are based on shaping the brand product, presenting it as an extraordinary product, the ultimate product, and a model of the same category.

Only by injecting true love into the product and pursuing it like a star can you truly impress your supporters and create the myth of the brand.

06

Make the top brand into a "holy grail" like the Hercules Cup.

In an interview, Dumas, the former director of the Hermès brand, said: "We are the only company that does not have a marketing department because our first goal is the product." And this is exactly why Hermès is popular: "There is no excessive marketing, only understatement, simplicity, authenticity, nobility, and extremely demanding craftsmanship."

Nowadays, many companies have begun to ignore this important principle, and fewer and fewer brands have achieved this. They ignore the fact that relying solely on products to attract consumers is far from enough.

However, this is indeed the impression that top brands should give. Their marketing must appear to be "disdainful of marketing" in order to use consumers' own desires to promote them. They must make their products "holy grails" so that consumers can receive some kind of enlightenment. They must show enough love for their products to arouse consumers' worship.

07

From believing in the truth to believing in stories: There is one way, and perhaps the most important one, which is to apply the concept of storytelling to the brand and product categories.

Brands should tell the ingredients, craftsmanship, origin or manufacturing process of their products, which is what we often say as believing in the truth. Now we should change this approach to believing in stories.

Lei Jun once told the story of "The Artistic Journey of a Steel Plate" at the launch of Xiaomi 4, which is storytelling. We should add some unique and romantic elements to the products and make them into charming stories, so that we can better bypass people's rational filtering system and go directly into their hearts.

08

Marketing that tells a story is more memorable, more unique, and more sustainable.

The effect is reflected in two aspects: first, it injects emotions into the product and makes you fall in love with it; second, it injects their packaged ideas into our rational thinking. Stories can elevate products above the level of ordinary commodities, allowing consumers to remember and spread the word of mouth, and can also make other factors, such as price, become less important.

09

Let the brand be rooted in art and craftsmanship: Brands such as Emma Ren, Chanel, Dior and Montblanc are often considered to have extremely high requirements for production craftsmanship.

So it was no surprise when Van Gogh built a beautiful and luxurious visual factory in Le Locle. It made sense that Chanel bought the handcraft studio when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Smith & Robb, a high-end eyewear brand, advertised that they had built a professional yak breeding factory in Tibet, China, so that they could use yak horns as raw materials for eyeglass frames. This practice is also a common practice. Whether in terms of scope or price level, the marketing world's love for art and craft has exceeded people's imagination.

10

Create a unique sense of ritual: In order to avoid clichés and monotony, every brand story and every "holy grail" needs to create a sense of ritual to bring consumers a sacred experience.

The sense of ritual can elevate a simple action to a special experience and create an atmosphere of worship. Top brands have brought this ancient truth into the 21st century, constantly updating and using it to create a high-quality modern experience. Many newly created Internet celebrity brands in China have also realized the mystery. For example, DR Diamond’s registration ID card only gave diamonds to a girl in order to create this sense of ritual. However, it was later "faked" and "erased the record". This operation destroyed the sense of ritual, which was not worth the loss, and lost the lasting trust of consumers.

11

If the advertising slogan is like a nail firmly driven into the minds of consumers, then the brand story is like a seed that takes root in the minds of opinion leaders, allowing the seeds to germinate, grow, bloom and bear fruit freely.

The brand story is the seed. The quality of the seed determines the future growth of the tree. If a company wants to influence opinion leaders, it must tell a good brand story and find a platform that can influence the brand story.

12

The first step to telling a good brand story is to write a good story. How can you write a good brand story?

Today we will discuss this systematically. First, we need to answer what is a brand story? Second, what problem does a brand story solve for a brand? Third, how to write a good brand story.

13

What is a brand story? A brand story is about the origin of a brand. From a human perspective, people believe that everything happens for a reason. People want to hear an explanation for the appearance of anything. A brand story is a perfect explanation given by a company for the birth of a brand. So, to sum up , a brand story is "everything happens for a reason + because of me". If we want to define a brand story, we can define it as: a brand story is a legendary narrative that reflects the mission and spirit of a brand during its creation and development.

14

Brand storytelling can be expressed from the dimensions of time and content.

The time dimension can be described from the mental journey of brand creation and the development process of the brand after creation. The story at the time of creation: that is, why does this brand exist? Generally used in the brand building from zero to one plan to explain the reason for the creation of this brand. The story in the process: In the process of brand development, a series of stories are also needed to consolidate the brand spirit and let the stories that embody the brand spirit continue. The brand story should not only explain the origin of the brand, but also express the brand's attitude.

Knight, the founder of Nike, is a master storyteller. He closely connected the Nike brand with the spirit of sports. He told how he wanted to let people who like sports wear a pair of good sports shoes, so he became the agent of a Japanese brand in Japan, gave suggestions to the brand, and finally founded the Nike brand in order to produce good shoes.

Brand stories play the role of "emotional communication" between brands, brand opinion leaders and consumers. They convey the brand spirit in the form of stories, infect consumers with this spirit, form brand reputation in the minds of opinion leaders, and then stimulate the potential purchasing desire of opinion leaders and consumers. Through a good story, they can become free "salesmen" of the brand.

15

Casarte is a high-end brand launched by Haier Group in September 2007, positioned in the international high-end home appliance market. In the first three years after the brand was founded, with Haier as the endorsement, it began to explore refrigerator products. In the second half of 2010, Casarte was completely independent from Haier, and all brand information related to Haier no longer appeared in all visual identification designs and brand communications. At this time, with the help of Haier's accumulated brand assets, Casarte was fully comparable to international brands such as Siemens in terms of product technology, design, and price. As a high-end brand that directly competes with Samsung and Siemens, how does Casarte stand out from the market competition?

16

In addition to doing a good job in basic brand marketing and influencing mass consumers, Casarte also influences opinion leaders by telling good brand stories, establishing a word-of-mouth effect among opinion leaders and forming a "spread". So, how did it do it specifically? In order to let more opinion leaders know about the new changes in Haier and its brand Casarte in management, design, technology, etc., Zhou Yunjie, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Haier Group, personally took part in the "CEO Reading Club" and other columns to talk about Haier's experience and lessons in improving the company's management, design, technology, etc. through digital transformation.

17

By telling a book and telling the company's brand story, we have formed in-depth exchanges and communication with the majority of opinion leaders, so that the opinion leaders have established a brand impression of Casarte that "domestic brands are not worse than foreign brands, and even do better in some aspects." At the same time, Casarte insists on "two-pronged approach" in the process of brand management: for opinion leaders, we use brand stories to achieve in-depth cognition and "spread effect"; for consumers, we use purchase reasons to penetrate the minds of consumers. In this way, Casarte has become the first choice of high-end home appliance brand in the minds of the majority of opinion leaders. As early as 2014, Casarte won the championship with a share of 26.63% in refrigerators above 15,000 yuan, leading Samsung and Siemens by more than 5 percentage points. In 2015, its sales exceeded 10 billion yuan; in 2021, Casarte's cumulative market share of household air conditioners above 15,000 yuan exceeded 46%, ranking first in the market. While maintaining its first place in the high-end market, Casarte is also moving towards its brand mission of "leading China's lifestyle transformation" and has achieved super high brand value.

18

When telling brand stories, we can learn from the summary of the famous theologian Joseph Campbell, who spent years searching and reading myths and religious stories from all over the world and wrote the masterpiece "The Hero with a Thousand Faces".

Campbell summarized a common feature of all myths: the hero's journey mainly includes four stages. Departure: giving up the current situation and entering the realm of adventure; Enlightenment: gaining some understanding expressed in a symbolic way; Test: falling into danger and fighting against fate; Return: finally returning to the field of normal life. This is the inevitable path for every hero. A good brand story will have these four stages, namely, beginning, development, transition, and conclusion.

19

Dimensions of brand story content: brand spirit communication + legendary plot setting. Brand spirit communication: All stories are conveying an idea and must play the role of conveying the brand spirit. This is the right logic, or it can be said to be the logic of strategy.

Legendary plot setting: If you want to make the concept deeply rooted in people's hearts and even spread it by word of mouth, you need an unusual and attractive plot. It is a good logic, or it can be said to be creative logic.

So, what is a brand story not? A brand story is not a brand introduction: a brand introduction is a plain and straightforward narrative, while a brand story is a wonderful plot twist. A brand story does not solve cognitive problems, but rather creates a favorable impression. A brand story is not a perfunctory task: a brand story is not about simply completing a task and then sealing it in a small corner. Instead, it should show the inner soul of a brand in the form of a brand story from the perspective of brand strategy.

20

What problems do brand stories solve? Brand stories solve problems that influence brand opinion leaders. The three most important elements of a brand are brand awareness, brand association, and brand loyalty. To establish brand association and loyalty, it is not enough to rely solely on product experience. The brand must also be endowed with a "soul". Brand stories are the soul of a brand.

Only when brand opinion leaders deeply understand your "soul" can positive associations and loyalty be formed. In other words, brand stories must answer the three major philosophical propositions, namely, who am I? Who I am mainly explains the brand's positioning, where my brand comes from, and the brand's mission is explained clearly; the next step is to tell where the brand is going? What kind of place does the company need to go with the joint support of brand opinion leaders, partners, and consumers. The brand story in the founding period solves the problem of the rationality of the company's existence. The brand story in the process solves the problem of consolidating the brand concept.

twenty one

Let's review the definition of brand story. Brand story is a legendary narrative that reflects the brand's mission and spirit during the creation and development of the brand. From the perspective of brand story writing, brand story also follows the writing logic of news, and news has six elements (5W+1H). "Five Ws", namely Who, What, When, Where, Why, and "one H": How, that is, "time, place, people, cause, process, and result of the event."

twenty two

When conceiving a brand story, the first thing to do is to be clear about the brand spirit, that is, what is the core concept of the brand? Brand stories written before the brand spirit is established are like water without a source and trees without roots. A good brand story also needs to be spreadable. There is a very vulgar saying, but it is a wise saying: "A dog biting a man is not news, but a man biting a dog is news." This is the importance of the legendary nature of the story.

twenty three

When it comes to brand stories, you can look for them from the following perspectives: first, the story of product development. Before the brand was born, the founder spent a lot of effort on research and development. Second, the category story. What is the differentiation and integration that the category that the brand occupies has experienced during its development? What is the significance of each? Third, the founder's experience. As a founder, what is the reason or driving force for starting a business? Fourth, the brand concept. What is the concept of this brand? The origin of the brand name and brand logo. What is the significance of the choice of brand name and brand logo? Fifth, the pain points and conflicts faced by the target group: Develop products based on certain pain points and conflicts of consumers.

twenty four

In terms of writing style, we should follow the logic of "introduction, development, turn and conclusion" of the article: Introduction: Introduction is the beginning, which is the method of breaking the topic. The introduction part needs to attract consumers, and the brand story should first make consumers want to read on. Development: Development is to take over, throw out the question, which can both connect the previous and the next. The previous is the progress of the story and the sublimation of emotions, and the next is to pave the way for the appearance of the brand role. Turn: Turn is a turning point. This part needs to introduce the brand, what are the characteristics of the brand, and what role it plays in the process. Conclusion: Conclusion is a summary. In the end, what problem did the emergence of the brand solve? Summarize and sublimate the story, so as to officially debut the brand and change the lifestyle of consumers.

25

Do you remember how Haier became famous? Haier became famous when its chairman Zhang Ruimin smashed refrigerators. The brand story of Haier is that after customers reported quality problems with the products, 76 problematic refrigerators were smashed after an investigation. Since then, "Zhang Ruimin smashed the refrigerators" has become a milestone in Haier's brand story in the process of corporate development. Whenever the refrigerator smashing incident is mentioned, people will think of Haier's corporate responsibility and the high quality of its products. Haier's brand story tells a kind of pragmatism, which is also the original intention of the company to take products as the source.

26

The brand story of Chu Orange x Chu Shijian tells a story that "life always has ups and downs, but the spirit can be passed on."

Chu Shijian, the legendary king of oranges. If you don't know him, your parents must have heard of him. He is Chu Shijian. This former "king of cigarettes" is an indispensable figure in China's reform history and one of the most controversial figures in China. After the age of 75, after experiencing the trough of life, he started again; at the age of 85, he made a comeback with his "Chu Orange" that he had worked hard for 10 years. Today, he has deservedly become the "king of oranges" of a generation; his "Chu Orange" has become a veritable "inspirational orange". A legendary life, ups and downs, no matter when, the old cannon spirit is still proud of the world. This is a kind of heroism that is free from the ups and downs of the world. Because of this brand story, Chu Orange has also become an inspirational orange.

27

Cosmetics brands tend to tell their brand stories in a more structured way.

Let's take the story of LAMER and the ocean as an example. From: It originated from an accident. The birth of the brand began with an accident that Dr. Max Huber encountered in the laboratory, which aroused his exploration journey of repairing his face. From: He began to crack the secret of repair from the ocean. During the day, he was still a space physicist, and when night fell, he became a dreamer. With the desire to crack the repair energy, he set his sights on the beloved ocean. From: After many years and thousands of experiments, he finally found the secret formula for repair. After 12 years and 6,000 experiments, the doctor finally got an epiphany that benefited him for the rest of his life. He fermented and extracted the soul ingredient and repair secret formula of the La Mer brand - the magical essence Miracke BrothTM from deep-sea giant kelp and other pure ingredients. From: Finally found the answer, and finally transformed his skin. This is a story about hope, repair and a person's deep respect for the endless ocean. Due to a laboratory accident, a conflict was shaped into a spirit of dedication and never discouraged.

28

After writing a brand story, the key step is to tell the brand story. If the brand story only stays on the company's introduction PPT, brand feature film, and brand brochure, the communication effect is very limited. To tell a brand story, you must find the right platform to tell it directly to the brand's opinion leaders. After the opinion leaders recognize the brand story, it will form a particularly good "broadcast". Writing it out and telling it out are the keys to making the brand story "come alive".

29

If you think that brand storytelling is too thin, you can find a suitable book and extend the storytelling from the book to the brand story, which can make the brand story more full and moving. In the thousands of years of human history, you will definitely find a classic book that fits your brand spirit. Through the logic of such a book + a story, it is a way to tell a brand story in a gorgeous way.

30

The success of a brand does not depend on doing more things, but on doing the right things. To do the right things, we must firmly grasp two core points: first, for opinion leaders, we must stand on the right stage and tell them a brand story that touches people 's hearts; second, for consumers, we must create reasons to buy and repeatedly output them to leave an impression in the minds of consumers. Tell a good brand story, influence opinion leaders, and let opinion leaders "spread" your brand.

Author: Liu Yichun

Source: WeChat public account "Liu Yichun's Brand Business Innovation (ID: shangyeyiguohui)"