The Guru Nation Blog

Martha Pease
Founding Partner, OZZ
Creds: Apple, Pizza Hut, Lifetime, L’Oreal, McCann Erickson, BBD&O
Topic: Branding

Brand power is a business strategy, and presents a creative opportunity for a company. In the case of Pizza Hut, an iconic brand in the marketplace, the creative team and corporate leadership saw a keen opportunity to reposition the brand and made brand power its mandate. Pease and team took on the conversion looking at three legs of the stool: competition, consumers, and culture. In order to move the brand to a more successful place, the brand power team had to blend art and science.

Successful repositioning of a brand requires extreme discipline. Handled effectively, with proper vision, the brand power that results can be stronger than at inception. What emerges is not just growth for the brand, but also expansion for the company. Pease claims that great instinct plays a vital role, instinct she used to create brand power for companies such as Apple, Elizabeth Arden, and Lifetime. One of the requirements in the process is to expand the innovation. That means consideration of new approaches regarding pricing, stores, and advertising. A successful promotion, like the Pizza Hut campaign of “$5 Bucks, 5 Bucks” created brand power just by hitting a nerve. The key to strong brand power is flexibility in reaching for “great” on every level.

Listen to our interview with Martha Pease:

How will your brand profit? It will profit by letting people know who and what your brand actually is. Too many people assume that the brand profit happens without definition or strategic planning, but that’s simply not the case. For real brand profit, one has to determine “what you are one of” and take the steps to reinforce that message.

Oprah is a fine example. Oprah is a presenter. She loves to discover people, things and experiences. Then, she does a show and tell in order to tell the world what she loves about the things or people she has discovered. Oprah engages in “show and tell” on a grand scale.

Why can her brand profit? Because ”what she is one of” is an advocate of living life to the fullest…. And the people, things and experiences she presents are all teachers and tools that she shares with her audiences to empower them to live their best lives…
That’s Oprah – and she’s been remarkably consistent in staying on brand, however…

The Huffington Post reported several weeks ago that O’s newsstand average was down 16.4 percent, and her daily talk show had dropped in ratings after her public political rallying for President-elect Barack Obama - an activity that Oprah has since curtailed publicly.

So it’s easy for even a master to go off brand.

According to Rosemary Davies-Janes, President of Miboso and a branding expert at The Guru Nation, there are 4 distinct aspects to staying on brand if you want brand profit. And the key to all of them is consistency. For real brand profit, there are 4 channels to watch:

Channel 1: Your core brand expertise
Your core brand expertise tells people “who you are” – For an example, let’s look at Richard Branson. His core brand expertise - who he is - is an innovative, daring risk taker who thinks way out of the conventional box and has a track record of brand profit far more often than he fails.

Channel 2: Your brand focus
Your brand focus is “what you are one of” To stay with Richard Branson, what he is “one of” is a business turnaround specialist.  He is more than that, as we’ve already discovered in his brand expertise, but the focus of Richard Branson’s personal brand - “what he is one of” is a business turnaround specialist. He takes existing businesses, gives them new life, and reinforces their brand profit.

Channel 3: Your brand messages
Your brand messages tell people who you are and what you are one of without actually spelling out your brand expertise or brand focus. Your brand messages are succinct, memorable and engaging. We used one already by describing Richard Branson as someone who gives new life to existing businesses. See how this draws you in and engages you?

Channel 4: Your brand character
Your brand character is where your values and personality show up. Once again, Richard Branson is a fabulous example. His brand character is about being outrageous, over the top, fun and colorful. Because his personal brand is rooted in his natural values and preferences, it’s easy for him to be consistent in his brand character. The consistency is the underpinning to his brand profit.

So how does being consistent across these 4 channels keep you on brand and support you brand profit?

When you add channel 1 - your brand focus - to channel 2 - your core brand expertise - you get an answer to the questions who are you and what are you one of.  Richard Branson is a business turnaround specialist, an innovative, daring risk taker who thinks way out of the conventional box and has a track record of succeeding far more than he fails. Then you bring in channel 3’s brand messages – Mr. Branson gives new life to existing businesses - and finally add some brand character - his outrageousness and ability to take things over the top – and you have a set of dots that connect perfectly. Connecting the consistency dots is the key to brand profit, but it’s a brand profit aspect that too few follow. With the “connect the dots” theory, you can change your brand profit to one that exceeds expectation.