CAPITA SELECTA MERKANALYSE Visual Marketing Blok 5 Fashionketens 2003-2004
Amsterdam Fashion Institute
Samengesteld door René van de Velde Hogeschool van Amsterdam Amsterdam Fashion Institute Mauritskade 11 1091 GC Amsterdam
Toelichting: Blok 5 van het Visual Marketing onderwijsprogramma heeft als thema ‘Fashionketens’. In dit blok staat het onderwijsaanbod vooral in het teken van het ontwikkelen van kennis en vaardigheden om gegevens (tekstueel, cijfermatig maar ook beeldende informatie) te verzamelen, te analyseren en te interpreteren, vandaar de naam ‘merkanalyse’ van het studieonderdeel. Tevens wordt a.h.v. een projectopdracht de markt van de fashionretail-ketens onderzocht. En worden er conclusies getrokken en aanbevelingen geformuleerd ter verbetering van hun veschijnings-vorm voor de consument. Deze reader geeft je theoretische kaders en de tools om bovengenoemde activiteiten professioneel uit te kunnen voeren. Deze reader kent, zoals de titel van al aangeeft, enkele hoofdstukken of paragrafen uit boeken m.b.t. het onderwerp merkanalyse. Om de gedachte te bepalen is er een keuze gemaakt uit hoofdstukken of paragrafen van de volgende boeken. Het is niet verkeerd om ze zonodig aan te schaffen en deze boeken in zijngeheel te te lezen. Het betreft de volgende boeken: - Marketing Aesthetics van Bernd Schmitt en Alex Simonson; Het boek geeft richtlijnen om d.m.v. de ‘look and feel’ van een merk/onderneming concurrentievoordeel te behalen. Het laat zien hoe d.m.v. logo’s, brochures, verpakkingen, advertenties, etc.de esthetische kant van het merk/onderneming gemanaged kan worden. - Brand Design van Ruud Boer; Met aandacht voor het combineren van design en marketingcommunicatie geeft dit boek weer, wat er allemaal bij komt kijken om vorm te geven aan het brandingproces. - The Hero and the Outlaw van Margaret Mark en Carol S. Pearson; A.h.v. van het archetypeconcept van Jung geeft het boek richtlijnen voor het managen van merken/ondernemingen. Veel leesplezier.
René van de Velde Utrecht, februari 2004
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Marketing Aesthetics; Bernd Schmitt en Alex Simonson, The Free Press, New York, 1997 ISBN 0 684 82655 0 Brand Design; Ruud Boer, Prentice Hall, Amsterdam, 2003 ISBN 90 430 0667 X The Hero and the Outlaw; Margaret Mark en Carol S. Pearson, McGraw-Hill, New York 2001 ISBN 0 07 136415 3
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There is no way to mistake the ubiquitous trademarked Coca-Cola bottle, or the stylish ads for Absolut Vodka with any of their competitors. How have these companies created this irresistible appeal for their brands? How have they sustained a competitive edge through aesthetics" Bernd Schmitt and Alex Simonson. Two leading experts in the emerging field of identity management offer clear guidelines for harnessing a company’s total aesthetic output -its “look and feel"- to provide a vital competitive advantage. Going beyond standard traditional approaches on branding. this fascinating book is the first to combine branding. identity, and image and to show how aesthetics can be managed through logos, brochures, packages, and advertisements, as well as sounds. scents, and lighting, to sell -the memorable experience." The authors explore what makes a corporate or brand identity irresistible, what styles and themes are crucial for different contexts. and what meanings certain visual symbols convey. Any person in any organization in any industry, can benefit from employing the tools of "marketing aesthetics.” Schmitt and Simonson describe how a firm can use these tools strategically to create a variety of sensory experiences that will (1) ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty; (2) sustain lasting customer impressions about a brand's or organization's special personality; (3) permit premium pricing; (4) provide legal "trade dress” protection from competitive attacks; (5) lower costs and raise productivity; and (6) most importantly, create irresistible appeal. The authors show how to manage identity globally and how to develop aesthetically pleasing retail spaces and environments. They also address the newly emergent topic of how to manage corporate and brand identity on the Internet. Supporting their thesis with numerous real-world success stories such as Absolut Vodka, Nike, the Gap, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Starbucks, the New Beetle Website, and Lego, the authors explain how actual companies have developed, refined, and maintained distinct corporate identities that set them apart from competitors.
THE FREE PRESS A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc. New York ISBN 0-684-82655-0 1997
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Styles STARBUCKS AND THE COFFEE CRAZE PHENOMENON In just a few years, the name Starbucks has emerged as a leader in a new consumer pastime, relaxation in a coffee house. Starbucks was founded in 1971 as a start-up venture in Seattle, selling whole beans and ground coffee but no coffee beverages. When Starbucks president Howard Schultz visited Milan in 1983, he decided to export the concept of the European coffee shop to the United States. 'He saw Italians congregate at hundreds of street corner espresso bars and thought he could export the idea to the States." In 1987, Starbucks began its move from a small local coffee store in Seattle to what has become a nationally recognized icon of expensive gourmet coffee. The Starbucks success story is dramatic: earnings of less than $1 million in 1990 rose to $4.1 million in 1992 and then to $26.1 million in 1995; sales vaulted from $93 million in 1992 to $465 million in 1995. For the fourth quarter of 1996, Starbucks reported earnings of $12.7 million, more than double the profits of the previous year. As of November 1996, Starbucks had 1,034 outlets. The financial pundits' average estimate of Starbucks' future five-year growth rate sits at 36.8% per year, higher than most companies across all industries-including the fast-paced semiconductor industry. How did Starbucks single-handedly usher in one of the largest shifts in consumer socialization and leisure of the 1990s? Marketers try to explain such phenomena in terms of consumer behavior, time of entry, and the strategic choices of marketing-mix elements. Their analysis goes as follows: Starbucks has discovered and capitalizes on a hitherto unmet need. Starbucks has a pioneering advantage; Starbucks combines marketing mix elements in a unique way; it uses branding to create unique identifications such as the "frappuccino." All that may indeed be true. But what explains the attraction to Starbucks? What explains the "feeling" of being in Starbucks? What explains the appeal? Starbucks' emergence as the premier choice of coffee drinkers centers around its successful aesthetics one that is largely based on style, the focus of this chapter.
Starbucks and Styles Coffeehouses and teahouses have been with us for hundreds of years, but they had associations that did not seem conducive to a mass market. They brought to mind mysterious seedy dealings late at night, or pretentious French writers discussing existentialism over endless cups of coffee on the Left Bank. The other side of the coin was the all-American coffee shop, synonymous with diners, family restaurants, breakfast and lunch spots, all places that emphasized function over style.
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Part of the difference in Starbucks' approach lies in the creation of a look that is relatively consistent throughout the United States. The 1950s ushered in chain restaurants such as McDonald's, with its clearly unique and standardized style, but Starbucks is different. It is part of a genre of chain stores like the Body Shop, H20, and Bath and Body Works that use style to create an aesthetic. As they see, feel, and experience soothing collections of things that seem to fit together, the customers are seduced by the aesthetic. Whether the customer appreciates art or not the lure is in an aesthetic that delivers harmony on the one hand and planned contrasts on the other. First and foremost, these consistent systems of visual forms tantalize the eyes.
Organic and Inorganic Blends of Aesthetic Elements While the designs vary in any particular store to match the local market, the typical Starbucks works around a planned mix of organic and manufactured components: light wood tones at the counters and signage areas, brown bags, and a green icon that features a female human figure with long flowing hair all create a natural, environmentally conscious feeling, These organic-inspired elements are blended with more sleek, modern touches: the wood has a very smooth surface that makes its "natural" tone seem. finished and comfortable; polished dark-marble counter tops seem imposing and high-tech; glass shelves, thin modern white track lighting, and pure white cups all create a contemporary feeling. The logo's human figure also delivers the double organic/modern message: she is earthy looking, yet she is rendered in a modern-looking abstract-representational form, in black and white with a band of color around the center only. The colors of the lamps, walls, and tables mimic coffee tones, from green (raw beans) to light and darker browns. Special package and cup designs coordinate to create livelier, more colorful tones for holidays.
Borrowing and Improvising Aesthetic Elements and Styles Is Starbucks innovative and new? Starbucks has won numerous design awards; it has sued competitors for trade dress infringement when its look has appeared to be copied. Yet, on second glance, the Starbucks style has been with us for many years-in fact, it has its roots in the hallways of corporate America. Starbucks transformed the world of coffeehouse leisure by echoing the precision and artistic level of modern, well-designed office spaces, law firms, corporate boardrooms, and libraries. The similarities are remarkable. The use of smooth, varnished light woods, dark marble, and a blend of organic and high-tech textures and tones has been a staple of office design for over ten years. The Starbucks aesthetic does not stop there. Touch is also brought into play: the packages that hold Starbucks coffee beans are smooth and straight, soft to the touch but with strong support. The consumer can feel the product's substance through a velvety, firm, but pliable "skin," making the hard product feel smooth, almost buttery. This is the matte-feel packaging texture favored by hard-cookie brands such as U.S. market leader Chips Ahoy. Oddly enough, dry-dog-food packaging has also used this approach for years. But the Starbucks coffee purchaser does not make strong associations to dog food; only the feel, not the look, is similar.
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The Starbucks packaging is accessorized through assigning a different visual design to each type of coffee in the collection. Each type has its own colorful stamp, icon, color scheme, and graphic that identifies it. These stamps offer planned variation, planned divergence from a basic uniformity of style. It is a poster-art look that uses a minimalist base accessorized by a touch of ornamentalism. In grand style, the 1996 Annual Report is made of textured coffee-colored paper created from espresso grounds. The report, sporting a colorful array of photos and illustrations, urges 'look closely, you can actually see coffee bits in those pages." Starbucks also keeps its look lively with rotating variations based on timely themes. In 1996, for example, Starbucks introduced its "25th Anniversary" theme. The paper cups had a 1970s "psychedelic" pattern, rendered in appropriately "seventies" neon colors. Signs hung in the coffee bars used these same attention-grabbing colors and pattern and recast 1970s slogans to be about coffee: "Give Beans a Chance," for example. The Starbucks style draws customers in because it offers a planned, familiar vision, neat, organized, and systematic, but uses a changing variety of elements to create alluring visual stimuli. Starbucks' style tends to be abstract and stylized but highly recognizable. The style is not new; it borrows from several artistic looks. The effect, however, is dramatic. Aesthetic changes, identity shifts, and fullblown corporate identity projects need not be novel to be successful. What is needed is an overall vision, and vision can be honed through understanding. In this chapter, we introduce the idea of a style, focus on the elements of styles, discuss broad style dimensions and, finally, explain how to create successful styles.
WHAT IS "STYLE"? When we refer to a style, we mean a distinctive quality or form, a manner of expression. According to art historian Meyer Shapiro, style is "the constant form-and sometimes the constant elements and expression in the art of an individual or a group."' The concept of style has been used in a variety of disciplines, from art history and literature to fashion and design. CNN's "Style" show by Elsa Klensch covers trends in a myriad of "style" domains including fashion design, jewelry design, interior design and home furnishings, architectural design, food presentations, and many more.
Functions of Styles Styles serve a number of important functions for organizations. They create brand awareness; they cause intellectual and emotional associations. They differentiate products and services; they help consumers categorize products and services as being related. They help sub-categorize variations of products within product lines; they fine-tune the marketing mix across target markets. For society, styles beautify our surroundings, mark off areas for pleasure and relaxation, reduce stress, and facilitate socialization. One of the foremost tasks of identity management through aesthetics is to associate the organization and its brands with a certain style.
Elements of Style Styles are composed of primary elements, and can be analyzed in terms of them. Color, shape, line, and pattern are key elements of a visual style. Volume, pitch, and meter are some elements of auditory style. Buying and consuming are multisensory experiences. In retail spaces, for example, basic elements need to be managed, such as sound or scent. Background music and sounds, fragrances and tastes, materials and textures, all surround and influence consumers whether they enter department stores, grocery stores, or boutiques. Much of marketing aesthetics, however, still revolves around visual elements and style. In what follows we present the primary elements corresponding to their basic sensory domains: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell (see Figure 4.1). Later, though, we discuss how elements come together to create styles across their sensory domains. For example, the aesthetic element of texture contributes to a visual style even though it relates most directly to the domain of touch.
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SIGHT: ALL PERCEPTIONS START WITH THE EYE The most prevalent primary elements of styles in the marketing aesthetics arena are visual. Aristotle’s maxim that all perception starts with the eye” is especially true for corporate and brand identity. Psychological research has shown that people have excellent memories for pictures. Compared with words, pictures are highly distinct, and thus may be recalled for a long time. Consider the results of an experiment by Erdelyi and Kleinbard on visual memory over time. They presented people with 60 pictures of common objects or with 60 names of the objects. Subjects in the experiment were asked to recall the words and pictures again and again up to seven days after they first saw the items. Interestingly enough, average recall of the words stayed constant after one hour. Subjects did not always recall the same words, they recalled some at certain times, and previously recalled words might drop out again over time. But when the items were shown as pictures, average recall increased up to four days. That effect has been attributed to the higher degree of discrimination of pictures compared with words. Pictures are complex stimuli that always offer new cues. They are highly distinct and thus can be recalled relatively easily. In this chapter we shall see that, from the perspective of marketing aesthetics, major visual elements consist of shapes and colors. We will also briefly discuss typefaces, since they are an aesthetic element that appears in numerous identity elements such as brand names, packaging, point-ofpurchase displays, advertising, promotions, brochures, catalogs, business cards, and stationery.
SIGHT
SOUND
Color Shape Typeface
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Loudness Pitch Meter
PRIMARY ELEMENTS
Touch -
TASTE AND SMELL
Material Texture
SHAPE Product and packaging shapes can be very powerful. As in the Absolut example in Chapter 1, the mere shape of a bottle can have dramatic marketing effects. The Calvin Klein fragrance CK ONE@ has a "down market chic" identity conveyed in the product's simple screw-top bottle with a shape more suited to cheap liquor than to fragrance.
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When a handle was added to the Murphy's Oil Soap plastic bottle, sales began to soar, without any special advertising or promotion. With the old package shape, the brand was associated with oldfashioned housework drudgery; the handle made the product seem easy to use and convenient. The old fashioned, natural identity suddenly became an asset. A bottle can become a trademark or an icon; it can create an identity almost single-handedly. Three other bottle shapes that are easily identified with particular products are Coca-Cola, Chanel No. 5, and Heinz Ketchup. This identification is derived from only one aesthetic element - a shape - of one identity element - a bottle. Yet most consumers will have immediate associations, immediate feelings, about each bottle shape. Indeed, the importance of shape as an aesthetic element can even override functionality as a factor in corporate decisions. The H. J. Heinz ketchup bottle, advertised in the 1950s as "the best-known bottle in the world," capitalizes on the value of its bottle shape despite its obvious impracticality. The original success of the Marlboro cigarette brand was due not only to its cowboy theme but also to the clever combination of primary attributes perceptions in the redesign of its cigarette package. Until 1955, Marlboro was an obscure niche brand for women. Then it was repositioned as the epitome of machismo, in major part by developing a rugged box with a flip-up top that changed the shape of the packaging. Shapes can also be crucial elements of distinctive logos, as is illustrated by the logos of Apple, Nike, and many others. Distinctive shapes in properties or product design, such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco can achieve instant recognition or "awareness," a marketer's dream come true. Transamerica's corporate identity has been closely linked with its headquarters building, which serves as its logo, as a prominent visual on its Web site and has been featured in advertising campaigns, including a "pop-up" ad in Time magazine and a series of magazine spreads. As visual symbols, shapes are also an important source of a global identity. Unlike names, shapes cross cultural boundaries with relative ease. But marketers need to identify why particular shapes create certain impressions. Beyond specific objects that shapes can emulate, shapes are composed of a few key dimensions that give rise to specific associations.
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Dimensions of Shape While shapes appear to come in an infinite variety, there are four key dimensions of shape that should be considered by managers in planning an aesthetics strategy. Tinkering with these dimensions can have a dramatic impact on customers' perceptions.
Size
Angularity
SHAPE
Proportion
Symmetry
Angularity. Angular forms are those that contain angles (triangles, squares, rectangles, etc.), while rounded forms have no sharp corners. Both of these categories carry a set of rich associations. Angularity is associated with conflict, dynamism, and masculinity; roundness evokes harmony, softness, and femininity. Similar to this distinction is that of the straight form versus the curved form. Straight shapes are often perceived as masculine, sharp, abrupt, and choppy, while curved shapes are perceived as feminine, soft, and continuous. Symmetry. Symmetry refers to mirror identity of form or arrangement on the two sides of a dividing line (axis) or plane. Symmetry creates balance, an important factor in how we evaluate the visual appeal of an object; for example, it has been found in various past and recent psychological studies to be a key factor in how we judge the attractiveness of a person's face. But the appeal of symmetry has its limits. A touch of asymmetry can make a face even more appealing by adding an element of uniqueness and individuality. Cindy Crawford (whose face is an important identity element for Revlon) does not remove the mole on the side of her mouth because it adds to the attractiveness of her face; her otherwise symmetrical features are thrown into relief by the asymmetry of a mole on one side. Symmetry somehow provides order and relieves our tension; asymmetry does the opposite, creating agitation and tension-but often a little tension saves a visual image from monotony. Symmetry is often itself juxtaposed with a hint of asymmetry to provide the sense of balance with a touch of excitement or movement. We see this in the display of clocks or watch faces. In advertisements, brochures, catalogs, and all other displays, watches and companies' clock hands are set to the 10-2 position (symmetry on the vertical axis) with a hint of movement provided by the second hand at 35 seconds, a bit past the axis of symmetry (the 30-second mark). Most other combinations could create partial symmetry, like 9-3 with the second hand at the 60-second mark. But, with all three hands, the 10-2, 30-second position creates complete (vertical) symmetry with the same distance between each hand (corresponding to exactly 20 minutes). In the opposite (equivalent to 8-4 and 60 seconds) another perfectly vertical symmetrical position exists, a symmetry used by Mercedes-Benz as its logo.
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Proportion. Proportion is another major variable influencing the way we perceive shapes. Long angular shapes and oblong shapes (which were prevalent in the baroque period of art) extend the field of vision, thus appearing to capture more of a particular scene, creating a dominating aesthetic. Short angular shapes can seem more timid and meek. With round shapes, proportion and symmetry are often blended, since perfectly circular shapes are also naturally symmetrical. Thus, circular shapes appear less powerful than oblong shapes, but they create perceptions of harmony, resonating with softness and perfection. Size. Personalities are often read into particular shapes. This is readily apparent when we focus on size. Large shapes, tall or wide, are often perceived as powerful and strong while small shapes, short or thin, appear delicate and weak. Nobody understood this principle better than the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, whose thick black lines marking off large blue, red, and yellow squares and rectangles have inspired the designs of a wide variety of consumer products, including shower curtains, beach towels, and the L’Oreal Studio line of hairstyling products. With their large and angular shapes, these product designs project strength, energy, and effectiveness. More than other dimensions of shape, the way size is evaluated varies strikingly depending on cultural and regional norms. In the West, small size is often viewed as having little stature - our outsized national folk heroes like the huge Paul Bunyan are testaments to this cultural preference for largeness. But in the East, large size is often viewed as awkward and unwieldy. In any region, the effect of size can vary; sometimes stout is considered unsophisticated and unintelligent, while thin is considered orderly and sharp.
Distinctiveness of Shapes The power of shapes in an aesthetics strategy is overwhelming. This power is directly related to the distinctiveness of the shape. The distinctiveness is related to (a) the extent of exclusive pairing of the shape with the company or brand and (b) the inherent quality of the shape. Pairing, Repeating, and Protecting Shapes. A shape can take on various meanings depending on the context in which it appears. The shape alone of a trademark or other emblem does not identify a particular product or company in an unambiguous fashion. Thus, the goal is not to form a trademark or logo to fit a product, but to pair a potentially appropriate shape with a product. In other words, avoiding poor shape-product matches is the key goal in analyzing shapes in corporate and brand identity. For example, consider the wool trademark designed by Francesco Saroglia for the International Wool Secretariat. The wool logo's supple, flexible, smooth but intricate shape portrays a generic quality that is appropriate for, but not specific to, wool. The interlocking strands suggest yarn, and the roundness is vaguely feminine, which goes well with wool's associations with feminine themes such as fashion and knitting; but the logo does not rule out a masculine identification, which could perhaps be made with the "optical illusion” look of the logo that calls to mind the scientific, optics-oriented work of the artist M. C. Escher. Shapes become associated with a product or company through repeated pairing. Through repetition over time, the pairing of a product and a shape can become a familiar part of an identity. As a result, as with other primary aesthetic elements, shapes should be considered as proprietary identity elements that are consistently used and reinforced via corporate communications. Indeed, nonfunctional, aesthetically valued shapes are afforded legal protection as valid trademarks. CocaCola's contoured bottle, Chanel No. 5's square bottle, and Perrier's curved bottle are examples. The movement away from focusing on names to focus on looks -on trade dress- accords with the notion that the law protects not merely the name but the identity. Managers should pair product and shape, repeat the pairing over time, and protect the pairing from appropriation by competitors.
COLOR Color pervades corporate and brand identity. Logos usually appear in color, products have colors, the fabrics of company uniforms are color coordinated; the walls of the exteriors and interiors of buildings have color; ads have color schemes; and packages lure us with various colors. Gone are the days of Henry Ford, whose Model T was offered in "any color, as long as it's black." An enormous range of colors is available for virtually all identity elements. When tights were first marketed in the 1960s, only
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six shades were available. By the end of the 1980s, Christian Dior sold tights in 101 colors. The trendy cosmetics company MAC (Make-up Art Cosmetics) broke into the crowded cosmetics industry with a novel strategy that included no advertising and simple packaging -but a huge range of colors in its product lines, with 140 shades of lipstick, including the more sophisticated earth tones that customers preferred to the traditional pinks and purples. Even this seemingly large number of colors is drastically multiplied for many materials. In January 1996, the Japanese fabric company Kanebo held an exhibition in the prestigious Spiral Design Building in Tokyo, exhibiting its 3,600 dyes. Black may be the primary (or only) color in the collection of some avant-garde fashion designers, but this is a result of careful choice rather than of necessity.
USING COLOR FOR IDENTITY Company and Brand Identification Companies can make color the major focus of their identity by utilizing a single distinctive color or a color palette as part of their visual identity. If a color is consistently used across a variety of identity elements, it becomes part of a company's signature; Kodak's yellow, Tiffany's light 'blue, IBM's darker blue, and Mary Kay's pink are good examples. Coca Cola uses the color red in an effective way; the company makes sure that the color is reproduced appropriately en an infinite number of materials and surfaces worldwide and is very protective about the use of its color. Colors signal categories, so colors are strategically chosen for uniforms and other physical surroundings. A full-blown identity can be generated for a conglomerate by using color as well. For example, Best Foods, a division of CPC International, one of the 100 largest industrial companies in the United States and one of the largest corn refiners worldwide, uses the color yellow prominently on the packaging of all its major products, including Mazola corn oil, Hellmands mayonnaise, Best Foods' mustard, Mueller's egg noodles, Argo cornstarch, Niagara spray starch, and Knorr soup mixes.
Product Line Identification Color can also be used to separate product lines into subcategories. Bayer brand aspirin uses the strategy familiar in over-the-counter health care products like shampoo, of putting related product lines in the same bottle and package design but distinguishing variations, with different colors. The identity of the Bayer brand with its relation to various product lines is created primarily through color.
Associations A color can be chosen for the specific associations it carries with it. The brown of United Parcel Service's trucks, uniforms, and other identity materials signals the company's no-nonsense, behindthe-scenes, reliable identity. Frequently, color marks a brand so that it stands out from similar products. Red is popular for brands. Dewar's uses red; Mobil uses red; Coca-Cola uses red; and, among others, Campbell's uses red. When we walk down the soup aisle in the supermarket, we do not need to look for the Campbell's or Progresso names; we merely need to look for red (Campbell's) or blue (Progresso): one way these two companies differentiate is through their color identities. Color can call attention to a product that traditionally does not employ color. Cooper Industries' Plumb brand hammers achieved success by giving the hammer handles a bright orange color, making them easy to spot in the toolbox-and on the retail shelf. Companies may also invent new colors, or rather, new color terminologies, to market their products. To illustrate "the subtle tones that make all the difference" in their line of color laser printers, Canon invented colors such as "fog" and "moss." The all-green ad copy of "moss" reads: "Between yellow and green there's olive. Between olive and gray there's fern green. Between fern green and gray there's slate green. And if you keep finding the colors between the colors, you get to a color called MOSS."
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WHAT DOES COLOR MEAN TO CUSTOMERS? The Composition of Color Beyond mere identification and association, color can be used to create experiences. The human eye can distinguish among 10,000 hues. Three basic dimensions-saturation, brightness, and hue-can be used to relate perceptual experiences to physical properties. Saturation refers to, chromatic purity, or freedom from dilution with white. Brightness has to do with intensity, or energy level (akin to loudness or amplitude in music). Hue refers to the wavelength, the particular shades of color that we see (royal blue versus teal blue, for example). We can see the possibilities for using these various aspects of colors when we look at how the color pink is used. Pink, a less saturated tone of red, is often associated with children's products. The pastel shades of pink often used for infants' clothes and toys are less bright than the neon pink of older children's toys. To get an idea of the differences in hue of the color pink, consider the full line of varying pink hues evident at a lipstick display.
THE STRUCTURE OF COLOR CATEGORIES Affective, Cognitive and Behavioral Reactions to Color “Colorful" Colors. Each dimension of color seems to be related to different behavioral reactions. For example, the more saturated a color, the greater the impression that the object is moving. The brighter the color, the greater the impression that the object is closer than it really is. Hues at one extreme end of visible light (reds, oranges, and yellows) tend to be perceived as more energetic and extroverted, while those at the other end (greens, blues, and purples) appear calmer and more introverted. For example, reds tend to be perceived as adventurous, sociable, exciting, powerful, and protective. Yellows are often seen as cheerful, jovial, exciting, affectionate, and impulsive. Greens and blues are viewed as calm, restful, and soothing. At the same time, reds, oranges, and yellows are perceived as warm colors, while blues, greens, and violets come across as cold colors. Different hues also produce varying impressions of distance: blue and green seem farther away than red, orange, and brown. The Prestige Colors: Black and White, Gold and Silver. Black and white represent extremes of saturation and often of brightness. Thus, the color white, particularly if it is bright, is perceived as sunny, happy, active, and sometimes as pure and innocent. The color black is often perceived as dark and mysterious and sometimes as impure or evil. Metallic colors such as gold and silver have lustrous images; they take on the qualities of the metals gold and silver. Thus, they convey the qualities of inorganic materials, but they also create feelings of brightness, luxury, and elegance due to their associations with opulence and precious metals. This is why imitating gold or some other standard such as marble is difficult. An imitation must evoke the underlying image of value, or it will backfire and seem to be an imitation, or "cheap."
Reactions to Color Combinations We have been focusing on the use of particular colors in isolation. Ironically, using an array of colors can create an identity that is often less complex than one created through one color. Apple Computer's user-friendly, playful image is expressed not only in its apple-shaped logo but also in the rainbow-style array of colors within it. The rainbow or any other particular combination of colors creates a unified Gestalt that can overshadow the associations of the particular colors within it. Often a combination of colors can conjure a very specific image. For example, the Phoenix airport's use of various umbers and other earth tones combine to create an association with the desert. Color combinations can also evoke specific meanings by their associations with national flags. Red, white, and blue are used together to build an all-American identity, whereas red, white, and green conveys an Italian identity and is thus often used for packaging Italian foods.
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CREATING LUXURY THROUGH STYLE The German-based Montblanc Inc.'s line of writing implements is an example of an identity that uses style to appeal to customers' aesthetic sense. The company produces a full line of writing implements and accessories such as leather desk calendars and date books. The main color of the Montblanc products and other identity materials such as brochures is a rich black, with the white star symbol adorning all the products. The black-and-white color scheme is accented by touches of gold on the pens and leather products, adding to the "luxury" image. Only the most lustrous materials are used in the company's identity materials, from the thick, smooth paper with embossed letters that is used for the "Your Personal Montblanc Guide" that comes with every product, to the velvet that lines the boxes in which products are sold. Montblanc emphasizes the idea of an overall style that they offer their customers in order to enrich their lives: 'All the writing instruments and accessories of the Montblanc collection fit together harmoniously and perfectly complement each other. This sophisticated combination forms the most cultivated writing environment: the world of Montblanc." Source: Company materials.
TYPEFACE Typefaces are everywhere we look: on publicity materials, cards and stationery, advertising (both print and broadcast), point-of-purchase displays, bags, and packaging. A typeface is an aesthetic element that is composed primarily of other aesthetic elements. A typeface has shape, color (and material) that need to be considered separately and together. As with shapes, typefaces come in an infinite variety and can convey an infinite number of images. (Numerous design books display the multitude of typefaces.)
The Look of Typefaces Typefaces are a unique aspect of style, since they add representational qualities directly to words or letters, which of course themselves already convey meaning. A typeface can be given a particular shape in order to create certain perceptions. Tall, narrow letters with precise serifs seem elegant; rounded, full letters without serifs seem friendly, even cuddly. The "metropolitan" Art Deco-style typeface of the New Yorker magazine is indelibly paired with the qualities associated with literary New York: sophistication, wit, style, the avant-garde. A typeface that seems almost handwritten will convey a company's people-oriented, unthreatening, low-key identity. Cursive rather than print letters, as in the logo of the Crane's paper company, seem fancy and celebratory, appropriate for Crane's identity as the paper of choice for special occasions and formal letters. Choices such as whether to use capital or lowercase letters matter as well. Capital letters convey authority and aggressiveness; but use of alllowercase letters can make a daring, understated impression. Often the feeling and perceptions accompanying the look of the letters in a particular word or group of words relates to other uses of a similar typeface. Consider the Benetton store in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. it uses gold uppercase letters in a bold style such as we would find on a federal building or in other official national contexts. For Washingtonians, the imagery is stark and familiar: the Benetton sign evokes qualities associated with the federal government, such as power, strength, harmony, trustworthy, strong moral values, and international leadership.
Perception and Memory for Typefaces Consider the following name: Hyatt. Without looking ahead in the book, write it down exactly as the letters appear in the logo. The Hyatt logo was designed by Landor Associates. As the exhibit shows, the letter 'A' uses an untraditional horizontal bar stroke. The lack of the true horizontal bar stroke is one small element that contributes to the modern impression of the corporation. Though as your own attempts to recall the logos may have demonstrated, it is clear that these sets of variation may not be
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consciously perceived and remembered. The same is the case for many other logos designed by Landor (e.g., the logos for Saturn and JAL). Sometimes identity elements are literally misperceived by customers. Some stimuli (e.g., an advertisement) may not impact the intended customer target correctly or may have an insufficient impact. The perception of the company in the customer's eyes can be reduced, sometimes even impoverished. Mazda's original logo was a stylized representation of the letter "m," but it was perceived by most consumers outside Japan as an "I."
SOUND Sounds and music matter in two ways for corporate and brand identity. as background, they enhance identity in retail and other spaces; and in advertising and other communications, they can be identitycreating elements. As Leonard Bernstein explained in his Norton Lectures at Harvard, sounds are based on harmonic series. If sounds are highly structured, we call them music. To the question posed by MIT's computer scientist Marvin Minsky, "Why do we like certain tunes?" Bernstein answered crisply: "Because they have certain structural features." One such structural feature is melody. Melodies (or their more rudimentary form, melodic contours), are sequences of single pitches organized as a musical whole. The basis of jingles that are frequently used in communication messages, melodies are the most salient, easily recognized, and easily remembered musical feature.
Establishing a Sound Identity According to philosopher David Burrows, "Background sound gives the world a texture of micro activity." It can relax people, hurry people, make them happy or make them sad. Designers of retail spaces and restaurants are expert creators of this texture of micro activity. Many services are sound-intensive. Hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, hairdressers, airlines, and professional service providers such as doctors, lawyers, and accountants make heavy use of auditory stimuli to connect with customers. Sound pervades the service encounter over the telephone, on the selling floor, in the waiting room, and any place the customer visits. Voices for advertising need to be chosen carefully to create various tonalities and accents leading to recognizability and favorable associations, feelings, and evaluations. Sounds also create identities in advertising. In its TV ads, "Campbell’s Garden Vegetables and Pasta" brand illustrates the freshness of its ingredients with the snapping sound of fresh vegetables. Background sounds and music can enhance a corporate or brand identity because sound is a powerful emotional and behavioral cue. While visual aesthetics can be vivid and arousing, visual elements are difficult to change without associated production costs; and with the exception of video, visual aesthetics are stable unless changed. Sound, on the other hand, is easy to change and is also inherently variable and changing. Music has highs and lows, fasts and slows, and louds and softs. The inherent variability and ease of change makes sound a flexible, low-cost identity enhancement and creation device. The effects of sounds are, like visuals, highly dependent on the impressions that customers have. A "noisy" doctor's office might hurt sales, whereas a noisy restaurant might be desirable and appropriate to achieving a youth appeal and identity.
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ENHANCING IDENTITY THROUGH MUSIC For years, United Airlines has been using George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" in an identitycreating fashion. "Rhapsody in Blue" has been featured in United's advertising, when customers are on hold for the Reservations toll-free phone number, and on the safety tape played before each flight. Gershwin's music is contemporary, dynamic-an America n classic; its connection with the metropolis of New York City was augmented when the music was featured prominently in Woody Allen's Manhattan. The tune is an ideal aesthetic tool to express United's positioning as a contemporary U.S.-based international airline that takes business travellers to major destinations around the world.
TOUCH Materials can create a certain "feel" for a product. Ericsson, a company that sells cellular phones, claims, "Hold it (the phone) and you're hooked. It feels like part of you." Materials used are important sources of identity in print communications, office exteriors and interiors, and company uniforms. Glossy versus matte paper for stationery and business cards, marble versus plastic at a check-in counter, wool versus polyester on a uniform all provide stark dichotomies.
APPLICATION: S. D. WARREN'S MATERIAL AESTHETIC A company that understands the power of materials is the S. D. Warren Company, a subsidiary of Scott Paper Company. Warren is particularly strong in manufacturing a variety of paper for offset printing. Paper for offset printing can be judged in terms of strength, smoothness, printability, brightness, and opacity. Strength, smoothness, and printability are utilitarian criteria. Brightness and opacity are both utilitarian and aesthetic. Brightness creates contrast and intensifies color, while opacity prevents images printed on one side of the paper from showing through on the other side. To illustrate the aesthetic value of its papers and convey its identity, Warren uses its own brochures as both a promotional material and a product showpiece. Utilizing Warre’s impressive variety of paper materials, the different brochures feature a number of breathtaking photographs and illustrations. For example, one product, "Lustro Gloss," is illustrated with striking black-and-white and color photography taken at Carnegie Hall. Each page displays different versions of the paper such as "Lustro Dull," and "Lustro Dull Cream" showing subtle shades in the bright red seats of the concert hall and brilliant details on some of the instruments. Another brochure for "Pointe Clear Matte" ("nothing fancy in knock-out style") uses shots from the sport of boxing to make the point. Still another brochure illustrates the smooth, uniform surface with crisp, brilliant reproduction of "Cameo Dull" by explaining various garden concepts (such as the formal garden, the Japanese garden, the English garden, the roof garden). The description of the Formal Garden reads: What is a garden? Whether a simple window box or the manicured forests of Versailles, a garden is where man controls nature for aesthetic reasons. Pleasing to the eye, soothing to the senses, a garden rewards one's efforts much like the paper this is printed on, Warren Cameo Dull.
The brochures are not only visually appealing but also pleasing to the touch. One brochure for rough surface, entitles “The Spirit of Discovery”, has an elevated surface made of leather that engages the senses of sight, touch, and even smell.
Associations from Materials Materials carry strong associations relating to warmth, strength, and naturalness. A range of associations are evoked by choices such as what type of wood to use for a product. A 1996 Lexus advertisement boasts, “Pine was too stark, Birch, too thin. Oak, far too bland. So we decided on California walnut. At Lexus, we scrutinized 24 different types of wood for the interior before we found one that made the cut." These types of associations apply equally to the materials themselves and to
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pictures and drawings of the materials or their patterns, which can be used in all sorts of marketing communications (advertising, packaging, or product design). Inorganic materials such as marble, glass, or metals are perceived as cold, and hard, while organic materials such as wood or leather are perceived as warm, and soft. Rough materials have been traditionally perceived as outdoors-oriented, whereas polished materials have been appropriate for indoors. Changes in these design orientations, however, can be seen with the change, for example, in floors and laminated tops, which used to mimic polished marble and wood grains but now are likely to resemble rough marble or other rough or matte surfaces. Rough materials have moved indoors, suggesting strength combined with an outdoorsy, free feeling, unfettered by order and symmetry. Inside or out, organic materials such as flowers, woods, and the like can be used to make people feel relaxed and in harmony with nature. But color and shape can also work with the texture of the material to create feelings. Bricks (or brick-like prints or photos), which are an inorganic material perceived as hard and strong, nonetheless also convey warmth because of their red color-suitable for fireplaces, interior walls, cozy terraces, and the like.
Materials and Textures Textures of certain materials can be powerful sources of sensations. In a 1997 mailing campaign, Brooks Brothers, a men's retailer, included fabric samples so that customers could experience the materials firsthand.
The Oxo brand of kitchenware items is a perfect example of design leadership that capitalizes on creating an aesthetic experience for consumers. In Oxo's Good Grips line of kitchen tools, the sense of touch was brought into play, complimenting a striking visual look. These kitchen gadgets were designed by Sam Farber, retired founder of the CopCo cookware company, when he realized that existing cooking tools were not comfortable to use or aesthetically pleasing. Farber worked with designers on the Good Grips line, keeping the experience of the consumer in mind at every step. The handles of the implements were designed to be oversized and easy to grip Farber's wife, who suffers from arthritis, was the inspiration there- and Oxo used a material called santoprene that is composed of plastic and rubber and has a pleasingly warm, smooth, nonslip feel. Flexible sections on the sides called "fins" offered "fingerprint softspots" that help the handles to bend to an individual's finger grip and that give extra cushion and control. These sensory considerations of "feel" were the starting point for a visually striking design that sets the product apart from the competition. The bulky shape added a "masculine" touch to a traditionally "feminine" product, extending the appeal of the product beyond the usual market for kitchen tools, 30-to-40-year-old women. Black was chosen as the color for the signature handles of all Good Grips products, giving them a high-tech, sophisticated look. The Good Grips products have won countless design awards. Source: Company materials, interviews with managers, and speech delivered by Sam Farber, "The Oxo Story."
SCENT: TASTE AND SMELL Taste is highly derived from smell. Smell is the most powerful of the senses. Scents are omnipresent in our environments. Stores that specialize in scented products, like Crabtree & Evelyn or The Body
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rely on scents to create identities in their products as well as in their retail spaces. Except for these cases in which they act as identity creators, scents have the advantage of subtlety; they often do not draw attention to themselves. Like background sounds and music, scent can enhance an identity rather than create it. Smell is base d on a small number of components that can produce thousands of sensations. Smells are often divided into seven distinct categories: (1) minty, (2) floral, (3) ethereal, (4) musky, (5) resinous, (6) foul, and (7) acrid.
Scent Reactions Research shows that females react to certain smells differently from males. It is also clear that certain smells appear to be uniformly offensive, while others are uniformly appealing. Aromatherapy promises physiological and psychological benefits based on specific aromas. Neurologists test various scents for use in keeping gamblers at slot machines. Andron by jovan (an allusion to "androgen," a male sex hormone) was a cologne for men touted as pheromone-enhanced, designed to lure women.
The Power of Scents Human beings have an excellent ability to distinguish smells. The memory of smell is perhaps the strongest memory we have. We all recall excruciating details about an experience when we smell a scent that we smelled at the time of the experience. Scent experiences and evaluations and our perceptual learning of smells may depend largely on verbal labels. There may be nothing inherently "eternal" smelling about Eternity, or "obsessional" smelling about Obsession, or "unisex" smelling about CK ONE. The differentiability of smell, the strong memory for smell, and the ability to create unique associations all make smells and tastes an ideal tool for enhancing a corporate or brand identity. Again, "pair and repeat" becomes the rule to create the association. We typically describe smells not necessarily in terms of their own properties but by comparing them to other things that the smell evokes in memory. We often perceive scents as smoky, fruity, spicy, or floral and evaluate them as intoxicating, delightful, pleasing, or their opposites. We also associate them with seasons -spring scents might be fruity or floral, while winter scents can be piney or cinnamon-based. Given the strong memories scents evoke, it is easy for marketers to build on scents to create their desired perception or feeling when creating or enhancing an identity.
CREATING A STYLE: SYNESTHESIA What Is Synesthesia? The stimulation of one sense by another sense is called synesthesia, from the Greek syn (together) and aisthanesthai (perceive). Composers Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov associated colors with music: E major with blue, A flat with purple, D major with yellow. The writer Vladimir Nabokov reported smell and touch associations when he uttered a vowel sound: for him. the long "a" of the English alphabet had a tint of weathered wood; the French "a" evoked polished ebony. The notion of synesthesia is used consciously in many art forms from the Japanese tea ceremony to Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk, and contemporary performance art. The Japanese tea ceremony consists of serving special tea in a ritual manner with carefully selected utensils in a room of certain proportions containing a painting and a garden view. Certain stylized movements are used by both the server of tea (the host) and the participant in the ritual (the guest). The ceremony thus appeals to multiple senses and incorporates concepts of product design, ceramic design, interior design, art, and movement. Similarly, Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk, as embodied in his famous Ring opera cycle, is supposed to integrate acting, symphony, and operatic music, and Wagner had a special theater built for the performance of this unique art form in Bayreuth, Germany. Modern performance art also appeals to multiple senses by using features of several art forms such as acting, dance and movement, music and sounds, and in some cases taste and smell.
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The Holistic Nature of Style Synesthesia creates an integration of primary elements such as colors, shapes, scents, and materials into “systems of attributes” that express a corporate or brand aesthetic style. Though identities are composed of he primary elements that we have discussed, a holistic perception is the result. The holistic nature of perception has been the central tenet of a movement in psychology called the Gestalt movement. Gestalt psychologists believed that the whole, or Gestalt, is more than the sum of the parts. Planning corporate and brand identities require the manager to pay meticulous attention to the parts that create the whole. What ultimately counts is the entire Gestalt, but slight changes in underlying dimensions or their interactions can cause massive changes in the Gestalt.
APPLICATION: GILLETTE Successful corporate or brand aesthetics, even in the design of a single product, uses synesthesia as a design principle. Multiple primary attributes (loud and aggressive colors; dynamic, rhythmical music; bold shapes and typefaces) are combined to create a holistic perception -a style. The Gillette series of razors and toiletries (deodorants, shaving creams, and aftershaves) represents an example of synesthesia. The Sensor razor, launched worldwide in 1989, is a visual and tactile experience. The experience is further enhanced by the mega-brand identity system created by Anspach Grossman Portugal, an identity firm. To capitalize on the success of its Sensor razor, its best-selling shaver system, Gillette then selected the design firm Desgrippes Gobe & Associates to develop a line of fourteen toiletry products for men, scheduled for a. simultaneous launch in the United States and in Europe. Gillette had traditionally been outsold by rivals. In the U.S., Gillette trailed S. C. Johnson’s Edge brand gel in the aerosol shaving cream and gel category by fourteen share points and Procter & Gamble in the deodorants category by nine share points. It had largely ignored aftershaves. Its toiletries business accounted for 20% of sales but only 12.6% of operating profit. Desgrippes Gobe applied its proprietary research process, termed "SENSE" (an acronym for Sensory Exploration and Need States Evaluation), to identify the key design elements (shapes, colors, and material's) that relate to and express the Gillette products' identity: masculine, traditional, but technologically progressive. In the new products, the company's inherent values were related to the act of shaving. The firm viewed shaving as a rite of passage linked to a man's daily transformation from private to public space; the meaning of colors, shapes, materials, typefaces, and fragrances were related to this context. The design, developed by Desgrippes Gobe in collaboration with Gillette's inhouse design team, incorporated existing Sensor equities in the colors silver and black together with grips, but they also added some key innovations. As they explain the rationale behind the product, packaging and graphic design: The color blue communicates the cleanliness of shaving.... Black communicates universality and a gutsy, masculine lifestyle. Silver, with its metallic sheen and industrial presence, reflects the performance aspects of razor blades and Sensor. A revolutionary thin-walled, crystal clear container showcases the clarity of a new transparent product. Structural designs are proportional to fit a man’s hand and [are] slick and cylindrical or ribbed and reminiscent of a man’s broad shoulders. . . . Gillette's bold Futura logo reinforces the Company's masculine heritage and leadership position.... Dominated by citrus with a mossy, woodsy base, Cool Wave (the name of the product) unifies the functionally based Gillette Series.
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Two Managerial Approaches to Creating Style At Gillette, as at most organizations, a style is usually born through the vision, creativity, and intuition of designers. They work in two ways: a bottom-up approach entails selecting key primary attributes and then combining them to create a unifying style; a top-down approach, on the other hand, involves selection of a style and then implementing the style through the selection of primary attributes. The bottom-up process is often easier when a brand is being repositioned. Here, customers may be quite familiar with certain key attributes (for example, a corporate color) that provide familiarity to customers and equity to the organization. The challenge is to incorporate them successfully into a new style. The top-down approach is more strategic and systematic and better adapted for when a novel brand identity is created from scratch.
LICENSING STYLE The leap from designing clothing to designing a signature scent is now de rigueur for fashion designers. But after these extensions into body products have come extensions into virtually every aspect of' customers' aesthetic environment. Expanding their lines of products to include their customers' entire physical environment, these fashion designers are creating and marketing an aesthetics that their customers can experience through products as diverse as jeans and candlesticks. Familiar fashion names such as Guess?, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Donna Karan have all produced housewares lines that stay true to each designer's aesthetics. Italian designer Missoni produces rugs with its distinctive geometric patterns (for $4,500); Ralph Lauren produces pillowcases and sheets that repeat the subdued colors, stripes, and plaids of his clothing (at $40 for a pair of pillowcases); Calvin Klein sells pitchers ($90) that use the same stark, minimalist lines as his clothing; and high-end menswear designer Paul Smith offers a "retro" toothbrush and toothpaste set (for over $10) that echoes the look of his “men’s-club-meetsdowntown” style of clothing. Source: Carlos Mota, 'Vouse of Style," New York, October 14, 1996, p. 60.
STRATEGIC ISSUES IN STYLE CREATION Key strategic issues in style creation are: -
whether to juxtapose design elements; when styles should be adapted or abandoned.
Juxtaposition of Design Elements There may be an inherent tension in a chosen design solution. In order to create a more interesting, unique look, a designer may consciously juxtapose different design elements in one or more identity elements. For example, within an ad there may be one visual element that stands out because its style is strikingly different from the rest of the ad. Within one interior space, there may be one piece of furniture that displays a different style. Juxtaposition in design can be as appealing as the occasional asymmetry in form; it is an asymmetry in style. The Gap, for example, uses black and white for its logo on signage, but blue and white for its logo on bags. An interesting type of juxtaposition is eclecticism. An eclectic approach provides juxtaposition within the same corporate expression by using multiple sources of elements. Some international hotels use an eclectic approach by creating unique rooms that mix furniture and designs from different periods and styles. The decision to provide either variety or consistency rests on whether a particular aspect of design should be highlighted. High-awareness brands might want to highlight the logo, for example. Snapple's logo includes a frame and appears to jump out at the consumer due to the contrast with the underlying uniform color of the bottle. Product lines often require juxtaposition. The Swatch brand of casual watches, which saved the Swiss watch industry from a years-long decline in the mid-1980s, represents a good example of this sort of
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style variety. While most watch manufacturers are concerned about protecting an unique look and therefore offer only small variations from year to year, the concept of a Swatch is build around the idea of fashions and fads.
Adapting or Abandoning Styles Styles can appear outdated over time. We can easily identify numerous styles based on time periods. The trends of the 1920s, 50s, 60s, and 70s stand out as vivid reminders that styles can become quite dated. Overuse of styles, particularly unusual or otherwise vivid styles, can create permanent strong mental associations of those styles with the time period in which they arose. So too, a space dimension can be etched into our associations. Thus, constant monitoring of our environment and trends is essential in order to adapt and, if necessary, abandon styles when overall impressions have shifted. Dunkin' Donuts recently announced a change in identity in which the "outdated" pink-andorange look will be supplanted with a drab mauve, termed "ripe raisin." The color will be placed in an expansion strategy on roofs, signs, countertops, and walls. Brighter menu boards and backlit signs will add to the updated identity. Customer research alerted management to the outdated nature of the identity. Customers felt that the brand '”was approachable and fun, and they did not want it to be upscale, but modern."
MODIFYING A STYLE The Case for Revolutionary Changes Imagine one day you go to a business meeting. The room is full of team members dressed in dark business suits. Your eyes, however, are drawn to one person in khaki pants and a casual sweater. Why? Simply because, in contrast to all the others, the person in the sweater is dressed differently. A few days later (let's say it's a casual Friday), you go to another business meeting. The same people are present and everybody wears casual clothing. Will you again be drawn to the same person? Clearly not. This example illustrates a basic fact about human attention. We notice things that stand out, things that are distinct. A major factor contributing to distinctiveness is novelty. We tend to notice things that are novel, that we have never seen before. Moreover, we tend to be drawn to things that are loud, extreme, sometimes annoying. Finally, we pay attention to things that are different. Thus, distinctive designs tend to be revolutionary as opposed to evolutionary. These principles are well known to advertisers. New Yorkers may still remember the Crazy Eddie ads in which "Crazy Eddie," the owner of a low-priced electronics chain, told customers about its "insane prices" by screaming at them. Lovers of upscale brands may remember the same approach for Chanel's worldwide campaign for the Egoïste fragrance for men. In these particular ads, numerous well dressed women in evening gowns screamed the brand name while opening and slamming shut the shutters of their hotel-room windows. We may not like such ads, but we certainly notice them. What applies to advertising also works in other contexts of identity image management. In business cards, a slightly larger rectangular shape, a vertical orientation, or a picture on the business card will be noticed. Quite appropriately, Kodak uses pictures. For colors, in the sea of the corporate dark blue, the Mary Kay pink and the Tiffany light blue are distinctive. Unusual or revolutionary stylistic approaches may be compared to the adoption process that occurs as a result of diffusions of innovations. As with a new technology, a new look is liked first by the trendsetters before it is by the masses. The new look creates an “avant-garde" identity. Trendsetters, personality-wise, like to be different; they are variety seekers, and regarding image they are not at all averse to risk. While trendsetters tend to be in the minority, as opinion leaders they influence others. And since we often develop our own final opinions after comparing our opinions with those of others, trendsetters may make a powerful impact over time. Moreover, after experiencing things more than once, they become less new. And mere exposure over time seems to create liking. Did you instantly like the new minivan design in the mid-1980s when it first came out? More likely, it was love at second sight.
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The Case for Evolutionary Changes Being different, however, not only draws attention, it also involves risk because of another fact of human nature: noticeable, distinct things lead to more extreme evaluations -positive or negative. Middle-of-the-road approaches, while rarely catching our attention or arousing our emotions, are less risky.
DIMENSIONS OF STYLE Managerial input in creating or modifying styles can be enhanced if managers are able to evaluate a design on major stylistic dimensions. At the turn of the century, Heinrich Wölfflin, one of history's most renowned art critics, distinguished between two general opposite aesthetic styles: the classical and the baroque. According to Wölfflin, these two are the basic categories for the interpretation of the structure of artistic forms, not only works of art but anything made '”with artistic and expressive ends." Classical and baroque indicate two general, opposite qualities and structures that artistic forms can have -regardless of their historical period. Five pairs of characteristics distinguish the classical from the baroque: the linear versus the pictorial; the closed versus the open form; the taste for depth versus the taste for surface; the taste for oneness versus the taste for multiplicity; the clear form versus the ambiguous form. This early aesthetic categorization may still be useful for managers. Each corporate element, whether it be a name, a logo, a corporate uniform, a product packaging, an advertisement or a building, can be analyzed using this simple bipolar dimension: whether the element is classical in style or baroque. As a result, different elements can be related to one another and the consistency of a collection of elements can be determined. To define stylistic dimensions, we move beyond WöIfflin's broad categorization. In so doing, managers can isolate and adjust stylistic components that do not contribute to the desired style. Here, we identify four perceptual dimensions to evaluate corporate or brand identity-related styles: (1) complexity ("minimalism" vs. "ornamentalism"), (2) representation ("realism" vs. "abstraction"), (3) perceived movement ("dynamic" vs. "static"), and (4) potency ("loud/strong" vs. "soft/weak").
Dimensions of Style DIMENSION
Minimalism
Complexity
Realism
Representation
Dynamic
Movement
Loud/Strong
Potency
Ornamentalism
Abstraction
Static
Soft/Weak
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Style Dimension 1: Complexity How ornate or complex do you want your organization or brand to appear? This dimension places style on a continuum that goes from simple to complex or, from minimalism to ornamentalism. Minimalism strives simplicity of structure and form, viewing decoration as unnecessary excess. Ornamentalism, on the other hand, loves complexity, variety of motifs, and multiple meanings. The Laura Ashley style -as seen on the company's line of clothing and home decorating products such as wallpaper and in the company's retail spaces- is an example of an ornamentalist aesthetics-small flower prints, stripes, plaids, and patterns adorn most Laura Ashley fabrics and surfaces; fabrics are often edged with ruffles and flounces or draped into dramatic folds. Often two or more patterns or decorative motifs are used together. Trends Toward Minimalism. Old-time bathhouses and swimming pools used to be prime examples of ornamentalism. Inspired by Roman bathhouses or Turkish baths, they incorporated a complex symbolism in their architecture, tiling, and overall look. Today's gymnasiums, in contrast, are temples of minimalism. Reebok's new gymnasiums in Los Angeles, Irvine, and New York, part of its Planet Reebok campaign, are, according to New York’s Colin McGinn, "what a gym should be: a place of stark simplicity ... it's all spaciousness and functionalism and unity of purpose, as if the concept of gym had been stripped to its most sublime and yet most American form." The same can be said of contemporary fitness equipment. Today's single-station StairMaster brand and Cybex machines are clearly more minimalist than their multistation Nautilus and Universal predecessors. This trend toward minimalism can be observed in many other product categories as well. From automobiles to washing machines, stereos, and telephones, the broad trend in this century can be described as moving away from ornamentalist designs. Contrast old products from the early 1900s to the 1960s with those from the 1970s to the present day and a stark difference will be seen immediately. Virtually everything in the older group has a frame or is framed (chrome frames around automobiles and major appliances; wood frames around stereo or other electronic equipment; plastic frame around various household items), whereas the things in the new group have been slowly reducing and eliminating frames or have been using subdued colors to mask frames. Bucking the Minimalist Trend. Like the other style dimensions, the complexity dimension applies to all corporate expressions from company uniforms, products and their packaging, to exteriors and interiors of buildings to communications. Style is a vehicle for differentiation that marketers often miss. The uniforms of most U.S. airlines are largely minimalist: simple, professional designs in corporate dark blue with straight lines. One of the airlines that breaks the rule is -quite appropriately- Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines has positioned itself as a maverick airline that challenges the stiff, professional image of the major players. Employees are encouraged to express their personalities and senses of humor, for example, when reciting the routine safety speech before each flight. In keeping with this identity, the ornamentalist Southwest uniform is colorful, playful, with complex Southwesterninspired patterns. Minimalism vs. Ornamentalism: The Example of Architecture. Minimalist corporate architecture has its roots in the Chicago School/Bauhaus type of corporate building. Ornamentalism has its origin in the neo-Gothic/Art Noveau type of corporate building. Today’s postmodern architecture and interior design is characterized by style pluralism and the absence of a unifying style. A wide variety of colors, shapes, and materials –sometimes in minimalist, other times in ornamentalist fashion- are used today.
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Complexity And Representation in Visual Arts, Opera, Architecture, Fashion, and Culinary Design (each quadrant from top to bottom)
MINIMALIST REALISM
ORNAMENTALIST REALISM
Pop Art
Impressionism
Wagner
Verdi and Puccini
Functionalism
Art Noveau
Yoji Yamamoto
Moschino and Versace
Californian and Italian
Chinese and Thai
MINIMALIST ABSTRACTION
ORNAMENTALIST ABSTRACTION
Constructivism
Absract painting (Kandinsky)
R. Strauss, Glass
Stravinsky, Schoenberg
Bauhaus
Postmodernism
Armani and Montana
Valentino
Japanese
French
Style Dimension 2: Representation To what extent do you want to represent reality in your aesthetic elements? In the arts, the term realism is commonly used to refer to the (often life-like) depiction of the world of objects and human beings. In contrast, abstraction relies on the immediate impact of colors and forms; neither the work itself nor any of its parts represent or symbolize any objects in the real world. All corporate elements (logo, uniform, product and packaging, interior and exterior of buildings and forms of communication) can be viewed as realist if their forms make conscious use of associations to objects in the real world and abstract if they do not. In the past century, we can see a clear trend toward more abstract designs. The symbolism of Greek columns that incorporate figural representations belongs to the
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aesthetic of century-old universities but not to the modern corporation. But realism should not be discounted as a potentially powerful source of images. Cigna moved from the generic corporate look of its abstract "blue box" logo to one that depicts a stylized tree over the company name, a switch that better expresses Cigna's corporate identity as a family of "caring" businesses.
Merging Message with Style: the Case of Naturalism. A particular form of realism is naturalism, a style that does not refer to specific objects of nature but to nature as a whole. Naturalism is frequently found in products and marketing aimed at the environmentally conscious. Its primary color scheme uses hues found in or reminiscent of nature and organic materials. In retail environments it often uses soothing sounds. and music that evoke natural associations such as water or wind. Unpolished woods, unbleached cotton, rough papers, and natural, recyclable materials are essential for an environmentally friendly, "greed' style. All these elements (in conjunction with soothing New Age music, subtle fragrances, and soft light-brown colors) are found in the product line and retail outlets of Origins, the "green' brand from cosmetics firm Estee Lauder.
Using Realism to Create Identities. While abstraction has so dominated the corporate aesthetic that most organizations use abstract paintings and sculpture in the lobbies of their headquarters, some companies stand out by using their exteriors and interiors to refer to their product line or culture. The Disney buildings in Florida, designee by postmodern architect Michael Graves, are highly representational, even the corporate buildings and hotels for guests. The architect's drawings reveal that the animation building is mouse-shaped, and the building's entryway features a three-story version of the hat Mickey Mouse wore in the movie Fantasia. This is in line with Disney's corporate mission of creating fantasies and experiences and presenting itself to the public as actors and players.
Style Dimension 3: Perceived Movement How dynamic do you want your organization or brand to appear? Most of the world is familiar with Nike's trademark and logo, the "swoosh." If one were to classify it in the stylistic dimensions above, its qualities suggest an abstract minimalist style. In contrast, its major competitor, Reebok, originally used a block-letter rendering of its name with a representation of the British flag, appearing to reflect a more representational but still a minimalist style. Yet, the difference in the appeal of the two logos was evident. It is captured by a third relevant dimension, that of movement. Nike logo seems "dynamic." The curving stripe depicts movement trough its snapshot-like portrayal of wind in action. In contrast, the Reebok approach appeared static. One would expect an athletic-shoe designer to create a dynamic style, and in fact Reebok has added two swoosh-like marks to their logo, creating a more dynamic feel. When FedEx redesigned its name and logo in the early nineties, it also added dynamicism to it; the new logo has a secret arrow, created in the white space between the "E" and "x."
Creating Broadcast Identities. The perceived movement dimension is particularly relevant when corporate elements are depicted in motion or in action. For example, in TV advertising and other displays, some logos become moving images to show an organization's dynamic nature. The logo, for example, contains at the bottom a line that becomes a dynamic laser beam in TV ads. Similarly, the new logo for LG (Korea's Lucky Gold star Group) shows the development of the letter strokes into a friendly face which then moves outward beyond its own boundaries to depict the "face change." Movements and their perceptions as slow or fast -static or dynamic- are also relevant in the context of service situations that require one or the other quality. Express mail carrier DHL’s name on corporate materials has a pronounced slant to the right, creating the impression of haste and speed.
Style Dimension 4: Potency How overwhelming do you want your brand or organization to appear? The degree of potency as applied to corporate or brand identity refers to whether an identity comes across as strong, aggressive, and loud or as weak, subdued, and quiet. The familiar package design for Procter & Gamble's Tide laundry detergent uses a bright shade of orange and features a bulls-eye design that expands off of the package, conveying a loud, powerful identity.
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The approach of "bargain companies" is often on the aggressive and loud side of the spectrum. "Biggest sale ever!" and other hard-hitting selling techniques are typically announced in big letters in print ads or screamed at the customer in TV ads. Classy, upscale selling approaches are often subdued and quiet. Lippincott & Margulies, an identity and image management firm, created a successful, quiet identity of understated elegance for Nissan's Infiniti automobile. Nissan faced the challenge of standing out against other, mostly European, luxury car makers when it entered the U. S. market in the early 1990s. The car was positioned as a distinctive piece of Japanese culture and craftsmanship and marketed separately from other Nissan products. "For this approach to succeed, we felt that a unique style, elegance and sophistication had to be projected in the name of the, automobile, the layout and look of the showroom, and the advertising, promotional literatures and signs." The logo was derived from a symbol for infinity and was reminiscent of Japan’s most revered mountain, Mount Fuji. Two-page ads showed pictures of water and rock (rather than the car itself) on the right side and, on the left, answered in a Zen-like fashion the question "What is luxury?" Special attention was paid to small details such as seasonal greeting cards, which were offered to buyers in beautiful, natural wrapping paper. The campaign was widely acknowledged for its clutter-breaking nature and established the brand as a unique luxury vehicle.
SUMMARY Styles are visual (or auditory, olfactory, or tactile) expressions of an organization's or brand's identity. Styles are created by designers based on input provided by managers and strategic design consultants. Ideally, they reflect the private self of an organization or brand. The bright red colors of Coca-Cola's logo and the vibrant colors in its advertising, express the youthfulness of the brand; the whimsical shapes and displays of a Swatch watch express its fashion-orientation; and the grandness of its music expresses United's positioning as a world-wide airline. But styles alone are insufficient to express an identity. Style without content is l’art pour l’art. To be effective, styles must be combined with themes that express an organization's or brand's private self more succinctly and more directly. How managers can use themes for identity planning is the subject of the next chapter.
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Brand Design Het vormen en vormgeven van merken Dit is het eerste boek en naslagwerk dat de marketingtheorie koppelt aan de designpraktijk. Brand Design is ‘hot’. Merken worden steeds belangrijker voor bedrijven, de overheid en zelfs voor non-profitorganisaties. Men beseft dat het vormen en vormgeven van de merk-identiteit met beleid moet gebeuren. Dit boek biedt de lezer daarvoor kennis en nieuwe inzichten. Het is geschreven voor iedereen die werkt met merken of daarvoor wordt opgeleid. Het boek geeft informatie over merken, marktstrategieën, een Brand Design-model en een nieuwe visie om tot de essentie van het merk te komen: Brand-ENERGY. Aangevuld met een praktische driestappenplan veel praktijkvoorbeelden en een interactief deel op www.boek-branddesign.nl. Er zijn veel boeken geschreven over marketing en merken, maar nog niet over Brand Design.
PRENTICE HALL Pearson Education ISBN 90-430-0667-X 2003
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DEFINITIES VAN HET MERK Er leiden vele wegen naar Rome. Zo zijn er ook veel definities van het merk in omloop. Een korte bloemlezing leert dat het vooral de invalshoek van de bedenker is die bepaalt met welke woorden het merk gedefinieerd wordt. Tijdens mijn marketingstudie was Philip Kotler mijn goeroe. Zijn definitie van een merk luidt: 'A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of selIers and to differentiate them from those of competitors.’ De definitie van Kotler is vooral geformuleerd vanuit de aanbieder van het merk. Niet verwonderlijk, omdat in de jaren tachtig de macht van de merkaanbieders maximaal was en er sterk vanuit die machtspositie over marketing en merken werd gedacht. Deze definitie wordt in aangepaste vorm nog steeds gebruikt in de Benelux Merkenwet voor het (juridisch) registreren van merken: 'Als individuele merken worden beschouwd de benamingen, tekeningen, afdrukken, stempels, letters, cijfers, vormen van waren of van verpakkingen, en alle andere tekens die dienen om de waren van ondernemingen te onder scheiden.’ Een definitie die veel meer uitgaat van het belang van een merk en de betekenis die het kan hebben voor consumenten is van Rik Riezeboss: 'Een merk is ieder teken dat in staat is de waren of diensten van een onderneming te onderscheiden en dat in materiële dan wel immateriële zin een zekere betekenis kan hebben voor consumenten.’ Een merkomschrijving die volledig uitgaat van de consument is van Giep Franzen: 'Een merk bestaat alleen in de hersenen van mensen. Het is een netwerk van associaties tussen elementen in het geheugen. Die associaties zijn het resultaat van gezamenlijke, gelijktijdige verwerking in ruimte en tijd van zintuiglijke prikkels en van het denken over verschillende fenomenen in relatie tot elkaar.’ De kern van de omschrijving volgende zeven componenten: 1. merkawareness 2. merkbetekenissen 3. merkgevoelens 4. merkpositionering 5. merkattitude 6. merkgedragstendentie 7. merkrelatie
van Franzen is het begrip 'associatief netwerk' dat bestaat uit de (bekendheid met het merk) (koppeling van het merk aan betekenis volle beelden en informatie) (emotionele responsen op het merk) (indelen van het merk ten opzichte van andere merken) (houding ten opzichte van het merk, bijvoorbeeld merkvoorkeur) (autonome neiging het merk weer te kopen) (merktrouw en merkbetrokkenheid).
Wat echter in geen van alle merkdefinities voorkomt, is dat merken energie uitstralen. Energie die leidt tot toegevoegde waarde, energie waar je als ontvanger, als consument, wat mee kunt en waar je mogelijk zelf ook weer energie van krijgt. De marketeer laadt het merk met de energie van zijn/haar keuze en als dit goed gebeurt ontvangt de juiste consument deze energie op de juiste wijze. Deze energie van het merk kunnen we, weinig origineel maar wel heel duidelijk, Brand-ENERGY noemen. In hoofdstuk 4 wordt dit uitgebreid besproken, als belangrijke basis om binnen het Brand Design-proces te komen tot de essentie van het merk en de merk-identiteit verder te verfijnen. Voor de definitie van het merk echter, is het nuttig nu vast de hoofdlijnen van het concept van Brand-ENERGY toe te lichten.
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Brand-ENERGY We kunnen drie soorten energiestromen onderscheiden die het merk kan uitstralen naar de consument: 1. Fysieke merk-energie: 2. Mentale merk-energie: 3. Spirituele merk-energie:
heeft betrekking op het materiële dat een merk kan bieden, bijvoorbeeld de snelheid van een Porsche. heeft betrekking op het emotionele en functionele dat een merk kan bieden, bijvoorbeeld de status en waarde van een Porsche. heeft betrekking op het intuïtieve en onbewuste dat een merk kan bieden. Bijvoorbeeld het verwezenlijken van een jongensdroom met de aanschaf van 17 een Porsche.
Een voorbeeld voor een merk in ziektekostenverzekeringen: 1. Fysieke merk-energie: samenstelling van de dekking. 2. Mentale merk-energie: de zekerheid alles goed geregeld te heb ben. 3. Spirituele merk-energie: een actief leven kunnen leiden (omdat alles goed geregeld is). Niet alleen een marketeer voegt energie toe aan zijn merk. Ook retailers of tussenpersonen kunnen energie toevoegen. Bijvoorbeeld met garantie, inruilmogelijkheden, demonstraties, installatie of onderhoudscontracten. Daarnaast voegen consumenten zelf ook energie toe aan het merk. Bijvoorbeeld door opinieleiders en 'early adaptors', die met hun vroege aankoop een extra betekenis ('goedkeuring') aan het merk kunnen geven. Ook de volgers, de grote gebruikersgroep, kunnen lading aan het merk geven. De Smart werd in het begin veel gekocht door relatief oudere mensen, waardoor het merk gedeeltelijk een uitstraling kreeg die Mercedes niet voor ogen had. Bekende Nederlanders kunnen ook bijdragen in de energie van het merk, zowel positief door het te gebruiken, als negatief door het af te kraken. Zoals destijds Youp van 't Hek voor het alcohol-vrije biermerk Buckler. De werking van Brand-ENERGY ziet er schematisch als volgt uit:
Spirituele merk-energie MERK
CONSUMENT
Mentale merk-energie Fysieke merk-energie
TUSSENHANDEL Als we Brand-ENERGY meenemen in de definitie van het merk, ontstaat de volgende, nieuwe definitie: 'Ten merk bestaat uit een mix van energiestromen die een product of dienst waardevol en onderscheidend maakt voor de gebruiker/koper, de ondernemer en alle andere doelgroepen.’ Het gaat er niet om om hier te bepalen welke van alle genoemde definities nu de enig juiste is. Het belangrijkste is om te weten dat er diverse zienswijzen bestaan en dat we dus in een discussie over het merk in de gaten moeten houden of we hetzelfde vertrekpunt hebben.
SOORTEN MERKEN Zoals we niet kunnen spreken van dé definitie van een merk, kunnen we evenmin spreken over het merk. Er zijn veel verschijningsvormen van merken, die allen keurig naast elkaar op basis van de eigen functie kunnen bestaan. Het NIMA Marketing Lexicon onderscheidt zeven verschillende soorten merken:
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A-merk 'Ten merkartikel met een hogere geografische verkrijgbaarheid (in food een distributie van meer dan 65 %), een hoge bekendheid en een (constant) hoog gepercipieerd prijs- en kwaliteitsniveau.’ In de regel worden A-merken gebouwd en onderhouden met forse marketingondersteuning om het merk bekendheid te geven en te laden ten opzichte van andere merken. B-merk 'Ten merkartikel met een beperkte geografische verkrijgbaarheid (in food een distributie van < 65 %), lage bekendheid met een veelal lager gepercipieerd prijs- en kwaliteitsniveau dan een A-merk’. Vaak hebben deze merken geen of slechts een beperkte marketingondersteuning. C-merk 'Een gemerkt fabrikantenartikel met een minimale geografische verkrijgbaarheid, geringe bekendheid en met een laag gepercipieerd prijs- en kwaliteitsniveau.’ Normaliter hebben C-merken geen marketingondersteuning. D-merk = Distribuantenmerk = winketmerk = private Label 'Een merk dat eigendom is van een retailorganisatie of -formule, dat geïdentificeerd wordt door de naam die deze organisatie/formule aan dit merk heeft gegeven en dat exclusief via de eigen organisatie wordt verkocht.’ Doel van het private label kan zijn: margeverruiming voor de retaiIer, klantenbinding en/of ondersteuning van de winkelformule. De mate van marketingondersteuning is sterk afhankelijk van de retailorganisatie: het Albert Heijn eigen merk wordt zwaar ondersteund, het SPAR-merk minimaal. Fancy merk 'Een door fabrikant of distributeur ad hoc gekozen merknaam, symbolen, tekens, kleur, vormgeving en/of verpakking voor een product dat eenmalig of slechts voor korte tijd op de markt is.’ Fancy merken komen we vaak tegen bij discountformules als Aldi en Lidl. Wit merk ‘Een merkloos product, met vaak een vrijwel onbedrukte witte verpakking.’ Me-too-product/-merk 'Een op de markt gebracht imitatieproduct/-merk zonder specifiek differentieel productvoordeel, in navolging van een reeds bestaand, veelal succesvol, product van een andere aanbieder.’ Supermarkten voeren in een productcategorie meestal het A-merk en qua prijs daaronder hun private label. Als het private label hoger in de markt gezet wordt, zoals bij Albert Heijn, ontstaat aan de onderkant ruimte voor een tweede private label als Euro Shopper of een fancy merk. Uit de Merkenmonitor van AC Nielsen blijkt dat van alle in Nederland in de supermarkt verkochte merken, ruim 70 % A-merken zijn. Zo'n 18 % is private label, dus resteert 12 % voor B-merken, C-merken en Fancy labels. De private labels groeien in aandeel, onder andere door de toename in koel-verse producten onder het winkelmerk. Door de groei van discounters als Aldi en Lidl groeit ook het aandeel fancy labels weer. De B- en C-merken zijn hiervan de dupe. Corporate Brands De NIMA-indeling is vooral gebaseerd op verpakte producten, met name 'fast moving consumer goods'. Naast deze Product Brands zijn er natuurlijk ook bedrijfsmerken, de Corporate Brands. Denk aan de Nederlandse Spoorwegen, KPN, Shell, Philips en KLM. Bij een Corporate Brand is de merknaam gelijk aan de ondernemingsnaam en denkt de consument bij het horen van het merk naast het product of de dienst vooral aan de onderneming. Zijn merken als Coca-Cola, Mars en Nike nu Product Brands of Corporate Brands? Het zijn zowel producten als bedrijven. Naar mijn mening zijn dit Product Brands, omdat de gemiddelde consument bij deze merken sterker zal denken aan de specifieke producten dan aan het bedrijf achter het merk. De merknaam is ook veel minder aan verandering onderhevig dan de bedrijfsnaam. Zo veranderde het bedrijf Mars onlangs de naam in Masterfoods, zonder dit te communiceren naar de consument. Ook door overnames veranderen de bedrijfsnamen achter de merken regelmatig. Zo is het merk Saroma (instant desserts) eigendom geweest van Van Nelle, van Douwe Egberts/SaraLee, van
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Honig/CSM en sinds kort is het van Heinz. In hoofdstuk 3 kom ik nog uitgebreid terug op Corporate Brands en Product Brands als belangrijke basis voor Brand Design. Business-to-businessmerken Een andere invalshoek voor het bekijken van merken is het onderscheid op basis van de gebruikersgroep: particulieren of bedrijven. Particulieren scheren we over het algemeen over één kam met het begrip 'consumenten'. Bedrijven zijn een andere, echt afwijkende, doelgroep. Ze kunnen als doelgroep afwijken in het gebruik van het product of de dienst. Bijvoorbeeld door het product als ingrediënt of halffabrikaat te gebruiken als onderdeel van het eigen product. Zoals het zout in de dropjes van Venco, de uitlaat onder een BMW of de verf op het speelgoed van Mattel. Daarnaast wijken bedrijven als doelgroep ook af in de beslissing met betrekking tot de aanschaf van het product. Neemt een consument de beslissing volledig voor zichzelf, in het bedrijfsleven is het vaak een aantal mensen, de Decision Making Unit (D.M.U.) die beslist. Hierin kunnen de verschillende deelnemers, bijvoorbeeld een financiële man (m/v), een productieman en een marketeer een eigen persoonlijke rol spelen vanuit hun vakgebied. Zij zullen ook anders naar het merk kijken en op andere gronden beslissen.
Mythische-merken Een interessante indeling van merken wordt gemaakt door Roland van Kralingen. Hij onderscheidt de merken vooral op basis van betrokkenheid, functionaliteit en expressiviteit. Schematisch:
STERK BETROKKEN
Informatie merken
Mythische merken
FUNKTIONEEL
EXPRESSIEF
Cluster merken
Territorium merken
BEPERKT BETROKKEN
Van Kralingen definieert hierin vier soorten merken: 1. Het mythische-merk • Van toepassing op producten als auto's, dure kleding, sieraden, cosmetica en luxe reizen. • Met een hoog financieel en sociaal risico: een Rolex-horloge is goed of erg fout. • Met een belangrijke rol voor design, high performance en ego. 2. Het product- of territorium-merk • Gebruikt voor producten als koffie, frisdranken, bier, snacks, sigaretten, en merken als McDonald's en H&M. • Met een laag aankooprisico. • Met een belangrijke rol voor het product zelf (binnen het merk).
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3. Het informatie-merk • Van toepassing op diensten als verzekeringen en banken en producten als wasmachines en minder exclusieve auto's. • Men heeft een grote informatiebehoefte, vaak gevoed door een groot financieel risico. • Het merk is slechts een kwaliteitsgarantie, het bepaalt niet de primaire keus. 4. Het cluster-merk • Gebruikt voor producten als wc-papier, wasmiddelen, margarine, lucifers, en winkelketens als Blokker en Aldi. • Een beperkte rol voor design ene go,maar een belangrijke rol voor de lage prijs. • Het product speelt de hoofdrol. We kunnen concluderen dat er veel verschijningsvormen van merken zijn. Het is voor aanvang van het Brand Design-proces van belang te weten welk type merk de basis vormt.
FUNCTIES VAN HET MERK Een merk kan veel functies vervullen. Deze functies kunnen sterk verschillen voor de ondernemer, de consument en de tussenliggende partijen. Het is daarom goed hier bij stil te staan. Functies voor de ondernemer Voor de ondernemer, de merkaanbieder, vervult het merk vooral commerciële functies: • Het merk vertegenwoordigt een grote financiële waarde, de Brand Equity, op basis van de verwachte toekomstige winst. Die zal voor een A-merk door de merkentrouw vaak langer op hoog niveau blijven dan voor een B- of C-merk. • Het merk en de invulling daarvan kan de basis vormen voor de (financiële) toegevoegde waarde op een product: Friki Kip 'n Wok (gemarineerde kipfilet met groente, direct te gebruiken in de wok) mag meer kosten dan een merkloze kipfilet van een willekeurige supermarkt. Een trui van Armani is uiteraard veel duurder dan een trui van Zeeman. • Een merk kan de basis vormen voor het (veronderstelde) productverschil met andere merken. Veel biermerken worden in een blind-producttest niet herkend, toch zal iemand uit Enschede niet snel een ander merk drinken dan Grolsch. • Een merkportfolio biedt de mogelijkheid meerdere soortgelijke producten op de markt te brengen onder andere merknamen. Bols Benelux had in 1995 zeven jonge-jenevermerken in de portfolio: Bokma, Bols, Hoppe, Henkes, Hartevelt, Claeryn en Hulstkamp. Zonder deze merken zou de slijter veel minder liters jonge jenever van Bols Benelux op de plank zetten. • Een merk biedt door registratie de mogelijkheid tot juridische bescherming en vervolging tegen imitaties. • Een merk biedt ook de mogelijkheid makkelijker nieuwe markten te betreden op basis van de reeds opgebouwde merkbekendheid en merkvoorkeur. De sigarettenmerken Camel, Pall Mall en Marlboro hebben met succes hun merkwaarden weten te vertalen naar een kledinglijn, mede gedreven vanuit de verwachting in de toekomst niet meer te mogen communiceren vanuit tabak. • Een merk kan door het design voor onderscheidend vermogen zorgen op de plaats van verkoop. Conimex, met de opvallende serie gele verpakkingen, valt door de blokpresentatie sterk op in het schap van de supermarkt. Het blauw van de KLM-stewardessen is zó eigen dat ze op Schiphol meer opvallen en het net lijkt of je ze vaker ziet dan andere stewardessen. • Het merk kan voor een onderneming een interne functie vervullen. Bijvoorbeeld als motivatie van de medewerkers: 'Living the brand'. Functies voor de consument Voor de consument, de merkafnemer, vervult het merk vooral functies in het gebruik en in de beleving: • Het merk biedt de consument vertrouwen, de zekerheid van constante kwaliteit en de garantie dat het product of de dienst ook doet wat het belooft. Positieve merkervaringen versterken dit gevoel, terwijl bij negatieve ervaringen het merk een waarschuwingsfunctie krijgt:'dat merk niet meer kopen'. • Het merk kan de basis worden voor merkentrouw. Er worden geen andere merken meer overwogen en de consument koopt het merk zonder er bij na te denken.
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• •
Het merk geeft ook visuele herkenning en houvast in de kakofonie van andere producten en merken. Veel consumenten kopen in de supermarkt op basis van kleurimpressie: bij het koffieschap het rode pak pakken, zonder te checken of dit werkelijk Douwe Egberts is. Merken kunnen ook onderscheidend vermogen en status bieden. Iemand met een Rolex-horloge om zijn pols draagt een bepaalde boodschap uit, net als de berijder van een Citroën DS en de drager van een Australian-trainingspak.
. Functies voor de retailer/tussenpersoon Voor de tussenhandel, de merkdistribuanten, vervult het merk net als voor de ondernemers vooral commerciële functies: • Het merk biedt de mogelijkheid marge te kunnen maken. Voor een zak merkloze diepvrieskroketten wil de consument niet veel betalen, maar een luxe doosje Van Dobben Croquetten mag per vier stuks meer dan 2 euro kosten. • Het merk kan traffic genereren: een fles Coca-Cola voor de halve prijs trekt klanten, evenals een gratis Waterman-vulpen bij het afsluiten van een spaarrekening. • Het voeren van breed scala aan merken kan helpen bij het positioneren van een winkelformule. Albert Heijn had jarenlang het imago dat je daar alle grote merken kon kopen (nu zijn die voor een deel weer vervangen door het eigen AH-merk). • Een merk kan zorgen voor impulsaankopen. Ook als er geen wit bier op het boodschappenlijstje staat, kan die display met speciale Hoegaarden-verpakkingen met gratis glas aantrekkelijk genoeg zijn het toch te kopen. • Het A-merk vormt een prijsbenchmark voor het winkelmerk. Het vormt de referentie om een lagere prijs te kunnen hanteren, zoals met Euro Shopper bij Albert Heijn of om zelf ook een hoge prijs te kunnen vragen, zoals voor het Albert Heijn-merk zelf. • Soms is het merk de basis voor exclusiviteit in de distributie. Alleen de Saab dealer mag nieuwe Saabs verkopen en de kleding van mode-ontwerper Valentino is alleen in een select aantal (betere) winkels verkrijgbaar.
MERKPERSOONLIJKHEID EN MERK-IDENTITEIT De begrippen merkpersoonlijkheid en merk-identiteit zorgen voor veel verwarring in discussies over het merk. Zelfs in boeken en artikelen in vakbladen worden de begrippen vaak door elkaar gebruikt. Na bestudering van veel definities en gesprekken met mensen in het vak, kom ik tot de conclusie dat er in grote lijnen twee stromingen, twee visies, zijn: die van de marketeers en die van designers. De verschillen ontstaan vooral door het begrip identiteit. 'Marketeersvisie' De visie van de meeste marketeers wordt onder andere verwoord door Kapférer en Giep Franzen. De definitities die Giep Franzen en Marieke van den Berg9 hanteren luiden: ‘Merk-identiteit is het unieke samenstel van fysieke, sociale en mentale componenten van een merk, voor zover ze eigen, onderscheidend, centraal,duurzaam en saillant zijn.’ ‘Merkpersoonlijkheid is de beleving enlof beschrijving van een merk in termen van menselijke persoonlijkheidskenmerken, die het resultaat is van een (autonoom of geconstrueerd) proces van personifiëring van het merk op basis van het geheel aan merk-attributen in het geheugen en die gepaard gaat met een emotionele merkrespons.’ Met andere woorden: merkpersoonlijkheid is het gebruik van menselijke begrippen als mannelijk, stoer en eerlijk, als typering van het merk. Volgens Franzen en van den Berg is het verschil tussen merkidentiteit en merkpersoonlijkheid het volgende: ‘Merk-identiteit ligt aan de basis van de ontwikkeling van een merkpersoonlijkheidsconcept. Merkpersoonlijkheid vloeit als het ware voort uit merk-identiteit. Merkpersoonlijkheid is de manifestatie van de merk-identiteit naar buiten toe; het is de uitstraling van de identiteit. Om anderen te laten zien wie je bent, moetje eerst zelf weten wie je bent. Bij merken is dit eigenlijk precies zo.’
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'Designersvisie' Voor veel grafisch ontwerpers is de vormgeving van een merk de kern waar het om draait. Dit vertaalt zich ook in de definities van merk-identiteit en merkpersoonlijkheid. Een toonaangevend boek op vormgeversgebied is 'De Kracht van verpakking'door Fons Koopmans (in opdracht van de BNO Packaging Designbureaus). Daarin staan de volgende definities: ‘Merk-identiteit: de beschrijving van de oppervlakkige identiteitskenmerken van een merk. Het gaat om harde kenmerken als merknaam, logo, kleur, etc.’ ‘Merkpersoonlijkheid: de karakteristieke elementen van het merk die de persoonlijkheid van een merk beschrijven.’ Merk-identiteit en merkpersoonlijkheid hebben in de design-wereld dus beide betrekking op een beschrijving van het merk. Het verschil is dat de merk-identiteit een meer oppervlakkige beschrijving is van de verschijningsvorm van een merk. De merkpersoonlijkheid gaat dieper, het geeft de kern van het merk aan. Het verschil tussen het uitgangspunt van de marketeers en dat van designers lijkt zich ook te vertalen in de volgtijdelijkheid van de begrippen. Franzen en van den Berg stellen heel expliciet dat de merk-identiteit de basis vormt van de merkpersoonlijkheid, terwijl de 'designers-omschrijving' van merk-identiteit vooral betrekking heeft op de buitenkant en de merkpersoonlijkheid meer op de kern. Schematisch: ‘Marketeersvisie’: De merk-identiteit vormt de kern van het merk en uit zich in de merkpersoonlijkheid.
MERK INDENTITEIT
MERKPERSOONLIJKHEID
‘Designersvisie’: De merkpersoonlijkheid vormt de kern van het merk en uit zich door middel van de merkidentiteit.
MERK PERSOONLIJKHEID MERK IDENTITEIT
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Het is hier niet van belang welke zienswijze de juiste is. Beide visies zijn gebaseerd op de theoretische en praktische benadering vanuit een 'beroepsgroep'. Het is wel van belang dat iedereen dezelfde taal spreekt, zowel in de fase van strategisch Brand Design-advies, als tijdens het operationele Brand Design-proces. In paragraaf 2.3 kom ik hier bij de ontwikkeling van een model voor Brand Design uitvoerig op terug.
WAT IS BRAND DESIGN? De belangrijkste aspecten met betrekking tot het merk zijn besproken in hoofdstuk 1, die van design in het algemeen in de vorige paragraaf. Maar wat valt er te melden over de koppeling van die twee? Veel: zowel qua definiërering als qua toepassing is Brand Design een dankbaar onderwerp. Voor de definitie van Brand Design zijn er vijf mogelijke varianten te bedenken: A. ‘Brand Design is het proces van ontwikkelen en optimaliseren van de interne en externe basispositie en -beleving van het merk door middel van het creatief en consistent gebruik van designkenmerken (vorm, lay-out, logo, kleur, typografie, illustraties) voor de diverse design-dragers: producten, diensten, verpakkingen, communicatie, bedrijfspanden en interieur.’ Definitie A, een variant op de definitie van design uit paragraaf 2.1, is academisch juist, maar complex: door de bomen is het bos aan het oog onttrokken. B. 'Brand Design is het vertalen van de positionering van een merk van woord naar beeld.’ Definitie B gaat vooral uit van het visuele proces van Brand Design. De positionering van het merk in woord is hierin een gegeven en moet slechts vertaald gaan worden naar beelden. In de praktijk is dit echter wel een vaak voorkomende situatie van Brand Design. C. ‘Brand Design is het vormen en vormgeven van merken.’ Definitie C maakt de koppeling tussen het ontwikkelen (vormen) van het merk zelf (de inhoud, de basis) en het vormgeven hiervan. Brand Design beslaat hier de zowel de binnenkant als de buitenkant van het merk. D. ‘Brand Design is de vormgeving van een merk in alle verschijningsvormen, zoals de consument dat waarneemt, met als resultaat herkenbaarheid, vertrouwen en meerwaarde vanuit (gebruiks)functionaliteit en merk-beleving.’ Definitie D gaat uit van het resultaat van Brand Design en wat dit oplevert voor de consument en de onderneming. Tijdens het proces van Brand Design is het belangrijk deze resultaten continu als uitgangspunten in de gaten te houden. Deze definitie gaat echter ook vooral uit van de vormgeving van een merk. E. ‘Brand Design geeft inhoud en relevantie aan merken.’ Definitie E (met dank aan Willem van Prooijen) gaat vooral uit van de beleving van het merk en minder van de uiterlijke verschijningsvormen. Na afweging van de voor- en nadelen van de vijf definities gaat mijn voorkeur uit naar definitie C 'Het vormen en vormgeven van merken.' De belangrijkste reden hiervoor is de dubbele betekenis: zowel het vormen van merken als het vormgeven van merken. 'Het vormen en vormgeven van merken is dan ook niet toevallig de subtitel van dit boek.
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De definitie kan zowel gebruikt worden voor Product Brands zoals Coca-Cola en Blue Band, als voor Corporate Brands zoals KLM en NS als voor Concept Brands zoals Boss en Swatch. De definitie geldt niet alleen voor grote commerciële ondernemingen, maar ook voor het MKB (Midden en Klein Bedrijf), de overheid, semi-overheid en nonprofit-organisaties als het Rode Kruis, WNF en Foster Parents Plan. De hier gehanteerde definitie van Brand Design bestaat dus uit twee elementen: 1. Het vormen van merken 2. Het vormgeven van merken 1. Het vormen van merken De eerste stap in het Brand Design-proces is het ontwikkelen en/of vastleggen van de basis van het merk. Als we kijken naar de mens is zijn of haar basis vastgelegd in het DNA, de structuur die bepaalt hoe lang en breed we zijn, hoe gezond, hoe we ons bewegen en hoe we ons zullen ontwikkelen. Daarbovenop heeft de mens zijn persoonlijkheid en ziel, die bepalen hoe we ons gedragen: zijn we eerlijk, gedreven, introvert of extravert, actief of lui, emotioneel of rationeel? Voor een merk kunnen we dezelfde conclusie trekken. Het innerlijk van een merk bestaat uit het DNA van het merk (hoe is het opgebouwd?), aangevuld met de 'ziel' van het merk (hoe gedraagt het zich?). Voor nieuwe merken zullen de DNA-structuur en de ziel volledig ontwikkeld moeten worden. Voor bestaande merken bestaat dit reeds, maar kan het op papier vastleggen hiervan een eye-opener zijn. Vaak heeft de marketeer een uitstekend gevoel voor het innerlijk van zijn merk, maar blijkt het exact omschrijven erg moeilijk. Een merk kan na verloop van tijd ook verouderd zijn, niet meer in deze tijd passen, of door activiteiten van concurrenten links of rechts zijn ingehaald. Dan is het zaak hiervoor open te staan in het Brand Design-proces. Veranderingen in het DNA en de ziel van het merk kunnen en mogen niet te groot zijn; consistentie is belangrijk. Het duurt lang voor eventuele aanpassingen gerealiseerd zijn en het merk-imago veranderd is. Vergelijk het maar met mensen. Nelson Mandela is de personificatie geworden van de strijd tegen de Apartheid. Als hij zakelijker zou willen worden, bijvoorbeeld als spokesman voor Shell, zal het zeer lang duren voor hij daarin geloofwaardig wordt. Dit omdat velen hem zullen blijven zien als de gevangene op Robbeneiland. 2. Het vormgeven van merken Het tweede deel van het Brand Design-proces is het meest zichtbaar en tastbaar. Zowel voor de marketeers als voor consumenten. Om het DNA en de ziel van het merk heen, wordt nu de beeldtaal van het merk ontworpen. Een beeldtaal die onder andere bestaat uit een merk logo, kleurstelling, typografie, teksten, vorm, materiaal, lay-out en visuals (illustraties, pictogrammen, foto's). Deels tastbaar, deels alleen 'invoelbaar'. Om het poëtisch te zeggen: 'Het innerlijk wordt weerspiegeld in het uiterlijk' Het creatief ontwikkelen van deze beeldtaal kan gebeuren op basis van ruwe uitingen, zoals concepten voor de huisstijl, verpakkingen en website, maar kan ook eerst 'middelen-vrij' ontworpen worden. Vaak worden hiervoor moodboards gebruikt die een visuele vertaling geven van het merk in kleuren en sferen. Na het ontwikkelen van de algemene beeldtaal kan de doorvertaling plaatsvinden naar concrete design-dragers als verpakking, brochures, advertenties, website en interne communicatie. Het merk krijgt dan naast een gezicht ook 'handen en voeten'. Soms is de beeldtaal gebaseerd op een zeer strak grid waarvan niet mag worden afgeweken (zoals bij McDonald's en de Hema). Soms is er binnen de beeldtaal meer vrijheid in de doorvertaling naar de verschillende design-dragers, zoals bij de Trekpleister-drogisterijen. . Veranderingen in de beeldtaal zijn mogelijk, maar moeten behoedzaam plaatsvinden. Het merk in al zijn verschijningsvormen moet herkenbaar blijven voor de eigen onderneming en voor de consument. Als de verandering om strategische redenen toch groot moet zijn, zoals bijvoorbeeld bij de overgang van Libertel naar Vodafone, is forse media-ondersteuning naar de consument noodzakelijk (zie paragraaf 3.6).
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De invulling van de beeldtaal hoeft niet per se voor elke designdrager uniform te zijn. Dit kan een mix zijn van meerdere designdragers die kunnen en mogen verschillen op diverse gelegenheden. Vergeleken met mensen: iemand draagt door de week naar zijn werk een kostuum en stropdas, in het weekend een spijkerbroek met slobbertrui en naar de golfbaan een nette katoenen broek en poloshirt. Geen probleem, het is en blijft dezelfde persoon die een deel van zijn uiterlijk aanpast aan de betreffende situatie. Echter, met een wenkbrauwpiercing is dezelfde persoon minder geloofwaardig. Voorzichtigheid met het invullen van de design-dragers is dus geboden. De kern van Brand Design bestaat dus uit het vormen van het merk: het ontwikkelen en vastleggen van het DNA en de ziel van het merk. Van daaruit wordt het merk vormgegeven, wordt de merk-beeldtaal bepaald. De vraag dient zich aan hoe het vormen en vormgeven van het merk zich verhoudt tot de begrippen merk-identiteit en de merkpersoonlijkheid. In paragraaf 1.6 hebben we geconstateerd dat dit beladen begrippen zijn, die door de meeste marketeers anders gezien worden dan door de meeste designers. Samenvattend: 'Marketeers-visie': De merk-identiteit vormt de kern van het merk en uit zich in de merkpersoonlijkheid. Dus: • de kern = vormen van het merk = merk-identiteit • het uiterlijk = vormgeven van het merk = merkpersoonlijkheid 'Designers-visie': De merkpersoonlijkheid vormt de kern van het merk en uit zich in de merk-identiteit. Dus: • de kern = vormen van het merk = merkpersoonlijkheid • het uiterlijk =vormgevenvanhetmerk =merk-identiteit Het is bij Brand Design natuurlijk heel belangrijk dat marketeers en designers dezelfde taal spreken. De een is opdrachtgever van het proces, de ander is adviseur en uitvoerder van het Brand Designproces. Als de een bij merk-identiteit denkt aan het innerlijk van het merk en de ander aan de vormgeving van de buitenkant ontstaat een probleem. Als merk-identiteit en merkpersoonlijkheid zoveel verwarring oproepen zijn er twee mogelijkheden: de ene groep zal de a * ndere groep moeten overtuigen, of er worden andere termen gebruikt. Het probleem is: wie heeft er gelijk, wie beslist dat en hoe wordt dat gecommuniceerd? Het meest voor de hand liggend is aangepaste termen te hanteren. Als oplossing van het probleem van de verwarring kies ik voor gebruik van het woord merk-identiteit, maar dan wel opgesplitst in twee begrippen: MENTALE MERK-IDENTITEIT VISUELE MERK-IDENTITEIT De mentale merk-identiteit vormt de basis, het DNA en de ziel, van het merk. Dit is het vormen van het merk in de definitie van Brand Design. De visuele merk-identiteit ontstaat daarna, door het vormgeven van het merk.
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Schematisch:
Merk vormen = Mentale merkidenteit
Merk vormgeven = Visuele merkidentiteit
Brand Design versus Brand Building Brand Design is het 'marktrijp maken' van het merk. Na het proces van het vormen en vormgeven, zal het proces van het opbouwen en vestigen van het merk moeten starten. Vaak wordt dit 'Brand Building' genoemd. Voor nieuwe merken zal dus eerst het Brand Design-proces moeten plaatsvinden en daarna het Brand Building proces. Voor bestaande merken zal tijdens het proces van Brand Building frequent bekeken moeten worden of het merk nog steeds voldoet aan alle interne en externe wensen en eisen. Zo niet, dan zal door middel van Brand Design de merk-identiteit moeten worden aangepast. Waarna het Brand Building-proces weer (in aangepaste vorm) verder gaat. Hoe vullen we nu de mentale merk-identiteit in? Met welke elementen vormen we de visuele merk-identiteit? En wat gebeurt er vervolgens mee? Het zou handig zijn hier een model voor te hebben, als basis voor het Brand Design-proces en als checklist om te zien of er niets vergeten wordt. Kortom: een Brand Design-model.
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HET BRAND DESIGN-MODEL Op basis van de definitie en de begrippen mentale en visuele merkidentiteit is een Brand Design-model ontwikkeld met de volgende drie onderdelen: 1.
het ontwikkelen en vastleggen van de mentale merk-identiteit
2.
het ontwerpen van de visuele merk-identiteit (de 'beeldtaal')
3.
het doorvertalen van de beeldtaal naar de mix van designdragers,die te clusteren zijn in vier hoofdgroepen: • product-Idienstgerelateerde design-dragers • externe-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers • interne-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers • onderneminggerelateerde design-dragers
Schematisch:
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De mentale merk-identiteit Bij het invullen van de mentale merk-identiteit gaat het erom zo duidelijk mogelijk weer te geven waar het merk voor staat, wat het DNA en de ziel zijn van het merk. Soms zal een marketeer dit volledig uitgewerkt hebben, soms zal hij/zij aan een bureau vragen dit te doen. In de praktijk wordt deze vraag bij veel soorten bureaus neergelegd, variërend van designbureaus tot reclamebureaus en adviseurs als de Positioneringsgroep. Meestal is het echter een gezamenlijk proces van opdrachtgever en bureau dat in een of meerdere sessies besproken en uitgewerkt wordt. De invulling van de mentale merk-identiteit kan met zes onderdelen goed verwoord worden: 1. Merk-visie 2. Merk-missie 3. Merk-kernconcept 4. Merkwaarden 5. Merkbelofte 6. Gewenste merkpersoonlijkheid Onderstaand een korte toelichting van de zes begrippen. In hoofdstuk 6 zal ik bij de invulling van de mentale merk-identiteit als onderdeel van het Brand Design-driestappenplan verder ingaan op deze begrippen en een aantal concrete voorbeelden geven. 1. Merk-visie De merk-visie is de omschrijving van het beeld van (de positie van) het merk in de toekomst, hoe het merk eruit zou moeten zien. Het beschrijft de horizon en geeft richting aan de langetermijnstrategie. Als de bedrijfsnaam en de merknaam gelijk zijn, kan de merk-visie gelijk zijn aan de ondernemings-visie. De merk-visie is een beleidsinstrument en wordt meestal niet naar buiten uitgedragen. 2. Merk-missie De merk-missie ('mission statement') is een concrete opdracht om de merk-visie te realiseren. Vaak in een bepaald tijdsbestek en op aspiratieniveau, dus op hoger niveau dan de te realiseren lange termijn doelstellingen. De merk-missie moet intern leven en wordt ook vaak extern aan verschillende doelgroepen (financieel en arbeidsmarkt) gecommuniceerd. Visie en missie worden vaak onjuist gebruikt, daarom geef ik in paragraaf 6.2 een meer uitgebreide toelichting. 3. Merk-kernconcept Een merk krijgt een plaats in het geheugen van de consument en vormt daarin een associatief-netwerk. Het merk-kernconcept is het haakje waaraan het merk wordt opgehangen. Soms worden hiervoor ook de termen 'merkdomein' en 'Brand Essence' gebruikt. In principe kan er aan één haakje maar één merk hangen, dus is het belangrijk duidelijk de gewenste plek in de hersenen te claimen, zoals KLM = betrouwbaar (vliegen) en Volvo = veilig (autorijden). 4. Merkwaarden De merkwaarden ('Brand Values') geven in een aantal kernwoorden aan wat het merk waardevol maakt voor de consument. Zoals voor Douwe Egberts: genieten, lekkere koffie, verwennen, verrijken. 5. Merkbelofte De naam zegt het al: wat belooft het merk de consument. Soms is dit gelijk aan de pay-off die in advertising wordt gebruikt, zoals Philips: "Let's make things better". 6. Gewenste merkpersoonlijkheid Zoals in hoofdstuk 1 reeds is aangegeven, is de merkpersoonlijkheid de omschrijving van een merk in persoongebonden begrippen.
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Ter verduidelijking van de invulling van de onderdelen van de mentale merkidentiteit, onderstaand een voorbeeld op basis van eigen inschatting voor BMW. Mentale merk-identiteit van BMW: • Merk-visie : "Op lange termijn blijft er in de automarkt ruimte voor merken met technologische voorsprong door onderzoek en ontwikkeling." • Merk-missie: "The ultimate driving machine” • Merk-kernconcept: "driving pleasure." • Merkwaarden: kwaliteit, technologie, prestaties en exclusiviteit. • Merkbelofte: "BMWmaakt rijden geweldig” • Gewenste merkpersoonlijkheid: mannelijk, snel, stoer, geslaagd, stijlvol.
De visuele merk-identiteit De visuele merk-identiteit vormt de 'beeldtaal' van een merk. De vijf zintuigen, aangevuld met taal en personen, vormen de beste basis om de visuele merk-identiteit te verwoorden. In hoofdstuk 8 ga ik uitgebreid in op de mogelijkheden, eisen en wensen met betrekking tot de visuele merk-identiteit. Onderstaand een korte samenvatting van de zeven aspecten die de visuele merk-identiteit bepalen. 1. Zien: Hier gaat het om wat we waarnemen met onze ogen: kleuren, logo, typografie, lay-out, vorm, visuals, mensen, media, gebouwen, wagenpark en formulieren. Voor Brand Design is het zichtbare een van de belangrijkste aspecten, om dit de mens zich sterk ontwikkeld heeft op basis van visuele beoordeling. 2. Voelen: We kunnen direct (fysiek) voelen en indirect (mentaal) voelen. Aspecten daarbij zijn: textuur van het materiaal, warm, koud, glad, ruw, zacht, hard, het formaat, de handdruk van de mensen en de dikte van het tapijt. 3. Horen: Het gaat hier om wat we waarnemen met onze oren en met ons totale lichaam op basis van trillingen. We horen productgeluid: knapperig brood, stille stofzuigers of de motor van een Ferrari, en verpakkingsgeluid zoals bij het openen van een vacuüm koffiepak. We horen mensen en muziek. Dat laatste is in het Brand Design van sommige producten een belangrijk herkenningspunt, zoals het melodietje van 'Intel inside'. 4. Proeven: We proeven met de mond in combinatie met ruiken en zien en nemen dan onder andere waar: de smaak van producten (zoet, zuur, zout, bitter), de geserveerde koffie of de maaltijden in de kantine. 5. Ruiken: We doen veel indrukken op met onze neus. Variërend van prettige geuren als verse koffie of een nieuwe auto, tot vieze geuren als een baliemedewerker die de vorige dag knoflook heeft gegeten. 6. Taal: Met taal kan voor het merk een duidelijk eigen positie geclaimd worden. Denk aan "Heerlijk Helder Heineken" en "Grolsch, Vakmanschap is Meesterschap". De tone-of-voice (manier van spreken) bepaalt voor een belangrijk deel de identiteit van een merk: formeel, eigentijds, veel vakjargon, dicht bij de consument enzovoort. 7. Personen: Personen kunnen een belangrijk onderdeel worden van de identiteit van het merk. Bijvoorbeeld Cora van Mora, Monique van de Ven voor FBTO en Richard Branson voor Virgin. Gesponsorde atleten en sportploegen kunnen hun identiteit 'uitlenen' aan het merk.
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De design-dragers Voor het doorvertalen van de visuele merk-identiteit naar design-dragers is een mix van mogelijkheden beschikbaar. Deze mogelijkheden zijn te clusteren in vier hoofdgroepen: 1. product-Idienstgerelateerde design-dragers 2. externe-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers 3. interne-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers 4. onderneminggerelateerde design-dragers Iedere hoofdgroep bestaat uit een groot aantal individuele designdragers, die elk specifieke mogelijkheden bieden voor het uiten van Brand Design. Onderstaand een korte samenvatting per cluster van design-dragers. In paragraaf 7.3 ga ik hier meer in detail op in bij het invullen van het Brand Design-driestappenplan. 1. Product-Idienstgerelateerde design-dragers De product-Idienstgerelateerde design-dragers zijn direct of indirect gekoppeld aan het product en/of de dienst van de onderneming. Zij geven op directe en primaire wijze uiting aan de merk-identiteit. Voorbeelden van design-dragers kunnen zijn: producten, diensten, verpakkingen, gebruiksaanwijzingen en aanvullende promotionele producten. 2. Externe-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers Deze design-dragers hebben als doel ervoor te zorgen dat het merk, het product en/of de dienst bekend worden bij de verschillende doelgroepen. Met andere woorden: diverse vormen van marketingcommunicatie. Voor merken met weinig product-Idienstonderscheid ten opzichte van de concurrenten zijn dit de design-dragers die door de boodschap, lading en vormgeving voor het belangrijkste deel de merk-identiteit bepalen. Voorbeelden van design-dragers binnen dit cluster zijn: advertising, marketing-pr, sales promotion, websites, events, sponsoring, direct mail en brochures. 3. Interne-communicatiegerelateerde design-dragers Deze design-dragers hebben betrekking op alle intern gerichte communicatie met betrekking tot het merk. De merk-identiteit zal eerst intern gecommuniceerd moeten worden voor het merk zich naar buiten kan uiten. Enkele voorbeelden van intern gerichte design- dragers zijn: het personeelsblad, kick-offmeetings, bedrijfsuitjes, interne pre- sentaties in vitrines en lijsten aan de muur, wijze van rapporteren en de brand-manual. 4. Onderneminggerelateerde design-dragers De onderneminggerelateerde design-dragers zijn vooral van belang als de merknaam gelijk is aan de bedrijfsnaam, zoals bij KLM, Shell en Kruidvat. Maar ook als dit niet zo is, bijvoorbeeld voor Trekpleister als onderdeel van Kruidvat, kan het toch nuttig zijn met deze design-dragers rekening te houden. Omdat ook vanuit Trekpleister gecommuniceerd wordt 'als ware het een bedrijf, bijvoorbeeld met klachtreactiebrieven naar consumenten of financiële afspraken naar toeleveranciers.De merk-identiteit kan doorvertaald worden naar onder andere de volgende onderneminggerelateerde design-dragers: briefpapier, visitekaartjes, corporate-pr, bedrijfspand, interieur, medewerkers, bedrijfskleding en het wagenpark. Tot zover de toelichting op het Brand Design-model. We hebben gezien dat we eerst de mentale merk-identiteit moeten ontwikkelen.Deze vormt de basis voor de visuele merk-identiteit. Die vervolgenswordt doorvertaald naar de diverse design-dragers. In deel 2 van dit boek, de praktijk, vormt dit model de basis van het Brand Design driestappenplan. En zal met een aantal praktijkvoorbeelden een en ander nader worden toegelicht. Nu eerst de functies van Brand Design.
FUNCTIES VAN BRAND DESIGN Brand Design is voor steeds meer managers een belangrijk onderwerp geworden. Binnen ondernemingen is het belang van merken gegroeid door het besef van de grote (toekomstige) financiële waarde van merken. Daardoor staat merkbeleid en dus ook Brand Design steeds hoger in de organisatie op de agenda. Ook gaan steeds meer dienstenaanbieders als banken, accountants, de (semi-)overheid ennon-profit- organisaties hun 'bedrijf' zien als een merk. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan de Belastingdienst met de merk-campagne: "Leuker kunnen we het niet maken, wel makkelijker."
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De afgelopen tien jaar heeft het 'communicatie-bombardement' naar de consument groteske vormen aangenomen. Enkele feiten: • achtmaal meer uitzenduren op tv 12000 vs 1990) • tienmaal meer reclame zendtijd op tv • dertienmaal meer radiocommercials • tweemaal zoveel reclamedrukwerk in de brievenbus • onmeetbare stijging van direct mail • onmeetbare stijging van informatie via internet (en volgens kenners is dit nog slechts het begin van de ontwikkeling). Wie hierin met een merk wil opvallen en overleven, moet als marketeer van goeden huize komen. Bron: Scan; 2001
Door de huidige ontwikkeling van de technologie en informatie, wordt het steeds makkelijker om concurrerende producten te imiteren. Vroeger zorgden de geheime recepten, patenten en unieke machines voor een duidelijke en langdurige voorsprong op de concurrentie. Nu is dit onderscheid veel kleiner of helemaal niet meer zichtbaar. Vrijwel alle merken zijn gebaseerd op producten of diensten van zeer goede kwaliteit. Dus zal het onderscheid op andere fronten gezocht moeten worden: service, prijs, verrassing, snelheid, functionaliteit, emotie en ... design ! Met Brand Design kan een eigen positie geclaimd worden, die bovendien bij het Benelux Merkenbureau is te beschermen. Inbreuk op de merkbescherming kan via de rechter, op grond van verwarring voor de consument, leiden tot verbod van de imitator. Brand Design kan daarom in sommige branches van cruciaal belang zijn: alle babyshampoos zijn zacht en kindvriendelijk, maar de combinatie geel en de merknaam Zwitsal maken er één uniek. Brand Design kan zeven belangrijke functies vervullen: 1. het creëren van onderscheidend vermogen 2. het creëren van toegevoegde waarde 3. het communiceren van de belofte 4. het creëren van aandacht 5. het creëren van herkenning 6. het communiceren van basisinformatie 7. het vervullen van interne functies 1. Het creëren van onderscheidend vermogen Brand Design kan het primaire onderscheid creëren tussen merken. Voor sommige merken is het zelfs de enige mogelijkheid tot onderscheid. Denk aan de benzinemarkt, waar de benzinemerken zelf aangeven dat er geen productonderscheid is, maar dat de shops, de toiletten en de gratis zegeltjes het verschil maken. Brand Design kan zoveel onderscheid toevoegen dat consumenten zelfs niet eens meer overwegen een ander merk te kopen. Een interessant voorbeeld is de iMac van Apple. Met de introductie in 1998 nam Apple in vormgeving en functionaliteit een enorme voorsprong op directe concurrenten als IBM en Compaq. Zowel in het design van de computers zelf met de unieke vorm en kleuren en de transparante delen, als met de bedrukking van de doos, het winkelmateriaal en de advertising ("internet in drie stappen"). Het iMacconcept werd levendig gehouden met regelmatige introducties van nieuwe kleuren. Langzamerhand kwamen er steeds meer merken die design-elementen van de iMac gingen imiteren. In maart 2002 was het daarom weer tijd voor een volgende grote stap voorwaarts met de introductie van een volledig nieuwe iMac. Dit laatste is een belangrijke consequentie van de keuze voor design als belangrijke onderscheidende factor. Het eist van de onderneming dat het continu bezig blijft om de concurrentie een stap voor te zijn. Consumenten die voor het onderscheidende design gekozen hebben, verwachten ook regelmatig verandering, zodat zij het gevoel hebben een redelijk uniek product te hebben, in plaats van een massaproduct. Dit was ook een van de succesfactoren van Swatch, dat met twee modieuze collecties per jaar de traditionele horlogemarkt flink heeft opgeschud.
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Veel sterke merken zijn visueel onderscheidend op basis van consequent gebruikte design-kenmerken. Onderscheid creëert herkenning. Heineken is groen, KLM is blauw, Nike heeft de swoosh, Adidas de drie strepen, WC-Eend de aparte flacon, BlueBand het lintje, ABN-Amro de groen/gele vlakken, Mercedes de ster, Ferrari het steigerende paard en Apple het appeltje. Hoe sterker deze design-elementen gekoppeld zijn aan het merk, des te sneller wordt het merk herkend, ook als het merk wordt toegepast voor producten die we minder snel verwachten bij het merk. Bijvoorbeeld voor Adidas dat naast de sportproducten ook aftershave onder het merk verkoopt die toch duidelijk van Adidas afkomstig zijn. 2. Het creëren van toegevoegde waarde Wat is het verschil tussen een kilo merkloze kipfilet bij een discount supermarkt en een kilo kipfilet van het merk Friki? Minimaal één euro. En voor een beker aardbeienijs van Euro Shopper versus een beker aardbeienijs van Haägen-Dazs? Minimaal twee euro. De meerwaarde van het merk maakt een hogere prijs mogelijk. Natuurlijk wordt het prijsverschil voor een deel veroorzaakt door het werkelijke kwaliteitsverschil van de inhoud. Maar voor veel producten en diensten is de veronderstelde kwaliteit (wat de consument denkt dat de kwaliteit is) belangrijker. Denk aan de blind-producttesten met bier: de score met of zonder merk zichtbaarheid verschilt enorm. Schapwaarde versus handwaarde Brand Design speelt een belangrijke rol bij het creëren van toegevoegde waarde. De verzorging van een verpakking, de entree van een gebouw, de kleding van de stewardessen: het draagt allemaal bij aan de (financiële) waarde die door de consument gekoppeld wordt aan het merk. Mijn ervaring is dat verpakkingen twee soorten waarden hebben: 1. schapwaarde 2. handwaarde De schapwaarde vervult primair een verkoopfunctie. Deze zorgt ervoor dat het product opvalt in het schap en de juiste segmentcodes afgeeft, dus bijvoorbeeld direct als koffie wordt herkend. De handwaarde van de verpakking is een belangrijke bron voor de toegevoegde waarde en levert de bevestiging en versterking op van de eerste indrukken die de schapwaarde gevormd heeft. Details die op het schap nauwelijks worden waargenomen, kunnen 'op hand' een grote rol spelen. Zoals het gebruik van goud- of metaalinkten in veel cosmetica- verpakkingen. Of het gebruik van prägs (reliëfdruk) in doosjes van bonbons of sigaren. Het is vooral de handwaarde van een verpakking die de meerwaarde van een merk kan versterken. Dit principe van schapwaarde en handwaarde is ook door te vertalen naar niet-verpakte producten en diensten en naar retail. Het pand en de entree van een 'chique' advocatenkantoor 'trekt' je naar binnen als je juridisch advies of bijstand nodig hebt. Als je vervolgens een visitekaartje op geschept papier met een präg krijgt is het beeld compleet. Bij een tweedehands interieur en smoezelige kaartjes zal het vertrouwen in de juridische kwaliteiten ook een stuk minder zijn. McDonald's 'schreeuwt' je met de 'M' op de hoge palen ('schapwaarde') reeds van ver toe dat je de snelweg af moet voor een bezoek, waarbij je keuze positief bevestigd wordt als blijkt dat het er schoon is en er voldoende kassa's open zijn om je snel en vriendelijk te helpen ('handwaarde'). 3. Het communiceren van de belofte Een fysiek product of dienst heeft voor de consument een belofte zoals een lekkere smaak, makkelijk te smeren of duidelijke polisvoorwaarden. Het aan het product gekoppelde merk heeft een aanvullende belofte zoals top-kwaliteit, status, exclusief, van deze tijd of vertrouwd. Het is belangrijk dat deze beloftes, die onderdeel uitmaken van de kern van het merk, versterkt worden door het totale Brand Design. Als Volvo de belofte 'veiligheid' wil overbrengen, zullen alle design-dragers dit moeten uitstralen. Uiteraard door de auto's zelf, de communicatie in advertising en folders, maar ook in Volvo-accessoires als kinderzitjes, de gevarendriehoek en de uitstraling die de werkplaats heeft. Als alle design-dragers op de juiste wijze zijn ingevuld, zal de belofte bij de consument sneller en beter overkomen en zal het merk snel aan vertrouwen winnen. En vertrouwen in het merk is een belangrijke basis voor herhalingsaankopen. Als vervolgens ook dat vertrouwen niet beschaamd wordt, kan zelfs'merkvriendschap'ontstaan, de ultieme merkbelofte.
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4. Het creëren van aandacht De schapwaarde van een product of dienst vervult een belangrijke rol in het krijgen van aandacht. Deze schapwaarde kunnen we splitsen in: • actieve schapwaarde: het vragen van aandacht om de consument naar het product toe te trekken, om op te vallen tussen alle andere producten en merken. • passieve schapwaarde: het zorgen voor voldoende herkenning op het schap voor de consument die zijn of haar vertrouwde merk met minimale inspanningen wil kunnen vinden. Brand Design is bij uitstek het instrument om een actieve schapwaarde te realiseren, om aandacht te trekken. Voor verpakkingen wordt daarbij vaak gebruikgemaakt van felle kleuren als rood, geel en blauw en van sterke kleurcontrasten door lichte en donkere kleuren. Ook door de kunst van het weglaten kunnen sterk opvallende verpakkingen gemaakt worden door het contrast van dat ene element op een vrijwel lege achtergrond. Voor diensten en retail geldt hetzelfde principe: een volledig groen/gele pui voor een ABN-Amro bankfiliaal is een zeer actieve schapwaarde. Aandacht is de eerste cruciale schakel van het oude maar vertrouwde AIDA-model:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
Zonder aandacht geen interesse en dus uiteindelijk geen verkoop van het product of afname van de dienst. Het AIDA-model geldt vooral voor nieuwe aankoopprocessen waarbij de consument zich openstelt voor de aandacht van diverse merken. Is de merkkeuze bepaald en positief bevestigd door herhalingsaankopen, dan volgt meer een routinematig aankoopproces en is herkenning belangrijker dan aandacht. 5. Het creëren van herkenning Stel dat alle producten in de supermarkt verpakt zouden zijn in witte doosjes met daarop grote vermelding van het,merk en de productnaam. Op papier lijkt dit een duidelijke vorm van communicatie, in de praktijk zouden we echter gillend gek worden door het gebrek aan herkenning van de verschillende productcategorieën en de merken daarbinnen. Brand Design moet zorgen voor herkenning en doet dit met passieve schapwaarde. Onderzoek heeft geleerd dat zeer veel consument hun aankopen in de supermarkt doen op basis van kleurvlakken en schapposities. Koffie is altijd het rode pak op ooghoogte, Honig Macaroni het groene pak en Coca-Cola het rode etiket. Natuurlijk bevatten de verpakkingen meer kleuren, teksten en afbeeldingen, maar in deze routinematige aankoopprocessen worden die niet gezien. De frustratie is dan ook groot als bijvoorbeeld Albert Heijn de ‘worp' (schapindeling) heeft aangepast en het rode koffiepak opeens ‘nergens te vinden is' omdat het op een andere plank staat. Het gegeven van herkenning op basis van kleurvlakken is ook cruciaal bij het restylen van verpakkingsontwerpen. Als de halfvolle melk altijd lichtblauw is en de volle melk donkerblauw, kun je dat niet straffeloos veranderen. De consument raakt gedesoriënteerd en koopt wellicht een ander merk dat hij wel herkent. Stel je voor dat de ABN-Amro-bank het groengeel verruilt voor paars/roze. Of als het Nederlands elftal niet meer in het oranje speelt maar in het wit met zwart/rood/geel? Laten we er niet aan denken! 6. Het communiceren van basisinformatie Natuurlijk moet Brand Design naast allerhande onderscheidende, opvallende en herkenbare design-kenmerken ook een aantal fundamentele zaken communiceren. Zo kunnen verpakkingen in de supermarkt vermelden: • Gewicht, aantal en inhoud, bijvoorbeeld met symbool voor 4 borden soep. • Ingrediëntendeclaratie en voedingswaarde-tabel. • EAN-code (streepjescode). • Wijze van productgebruik, bereiding, recepten en tips. • Houdbaarheid, bijvoorbeeld met diepvriessymbool. • Wijze van openen (schaartje, tearstrip), hersluitbaarheid. • Waarschuwingen (symbool ontvlambaar, giftig). • Zacht, hard, zoet, pittig.
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• •
Absolute prijs, prijs per kilo. Tijdelijk extra inhoud.
Niet alleen op producten in de supermarkt, ook op een pak kopieerpapier, een koffiemachine, een treinkaartje, in een bankgebouw en op Schiphol mag de basisinformatie niet ontbreken. De onduidelijkheid en irritatie die het gemis aan basisinformatie teweegbrengt, breken alle positieve merkassociaties die eerder zijn opgebouwd, weer af. . 7. Het vervullen van andere functies Brand Design kan naast belangrijke functies naar en voor de consument ook een aantal belangrijke andere functies vervullen, zoals: • Living the Brand • Strategisch marketinginstrument: - verruimen van een marktsegment - creëren van een nichepositie - intern politiek instrument - verbindende factor •
Operationeel marketinginstrument
Living the brand Brand Design kan ervoor zorgen dat er intern een maximaal draagvlak voor het merk gecreëerd kan worden, dat alle medewerkers een optimaal commitment en binding met het merk hebben. Dat ze het merk beleven en 'leven'. Dit gebeurt vaak sterk bij entrepreneurmerken als Virgin en Nike vanuit het enthousiasme van de leider. Bij Nike was het zo extreem dat er medewerkers en gesponsorde sporters waren die de swoosh op hun kuit hadden laten tatoeëren. Dichter bij huis: Heineken-marketeers zullen geen kroeg binnengaan waar geen Heineken geschonken wordt. N.B.: 'Living the brand' is een onderwerp waar nog veel meer over vermeld kan worden. In het kader van dit boek gaat dat echter te ver.
Strategisch marketinginstrument Verruimen van een marktsegment Brand Design kan als strategisch marketinginstrument worden ingezet om een markt te verruimen. De verkoop van brillen en horloges is de afgelopen decennia fors gestegen. Een belangrijke aanjager hiervoor is het design van de producten en de communicatie eromheen. Vroeger was een bril of een horloge puur functioneel: je kunt er beter mee zien of je weet hoe laat het is, klaar. Men had dan ook maar één bril en één horloge. Tegenwoordig hebben we meerdere brillen, passend bij verschillende situaties en kledingstukken. Een bril is een symbool geworden waarmee je de brildrager kunt plaatsen: eigentijds, tegendraads of vermogend. Sommige mensen kiezen daarom bewust niet voor contactlenzen. De horlogemarkt heeft onder andere door de vele Swatch-modellen een sterke impuls gekregen. Bovendien is deze markt ook ontdekt door conceptmerken als Boss en Armani en door merken als Adidas, Nike, Camel en Disney. Brand Design werkt hierin dus niet alleen voor de individuele merken, maar ook voor het hele marktsegment. Creëren van een nichepositie Volgens Porter' is het voor het creëren van een nichepositie van belang voldoende hoge entreebarrières op te bouwen, zodat het voor concurrenten moeilijk wordt de nichemarkt te betreden. Brand Design kan een nuttige bouwsteen zijn voor deze entreedrempels. Op dit moment is een aantal producenten met ecologische producten bezig een niche te bouwen. Met het EKO-logo krijgen deze producten een positief onderscheid ten opzichte van gewone producten, zodat een hogere prijsstelling mogelijk is. Een goed voorbeeld van het creëren van een duidelijke eigen positie is Red Bull. Dankzij onderscheidend en actief Brand Design heeft men de imitators de markt uitgewerkt en het segment 'mind-energydrinks' weten te vormen en met het merk te claimen bij de consument.
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Intern politiek instrument Soms wordt Brand Design ook gebruikt als intern politiek instrument. Bijvoorbeeld om de verantwoordelijkheid voor het merk naar een bepaalde afdeling te trekken. Als in een organisatie de merknaam en de bedrijfsnaam gelijk zijn, komt het voor dat er een strijd ontstaat tussen de lijn-verantwoordelijken (meestal de marktetingafdeling) en de staf-verantwoordelijken (meestal corporate communicatie, pr, voorlichting). Beide zijn betrokken bij het merk/bedrijf. De eerste in direct commerciële zin ('er moet geld verdiend worden'), de tweede meer vanuit de Corporate Identity (paragraaf 3.2) naar doelgroepen als aandeelhouders, pers en eigen medewerkers. We hebben bij het Brand Design-model gezien dat de design-dragers van beide afdelingen bepalend zijn voor het Brand Design. Ze zullen dus moeten samenwerken in plaats van elkaar vliegen af te vangen. Verbindende factor Brand Design kan ook een verbindende factor zijn tussen een aantal dochterbedrijven. Bijvoorbeeld bij Fortis, dat in het logo aangeeft dat de onderneming bestaat uit een groot aantal bedrijven. Ook Achmea is sterk bezig zich te profileren als afzender (endorser, zie hoofdstuk 3) van een groot aantal verzekeringsmerken. Zij koppelen het Brand Design van het merk Achmea op eenduidige wijze aan de merken van de dochters. Brand Design kan er voor zorgen dat ogenschijnlijk individuele merken een collectieve vingerafdruk krijgen. Operationeel marketinginstrument Brand Design kan het unieke van een product of merk benadrukken. Soms wordt het echter ook ingezet om te verhullen dat er eigenlijk niets te melden valt. Heinz Green, groene tomatenketchup, smaakt en ruikt hetzelfde als de normale rode ketchup van Heinz (zegt Heinz in de advertenties). je kunt je afvragen of zo'n (camouflage)introductie kans van slagen heeft en bovendien hoe hoog het percentage kannibalisatie op de normale ketchup zal zijn. Het voordeel van Brand Design is dat door de mix van design-dragers het mogelijk is om een onderdeel van de mix aan te passen zonder dat het totale beeld sterk verandert. Bijvoorbeeld om in te spelen op nieuwe trends als retro, transparantheid, huiselijkheid en loungen. Meteen is daarmee een nadeel bepaald: door het makkelijk kunnen aanpassen is de consistentie in de tijd soms ver te zoeken. Bij sommige bedrijven kun je aan de hand van de frequente merk-restylingen zien wanneer er wisselingen in het marketing management hebben plaatsgevonden. Een leuk voorbeeld van het goed en creatief omgaan met BrandDesign bestaat uit de beugeltafel en beugellamp van Grolsch (doorbureau Draft Worldwide). Een belangrijk visueel onderscheidendaspect van Grolsch is de beugelfles. Het unieke gevoel dat die fles uitstraalt is perfect vertaald naar deze promotionele items die het merk verder versterken en extra zichtbaarheid geven bij de consument thuis. Dat de promotie-items snel uitverkocht waren, bewijst de interesse van de consument.
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Merken hebben een functie voor de gebruiker. In paragraaf 2.4 hebben we geconstateerd dat Brand Design een belangrijke rol speelt in het vervullen van die functies, zoals het creëren van onderscheidend vermogen, toegevoegde waarde, beloftes, aandacht en herkenning. Voor een optimaal Brand Design-proces is het daarom belangrijk te weten wat het merk doet en kan doen voor de gebruiker. Welke betekenissen of positieve associaties kan het merk herbergen? Wat straalt het merk uit? Wat is de essentie van het merk? Wat zijn de 'verborgen schatten' van het merk? Vragen waarop we graag antwoord willen hebben als input voor de ontwerpers, zodat zij tijdens het Brand Design-proces een optimale visuele merk-identiteit kunnen ontwikkelen. Speciaal hiervoor is een nieuwe visie op merken ontwikkeld: Brand-ENERGY'.
BRAND-ENERGY Het merk heeft nut en waarde hebben voor de gebruiker door middel van merkbetekenissen. Waarom koopt de één een Skoda en de ander een Audi? Puur technisch zijn de verschillen niet zo groot meer. Beide automerken maken gebruik van de kennis en de materialen van het Volkswagen-concern. Een aantal onderdelen is zelfs identiek of alleen qua vormgeving verschillend. De aanschafprijs is wel verschillend: een Audi is gemiddeld de helft duurder dan een technisch vergelijkbare Skoda. Een eventueel verschil in inruilwaarde kan dit niet compenseren. Op rationele gronden zou je verwachten dat ieder een een Skoda koopt en niemand een Audi. De praktijk is anders: het eerste halfjaar van 2002 zijn er in Nederland 6.700 nieuwe Audi's verkocht en 3.900 Skoda's. Naast de ratio is er dus ook een andere bepalende factor: de emotie. Niet iedereen wil in een Skoda rijden, omdat het merk Skoda minder lading heeft dan het merk Audi. Met een Skoda maak je geen indruk op je omgeving, overtref je niet de buurman met z'n Volkswagen Passat, 'hoor je er niet bij' en laat je niet zien dat je een Audi kunt betalen. De praktijk is dat ons gevoel, ons hart, aangeeft dat we een Audi willen kopen en dat we daar vervolgens rationele gronden bij zoeken. Zoals: "een Audi heeft acht in plaats van vier airbags en is dus veiliger, heeft een mooiere vormgeving, heeft een hogere inruilwaarde en ik rij zoveel kilometers per jaar dat ik me wel een duurdere auto mag veroorloven." Waarom geeft ons gevoel nu aan dat we een Audi moeten kopen, terwijl ons hoofd zegt dat we met een Skoda meer value-for-money hebben? Omdat Audi ons iets extra's biedt: het merk Audi. Het merk geeft meerwaarde op basis van de positieve associaties die het in het verleden heeft opgebouwd. Giep Franzen zegt hierover: "Associaties zijn het resultaat van gezamenlijke, gelijktijdige verwerking in de ruimte en tijd van zintuiglijke prikkels en van het denken over verschillende fenomenen in relatie tot elkaar." Het gaat dus om een complex geheel van reacties. Het is nuttig om te kijken of de uitstraling van een merk verder geanalyseerd en verfijnd kan worden, zodat we hier in het Brand Designproces rekening mee kunnen houden. Voor de uitstraling van een merk is het van belang te kijken naar de ontvanger: hoe reageert iemand op het merk? Om dat te kunnen beoordelen is het noodzakelijk eerst te kijken hoe mensen reageren om hun omgeving. Op basis van eeuwen oude wetenschappen en vanuit diverse culturele achtergronden kunnen we stellen dat ieder mens reageert op zijn omgeving vanuit drie niveaus: 1. Body 2. Mind 3. Spirit 1. Body Ons lichaam reageert op de omgeving vanuit puur fysieke en concrete prikkels: warm, koud, honger, dorst enzovoort. Aangestuurddoor de hersenen reageren we met ons lichaam door actie te ondernemen. In het voorbeeld van Audi en Skoda gaat het om de auto zelf: hoe zitten de stoelen, hoe is het zicht of hoe lekker rijdt de auto. 2. Mind Ons brein reageert op de omgeving vanuit een combinatie van rationele en emotionele prikkels zoals duur, goedkoop, angst, onzekerheid en veiligheid. Voor Audi en Skoda kan dit betekenen: verantwoord, veilig, value-for-money, status, aanzien en erbij willen horen.
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3. Spirit Onze geest of ziel reageert intuïtief op onze omgeving: zonder er bij na te (kunnen) denken, voelen we direct aan of iets goed is of niet. Bijvoorbeeld als we iemand ontmoeten, krijgen we direct een gevoelof het 'klikt' of niet. Dat wordt vooral bepaald door iemands uitstraling of charisma. Dat kun je niet beredeneren, dat is er gewoon. Hetzelfde gaat ook op voor merken. In het voorbeeld van de automerken gaat het dan bijvoorbeeld om het intuïtieve gevoel van zorgzaamheid en veiligheid voor jezelf en je medepassagiers. De drie aspecten staan niet op zichzelf, maar reageren altijd op elkaar. Stel we zien vuur, onze eerste intuïtieve reactie ('spirit') is: voelt dit aan als gevaar of niet. Als het inderdaad een gevaarlijke brand is, zullen de hersenen ('mind') angst en gevaar signalen zenden naar het lichaam ('body') en ervoor zorgen dat het bloed meer adrealine krijgt om hard weg te kunnen rennen of de brand te blussen. Als het geen gevaarlijke situatie is, bijvoorbeeld een kaars die je partner heeft aangestoken, krijg je intuïtief (spirit) een behaaglijk gevoel, dat in de hersenen vertaald kan worden als romantiek (mind) en het behoeft hier geen uitleg wat dat metje lichaam kan doen. Kunnen merken inspelen op de manier waarop mensen hun omgeving waarnemen? jazeker, het vormt zelfs het bestaansrecht voor merken. Er gebeurt iets in onze omgang met merken. Er is een wisselwerking tussen een 'ongrijpbaar iets' (het merk) en ons als levend wezen. Blijkbaar is er iets in het merk gestopt dat ons raakt. Het merk heeft een lading meegekregen die we ervaren. Het zou nuttig zijn deze lading te kunnen benoemen. Hiervoor is de term BrandENERGY bedacht. Brand- ENERGY staat voor de energie die in het merk ligt opgeslagen en die de consument tot zich kan nemen. Voor de aanhangers van definities: ‘Brand- ENERGY is de lading potentiële betekenissen die het merk heeft én uitstraalt en die het merk en de daaraan gekoppelde producten en/of diensten waardevol kan maken voor de gebruiker’ In het boek Superbrands van Roland van Kralingen staat een bijdrage van Peter Kersten, destijds communicatie manager bij Canon Europe. Hij vergelijkt het merk met een vuurtoren: het straalt licht uit en kan een baken vormen voor de consument. Het vormt een punt van herkenning, kan je de weg wijzen in de overdaad aan keuzemogelijkheden en is een leidraad voor bevrediging van je behoeften. Zonder het expliciet te noemen, kan het vergelijk met merk-energie gemaakt worden. Als het merk geladen is met energie, zal deze energie ook naar de consument, de gebruiker getransporteerd moeten worden om effect te hebben. We kunnen dit de merk-energiestromen noemen. De geleiders van de energie, de transporteurs, worden gevormd door de design-dragers. Door middel van de design-dragers (paragraaf 2.3) maakt het merk contact met de gebruiker. Dat kan gebeuren door het fysieke product of de dienst, maar ook door de verpakkingen, reclame, website, medewerkers, het bedrijf enzovoort. Alle uitingen van het merk brengen de energie-lading van het merk over. We kunnen drie soorten energiestromen onderscheiden die het merk kan uitstralen naar de consument: 1. Fysieke Merk-energie:
de materiële lading van een merk, bijvoorbeeld de snelheid een Audi.
2. Mentale Merk-energie:
de emotionele en rationele lading van een merk, bijvoorbeeld de status en waarde van een Audi.
3. Spirituele Merk-energie:
de intuïtieve lading van een merk, bijvoorbeeld de zekerhei en veiligheid van een Audi.
In paragraaf 4.3 wordt aan de hand van diverse praktijkvoorbeelden deze drie vormen van merk-energiestromen verder toegelicht. De formulering van de drie merk-energiestromen is gebaseerd op de manier waarop mensen reageren op hun omgeving, waarop ze de energie ontvangen: body, mind en spirit.
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Schematisch:
MERK
Spirituele merk-energie
MENS
SPIRIT
Mentale merk-energie
MIND
Fysieke merk-energie
BODY
De energiestromen hebben een stijgend abstractieniveau. De basis wordt gevormd door fysieke en tastbare prikkels vanuit het merk en het product of de dienst. Boven de fysieke prikkels staan de meer abstracte emotionele en rationele aspecten, gevolgd door de sprituele lading die de gebruiker ' p een hoger niveau' kan brengen, waardoor de gebruiker als persoon ook letterlijk meer energie kan hebben. Niet alleen de marketeers laden het merk met energie. Ook kunnen retailers en tussenpersonen energie toevoegen aan het merk. Bijvoorbeeld in de vorm van service, productvergelijk, informatie, demonstraties, installatie, onderhoud, inruilmogelijkheden, garantie en transport. Daarnaast kunnen ook consumenten het merk laden met energie. Bijvoorbeeld door opninieleiders, die als eerste een merk kopen en daarmee aan anderen laten zien dat zij, 'de voorlopers', voor het merk gekozen hebben. Het merk wordt dan geladen met het beeld dat trendy mensen het merk gebruiken. Energie waar de trendvolgers erg gevoelig voor zijn. Ook bekende Nederlanders en gesponsorde sporters kunnen het merk extra aantrekkingskracht (energie) geven. Het omgekeerde is ook mogelijk: als een andere doelgroep dan voorzien het merk als eerste gaat gebruiken kan een verkeerd beeld van het merk ontstaan. Dat is bijna gebeurd met de Smart, dat in aanvang veel werd gekocht door ouderen, omdat ze toch niet hard willen rijden en geen grotere auto nodig hadden. Het afwijkende ontwerp namen ze op de koop toe. Deze groep gebruikers was niet de doelgroep van de Smart, dat extra inspanningen heeft geleverd om wel de juiste (trendy) doelgroep in de auto's te krijgen.
Een extreem voorbeeld van energie die niet toegevoegd is door de marketeer is het alcoholvrije bier Buckler. Een prima product (fysieke energie) met een goede merk-uitstraling door commercials en sponsoring (mentale energie) en een goede basis voor het tonen van je verantwoordelijkheid door geen alcohol te drinken als je nog moet rijden (spirituele energie). Totdat Youp van 't Hek er een enorme lading negatieve energie aan koppelde met zijn conference en de term "Bucker-lul". Vanaf dat moment was het succes van Buckler over. Het product was onveranderd goed, de marketingondersteuning was ongewijzigd, maar de ziel was letterlijk uit het merk getrokken. Intuïtief was het een merk waar je niet meer mee gezien wilde worden
Ook zichtbaarheid van merken op bepaalde locaties kan het merk energie geven. Als een kledingmerk in de etalage hangt van kledingwinkels in de PC Hooftstraat in Amterdam, behoort het daarmee al tot de exclusievere merken. Omgekeerd, als Levi's-spijkerbroeken verkocht worden door Zeeman en Aldi, zal dat de merk-uitstraling niet ten goede komen.
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Schematisch kunnen we de merk-energiestromen als volgt weergeven:
Spirituele merk-energie MERK
CONSUMENT
Mentale merk-energie Fysieke merk-energie TUSSENHANDEL
De definitie voor merk-energiestromen kan dan zijn: 'Merk-energiestromen zijn de transporten van waardevolle betekenissen van het merk naar de consument op fysiek, mentaal en spiritueel niveau.’ De niveaus van de fysieke, mentale en spirituele merk-energie lijken enigszins overeen te komen met de behoeftenhiërarchie van Maslow. Hij onderscheidt vijf niveaus van behoeften:
Zelf Ontplooiing
Waardering en respect
Liefde en genegenheid
Veiligheid en zekerheid
Fysiologische behoeften
Maslow stelt dat een individu ernaar streeft de behoeften te bevredigen volgens een vast en hiërarchisch patroon. Met andere woorden: dat men de hogere behoefte pas ervaart als de onderliggende in belangrijke mate is bevredigd. Hierin kan een overeenkomst liggen met de drie niveaus in merkenergie. Voor Product Brands kan gelden: zonder fysieke energie geen mentale energie en zonder mentale energie geen spirituele energie. Bij Concept Brands is het echter net andersom: eerst de spirituele en mentale energie en pas daarna de concrete verdere invulling met fysieke energie vanuit de producten. Een verschil tussen Maslow en de theorie van Brand-ENERGY betreft de ontvanger en zender. Maslow gaat uit van de directe persoonlijke behoeften van het individu (de ontvanger), terwijl de
51
merk-energiestromen gebaseerd zijn op de lading die de marketeer (de zender) in zijn of haar merk heeft gestopt. Voor een deel gaat ook de vergelijking op met de waardentheorie van Giep Franzen': instrumentele waarden, expressieve waarden en centrale waarden. Het verschil is dat Brand-ENERGY~ veel verder gaat. De centrale waarden van Franzen liggen op het niveau van de mentale merk-energie. Het intuïtieve (spirituele) van een merk ligt hier nog boven. Hoe kunnen we de drie merk-energiestromen nu gebruiken in het Brand Design-proces? Hiervoor is het Brand-ENERGYI-model ontwikkeld.
HET BRAND-ENERGY-MODEL De consument heeft bepaalde behoeften om de merk-energie te ontvangen. Deze behoeften zijn deels bij de consument zelf bekend (manifeste behoeften) en deels onbewust aanwezig (latente behoeften). Deze manifeste en latente behoeften sturen zijn of haar keuzeproces voor merken. We kunnen dit de 'merk-keuzemotieven' noemen. In definitie-vorm: ‘Merk-keuzemotieven zijn de bewuste en onbewuste behoeften van de koper en/of gebruiker van het merk om te kiezen voor het betreffende merk en/ofom achterafdeze keuze te rechtvaardigen.’ Deze definitie geeft aan dat Brand-ENERGY niet alleen actief en nuttig kan zijn vóór het keuzeproces, maar ook erna. In de vorm van het reduceren van de onzekerheid over de juistheid van de gemaakte keuze ('cognitieve dissonantie'). We zien dat vaak bij auto's: sommige kopers zoeken meer informatie (en positieve bevestiging) na de aankoop van de auto dan voor de aankoop. Er zijn drie groepen van merk-keuzemotieven te formuleren: 1. Menselijke merk-keuzemotieven:
gebaseerd op persoonsgebonden motieven, zoals: passen het merk en de gebruikers bij mij.
2. Middelen merk-keuzemotieven:
gebaseerd op (tastbare) extra's die een gebruiker van het merk verlangt.
3. Moment merk-keuzemotieven:
gebaseerd op extra's die het merk moet bieden op een Speciaal moment of in een speciale situatie.
Aan deze merk-keuzemotieven (de vraag) kan merk-energie (het aanbod) gekoppeld worden op drie niveaus. Dus de menselijke merkkeuzemotieven kunnen 'bevredigd' worden met een mix van fysieke merk-energie, mentale merk-energie en spirituele merk-energie. Hetzelfde geldt voor de twee andere merk-keuzemotieven. Als we de drie merk-energiestromen koppelen aan de drie merkkeuzemotieven, ontstaat een negencels matrix: het Brand-ENERGYmodel. In het model ontstaan verbindingen waarlangs de merk-energie kan stromen. Dit model speelt een belangrijke rol als verfijning van de merk-identiteit. Het biedt de mogelijkheid gestructureerd op zoek te gaan naar de essentie van het merk en kan 'hidden treasures' van het merk aan het licht brengen. Het is daarmee zeer nuttig voor ontwerpers om zich in te leven in het merk en als input voor het ontwikkelen van een optimaal Brand Design. In paragraaf 4.5 zijn twee voorbeelden uitgewerkt van het Brand ENERGYI-model voor Saab en de Rabobank. Wat opvalt is dat voor een automerk als Saab meer koppelingen gemaakt worden dan voor een merk als de Rabobank. In het algemeen kunnen we stellen dat voor high involvement merken, met meer financieel of emotioneel risico en meer informatiebehoefte, het Brand-ENERGY'-model rijkelijk gevuld is met koppelingen. Voor low-involvement producten zoals een zak aardappelen, die vaak routinematig gekocht worden, zal het Brand-ENERGYI-model vrijwel leeg blijven.
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Het Band-ENERGY-model Keuzemotieven
Energie stromen menselijke motieven
Fysieke Merk-energie
X
middelen motieven
moment motieven
X X
Mentale Merk-energie
X X X
Spirituele Merk-energie
X X X
X = koppeling van merk-energiestromen aan merkmotieven
Ter verdere verduidelijking zijn in de volgende paragrafen de merk energiestromen en merk-keuzemotieven verder toegelicht met voorbeelden voor Douwe Egberts-koffie, Saab en de Rabobank. Dit is puur gebeurd op basis van eigen waarneming en ter illustratie van de begrippen en dus niet op basis van input van de betreffende ondernemingen.
DE ENERGIESTROMEN VAN HET MERK 1. Fysieke merk-energie De fysieke merk-energie, de naam zegt het al, heeft betrekking op het fysieke van het merk. Op het materiële, het tastbare dat een merk kan bieden. Voor drie voorbeeldmerken is onderstaand een aantal mogelijkheden genoemd voor de invulling van de fysieke merk-energie: Douwe Egberts: lekkere koffie, de smaak, het aroma, de melange, de maling, geur, verpakking, prijs, goede verkrijgbaarheid, versheid (door het vacuüm fóliepak), de spaarpunten. Saab:
de stoelen, actieve hoofdsteun, snelheid, passieve veiligheid, accelaratie, comfort, wegligging, standaard turbomotor, vormgeving, ergonomisch dashboard, nette medewerkers in de showroom, de folders, de geur van een nieuwe auto.
Rabobank:
keuze in rekeningen en rentepercentages, aantal kantoren, inrichting van de kantoren, baliemedewerkers, klantvriendelijkheid, financiële adviezen, bijproducten
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als hypotheken en verzekeringen.
2. Mentale merk-energie De mentale merk-energie heeft betrekking op wat een merk voor de consument kan betekenen in abstracte zin. Dus niet direct tastbaar, maar een combinatie van emotionele en rationele aspecten. Vaak wordt de emotie ('ik wil graag een Saab') gerationaliseerd om de keuze te rechtvaardigen ('veilige en degelijke auto waar ik bij mijn klanten mee voor de dag kan komen'). Voorbeelden van mentale merk-energie voor de drie merken zijn: Douwe Egberts: genot, troost, afleiding, dé koffiespecialist, valuefor-money, opkikkereffect, gezelligheid, warmte, samen genieten, topkwaliteitsbeleving, geen risico's, voor de visite, merk dat bij je past, slimme keuze. Saab:
rijplezier, gevoel van veiligheid, onderscheidend Zweeds design, geen 'doorsnee-auto', voor succes volle mensen, value-for-money, sportiviteit, zakelijk goed imago, tijdloos, status, prestige.
Rabobank:
vertrouwen in het personeel, bank die bij je past, waar je niet als nummer behandeld wordt, sponsort sporten die je graag ziet/doet, gemak in bancaire zaken, geeft je financiële controle, niet arrogant, staat naast je, begrijpt je.
3. Spirituele merk-energie De spirituele merk-energie is de overtreffende trap van de mentale merk-energie. Spirituele merk-energie geeft de consument iets extra's, het brengt de consument op een hoger niveau. Het voedt het intuïtieve gevoel met betrekking tot het merk. We kunnen dit ook de 1 ziel', het 'aura' of het charisma' van het merk noemen. Daarnaast ontstaat spirituele merk-energie ook door gewoonte: iemand die vroeger thuis altijd Douwe Egberts-koffie dronk, zal daar intuïtief een goed gevoel bij hebben. Dat is niet te rationaliseren: het is een onbewust positief gevoel dat voor de betreffende consument door de jaren heen aan Douwe Egberts-koffie is gekoppeld. Douwe Egberts: zoals vroeger thuis, zorgzaamheid, thuiskomen, thuis voelen, geborgenheid. Saab:
een andere auto durven rijden (onafhankelijkheid), verwezenlijken van een jongensdroom, zorgzaam, ingetogen chique (geen franje).
Rabobank:
de bank van mijn ouders, zekerheid, onbezorgd, saamhorigheid, erbij horen.
Het is niet toevallig dat de opsomming bij de fysieke en mentale merk-energie veel uitgebreider is dan bij de spirituele merk-energie. Niet alle merken kunnen of willen spirituele merk-energie bieden. Voor het Brand Design-proces is het belangrijk optimaal in kaart te brengen waarmee de marketeer of communicatiemanager het merk verder of beter kan laden. Het is immers het doel van het Brand Design-proces dit zo goed mogelijk over te brengen. Zowel voor bestaande merken als voor volledig nieuwe merken.
DE MERK-KEUZEMOTIEVEN Consumenten kiezen voor die merken waarvan ze denken te weten wat ze ervan mogen verwachten. Iets extra's waaraan ze bewust of onbewust behoefte hebben. De motieven voor het kiezen van merken kunnen gegroepeerd worden in drie clusters, de drie 'M-en': 1. Menselijke merk-keuzemotieven 2. Middelen merk-keuzemotieven 3. Moment merk-keuzemotieven
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Voor het Brand Design-proces is het nuttig deze motieven in kaart te brengen. Dat kan door marktonderzoek en eigen inschattingen op basis van ervaring. Brand Design kan bepaalde accenten extra benadrukken of juist camoufleren en hiermee actief inspelen op de merk keuzemotieven van de consument.
1. Menselijke motieven Bij de menselijke motieven kiest de consument voor een merk dat bij hem of haar persoonlijk past. De reden hiervoor kan zijn dat men denkt 'dat het merk speciaal voor hem of haar is gemaakt'. Ook kan het zijn dat de andere gebruikers van het merk de consument aan spreken en dat men graag hierbij wil horen. Daarnaast kan het merk menselijke karaktereigenschappen (-merkpersoonlijkheid) hebben die de consument aanspreekt. Voorbeelden van menselijke merk-keuzemotieven zijn: Douwe Egberts: ik wil een koffiesmaak naar mijn keuze, van een merk waarbij ik me thuis voel, dronk ik vroeger bij m'n ouders ook al. Saab:
ik wil een auto met voldoende binnenruimte, met een overzichtelijk dashboard, met berijders waar voor ik me niet hoef te schamen, een auto waarmee ik een persoonlijk statement maak, die ik altijd al gewild heb, die even sportief is als ik zelf ben.
Rabobank:
ik wil een bank met kantoren waar ik graag kom, met vriendelijke medewerkers, waar ik m’n financiële zaken aan kan overlaten, die ik vertrouw, een bank waar ik geen nummer ben maar een persoon, dezelfde bank als mijn ouders.
2. Middeten motieven Bij de middelen motieven gaat het om de concrete tastbare extra's die de consument van het merk verlangt. Ten opzichte van concurrerende merken of ten opzichte van andere productgroepen. Ter illustratie: Douwe Egberts: ik wil altijd verse koffie, ruime keuze in smaken, een bekend merk, niet te duur. Saab:
ik wil sportieve vormgeving, snelheid, degelijkheid, veiligheid.
Rabobank:
ik wil de keuze uit veel soorten rekeningen, hoge spaarrente, makkelijk overschrijven.
3. Moment motieven Bij de moment motieven kiest de consument voor een bepaald merk omdat men wil dat het merk op een bepaald moment iets extra's kan bieden. Voor de voorbeeldmerken: Douwe Egberts: de geur bij het openen van het pak, samen gezellig genieten van een bakje koffie, keuze uit grote en kleine verpakkingen, nostalgisch merk. Saab:
auto moet presteren wanneer nodig (bijvoorbeeld versnellen bij het inhalen en koersvast bij slecht weer), met een perfecte wegligging, veilig bij een aanrijding, sportief te berijden.
Rabobank
ik wil snel geholpen worden op het moment dat mij het beste schikt, met een 24 uur online service op internet en telefoon en met gemak in bank-zaken.
VOORBEELDEN BRAND-ENERGY-MODEL Ter illustratie hierna een mogelijk Brand-ENERGY-model voor Saab en een Brand-ENERGY-model voor de Rabobank. Deze modellen zijn gebaseerd op eigen waarnemingen. In hoofdstuk 9 zijn twee praktijkcases volledig uitgewerkt met het Brand-ENERGY~-model.
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In het Brand-ENERGY-model voor Saab zijn relatief veel merk-energiestromen gekoppeld aan merk-keuzemotieven. Dit geeft onder andere aan dat Saab een 'rijk merk' is met veel energie. De keuze voor het merk Saab wordt door de doelgroep als 'high involvement' ervaren. De consument kiest niet op zaterdagmiddag om vijf uur even voor een automerk. Hier gaat een uitgebreid proces aan vooraf van informatie zoeken bij dealers, op internet, in tijdschriften, in de eigen omgeving (beïnvloeders) en op de weg (opeens zie je heel veel Saab's rijden). Tijdens het Brand Design-proces kan op basis van het BrandENERGY-model beslist worden welke koppelingen opgespeeld en benadrukt moeten worden en met welke design-dragers dit het beste kan gebeuren. Bijvoorbeeld voor Saab door de pluspunten van de actieve hoofdsteunen in managementbladen te adverteren, door het design aspect van de auto's te benadrukken op de website en in 'trendy' brochures. En door de sportiviteit te tonen in het deelnemen aan rally's.
Brand-ENERGY-model Saab
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Brand-ENERGY-model Rabobank
In het Brand-ENERGY-model voor de Rabobank staan minder koppelingen dan in het model van Saab. De keuze voor een bank is minder een high-involvement beslissing dan de aanschaf van een auto. Wellicht wordt voor veel consumenten de keuze al vanuit het ouderlijk huis gemaakt. Het Brand-ENERGY-model geeft meer inzicht in de onderliggende elementen en biedt ook mogelijkheden voor specifieke accenten. Zoals het benadrukken dat klanten bij de Rabobank geen nummer zijn maar een mens in brochures, de inrichting van de kantoren, eventuele mailings en natuurlijk de werkelijke gedragingen van de baliemedewerkers (niet alleen zeggen, maar het ook doen). Uiteraard passend binnen de visuele identiteit van de Rabobank en de slogan 'Midden in de samenleving'. In dit hoofdstuk hebben we gezien dat met Brand-ENERGY de merkidentiteit verder verfijnd kan worden als basis voor het Brand Designproces. Hiermee wordt het eerste deel van dit boek afgesloten. In deel twee zijn de hoofdstukken gebaseerd op de praktijk van Brand Design door middel van een praktisch Brand Design-driestappenplan. Hiermee wordt de theorie gekoppeld aan concrete voorbeelden en toepasbaar gemaakt voor de praktijk
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The Hero and The Outlaw Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes Some brands are so extraordinary that they become larger-than-life, symbolic of entire cultures, admired by consumers the world over. But in spite of all the banter about branding, few companies come even close to developing such iconic identities for their brands. As a result, millions of advertising and promotional dollars are being squandered. Understanding and leveraging archetypal meanings -that is, finding the soul of your brand and then expressing it in ways that tap into universal feelings and instincts- are key prerequisites to effective marketing in today's intensely competitive, and complex environment. When these deep psychic imprints are understood and employed, brands not only gain meaning, but companies can also gain market share and increase share holder value. Best-selling author Carol Pearson has spent 30 years developing systematic psychological frameworks and applying them in business and educational settings. Margaret Mark is the strategist behind many of today's most enduring and successful brands, from AT&T and Kraft Foods to General Motors and Madison Square Garden. Together, Mark and Pearson have created the first systematic methodology for leveraging archetypal meanings to build successful brands. The Hero and the Outlaw offers a clearly structured system that all business and marketing professionals can follow and replicate. Readers will learn how to understand the deep meaning of their product category and "claim" it for their brand, how to assess the competitive landscape from an archetypal perspective, how to connect with customers more deeply, and how to tell their brand's story in a way that echoes the most enduring and beloved story patterns, the world over. Illuminating the untapped potential underlying every stage of the marketing mix, the authors also show how the brand story begins with the product itself, and can be communicated not only in the advertising, but also in event marketing, public relations, organizational culture/ policies, and philanthropic efforts. The book's fascinating culmination puts it all together with a discussion of how the deep meaning of a product category itself can inspire a unique and compelling brand identity.
McGraw-Hill ISBN 0 07 136415 3 2001
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The First System -Ever- for the Management of Meaning ADVERTISING ALWAYS HAS USED archetypal imagery to market products. The Jolly Green Giant is, after all, the archetype of the Green Man, a figure associated with fertility and abundance. The judicious use of such symbolism can fuel a leading brand. Brand icons go further. It is not just that archetypal symbols and images are used to position the brand, but that, over time, the brand itself takes on symbolic significance. lvory is not merely associated with innocence; it embodies it. Mothers wash their children with lvory not only to keep them safe from germs and irritating chemicals, but also because lvory just "seems right" for precious infants and toddlers. To comprehend the power of this phenomenon, we must understand the nature of symbols. Some symbols have the deepest religious or spiritual meaning. For example, within Christianity, Baptism is the ritual of purification, while Communion provides a ritual for the acceptance of divine grace. It would, of course, be sacrilegious to exploit any faith's particular symbolism in order to sell products. Yet both sacred and secular symbols of renewal exist on a continuum unified by an archetype. While the conscious power of a religious symbol is inordinately greater, the unconscious power of an archetype even in an entirely secular context, is immense.
Meaning as a Brand Asset Understanding and leveraging archetypal meaning, once an interesting "bonus" to effective marketing, is now a prerequisite. Why? There was a time when successfully creating, building, and marketing brands required neither endless inspiration nor endless capital. Demand exceeded supply, and markets were uncluttered. In the main, products were physically different from each other, and brands were built on those differences. Such was the case, for ages and ages, in the marketing, or selling, world. But once competition reached a certain threshold, every business-whether a multinational cola company or a neighbourhood dry cleaner-encountered a new challenge. No matter how effective the company's manufacturing and distribution systems, or how state of the art its dry-cleaning processes, its competitors could imitate or duplicate them. In this circumstance, businesses found that they had only two broad strategic routes to go: reduce their prices or imbue their products with meaning. Clearly, the creation and management of meaning was the more desirable option. Ironically, though, as critical as meaning has become, no system has been developed until now for understanding or managing the meaning of brands -be they products, services, companies, or causes. We have had manufacturing systems for producing products, message development systems for creating candidates' platforms, and business systems for marketing goods, but no system for managing what had become a brand's most leverageable asset. Why not? Partly because the need to manage meaning was a relatively new phenomenon. If you were the only soft drink in town (as you might be in, say, Hangzhou, China), you could market your product on the basis of its features and benefits. And if you were the only dry cleaner in the neighbourhood, you could market your store on the merits of its convenience, environmentally sound packaging, and effective cleaning. However, in increasingly crowded and highly competitive categories, the cases in which brand differentiation could be based on discernible product differences became rare or nonexistent. And even if a corporation was successful in creating a legitimate product-based point of difference, it was quickly imitated and duplicated by competitors. As early as 1983, Paul Hawken identified a profound change in the relative importance of product "mass" versus product "meaning" at required a corresponding shift in our business model. Soon after, Wall Street made a comparable discovery, whereupon whole corporations were acquired simply to obtain their powerhouse brands – even though other brands offered virtually identical products. Something new was happening. Hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent to, purchase certain brands because they possessed a trait or property that was not fully understood and that caught the purchasers totally off guard. The truth was that these brands had become phenomenally valueable not only because of their innovative features or benefits, but also because these properties had been translated into powerful meanings. They were worth millions of dollars because they had gained a kind meaning that was universal, larger than life, iconic.
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Whether the new managers understood it consciously or not, they had become the stewards of archetypal brands. The meanings these brands hold are like primal assets that must be managed as carefully as financial investments. And most companies have not been prepared to do so, because, quite simply, no system was available to guide them. Levi's, once a strong and clear Explorer brand, drifted from Outlaw to Hero, back to Explorer, then to Regular Guy or Gal, then to Jester -and sometimes presented a patchwork quilt of archetypal identities all at once, reflective of the confused management of both the parent and the subbrands (501, Five Pocket, Wide Leg). The company's market share declined accordingly. Nike, one of the great Hero brands of all times, became clichéd and self-conscious in that role and publicly demonstrated a loss of confidence, changing advertising agencies and brand managers when the real solution was to tap more deeply and surely into the Hero's Journey, a never-ending source of inspiration for the Hero archetype. These companies had some of the most sophisticated and talented marketing professionals at their helms; nevertheless, they lost their way. The result was chaos, similar to what would happen if CFOs tried to manage money by making everything up as they went along, without any system. of financial management or accounting, Meaning management is relevant not only to the for-profit world: In a somewhat more subtle way, nonprofit organizations and political candidates face the same dilemma as the one we have just described. While a particular cause may seem. unique to its advocates, potential contributors are besieged with requests for money. Their decision on which good cause to support is based largely on some sense that the meaning of a particular organization is the best fit with their values. Similarly, most candidates from the same party have at least similar stands on the issues. To get nominated, they must connect with voters in a way that offers the meaning promise appropriate to the particular time. John F Kennedy did this effectively by invoking Camelot. The meaning of a brand is its most precious and irreplaceable asset. Whether you're selling a soft drink or a presidential candidate, what your brand means to people will be every bit as important as its function -if not more so- because it is meaning that tells us "this one feels right or "this one's for me." Meaning speaks to the feeling or intuitive side of the public; it creates an emotional affinity, allowing the more rational arguments to be heard.
North Star Marketing Marketing without a system for managing meaning is analogous to ancient navigators trying to find port in treacherous seas on a starless night. What they need is an enduring and reliable compass -a fixed place that illuminates both where they are and where they must go. For marketers, the theory of archetypes can act as this compass. We have written The Hero and the Outlaw to communicate the first system -ever- for the management of meaning. And like many sound ideas, it borrows from very ancient and eternal ones. Imprints, hardwired into our psyches, influence the characters we love in art, literature, the great religions of the world, and contemporary films. Plato called these imprints "elemental forms" and saw them as the idea structures that formed a template for material reality. Psychiatrist C. G. Jung called them "archetypes." In the marketing world, we have had no comparable concept or vocabulary. Yet brands are, in truth, among the most vibrant contemporary expressions of these deep and abiding patterns. Whether through conscious intent or fortunate accident, brands -be they candidates, superstars, products, or companies- achieve deep and enduring differentiation and relevance by embodying timeless archetypal meaning. In fact, the most successful brands always have done so. This phenomenon is not about "borrowing" meaning in an ephemeral advertising campaign, but rather becoming a consistent and enduring expression of meaning -essentially becoming a brand icon. Powerhouse products have done so: Nike, Coke, Ralph Lauren, Marlboro, Disney, and Ivory, to name a few. So have films -Star Wars, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and Gone with the Wind- and personalities -Lady Di, Jackie 0, Joe DiMaggio, and John Wayne. Brands that have achieved this status, accidentally or as a result of fabulously gifted instinct, have captured and held the imagination of the public. And, if they are wise, their marketers have stayed the course simply because what their brands have come to represent resonates with the public so well and so consistently. But reliance on genius goes only so far and lasts only so long. Sooner or later, brands suffer from the fact that there has been no science related to the development and management of meaning. When business as usual takes over, there is no compass to guide the inevitable choices or decision points that determine a brand's fate: How to keep pace with the times without losing the brand's essence?
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How to survive fierce competitive assaults? How to appeal to multiple segments -perhaps numerous cultures- without violating the brand's "core" meaning? How to market responsibly and in a way that does not exert a negative influence on the customer or the times? In the absence of such a science or compass, irreplaceable and invaluable repositories of goodwill-brand meanings-are squandered. This book addresses the critical need, and the tremendous opportunity, to create, preserve, protect, and nurture brand meaning by leveraging its deep archetypal roots. We do this first by dignifying the process of managing meaning. Today, even in the most sophisticated companies, this most critical of processes is left to chance, to the whim of an art director and copywriter, or to the serendipity of casual brainstorming: 'Should we be friendly and accessible, or aloof and alluring?" Developing the most critical element of hat our brand represents too often is a careless or frivolous process. Thus, it is no wonder that marketing teams keep reinventing the brand and, in doing so, dilute or destroy its meaning. We have written this book to share our experience developing and utilizing the first systematic approach to meaning management. Our collaboration began with the awareness that archetypal psychology could provide a more substantive source for the science of creating effective advertising. What we found was a far deeper truth: Archetypal psychology helps us understand the intrinsic meaning of product categories and consequently helps marketers create enduring brand identities that establish market dominance, evoke and deliver meaning to customers, and inspire customer loyalty -all, potentially, in socially responsible ways. These are not simply pie-in-the-sky ideas. Carol Pearson has spent 30 years developing a sound, reliable psychological framework that integrates concepts from Jungian and other psychological systems and applying them to leadership and organizational development as well as marketing. Margaret Mark has equivalent experience applying deep human insights and constructs to marketing with clients, first at Young & Rubicam and now at her own company. As a result, we are confident that the approaches described for you in these pages consistently have produced results without negative side effects. Our system already has affected the marketing approaches of leading brands in the financial services business, the soft-drink, apparel, and snack categories, television programming, cause marketing, and many other industries and has defined or redefined organizations' brand identities in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Figure 1.1
Archetypes and Their Primary Functions in People´s Lives Archetype
Helps people
Brand example
Creator Caregiver Ruler Jester Regular Guy/Gal Lover Hero Outlaw Magician Innocent Explorer Sage
Craft something new Care for others Exert control Have a good time Be OK just as they are Find and give love Act courageously Break the rules Affect transformation Retain or renew faith Maintain independence Understand their world
Williams/Sanoma AT&T American Express Miller Lite Wendy´s Hallmark Nike Harley/Davidson Calgon Ivory Levi´s Oprah´s Book Club
The system we have developed, and that we share with you in this book, offers a structure for describing the archetypes that already have provided powerful identities for numerous winning brands. By using this system, you do not have to step out on a limb to implement archetypal branding strategies in your company. Rather, you can follow a theoretically sound, proven method for establishing a brand identity for your product, your service, your company-or even yourself. As we explored the archetypal basis of successful brands, we discovered the 12 major archetypes expressed most often in commercial activity today. Figure 1.1 names each of the archetypes, describes its primary function in people's lives, and gives one example of a leading brand or brand icon with that identity.
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The Missing Link: Archetypes and Customer Motivation Archetypes provide the missing link between customer motivation and product sales. Virtually all marketers know that they need to understand human motivations. Until now, however, no scientific method has been available that would allow them to link the deepest motivations of consumers with product meaning. The missing link is an understanding of archetypes. An archetypal product identity speaks directly to the deep psychic imprint within the consumer, sparking a sense of recognition and of meaning. Archetypal images signal the fulfilment of basic human desires and motivations and release deep emotions and yearnings. Why do you suppose our hearts leap up, our throats choke, or we begin to cry at certain moments? An Olympic athlete winning a gold medal (Hero); an elderly African-American man in the audience instinctively rising when his grandson's name is called to receive his college diploma (commercial for the United Negro College Fund-triumph of the Regular Guy); a mother being handed her newborn for the first time (Johnson & Johnson spot): Each of these ads draws from the same well. One psychological explanation for such responses is that either we are unconsciously reliving critical moments in our own lives (for example, the separation scene at the end of E.T. calls up our own experiences of loss) or we are anticipating them. These archetypal images and scenes call people to fulfil their basic human needs and motivations (in the previous examples, freedom and identity, achievement, and intimacy, respectively). In an ideal world, the product serves a mediating function between a need and its fulfilment. Figure 1.2
Stability
Belonging
Independence
Mastery
A System That Integrates Motivational and Archetypal Theory In brief, motivational theory can be condensed into a focus on four major human drives positioned along two axes: Belonging/People versus Independence/Self-Actualization, and Stability/Control versus Risk/Mastery. (See Figures 1.2.) In everyday human terms, this means that most of us want very much to be liked and to belong to a group. At the same time, we also want to be individuals and go our own way. Both of these desires are deep and profound human urges, yet they pull us in opposite directions. The desire to belong makes us want to please others and conform, at least to some degree. The desire to individuate causes us to spend time alone and make decisions or act in ways that those close to us may not understand. Similarly, most people have a deep need for security and stability. Such desires are fulfilled by routine, comfort, and staying with the tried and true. We are responding to them when we buy insurance, stay in a job for the, pension plan, or religiously take our vitamins. Yet, however much people want safety, most also are energized by their ambition and the desire to exert mastery. If we want the exhilaration of accomplishment, we must take risks. So, motivated by the wish to leave a thumbprint on the world, we take a controversial stand, start a business, or try other new and risky ventures. Life requires constant negotiation along these poles. When we sacrifice one end of one of these continua to the other end, there is tendency in the psyche to seek balance. That's one of the reasons some people experience midlife crises; they have gotten out of balance, and some part of them that has been suppressed for too long seeks expression.
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Both of us have used a grid like the one in Figure 1.2, with two axes and four primary desires emerging independently in a person's thinking, in our prior work. We both found that our clients instinctively understood the grid's meaning and importance, because they have experienced those tensions in their own lives. The grid also has provided a quick diagnostic test for recognizing the underlying motivation to our clients' organizational mission and their brand identity. When the two of us began to collaborate, we altered the terms a bit, so that we were using the same language, but the fundamental categories we were using were, and remain, the same. Although both of us view each of the previously described desires as a strong motivational factor for most people today, a number of theorists associate several of the desires with different stages of development. By their way of thinking, some motivations are more fundamental than others. Our categories of motivation link most closely with the stages defined by Abraham Maslow (Motivation and Personality, 1954), who has influenced both of us profoundly. Maslow is best known for defining the "hierarchy of needs," which describes how human desires evolve as more primary needs are met. The chart in Figure 1.3 summarizes Maslows findings, as well as those of the three other major motivational psychologists of the twentieth century. Eric Erickson, who also has influenced our thinking about human desire, identified developmental issues in the life cycle, the resolution of which helps people form major character virtues. Robert Kegan, a leading educational psychologist and Harvard professor, developed a theory of personality development that balances meaning-making and social development. (See The Evolving Self, 1982.) Ken Wilbur, the leading theorist in the field of transpersonal psychology, identified stages in the development of consciousness as people evolve from an ego orientation to more spiritual (transpersonal) approaches the world. Figure 1.3 outlines these theories for those readers interested in connecting our motivational categories with developmental models. (When Stage 1 is missing from the chart for a particular model, it is because the stage is too focused on fundamental issues of survival to be relevant to contemporary consumer behaviours.) Archetypes mediate between products and customer motivation by providing an intangible experience of meaning. Figure 1.3 identifies the archetypes most important to the fulfilment of the four basic human needs. Heroes and Outlaws shows how archetypal theory provides a sound, proven methodology for establishing a memorable and compelling brand identity, one that can withstand the test of time, cross lifestyle and cultural boundaries, and translate into success that endures. Figure 1.3
Archetypes and Motivation Motivation
Stability & Control
Belonging & Enjoyment
Risk & Mastery
Independence & Fulfillment
Creator Caregiver Ruler
Jester Regular Guy/Gal Lover
Hero Outlaw Magician
Innocent Explorer Sage
Customer Fear
financial ruin Ill health uncontrolled chaos
exile abandonment engulfment
impotence powerlessness ineffectuality
entrapment selling out emptiness
Helps People
Feel safe
Have love
Achieve
Find happiness
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Postmodern Marketing VIRTUALLY EVERY0NE writing about consumers today acknowledges that something radically new is going on. The modern age is over, and we are in a postmodern time, where the old rules do not necessarily hold. The new breed of consumer is not as trusting, as loyal, or as malleable as those of the past. Buyers today are savvy deeply sceptical of advertising hype, and more concerned with finding and expressing their individuality than conforming to societal norms. They seek meaning, but they do not expect to find it in any kin of cultural consensus. Although, they are pressed for time, they take time to be informed about their purchases and, when possible, like to call the shots. Also, they value independence and authenticity highly and are hard to fool. Access to the Internet gives them information about brands and companies, so what you say had better be the truth. If not, they surely will find out. While this new breed throws many marketing professionals off stride, it does not have to throw you. Think about it. We are living in a time of great affluence, wherein many people have access not only to virtually any product they want, but also to education, travel, and information. Yet, to a great degree, cultural consensus about values has broken down. We have few if any shared sacred stories to give our lives meaning. Joseph Campbell put it this way: "The problem of mankind today, therefore, is precisely the opposite to that of men in the comparatively stable periods of those great coordinating mythologies, which now are known as lies. Then all meaning was in the group, in the great anonymous forms, none in the self-expressive individual; today no meaning is in the group-none in the world; all is in the individual."' As a result, people are thrown back on their own devices. They have to find themselves and know what they think, feel, want, and stand for. For brands, this means that the archetypes of the Explorer (for finding identity) and the Sage (for exploring one's inner world) likely are salient motivators. In addition, when people aspire to be unique individuals, capable of independent choice, they are attracted to higher levels of other archetypes than they might have been before. For instance, the Cinderella story is one archetypal narrative pattern associated with the Lover archetype. That the narrative still packs an archetypal punch is apparent from the fact that many movies employing variants on this theme enjoy box office success -Pretty Woman being just one example. The level of sophistication of the culture, however, affects the interpretation of the story. At the lower level of this archetype, people can read the story rather shallowly and think that Cinderella needs only to get a great dress and a sporty car (i.e., carriage) to attract the modern -day prince- who himself does not have to have much besides good looks and great wealth. Indeed, the ratings attained by a television show like 'Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?" demonstrate that this level of the archetype still works -at least among the contestants. Yet, even here, some of the fascination for viewers undoubtedly was seeing women who actually would marry a man they did not know just for the money, and a seemingly successful man who would marry a woman primarily on the basis of looks. This behaviour, in the contemporary context, is odd enough to entice interest. It is important to recognize that a critical mass of people no longer are so shallow as to believe that love results just from using the right products. They do not think that the combination of a beautiful dress, face, and body on her part and a large bank account on his is a formula for true love. Rather, they expect both Cinderella and the Prince to be self-actualised individuals with personalities, values, strengths, and weaknesses -if only because they have watched Oprah. Perhaps, having absorbed the lesson taught by our society's high divorce rate, most thinking people know that if the Prince marries the dress and Cinderella marries the castle, soon they will wake up dillusioned to the reality of a flesh-and-blood human being. This does not mean that good ads cannot employ the Cinderella narrative. Such archetypal stories bear repeating. You can tell them over and over, and people will not be bored. That's what it means to tap into an archetypal story pattern. However, as human consciousness evolves, people interpret the stories differently. Embedded in the fairy tale is an emphasis on character that is recognized easily by a complex person, even though someone who is more shallow and undeveloped may miss it. Along with a loving nature, Cinderella has the capacity for virtue and hard work. The prince is not only "charming”; he also has enough soul and perseverance to search throughout the kingdom for a woman he met only once. If your customer base is even relatively sophisticated psychologically, your ads will be more compelling if they tap into the deeper aspects of archetypes, not just their superficial trappings. As illustrated in the Cinderella example, were you to choose a brand meaning of Lover, but emphasize a kind of belonging that compromised your identity, modern consumers would be put off in a way that their mothers and fathers might not have been. So, too, if you choose the brand identity of the Ruler, you have to realize that modern consumers are willing to be constituents, but not subjects. The
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progression from monarchies to democracy (like the progression from arranged marriages to romantic love) is connected to the evolving capacity of ordinary people to individuate themselves and therefore to expect rights of self-definition. Within each archetype is a wide range of behaviours, some very simple and others more evolved. For example, within the Lover archetype, you will find (1) simple awakening of lust; (2) the desperate desire to attract a lover; (3) the attainment of deep and abiding romantic love; (4) the capacity for intimacy with family, friends, and colleagues; and (5) spiritual love for all of humankind or even all sentient beings. As we researched archetypes in ads and brands today, we discovered that the largest percentage of ads is designed as if this change had not taken place. In fact, they communicate with the reader at the lower stages of each archetype-the forms in which the archetype is expressed when a person is not self-actualised. For example, everywhere we looked, we found Explorer ads. Marketers clearly understand that this archetype speaks to people today. Yet, we were disappointed that so few of them tapped into the deeper and more interesting level of the archetype. The overwhelming majority of the Explorer ads we surveyed focused simply on either being out in nature or feelings of alienation. Few were designed to help people with the deeper learning task of the archetype-that of truly finding oneself. Ironically, when people do not develop the capacity to make meaningful choices in a society that offers practically an infinite number of options, they tend to blame society for their own defects. Consequently, they rail against the materialism of society and the corporations that produce consumer goods, instead of taking responsibility for their own purchasing decisions. Paradoxically, corporations that do not help consumers gain a capacity for self-definition and responsible choice will be prey to consumer backlash.
Beyond Market Segmentation, Beyond Stereotyping Even more importantly, because most people in the field of marketing do not understand archetypes, and because they think in terms of market segmentation, they have an unfortunate tendency to reduce archetypes to stereotypes. For instance, imagine a high-achieving executive. She ordinarily might be attracted by ads for Ruler products, which reinforce her sense of status or power and help her make her mark on the world. Reading an airline magazine, she might perk up at an ad that offers her a more effective planning calendar, an innovative computer program, or a power suit. While a variety of products might help her achieve and maintain power (or just feel powerful), what will signal their appeal to her is the underlying symbolism of regal power, status, and control. If marketers think in terms of market segments, it may be tempting to stereotype such a person, mentally confining her to a very narrow motivational category. However, if we realize that she is a full human being, and then it isn’t difficult to recognize that from time to time, she might feel trapped by her high-powered life. Like many of us, she may be working so hard that she has begun to feel too driven. Every human being has a basic desire to achieve, and this desire may have taken over her life. In addition, we all have a need for pleasure and adventure. Our executive might not even be conscious of this sense of yearning or the need for balance. Yet, despite this lack of awareness, she is suddenly attracted by advertising images that connote freedom. The Jester could appear to her through an ad in which people are having a wonderful time drinking a particular beer, an airline is taking a couple to exotic places, or happy people are riding in a convertible by the beach. Whether or not she analyses her responses and concludes that she needs more balance in her life, she might well respond to the archetypal pull by buying the beer and throwing a party, booking her next trip on the airline, or purchasing the convertible (even if she never actually takes it to the beach). The woman who is juggling multiple roles may be empowered by the ability of the archetypal Hero to overcome great challenges or the Ruler to maintain order when chaos threatens. But she also may be attracted to archetypes that give her what she is craving, rather than those that simply reflect what she is experiencing. Thus, she may respond to the peace and simplicity of the Innocent or the erotic intensity of the Lover. Instead of connecting with empowering images, the representation of the modern "superwoman" in advertising today has become clichéd and stereotyped. Most women are simply annoyed when they encounter yet another portrayal of the overworked, frantic wife -mother- career woman. They do not feel known. Rather, they feel trivialized, just as they once felt demeaned by stereotypical images of the housewife.
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People's eyes glaze over when confronted by messages that do not meet them where their compelling issues are. This may be the primary reason marketers have trouble getting the attention of consumers who are facing challenges that require them to be complex and real, and who are not living out the boring stereotypes that often are implicit in market segmentation categories and simpleminded assumptions about human motivation. To do archetypal branding well, it is advisable to tap into the deeper, more humanly compelling quality of archetypes, rather than treating them in an incidental manner as lifeless stereotypes.
Crossing Boundaries While the archetypes are universal, the "valance" surrounding them changes on a cultural basis. In the United States, for instance, a shared value of individualism reinforces the Explorer archetype with an emphasis on discovering and expressing one's own uniqueness. Other cultures are more relational. In Latin America, children live with their parents until they marry. The culture reinforces fidelity to family and community over individualism. This predilection also is strong in the former Soviet republics, as well as in China and Japan. Relational cultures are living out a different story than individualist cultures. Even within the United States, different workplaces reflect different mores and archetypal plots. For example, many for-profit firms (Microsoft, for one) are living out the value of becoming the premier company in the entire industry (the Ruler). By contrast, most non-profit organizations are more likely to stress making a difference to the world (the Caregiver). Colleges and universities emphasize learning and the discovery of truth (the Sage), while many companies in the fields of entertainment, dessert (Ben and Jerry's), and recreation (Patagonia) accentuate pleasure and fun (the Jester). Values are different. These differences become clear when companies articulate their vision, values, and mission statements. At least in the best companies, the bottom line is never just profits and revenue. In the past, the image a company conjured up might result in part from conscious marketing decisions, but even more so from the unconscious assumptions of people in the field. You know people who go into nursing because they are caring. So, too, corporations whose products support health and healing (think Johnson & Johnson) may have Caregiver values. A young, ingenious hacker may enjoy a line of work that involves continuous learning and endless innovation. A technologically innovative computer firm may be energized by the same Sage archetype motivations. Quite unconsciously, the management of these companies tends to be attracted to brand identities consistent with the archetypes that simultaneously are shaping their own behaviour and the corporate culture. This is how some leading companies happen onto archetypal identities and manage to retain them over time -especially if they have leadership that trusts their own insides and their intuitive hunches. They like brand identities that are like them. However, if they don't -and if marketing firms convince them to follow every ad or public whim- they inevitably will drift from one identity to another, creating no clear lasting impression. Marketing and advertising firms also have their unconscious biases. Within the field, individuals and firms have quite different reasons for getting out of bed in the morning. We all know people in advertising who have a novel in the drawer or ideas for making videos or films. They are in advertising because the field offers a well-paid way to express their creativity and artistry. We also may know people who love the competitive aspects of marketing -and are propelled onward by their enjoyment of the contest. Still others like the mental stimulation of marketing strategy. In archetypal terms, these examples reflect the archetypes of the Creator, the Hero (as competitor), and the Sage. If people in the field are uneducated about archetypes, the approaches they try to sell may simply reflect their own unconscious predilections and not be optimal for the client. To determine the brand identity a company will like, it is best to find out who the firm thinks it is -in terms of the archetypes it is living out. The biographies of successful business leaders demonstrate that, generally, they are drawn to a field or a product for some reason. Even in a societal context, where money and success are primary, individuals' deeper values are reflected in the details of their ambitions -the dreams that propel them forward. These values and dreams create an identifiable organizational culture, which is then reflected in its brand identity (e.g., IBM vs. Apple). We can trace the values to the underlying archetypes (in this case, Ruler and Outlaw/ Rebel, respectively), making it possible to factor the archetype of the organization into discussions of brand identity. Individuals, societies, and organizations frequently have different archetypes that are dominant, but each has at least some access to all archetypes. While a CEO might have a dominant Ruler archetype, he may buy a toy for his son that appeals to his own fun-loving Jester or his desire to nurture a child (Caregiver). He may be motivated to buy a necklace for his wife to express his Lover,
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or to spend more time developing the technological side of his industry in service of his Sage. Similarly, successful companies are so generally because all the archetypes are expressed somewhere within them. Organizations that thrive have at least one active archetype in each quadrant helping them to find their unique mission (individuality), create the feeling of community (belonging), get the work done (mastery), and create stabilizing structures (stability). Yet, for a brand identity to be compelling, it needs to be simple and easy to recognize. This means that brand identities are forged best by identifying solidly with one -and only one- archetype. The archetype within the brand serves as a beacon for the corresponding motivation in all of us. In practice, with the high rate of product innovation, it generally is prudent to brand the company, not just the product or services. Companies do best when they are explicit about the archetype that is truest to their values, mission, and vision -and allow that archetype to shine, like a beacon in a lighthouse, drawing others to their shores. Until now, in most companies the link between organizational culture, corporate values, and brand identity has been informal and largely unconscious. The system we describe here can provide a means to discover, articulate, and strengthen that connection. Brand identity for an organization is like the persona for an individual. It is the image we present in the world. When an individual's persona is too different from the reality of the self, he or she becomes neurotic. So, too, with organizations: If their brand identity and their actual corporate culture, policies, and procedures are discordant, they become unhealthy. As a consequence, both employee morale and credibility with customers begin to plummet. As with the individual, an organization does not have to show the world everything and certainly does not have to display its dirty linen. Nevertheless, in a world where people from all over are chatting on-line with your employees, the more congruent you are, the better off you will be. Understanding and aligning the archetypal core of your values, your organizational culture, and your brand identity -and having a logic and a language to help you do so- allows you to manage meaning in a way that can prevent scandal and embarrassment, while also inspiring employee and customer loyalty.
Customer Loyalty and the Experience of Meaning The most profound change affecting marketing for the new millennium is the quasi-priestly role it plays in a society without sacred stories to provide our whole culture with shared meaning. In part, the lack of such stories offers us a kind of personal freedom never before experienced. Anthropologists tell us that in the developed world, for the first time in the history of the human race, the story of our lives cannot be predicted by our gender and our social station at birth. We are free to define ourselves for ourselves and to choose our own life path. Of course, this freedom brings tremendous power and exhilaration. But it also creates an unprecedented degree of stress. We have to figure everything out on our own. If we are working mothers, many of us have no role models to guide us. If we are men who want to play an active role in parenting, we may not be able to draw on much from our own experiences growing up with our fathers. For one thing, they worked away from home, where we could not see them. For another, they lived by a male ethic that, like the traditional female ethic, has become anachronistic. Life really did shift radically in the 1960s. Baby boomers and every other cohort since that decade now are living lives much different from those of their parents. Many whose parents were doctors or lawyers have chosen to become social workers and shopkeepers, and many whose parents were labourers have gone on to become doctors and lawyers. It is wonderful to have such opportunity for self-definition and self-determination, but it also is burdensome, because we have to be pioneers in the journey of life. The personal icons and heroes who once provided models for how to live one's life have largely been replaced by friends and relatives who, however valued or beloved, may not set a relevant or useful example. Adding to our predicament, we are engaged in this quest at a time when civilization provides us with almost no cultural guideposts. The village elders, the Bible, the great oral tradition, the classic stories -all have fallen by the wayside, just at the time we need them most. But the human need for archetypes to guide us does not evaporate; rather, it grows. And as with all human needs, when the original source of satisfaction is absent, something fills the void. For our young people, it's peer groups and gangs. And for all of us, it's Hollywood and Madison Avenue, the great Myth Machines of our times, spewing forth a steady stream of "meaning" into the culture, without a clue or a thought as to what they are doing. We are creating meaning without managing meaning. It's no wonder, then, that the public appetite for meaning, particularly archetypal meaning, is so strong that archetypal brands, in the form of personalities, public figures, and corporate offerings, are fervently embraced and fiercely defended.
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All products have the potential to be mediators of meaning, somewhat like ritual objects. A child hugs a teddy bear and feels loved. Actually, the bear is just an inanimate object. It does not love the child. But it does represent the mother's love of the child, and the child releases his or her own love in the hugging. Similarly, a young, somewhat stressed career woman steps into her convertible and experiences a sense of freedom. The truth may be that she is just driving home. But the sensation of her hands on the wheel and the wind in her hair is liberating. The freedom this woman feels is not a surrogate for some other experience or the result of some false-advertising promise; it's the real thing -at least for that moment. The meaning carried by the brand addresses a deep psychological need or yearning. How does this differ from addiction, which keeps people coming back for more in a destructive way? We become addicted to substances that promise what they cannot deliver and thus manipulate the psyche. Archetypal marketing, on the other hand, is rooted in product truth and actually fulfils people's deeper yearnings. People need authentic meaning. Deepak Chopra cites research suggesting that a lack of meaning is correlated strongly with heart attacks. Victor Frankel credits a sense of meaning with enabling people to survive in concentration camps. Of course, people derive meaning in their lives primarily from their faith, their families, or their sense of purpose. If they do not do so, their lives will have a void that commerce can never fill. However, with commercial messages, products, and services infiltrating every single aspect of our lives, it is important that they carry significance and values as well -especially if marketers understand that the meaning most products deliver to people is of a much lower order than the experiences people have in their lives. Consciously utilizing brands and the products that bear their names to provide meaning not only creates customer loyalty, but also helps people experience greater fulfilment in their lives and their work, at least in small ways that incrementally improve the quality of everyday life. That's how to build strong and resilient customer loyalty. Imagine -just imagine- that we could do so consciously, responsibly, and well. We could be the first generation of marketers to address timeless and universal human needs in a way that builds timeless and universal, commercially effective -and psychologically construct- brands.
The Telescope and the Artichoke The ancients employed their native human abilities in pattern recognition to group stars into constellations that they then used to navigate difficult waters. Similarly, this first system for the management of meaning provides a kind of telescope to help you see the patterns that unify the "stars" in the branding world. Without a system, you may not see these patterns -or you may connect the dots in ways that are unique to you, but that do not resonate with others. Parts 2 through 5 will help you recognize the underlying patterns that explain why archetypal brands and archetypal communication have such power. These chapters focus on the 12 archetypes within the four motivational categories, exploring how each archetype is expressed in typical advertisements (many of which do not reflect a coherent brand concept), brand identities, customer motivation, organizational cultures, and marketing strategies. (For more information on these archetypes as they play out in the psyches of individuals, see Carol Pearson's Awakening the Heroes Within. For more information on their roles in forming organizational cultures, see her book Invisible Forces. Most of the examples we use represent ephemeral brand communication, not a fully sustained identity. In addition, these chapters are written in a value-neutral way and in no sense should be taken as an endorsement of any of the brands, advertisements, or organizations we mention. Parts 6 and 7 are more like an artichoke. When eating an artichoke, you strip away extraneous leaves until you get to the core. Similarly, to determine which archetypal meaning is best for your brand, you will need to strip away surface information to discover the deeper core meaning that can make your product, service, or organization a winning brand, as described in Chapter 16 in Part 6. Chapter 17 shows you how to tell your brand story in a compelling way -not just in advertising, but in everything you do. Chapter 18 puts all of the information described up to that point together in a case-study format, highlighting how archetypes helped provide a renewed sense of mission for the March of Dimes. Part 7 shows you how to recognize the archetype most essential to your brand's product category (Chapter 19), how to align your brand identity with your corporate culture (Chapter 20), and how to consider the deep ethical issues relevant to the marketing of meaning (Chapter 2 l).
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Overall, The Heroes and the Outlaws provides an in-depth understanding of the impact of brand meaning on consumer psychology and on the collective consciousness of our time. It is written primarily for professionals in the field of marketing and executives who make marketing decisions. lt also is useful for people in the organizational development field, as well as others in management, who can help to align an organization's policies, procedures, and culture with its brand identity. In addition, The Hero and the Outlaw can be helpful in developing consumer literacy.
The Yearning for Paradise Innocent, Explorer, Sage REMEMBER BRIGADOON ? Just a glimpse of paradise, and then people are doomed to endure ordinary life. Today's consumers all have some recollection, some experience of a wondrous moment when the perfect, good life seemed possible. For much of the rest of their lives, they seek to fulfil a longing for some ideal place where they can feel fully themselves and at home. Some psychologists explain this yearning as a desire to re-experience the safety and oneness of the womb. In a more spiritual context, it can be seen as a result of the nostalgia we feel because we left a spiritual place for a material world. In "Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth suggests that, as young children, we remember a glory that we have known, but gradually we forget it and settle for ordinary life: "Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close/Upon the growing boy ... At length the man perceives it die away,/And fade into the light of common day." By the end of the poem, however, Wordsworth recaptures spiritual rapture on the mountaintop and feels as if he has re-entered paradise. In fact, many consumers today do live in a kind of paradise. In material terms, we currently enjoy greater affluence than humankind has ever known. Yet happiness evades many of us because consciousness has not kept up with our material advantages. We have so many choices, in terms of how to pursue our individual destinies, but so few guideposts to help us find the way. That is why archetypes and archetypal stories that provide a road map for self-actualization are more relevant than ever before. The three archetypes that are central to this chapter provide different strategies for the pursuit of fulfillment. The Innocent is a bit like the lovely little child or the wise mystic, filled with wonder at the beauty of it all, still believing it is possible to live in paradise right now. At the lower levels of the archetype, people feel that this is their birthright and therefore become angry when life seems to let them down. At a higher level, the Innocent makes choices for a simpler, more values-driven life and moves into paradise by acting on this decision. We see the Innocent's consciousness in society today in the strong desire parents have to make their children's lives perfect -to deny them nothing, to require little of them, and to allow them to express themselves as free spirits. We also see it in the revival in the 1990s and beyond of a concern for spirit or values as the basis for a sane and happy life. The Explorer is driven by a sense of not quite belonging, like e Ugly Duckling seeking its own kind. Explorers suffer from an underlying dissatisfaction and restlessness, as if they are constantly eking something better, but again and again saying "not this" and hitting the road. Like the Hebrews leaving Egypt, the Explorer may wander in the wilderness for 40 years (a metaphor for "as long as it takes") before reaching the Promised Land. Developmentally, this archetype helps with the task of finding oneself. All that outer seeking really is a strategy for exploring experiences, settings, relationships, and products that resonate with the Explorer's inner truth. Along the way, Explorers have wonderful adventures. While the Innocent seeks fulfillment in the here and now, and the Explorer hits the road in search of it, the Sage tells us that happiness is the result of education. Living with the level of freedom and abundance we now have requires a high level of consciousness and the attendant ability to make choices. The Sage archetype helps gain the consciousness to use our freedom and prosperity to enhance our lives. At the more everyday level, the Explorer looks for products and services that advance the journey of self-discovery, the Innocent looks for those that provide the experience of peace and goodness right now, and the Sage seeks those that are adjuncts to learning or wisdom.
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As consumers, Explorers are independent minded and curious. They like to try new things, so to gain their loyalty, it is important provide continual novelty and improvements in products. (Software companies have this one down.) Innocents, by contrast, like to find a brand they can trust and stick to it, believing that "lf it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." They also like brands that make life simple (user-friendly computers, for example). Sages like to have all the relevant information they need to make informed decisions about brands. They also enjoy learning, so products that require a learning curve (like computers) appeal to them. All three archetypes emphasize self over others and autonomy over belonging. (See the motivational grid in Figure 2.1) They often play out in opposition to the archetypes in Part 4, which place a higher value on belonging than on authenticity. Of course, to enter the Promised Land, it is necessary to find ways to balance the desire for individuation with the desire to connect. Figure 2.1
Stability
Belonging
Independence
Mastery
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The Innocent Motto: “Free to be you and me." EVERY CULTURE HAS MYTHS of a golden age when life was perfect and utopian visions of how it might become that wonderful again. Symbols like the Star over Bethlehem announcing the birth of the Christ child, the Holy Grail appearing to the knights of the Round Table, or a vine-covered house with a white picket fence suggest that it is possible to find happiness through the triumph of a kind of simple purity or goodness. The Innocent in each of us wants to live in that perfect land where we are "free to be you and me.” The promise of the Innocent is that life does not need to be hard. You are free to be yourself and to live out your best values right now, right here, just by following simple guidelines. Best-sellers such as Chicken Soup for the Soul (in all its variations) and AII I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten speak to the part of us that trusts in an ultimate kind of simplicity. The Innocent is extraordinarily attractive in this hectic, stressful age because it promises that you can get out of the fast lane, relax, and truly enjoy your life. Innocent brands include movie stars Doris Day, Meg Ryan, and Tom Hanks, the movies Baby Boom and Local Hero, the PBS network, Keds, Disney, Breyers, Ronald McDonald, Baskin-Robbins, the Pillsbury Doughboy, lvory, cotton ("the fabric of our lives"), and most whole or organic foods. Such brands promise the experience of returning to innocence -that life can be simple, uncomplicated, and good. The movie The Accidental Tourist plays on this Innocent hope that it is possible even to travel without experiencing the slightest inconvenience, while implicit in Forrest Gump is the faith that it is possible to experience all the challenges of the sixties, seventies, and eighties and remain unscathed if we keep the simple sweetness and love of a true Innocent. While none of us wants Forrest's limited IQ, the incredible success of the movie tells us that we do appreciate his purity of spirit and his simple power to endure.
The Innocent Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Gift
To experience paradise To be happy Doing something wrong or bad Do things right Faith and optimism
Historically, many brands appeal implicitly to the Innocent by promising a predictable rescue from an imperfect world. Ads that show a man with dandruff, a shirt with ring around the collar, or a proposal that may not arrive by mail by the deadline appeal to people's desire for rescue. "This is an unfair, unsafe world. You can get rejected, abandoned, fired, or exiled if you do not do it right. But Eden can be restored if you buy our product -your scalp becomes healthy and attractive, your clothes look immaculate, the proposal, gets accepted, and life is secure once more." However, contemporary consumers respond less well to such blatant promises of simple answers. Nevertheless, in its more subtle forms, the Innocent archetype still has strong appeal. In fact, as life becomes more complex, that appeal is growing. Innocent films include many Disney movies (as well as Disneyland and Disney World) and most Warner Brothers children's movies. Classic songs that reveal the yearning for Innocence include 'Someone to Watch Over Me," "Summertime," "The Age of Aquarius" ("We've got to get ourselves back to the garden"), and "Don't Worry, Be Happy." People who resonate to the Innocent archetype long to have the perfect work, the perfect mate, the perfect home, perfect kids, and the ideal life. The primary promise of the Innocent is that life can be Eden. Think of Christmas and most Christmas specials and the attendant sense of wonder and hope that life can be beautiful, especially if we simply believe in its possibilities and choose to do right ourselves. The secondary promise is that if any fall from Eden occurs, redemption is possible: Unpleasant or challenging events can lead eventually to a happy ending, and stagnation can lead to renewal.
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The innocent also may be known as: Pollyanna, Puer or peuella, Utopian, Traditionalist, Naïve, Mystic, Dreamer
Of all the archetypes, the Innocent has the most levels, because people experience it at both the beginning and the end of the journey. (See box, "Levels of the Innocent") Initially the Innocent has a childlike quality of naiveté and a simple, even unconscious, dependence. Children should be able to take it for granted that their parents and other relatives will care for them. However, many people carry that outlook over into adult situations where such trust is not necessarily warranted. For example, today, more workers than one might have an anachronistic expectation that their employers will take care of them -regardless of whether they are effective in their jobs. Such assumptions can lead to an extreme sense of disillusionment when management does not do so. At the highest level, the Innocent is the mystic. A famous example is Thomas Merton, the modern Trappist monk who lived most of his life in a monastery, retired from the world; yet his books profoundly affected his time. In a more ordinary sense, people who choose to follow a mystic path in retirement are responding to the truth that innocence beckons the very young and the very old. In either case, the gift is trust in life and faith in a spiritual power greater than ourselves that holds us and keeps us safe, even beyond death.
The innocent archetype provides a good identity for brands that • • • • • •
Provide a relatively simple answer to an identifiable problem Are associated with goodness, morality, simplicity nostalgia, or childhood Have functions associated with cleanliness, health, or virtue –and that are infinitely replicable That are priced moderate to low Are produced by a company with straight-arrow core values Desire to differentiate from a product with tarnished image
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The Explorer Motto: “Don’t Fence Me In." NVHILE THE INNOCENT EXPECTS to be able to live in paradise, as a right or by virtue of a shift in consciousness, the Explorer goes out seeking a better world. The journey Explorers we experiencing is simultaneously inner and outer, because they are motivated by a deep desire to find what, in the outer world, fits with their inner needs, preferences, and hopes. The Explorer's story is at the root of the success of the whole genre of travelogues (including immigrant narratives); fairy tales (such as Hansel and Gretel) in which the protagonist goes on a journey, gets entrapped in some way, and finally escapes; science fiction (about exploring the universe); coming-of-age stories; narratives about leaving marriages, jobs, or town; expatriate literature; literature about seeking the promised land; and all absurdist literature demonstrating human alienation. Great Explorer-brand literature includes Mark Twain's The Adventurers of Huckleberry Finn, E Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land," and, of course, Homer's The Odyssey. Famous Explorer-brand television series are "The Lone Ranger" and *Star Trek ("To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before"). The old cowboy classic may be the Explorer anthem: "Give me land, lots of land, 'neath the starry skies above. Don't fence me in," although the country classic "Take this job and shove it” vies for second place. Folk music is an Explorer genre. Products and services that successfully embody the Explorer archetype must serve in some way as useful props on Explorer journeys in order to compel any kind of brand loyalty. This starts at the level of literal journeying and moves into its more figurative versions.
The Explorer Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
The freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world To experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life Getting trapped, conforming, inner emptiness, nonbeing Journey, seek out and experience new things, escape from entrapment & boredom Aimless wandering, becoming a misfit Autonomy, ambition, ability to be true to one’s own soul
Props for the Journey One expression of the Explorer is the simple desire to hit the open road and to be in the wild, wide -open spaces of nature- to experience the joy of discovery. Products, then, that serve naturally as props on the Explorer's journey are often automobiles (Ford Explorer, "No Boundaries"); any kind of off-road vehicle (jeep Wrangler, "Take your body where your mind has already wandered"); and boats of various kinds. If you think of the typical ad for such a product, you know the Explorer's most natural setting: big open skies; the appeal of the open road; nature in all its variations, but especially mountains, asking to be climbed; the compelling quality of the receding horizon, always removed, no matter how far you travel; the night sky, speaking volumes about the infinite possibilities of outer space. Of course, Explorers often like sports, but not necessarily for competitive reasons. Instead, they tend to favor individualistic or even solitary pursuits, such as kayaking, skiing, biking, or long-distance running -activities that get them out in nature and give them time to clear their heads. Backroads is a travel agency that books weeklong and longer trips, featuring these experiences throughout the world, clearly attracting the Explorer in each of us. To create great Explorer brands, of course, you have to get into the Explorer story -not just the setting, but also the costumes. What kind of clothes would an Explorer want to wear? Sturdy ones, of course, that give you room to move. (Think, for example, of brands like Levi's REI, Patagonia, and Land's End.)
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Explorers' desire for freedom makes them wary of being tied down by anything -including big mortgages or time payments. Currently, Yamaha motorcycle ads use the lead "Declare your independence. Not Chapter 11."
The Explorer also may be known as: The seeker, adventurer, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim, quester, antihero, rebel
Music is great solace on the road. Sony has made hay with this urge, first with the Walkman -the Explorer's own music, in his or her own space- and now with the Memory Stick ("Your digital images. Your music. Your work. Your ideas." Programmed into the stick). You get hungry, you stop at Burger King, which, catering to Explorer types, Iets you "have it your way." What might you want to drink when you're on the road? A great cup of coffee! Traditionally, coffee has been a Caregiver product category (Think of Folgers' Mrs. Olsen, in her own homey kitchen, dishing out motherly advice as she pours another coffee.) Starbucks, however, saw an opportunity for creating a compelling Explorer coffee brand, in part by emphasizing the exotic quality of coffee as an import from foreign lands.
The Explorer archetype might provide a brand identity for your brand if • • • • • •
Your product helps people feel free, is nonconformist, or is pioneering in some way Your product is rugged and sturdy or is appropiate for use in nature, on the road, or in dangerous settings Your product can be purchased from a catalogue, the internet or another alternative source Your product helps people express their indivuality (e.g. fashion, furnishing) Your product can be purchased and consumed “on the ego’ You seek to differentiate your brand from a successful Regular Guy/Gal or other more conformist brands
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The Sage Motto: "The truth will set you free.” SAGES HAVE THEIR OWN WAY of finding paradise. Their faith is in the capacity of humankind to learn and grow in ways that allow us to create a better world. In the process, they want to be free to think for themselves and to hold their own opinions. The most obvious example is the scholar, researcher, or teacher. However, it can also be the detective, nightly news anchorperson, or any expert sharing knowledge, including the classic disembodied male voice telling homemakers about the science behind a successful laundry detergent. Famous Sages include Socrates, Confucius, the Buddha, Galileo, and Albert Einstein ... but also George Carlin, Phyllis Diller, and Oprah Winfrey. We see the Sage in all mystery stories -Sherlock Holmes figuring out the case; in science fiction, such as any of Asimov's thrillers; and in informative books, magazines, and ads. The popularity of "The X-Files" (which almost begins with the statement "The truth is out there") illustrates the perseverance of the Sage in trying to sort out truth from illusion and the paranoia that can result when the answer is not clear or easy to find. In politics, the Sage is associated with clear thinking, but may lack charisma and social graces. Al Gore, teased unmercifully for his stiffness, is one example. Einstein is another. (He was known for tuning out a whole party in his honor because he interested in the pattern of the tealeaves floating in his cup.) Sage brands include Harvard University, MIT, high-end consulting firms such as McKinsey and Arthur Andersen, and the Mayo Clinic (known for its diagnostic prowess), as well as the Educational Testing Service, and innumerable companies, research laboratories, and journals dedicated to discovering and disseminating truth. Stanford University, at one point in its history, decided to become "the Harvard of the West” and consciously developed a public relations campaign, supported by investment in the research aspect of the university, to establish a prestigious intellectual image. And it worked. Popular Sages include Oprah Winfrey and Walter Cronkite, who educate and guide their respective audiences, and Erma Bombeck, who provided wisdom through humor. In decades past, many brands embodied Sage identities and provided a strong educational role -for example, Betty Crocker on homemaking or Oil of Olay on skin care- but many have since gone the way of the 15-second sound bite. In fact, print campaigns of the 1950s often included some piece of information or advice. Advertising, in general, attempted to be helpful -to provide some piece of knowledge or wisdom as a kind of "quid pro quo" for the attention of the reader. Currently, there is an opportunity to renew the Sage role in marketing, especially since the Internet offers such an effective vehicle for contemporary Sage brands.
The Sage Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
The discovery of truth To use intelligence and analysis to understand the world Being duped, misled, ignorance Seek out information and knowledge, become self-reflective and understand thinking processes Can study issues forever and never act Wisdom, intelligence
The Sage as Expert Sage brands may provide information, as do The New York Times, Consumer Reports, National Public Radio, and CNN. Typically, they help the customer make smarter decisions. One ad by Charles Schwab's investment firm (motto: "creating a world of smarter investors") shows two worried-looking women reading books entitled Keep Ahead of the Sharks and How to Get Rich, while a self-satisfiedlooking man reads Boy, Am I Happy. The caption explains: "You can always tell the investor who's had a Schwab Portfolio consultation. They feel smarter, more informed, more in control."
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The picture of the Sage as interpreter of the news has changed in significant ways in recent times. Once, oral communication, and later, the written word, was the conveyor of news beyond the confines of one's village or town. Visual information, describing what it "looked like" outside of our own normal routines, was scarce. Much later, in America, people waited on street corners for the arrival of Life magazine, then the primary vehicle for "seeing" what things were like on the outside. With the advent of TV news reporting, and especially TV’s intensive, day-to-day reporting of the Vietnam War, everything began to change. For the first time ever, television was the most trusted source of news reporting. Americans began to believe that "seeing was believing," and the role of the anchorperson, journalist, or commentator was transformed. The basic source of the information that described our lives switched, in a very short time, from being orally and then verbally based to visually based. Yet the question remained, were we "visually literate"? Did we, as a nation, naively believe that "seeing was believing," or did we understand that the business of visual literacy was as important as, if not more important than, verbal literacy? For example, even beyond the interpretive biases of the photographer, every day the capabilities of digital photography were making it possible to superimpose images and to change them. Who would be our Sages or guides in this new, visually based world? Sage brands promise that they can help you discriminate better and think more effectively. A press release from Arthur Andersen quotes former managing partner Jim Wadia as saying "traditional models of wealth creation and management are not enough in a world that values speed, networking and information. With our global reach and seamless delivery of services, Arthur Andersen helps clients realize value from both tangible and intangible assets."
The Sage also may be known as: Expert, scholar, detective, oracle, evaluater, advisor, philosopher, researcher, planner, teacher
Such companies typically emphasize their own research and development. Procter & Gamble stresses innovative breakthroughs resulting from ongoing research, promoting the fact that the firm holds over 25,000 patents worldwide. A typical ad (in this case for Swiffer mop sponges) shows "one concerned P&G scientist," "one innocent (a baby] in a dirty world," a mop referred to as "one dirt magnet," and a package of Swiffer with the caption "A mop with a mission." The descriptive material names the P&G scientist and describes the breakthrough that created "a unique fabric of hydro-entangled fibers that generates an electrostatic charge that works like a magnet to attract dust, hair and common allergens." Such ads appeal to the desire of moms and dads to be informed about the latest ways to keep their homes state-of-the-art clean. Sage brands may even congratulate customers for being informed and intelligent. Oldsmobile ran an ad saying, "Wanted: drivers with a firm grasp of torque, traction, and verb tense," implying that people in the know will choose their brand. Similarly, Infinity asserts, 'It's not just a new car. Its all the best thinking." Toyota tells us that the Prius is "a car that sometimes runs on gas power and sometimes runs on electric power from a company that always runs on brainpower." In a print campaign for Sesame Street, little anecdotes from the show that seem entirely playful at first glance are highlighted in terms of the learning opportunity they provide regarding problem solving, pattern recognition, and so on. As a result, the "invisible" research-based curriculum that drives the development of each show becomes apparent to the adult. It is assumed that if the parent or caregiver understands the Sage quality that drives the delightful escapades of each episode, she will better appreciate what makes this show truly unique in the world of "quality" children's programming. The Sage is an excellent brand identity for computer hardware and software. Adobe Systems Incorporated, for example, positions itself as a tool for Sages, helping "to bring ideas to life on the Web, the printed page, and video." Any brand that helps people be or act smarter is also a legitimate tool in the Sage's story. Examples include Lean Cuisine ("Eat smart. Cook simple.") and CNN ("You are what you know.").
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The Sage archetype might provide a suitable identity for your brand if • • • • •
It provides expertise or information to your customers It encourages customers or clients to think The brand is based on a new scientific breakthrough or esoteric knowledge The quality of the brand is supported by hard data You are differentiating the product form others whose quality or performance is questionable
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Leaving a Thumbprint on the World Hero, Outlaw, Magician WE SELD0M SPEAK of the Hero, the Outlaw, and the Magician in the same breath, but they are, in fact, powerful archetypes cut from the same cloth. In classic film and literature, they are often fearless protagonists who realize their own special power and go on to take great personal risks in order to change their reality. In day-to-day life, these powerful archetypes provide a structure that can release the ability of ordinary people to rise to challenges, take risks, break rules, and transform their lives. They help them develop the quality of mastery, requiring them to embrace risk and change, which can trigger an inner conflict with the need for safety, structure, and security. They are each, in their own way, magnetic, because they are about change -with all of its accompanying anxiety and exhilaration. The outcome can be socially positive (consider Churchill and FDR as Heroes), disruptive (Outlaws Annie Oakley and John Dillinger), or purely magical (Houdini, Jackie 0, and Harry Potter); the effect is similar. Such figures seem beyond the powers of the normal person, but they raise the motivating question, Could I do that as well? Children's stories abound with these figures, but in more subtle form, adults are mesmerized by them as well. Box office hits could include any Indiana Jones film, Goodfellas, and Heaven Can Wait. These archetypes are magnetic, and more: In today's cultural climate, they are useful as well. Changing times require people who are energized by risk and who want to prove their own capacities through rising to challenge after challenge. The ability to take risks and to persevere to the point that we really accomplish something of consequence results in high self-esteem and social validation. When these archetypes are active in people, they want to take action to have an impact on the world. Emotions related to such aspirations tend to be fiery and energetic, ranging from anger, to ambition, to fierce determination. The Hero, the Outlaw, and the Magician use this energy to leave a thumbprint on the world or to mobilize in order to destroy or transform rigid, enervating structures. If these figures are missing in our personal lives -as they often are- we crave their presence in the marketplace and in the media. In some ways, the distinction between the Hero and the Outlaw rests with history. Benjamin Franklin reminded the U.S. founding fathers, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." Had the United States lost the war, the revolutionaries would likely be remembered in British history books as Outlaws, not Heroes. In marketing, it is useful to realize that the negative pole of the Hero bleeds into the Outlaw, as the most primitive Hero is really about winning at all costs -a goal that is, often, hardly noble or pretty. It is also important to remember that in American culture, perhaps because this country began with a revolution, Heroes often have a slightly rebellious quality to them, and Outlaws -at least the ones people like- carry on the wilder, more rambunctious qualities of American life without actually undermining the society. The Hero, the Outlaw, and the Magician all take a stand against some limiting, restrictive, or harmful reality. The Hero (who is often seen as a Warrior) takes a great personal risk in order to defeat evil forces to protect society or sacred values. The Outlaw acts as a disruptive force, violating cultural norms and rules for the good of others (like Robin Hood), for adventure and personal gain (like Bonnie and Clyde), or out of desperate alienation (like Thelma and Louise). The Magician acts as a catalyst for social or institutional transformation or healing. In all three cases, the underlying desire is to take action and exert power. The underlying fear is of allowing life to just happen to you -of being a victim or a wimp. We live in an achievement-oriented society in which people are expected to take great risks and develop competence in order to contribute to the society (Hero), while technological advancements such as computers, the Internet, and genetic engineering bring magic into everyday life (Magician). At the same time, large numbers of people seem increasingly alienated to the point that they identify with outsiders if not actual Outlaws. So many people use or have used illegal drugs that it is now routine to ask presidential candidates about their drug use. In act, it is enough for a candidate to affirm that he didn't inhale or did not use drugs in recent years to confer a reasonable amount of respectability. Just listening to rap or hip-hop lyrics is enough to show that there is a strong strain of the Outlaw in African-American youth culture, which is now being adopted by white youth as well. Tattoos and body piercing are prevalent with young people of all ethnic groups. Both liberals and conservatives (especially those opposing abortion) practice civil disobedience -which is an Outlaw strategy for change. You might think of militia groups in Montana, the Klan in the South, and
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skinheads throughout the world to understand the importance of the Outlaw archetype to the identity of far-right groups. The Hero, Outlaw, and Magician, as power archetypes, focus consumer attitudes and actions relevant not only to achieving one's aims, but also to changing the world. They therefore provide natural brand identities for products and services that have a marked impact on their time and place.
Stability
Belonging
Independence
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The Hero Motto: "Where there's a will, there's a way.” EVERYTHING SEEMS LOST, but then the Hero rides over the hill and saves the day. There are infinite variations on this story, but in every one the Hero triumphs over evil, adversity, or a major challenge, and in so doing, inspires us all. To get a sense of the Hero, think John Wayne, John Glenn, or Susan B. Anthony, and at a lower level, James Bond and the Mission Impossible team. Virtually all superheroes -Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc.- fit this just as their adversaries are classic Outlaws. John E Kennedy was a Hero president, running on his bravery in the military and challenging us to send an expedition to the moon 'because it is there." So were Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. Famous generals from MacArthur to Colin Powell qualify as Heroes also, as do culturally transformative figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Movies like Star Wars and Saving Private Ryan provide us with the basic archetypal structure of the hero's story, as do classic television shows like "The Lone Ranger," 'Star Trek," "Superman," and, more recently, "Xena" and "Homicide." We see the Hero in any crusader for a cause or in efforts to rescue the victim or defend the underdog. The natural environment for the Hero is the battlefield, the athletic contest, the streets, the workplace, the political jungle, or anyplace where difficulty or challenges await courageous and energetic action. The Hero wants to make the world a better place. His or her underlying fear is failing to have what it takes to persevere and prevail. This archetype helps us develop energy, discipline, focus, and determination. Distinctive Hero brands include the Marines, the Olympics, the space program, the National Organization of Women, Nike, Federal Express, the Red Cross, and most video games. (The chief notable exceptions are Outlaw video games.) Because the Warrior aspect of the Hero archetype is so strong in the culture, many health and social initiatives are framed as wars, like the War on Poverty or the War on Drugs.
The Hero Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Prove one’s worth through courageous and difficult action Exert mastery in a way that improves the world Weakness, vulnerability, “wimping out” Become as strong, competent, and powerful as you are capable of being Arrogance, developing a need for there always to be an enemy Competence and courage
Imagery associated with the Hero includes natural terrain requiring skill and agility; machines and offices where things are getting done; horses, cars, planes, people, or anything moving fast; and anything powerful, hence strong colors and definitive lines and shapes. Hero attires and environments are functional, not lavish. In fact, too much comfort is perceived as dangerous because it can make you soft. The Israeli kibbutz and Army boot camp are each a prime example of an environment that prepares the potential Hero through austerity and hard work. When the Hero archetype is active in individuals, they may be ambitious and seek out challenges -think astronauts, Marines, or athletes- or they may be more reluctant Heroes who recognize an injustice or problem and simply rise to the occasion to do what needs to be done to remedy it. Either way, the Hero is invigorated by challenge, feels outraged by injustice, and responds quickly and decisively to difficulty or opportunity. Heroes pride themselves on discipline, focus, and an ability to make tough choices. They are the instinctive protectors of those they see as innocent, fragile, or legitimately unable to help themselves. (Think of the Hero who rescues the damsel in distress.) All others, they prefer to shape up. In politics, think of Martin Luther King (especially in the "I Have a Dream" speech) inspiring Americans of all races to live up to the cultural ideal of equality of opportunity. Heroes often evince qualities that heighten consciousness in everyone around them. In fact, their secret is who they are, not just what they do. In a recent tribute to Nelson Mandela, he was celebrated for forgiving his jailers after having
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been incarcerated for 27 years, and in doing so, helping free people not only from apartheid, but also from hatred. Now that's heroism! At their worst, Heroes become arrogant or bullying, or they drive themselves into an early grave. At their best, they accomplish great things. Paradoxically, Heroes do not think of themselves as Heroes, because to do so seems presumptuous. More typically, they see themselves as just doing their jobs. If there is anyone they really dislike, it is not so much the villain as it is the wimp. Therefore, they are vulnerable to taking a dare or a challenge even if it may be foolish.
The Hero also may be known as: The warrior, the competitor, the rescuer, the winning athlete, the dragon slayer, the team player
There is, of course, a negative potential within the archetype, just as there is within all archetypes. The conquering Hero can be a horrible bully. Attila the Hun may be celebrated as a Hero because he conquered many peoples, but the experience of the conquered is of being victimized -slaughtered, raped, pillaged. At the lowest level, the Hero archetype simply wants to prevail. The opponent is devalued as the enemy or as someone deserving to be victimized. The Nazis, for example, had a heroic image of themselves, but it resulted in heinous consequences for people in concentration camps. Within the more normal range of behaviors, you can see this negative tendency in hostile corporate takeovers. The acquiring companies may feel like winners, but others' lives may be devastated in the extreme. The trap within the Hero can be that you see yourself as heroic, but others see you as a villain. When this occurs, it behooves you not to dig in your heels, but to stop, see what they see, and correct your course.
The Hero archetype may be right for your brand if • • • • • • •
You have an invention or innovation that will have a major impact on the world Your product helps people perform at their upper limit You are addressing a major social problem and asking people to step up to the plate to help address it You have a clear opponent or competitor you want to beat You are the underdog and want to rival the competition The strength of your product or service is its ability to do a though job efficiently well Your customers base identifies itself as good, moral citizens
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The Outlaw Motto: "Rules are meant to be broken.” THE VILLAIN IN THE MELODRAMA curls his mustache and smiles, and young girls are caught between dread and attraction. The siren sings and the sailor is lured to his death. The Outlaw has the enticement of forbidden fruit. Recently, at a conference, Carol Pearson attended a workshop on "Being the Outlaw or Dating One." There was standing room only! It seems that the more well-behaved and responsible we are, the more we yearn to be an Outlaw, at least a little bit, some of the time. Certainly, we see the Outlaw in its most positive form in figures like Robin Hood or Zorro. Finding their identity outside the current social structure, such Outlaws are faithfull to deeper, truer values than the prevailing ones. Such Outlaws are romantic figures, ready to disrupt a society that has succumbed to tyranny, repression, conformity, or cynicism. In modern history, we can think of the demonstrators at Tiananmen Square in China and the participants in the civil rights and antiwar movements in the United States -they are some of the revolutionaries, who changed the world to the one we know today. Of course, we also see the Outlaws who lack such principles -who are just alienated, angry, and willing to victimize others to get what they want. People who give up on getting what they want in a healthy and socially acceptable way may turn to illegal or unethical strategies in order to prevail. They may not feel moral, but they at least feel powerful. While the Hero wants to be admired, the Outlaw is satisfied to be feared. At least, fear implies power of some sort. The styles differ. Each in his or her own way, a mobster, a revolutionary, a skinhead, and an adolescent with numerous tattoos or body piercing may feel powerful making others scared or uncomfortable. Any kind of effective action against them dispels the fear of victimization, so the cowboys with the black hats ride in and shoot up the town with no more of a goal than simply to disrupt things and feel powerful. Both the Hero and the Outlaw feel anger. The Hero takes action when he or she is outraged by injustice. The Outlaws anger tends to be provoked by being slighted as a person. Whereas Heroes identify with their community, Outlaws feel deeply estranged from it. You might imagine the typical villain in Superman or Batman comics -Lex Luthor or the Joker- who often has become evil as a result of being humiliated or exiled (for being different, maimed, or defective in some way).
The Outlaw Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Revenge or revolution To destroy what is not working (for the Outlaw or the society) Being powerless, trivialized, inconsequential Disrupt, destroy, or shock To go over to the dark side, criminality Outrageousness, radical freedom
The natural habitat for the Outlaw is places that are hidden and shadowy -out of the way. Psychologist C.G. Jung described the way in which individuals and cultures have Shadows -qualities that are judged unacceptable and hence are hidden and denied. People do not want to acknowledge their own Shadows, even to themselves, so they often project them onto others, seeing those others as the problem. The Outlaw holds the shadowy qualities of the culture -that is, the qualities the society disdains and disregards. In this way, the Outlaw can release society's pent-up passions -as, in more ancient times, festivals allowed great license (for example, in England, on Beltane, all sexual restrictions were off for just that one night) and operated as a release valve that, in fact, helped stabilize the culture. In modern times, Woodstock held the positive image of the Outlaw culture, prefiguring the potential for a more utopian time, while Altamont illustrated the more dystopian potential for an Outlaw society to crumble into violence. One need only think of the success of Outlaw novels and films to know how powerful a force this archetype is in society today: Some, such as Rebel Without a Cause or Jack Kerouac's On The Road, chronicle alienation from the culture that leads to breaking cultural norms and taboos. The resonance of such movies and books tells us that some part of every one of us feels some degree of alienation from the dominant culture, particularly when we are young. Other films, such as Bonnie and Clyde or
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, show the Outlaw as a somewhat glamorous figure and the breaking of rules as liberating. Still others, like The Godfather, Goodfellas, or Eyes Wide Shut, trade on the simple allure of criminal or forbidden behaviors. The hippies of the 1960s introduced countercultural, Outlaw values into the culture, and as baby boomers have come of age, such values have become mainstream, and with them magazines such as Rolling Stone. Rock music, which was once a counter-cultural statement, is now the music of choice of an aging middle class. In every generation, adolescents flock to Outlaw products. Just a few years ago, purple hair dye would fall into that category. Today, tattoos and body piercing fill this need, as do mosh pits, many forms of hip-hop and rap, and (attractive to Outlaws of any age) Harley-Davidsons. Outlaw brands include MTV, which is why kids tend to love it and parents worry about it. It is also there in a more subtle way on Fox, which, of the major commercial networks, leans more to shocking and edgy content than do ABC, NBC, or CBS. Although one could see Calvin Klein as a Lover brand, since its imagery is so sexual, the company also has Outlaw qualities because of the way it pushes the edge of what social propriety will allow. Hoards of people listen to Howard Stern or watch 'Politically Incorrect"; drink Tequila, Jack Daniels, or Southern Comfort; or smoke Winstons. The pirate-like eye patch on the man in the Hathaway shirt adds just enough sense of the Outlaw to spice up what is, after all, quite a pr proper shirt. In the women's movement, educated professional women -motivated by books like Clarissa Pinkola Estes's “Women Who Run With the Wolves- try to recapture the lost instinctual wild woman within, while Robert Bly and others take men to the woods seeking their wild man. When Outlaw consciousness is present, people are more acutely aware of the ways civilization limits human expression. Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic American novel, The Scarlet Letter, contrasts Puritan society with the freer life of the forest, which is linked with sexuality, vitality, sin, and, paradoxically, also transformational virtue. American novels and movies that offer critiques of the society often show how good people are forced to break the law in order to do the right thing. A well-known example of a classic novel that exemplifies just such a theme is Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and the theme appears as well in modern movies like Thelma and Louise, Fried Green Tomatoes, and The Cider House Rules, in which groups feel so unprotected by society that they are forced to break the law to survive. Historical figures like Lenin or Malcom X illustrate what happens in a society in which leaders of disempowered groups become alienated enough to be willing to espouse or practice violence.
The Outlaw also may be known as: The rebel, the revolutionary, the villain, the wild man/woman, the misfit, the enemy, the iconoclast
In an everyday way, celebrities like Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson, and Madonna succeed because they break outdated rules in a manner that feels liberating to people. By acting in a sexually liberated, even promiscuous way while wearing a cross and the name of the Virgin, Madonna's brand identity blatantly challenges the historical distinction between the virgin and the whore. Such a brand identity requires a capacity for risk. It can be wildly successful if the society is ready for its values to be challenged. It can also generate serious backlash, criticism, and shaming if society is not ready. In the Soviet Union, capitalist behavior was outlawed, yet circumstances necessitated participation in the black market (which was, of course, capitalist in the extreme). Over time, a nation of Outlaws was created, and it was only a matter of time until communism, at least in that form, collapsed. The, threat of the Outlaw, however, is that an individual, quiet rebellion will break out in ways that begin to destroy the society, either eroding it from within or demolishing it in a violent eruption. The negative pole of the archetype is evidenced in characters like Darth Vader and other villains who have gone over to the dark side. The negative Outlaw, then, thrives in organizations that allow profit and competition to outweigh any kind of moral value or sense of social responsibility and in the ever-present danger that hostile takeovers will destroy the identity (and hence the soul) of healthy companies.
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The Outlaw archetype may be a good identity for your brand if • • • • •
Customers and employees are feeling very disaffiliated form society The function of your product is to destroy something (actually, like a bulldozer, or virtually, like many video games) or is genuinely revolutionary Your product is not very good for people, so that using it is aking to thumbing your nose at society’s ideas of what constitutes health Your product helps retain values that are threatened by prevailing ones or pioneers new revolutionary attitudes Your product’s prices is low to moderate
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The Magician Motto: "It can happen!" THE EARLIEST IMAGES of the Magician were the shaman, the medicine man or woman, and the village witch or wizard. Later we had the alchemist, seeking to turn lead into gold. Still later, we had scientists probing the fundamental secrets of the universe, psychologists studying the workings of human consciousness, and gurus offering to share spiritual success secrets. Most basic to the Magician is the desire to search out the fundamental laws of how things work and to apply these principles to getting things done. The most typical applications of magical lore are to heal the mind, heart, and body; to find the fountain of youth and the secret of longevity; to discover ways to create and maintain prosperity; and to invent products that make things happen. Perhaps the most famous Magician in Western culture is Merlin, who looks in his crystal ball and predicts the potential for Camelot. Aware, however, of the counter-potential for doom, he extends his energy to ensure the most ideal outcome. He does this, in part, by talking about his vision for a peaceful and just society, developing his talents (as legend has it that he did with King Arthur), and crafting or finding magical objects (the Round Table, Excalibur, the Grail) that support desired values of community, valor, and enlightenment. In the process, he also studies astronomy, natural science, and engineering. The wildly successful Harry Potter series demonstrates children's and adolescents' fascination with the Magician. In fact, this series has actually motivated kids to read! In contemporary film, we see Yoda of Star Wars teaching Luke Skywalker to "trust the force"; the witches in Practical Magic invoking true love; the antics of Mary Poppins; any number of angel shows or movies, such as City of Angels or "Touched by an Angel," in which the spirit world intervenes in this one; or movies like Field of Dreams, which help us believe that miracles do occur. In Mexico, a genre of film and fiction called magical realism has resulted in such movies as Like Water for Chocolate. In the United States, we have the growing genre of metaphysical films, including big box office hits like The Sixth Sense.
The Magician Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Knowledge of the fundamental laws of how the world or universe works Make dreams come true Unanticipated negative consequences Develop vision an live it Becoming manipulative Finding win-win outcomes
Magician brands include all those that foster "magical moments": sparkling water, champagne, Sony, General Foods International Coffees, Calgon ("Take me away"), many cruise lines, Jackie 0, spas, and many chic hotels. They also include many cosmetics, herbs, potions, and fitness campaigns promising the fountain of youth. Dannon Yogurt hit the big time with a campaign taking off on research that connects eating yogurt with longevity. One commercial featured an ancient Georgian, eating Dannon, with the words "Temur Banacha thought Dannon was really fine yogurt. He ought to know. He's been eating yogurt for 105 years." Of course, virtually all New Age books, tapes, workshops, and products, and many "miraculous" modern technologies -the World Wide Web being only one of themtrade on the image of magic. The spirit of the Magician is easily evoked when the product has exotic or ancient origins or if it involves some special ritual, such as popping corks, decanting wine, or swirling brandy and sniffing its aroma. (In fact, even the "brown paper bag variety" of brandy drinkers on street corners relish this ritual as part of the experience!) The Magician is also a great brand identity for corporate change strategies, miracle drugs, herbal remedies, spas, exotic travel, and, of course, any product or service that directly affects consciousness-advertising being but one. Magicians are at the basis of radically new technologies: personal computers, the Internet, organ transplants, and genetic engineering. Think about Ben Franklin with his kite, tapping into the power of electricity, which eventually would help to fuel the industrial revolution. This image is also not so
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different from the image, in the movie Frankenstein, of the doctor bringing the monster to life with electric current as a storm rages outside. From both images, we can see the hope and the fear that are invested in the twin images of scientists as modern miracle workers and "mad geniuses" who try to play god and bring destruction on us all. In some ways, nuclear energy, too, holds both of these potentials: an inexpensive type of energy to heat our homes and the forebearer of a mushroom cloud that threatens to destroy the planet. While the ancient shaman, medicine man or woman, or alchemist integrated science, spirituality, and psychology, in the modern world we tend to separate them. Advances in the physical sciences, however -especially those that threaten the survival of the planet or of our species- have spurred a strong sense that psychology needs to keep up. Therefore, although different fields and individuals led advances in the natural and physical sciences than in the psychological and spiritual arenas, it is not surprising that the culture as a whole exhibits an interest in all these areas. Moreover, as the Magician archetype emerges in the culture, these fields are beginning to align once again. A wider public is interested in mind-body medicine, the convergence of ideas between psychology, on the one hand, and the physical and biological sciences on the other, psychic phenomena and the occult, and the link between evolved consciousness and success. Entrepreneurs are often Magicians, as are athletes. Spiritual ideas linking inner consciousness with outer performance are yielding miraculous results in the business and sports worlds. Magical people often have dreams that other people see as impossible, yet it is the essence of magic to have a vision and then walk right into it. When things go wrong, Magicians look inward to change themselves. Then the outer world changes as well. An ad for New Balance shows a man running out into nature. The ad says, "Turn off your computer. Turn off your fax machine. Turn off your cell phone. Connect with yourself." If you do not do this, you cannot do magic, for magic is always accomplished from the inside out.
The Magician also may be known as: Visionary, catalyst, innovator, charismatic leader, mediator, healer or medicine man or woman
The most consistent images associated with Magicians are signs in the heavens -rainbows, shooting stars, a beautiful galaxy, flying saucers- which tend to reassure us that we are not alone in the universe. As a symbol, the star over Bethlehem announcing Christ's birth holds this reassurance most palpably. Other images, of course, include caves, crystal balls, magic wands, capes, and, of course, the Magician's tall, pointed hat. In its positive aspect, the Magician is a wandering angel, like Mary Poppins, the good witch in The Wizard of Oz, and Samantha in the television classic "Bewitched"; or the director of the action, like Shakespeare's Prospero (in The Tempest), intervening in troubled situations to set things right. Cleaning products such as Ajax and the "white knight" promote their ability to make our homes sparkle, while cultural gurus like Deepak Chopra teach us how to think right in order to become healthy and successful. Sometimes the magic is just in the energy to persist. Witness the remarkable success of the Energizer Bunny, which seems magical because it "keeps going and going." A number of ads today trade on such imagery, some seriously and others humorously. The American Indian College Fund runs an image of a student senate president, in full medicine woman regalia, dancing on the plains to make it clear that traditional Indian spiritual values govern her school. On a lighter note, McAfree.com, an on-line PC manager, shows a picture of an old woman reading from an ancient text, surrounded by burning candles. The woman appears to be engaged in some kind of incantation, with the caption reassuring the viewer, "Computers enlightened. No hocus-pocus required." There is something so miraculous about modern technologies that they virtually call out for a magical brand identity, even though the companies that sell them may not want to be identified with the more bizarre images associated with the archetype. Sometimes the magical power of a brand can be communicated negatively -that is, by showing what life would be like without it. For example, JBL, a manufacturer of speaker systems, ran an ad of an empty field (except, of course, for grass), with the caption "How would Woodstock sound without JBL? Moo." The magical result of modern sound technology is powerfully brought home, simply by imagining its absence. When the Magician archetype is active in individuals, they are catalysts for change. Trusting synchronicity (or meaningful coincidences), they expect that if they do their part, the universe will meet them. To the Magician, consciousness precedes existence. Therefore, if you want to change your
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world, you begin with changing your own attitudes and behavior. People who have an active inner Magician value experience, seek spiritual help, and, at their best, strive to be true to spiritual guidance. Such people also typically understand at a deep level how consciousness works, so they are able to influence others in highly effective ways. The Magician archetype is therefore very strong in charismatic politicians, business leaders, and, in fact, the whole field of marketing, trading as it does on the influence of human consciousness on behavior. You can see the negative potential in the Magician in stories of evil sorcerers, using their power to work their will on unsuspecting victims. Such unflattering images appear in marketing and advertising today, in people who engage in subliminal advertising, or who try to con others into doing things against their better judgment. The negative image of the Magician also shows up in charismatic political leaders who use their power to charm, not to bring out the best in people, but to promote fascist and racist ends. This negative trap within the Magician archetype can, of course, be seen in anyone who uses his or her emotional intelligence to manipulate, rather than communicate with, others.
The Magician archetype may be a good identity for your brand if • • • • • • • •
The product or the service is transformative Its implicit promise is to transform the customer It appeals to New Age consumers or cultural creatives It helps to expand or extend consciousness It is a user-friendly technology It has a spiritual or psychological component It is a new and very contemporary product It is medium to high priced
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No Man (or Woman) Is an Island Regular Guy/Gal, Lover, Jester FROM THE EARLY GATHERINGS of cave dwellers and tribesmen to today's popular chat rooms, people's desire to connect, interact, and belong has been a primal urge. Three archetypes help us to fulfill this need by providing a model or structure for doing so. The Regular Guy/Gal helps trigger the behaviors and outlook that allow us both to fit in enough to be part of the group and to place a value on all people, not just those who excel. The Lover aids us in becoming attractive to others and also helps us develop skills of emotional and sexual intimacy. The Jester teaches us to lighten up, live in the moment, and enjoy interacting with others without worrying about what they may think. Symbols and brands that are the embodiments of these archetypes are powerful because they express and affirm a critical sense of likeability; popularity, and connectedness. The three archetypes mediate very different sorts of vulnerabilities than do those related to our need for mastery, control, and power. Instead of worrying about having an impact on the world, the customer ponders the questions, Am I likeable? Attractive? Fun? Will people accept me? Can I be part of the group and still be myself? How do I find true love? And how do I put my life together so that I enjoy it? The tremendous popularity of television and radio talk shows helps illuminate the appeal of these archetypes, in spite of -or perhaps because of- our increasingly individualistic society. People listen simply to hear other ordinary people, not experts, talk, express opinions, and air complaints and issues. They religiously watch talk shows to learn about real-life stories of love and betrayal (the Lover) or to share their time with a late-night Jester such as Jay Leno. The “lesser Jester," David Letterman, boosted his sagging ratings as a result of his cardiac surgery. The combination of the Jester with Everyman/ Regular Joe vulnerability sparked enthusiastic support and rekindled loyalty on the part of lapsed viewers. Customers in whom these archetypes are strong may be especially attracted to brands that help them connect with others. But the nature and form of that connection may take on unexpected dimensions. During the 1960s, middle-class college kids took to wearing farmers' overalls as a way of saying that they wanted to identify with the "uncorrupted" working class. A surprising proportion of owners of Steinway pianos choose to drive unassuming Subarus. Urban yuppies are the most likely readers of gossipy People magazine. It is important here to remember that the Regular Guy/Gal, Lover, and Jester may be a more dominant motivational focus in some customers, but all customers -whatever shows in their surface behaviorhave a desire to affiliate with other human beings. In our driven culture, people often do not have much time to hang out together (and doing so may even be seen as wasting time), so people are more and more lonely. As a result, these archetypes have additional power to motivate because they promise to fulfill repressed and unsatisfied needs. The more these three archetypes are undervalued in the culture, the greater is their motivating power. Consider, for example, the awesome power of sexuality in Victorian England: Whatever went underground gained power in the psyche and in human behavior.
Stability
Independence
Belonging
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The Regular Guy/Gal Motto: “All men and women are created equal.” THE REGULAR GUY/GAL demonstrates the virtues of simply being an ordinary person, just like others. You can think of the Everyman figure in medieval morality plays, the idea of the “common man" in political theory and rhetoric, and the emotional impact of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Identification with this archetype has fueled the success of a long line of populist politicians, movie stars, and executives "with the common touch." The Regular Guy/Gal is evident in Country-Western music, folk music, neighborhood festivals and carnivals, labor unions, diners, and situation comedies about the foibles of everyday people. (Recall "All in the Family," "Roseanne," or "Malcolm in the Middle.") When the Regular Guy/Gal archetype is active in an individual, the person may dress in working-class or otherwise ordinary clothes (even if he or she is quite wealthy), speak in colloquial ways, and be put off by elitism in any form. The underlying value is that everyone matters, just as they are. The credo is that the good things of life belong to everyone as a birthright, not just to an aristocracy or even a meritocracy. The Regular Guy/Gal is the fundamental archetype of democracy, with the central precept of "One man (or woman), one vote." It is even more pronounced in all progressive movements. You might think of Woody Guthrie assuring people that "This land is your land." It is also crucial to the civil rights movement, the women's movement, gay rights, and every other movement designed to extend the full benefits of social and economic participation to a group or class of people.
The Regular Guy/Gal Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Connection with others To belong, fit in Standing out, seeming to put on airs, and being exiled or rejected as a result Develop ordinary virtues, the common touch, blend in Give up self to blend in, in exchange for only a superficial connection Realism, empathy, lack of pretense
Liberation movements, of course, remind us that in real life most societies exclude some people, however lovely their rhetoric of inclusion might be. In ancient indigenous cultures, being exiled or excluded from the group could mean that you would be alone in the wild, prey to all sorts of predators. In practice, exile was equivalent to a death sentence. Even today, people who have poor communication skills and are unable to connect well with others are at greater risk of being unemployed or homeless than are people in whom those skills are more developed. We all still need to create social networks for support. Indeed, it is networks that inevitably position even the disadvantaged for good jobs and support their subsequent success. Everyone knows the desperation of adolescents to fit in -if not in the "in crowd," at least in some crowd. This sense of loneliness or exclusion -be it on the part of an individual or an entire grouprepresents the trigger for the great appeal of the Regular Guy/Gal; the desire is not to be special or different in any way, but simply to melt into the pack. And once that yearning is satisfied, the tendency is simply to revel in the calm reassurance of ordinariness. Years ago, for example, Margaret Mark was conducting interviews in which she posed the question, “If you had one weekend to explain what you think are the best things about America to a group of people from a foreign land, what would you do?" The group of people she was interviewing in De Soto, Missouri, a small town, didn’t mention anything about explaining the Constitution or the Bill or Rights, our system of checks and balances, or the free press. Instead, they reflexively said, "Why, I’d have a barbeque and invite my friends and neighbors!" Clearly, the simple fact of being part of a group of "regular folk” epitomized what is best in America for them. Affiliation with a group is often further expressed by certain products: caps, T-shirt slogans, bumper stickers, and, more subtly, styles of homes, cars, dress, and foods. Interestingly, at games of the New York Rangers -a professional hockey team that has managed to connect with fans on the "Everyman" level- fans almost uniformly sport Ranger jerseys as a sign of their support, whereas in the very same
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arena, Madison Square Garden, on a night when the more "glamorous" New York Knicks are playing, most fans come in their street clothes or, in the case of corporate executives, their suits. Rangers fans get to know one another, to watch each other's kids grow up, to celebrate each other's anniversaries. Knicks fans, on the other hand, are united simply by their good fortune in having season subscriptions or tickets to a game. The Rangers are a Regular Guy/Gal brand, whereas the Knicks are more "heroic"; the Knicks' fans are "admirers" more than supporters or "family." Understanding this difference has tremendous implications for how the Garden communicates about each of its franchises.
The Regular Guy/Gal also may be known as: The good old boy, Everyman, the common man, the guy or gal next door, the solid citizen
Americans at large were startled when President George Bush marveled at the scanner at a supermarket checkout counter ("Where has this guy been?!"); later, a cartoon parodying the president showed him driving through a ghetto, inappropriately inquiring if anyone had any Grey Poupon. His failed attempt to be a Regular Guy came off worse than if he had simply retained and expressed his aristocratic Ruler identity. Like the Knicks, Bush should have understood and leveraged the nature of his appeal, instead of trying to reinvent himself.
The Regular Guy/Gal archetype provides a good identity for brands • • • • •
Whose use helps people belong or feel that they belong Whose function is something used commonly in everyday life With pricing that is moderate to low (or that is an upscale version of a product that would ordinarily be inexpensive) Produced or sold by a company with down-home organizational culture That want to differentiate themselves in a positive way from a higher priced or more elitist brand
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The Lover Motto: "I only have eyes for you.” LOVER BRANDS ARE COMMON in the cosmetics, jewellery, fashion, and travel industries. Think of Revlon. Its ads are sensuous, elegant, even erotic, and the company produces beauty products that help people attract love. Any brand that implicitly promises beauty and sexual appeal is a Lover brand. Victoria's Secret is an obvious example. You also see the Lover in food categories, such as wine and gourmet foods, in which sensuality and indulgence are essential parts of the consumption experience -Godiva chocolate, Barilla pasta, Gevalia coffee, and Häagen Dazs ice cream, for instance. At least two states have based their public identity on this archetype. Virginia states it directly: "Virginia is for lovers." California puts it more figuratively, with the headline, “I’m a test pilot for pleasure." The Lover archetype governs all sorts of human love, from parental love, to friendship, to spiritual love, but it is most important to romantic love. You might think of the Roman love god and goddess -Cupid and Venus- and of classic cinematic heartthrobs like Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, or Elizabeth Taylor. This is the realm of hearts and flowers, long strolls on sunset beaches, dancing in the moonlight -of the romantic love story in both its comic (live happily every after) and its tragic forms (torn apart by death -Titanic - or circumstances- Casablanca). The Lover archetype also supports the development of gender identity. Revlon promotes products, saying “Feel like a woman." Other products encourage men to feel like men. Whether you are gay or straight, part of growing up is about learning to identify with your gender. The Lover archetype also inspires the whole genre of romance novels. We all know that most romances follow a very defined plot. The young and beautiful heroine meets Mr. Right, but some circumstance or misunderstanding keeps them apart until somehow the truth is revealed and, after much heaving of chests and protestations of love, they marry and live happily ever after. Some of these novels are quite erotic, while others are more proper, but however much or little explicit sex they contain, the plot is remarkably consistent. And, in spite of this, thousands are sold every year. Some women read one every week and never tire of the same plot. Why? Because these plots call up a deep archetypal yearning for the experience of true love.
The Lover Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Attain intimacy and experience sensual pleasure Being in a relationship with the people, the work, the experiences the love Being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved Become more and more attractive-physically, emotionally, and in every other way Doing anything and everything to attract and please others, losing identity Passion, gratitude, appreciation, commitment
Although women more than men love Lover archetype movies ("chick flicks") and novels, men, of course, are attracted by the archetype, too. For literature aimed at men, the adventure story is often the lead, with the love story occupying second place. Nevertheless, the hero is not quite a hero if he fails to get the girl by the end of the story. For example, in projective techniques used in qualitative research, young women will talk about wanting to "hang out” in a bar with the Camel smoker (the Jester who, like Joe Camel, is a lot of fun), but she will want to leave with the Marlboro man. The archetype is also reflected in everyday assumptions about the successful life. Parents expect their children to find a fulfilling career and to marry and settle down. They often do not really see their work of raising the child as complete until the child marries. Although the anticipation is that they will live happily ever after, the reality is that we live in a society where one out of every two marriages ends in divorce. Nevertheless, the search for true love continues to be lived out in most lives. If we cannot live happily ever after with one person, everyone expects us to get going and find someone else. What this means is that, for many, the Lover archetype is active not just in the twenties, but throughout life, involved either in keeping the love of one's spouse (who could leave) or in finding someone new. And, of course, we are all touched and encouraged not only by marriage ceremonies, but also by anniversaries of couples who have grown old together and still clearly love one another. The Lover as an archetype is also active in intense and personal friendships. In the 19th century, it was more normal than it is today (when people are more concerned about their sexual orientation) to
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have passionate friendships with people of the same sex. Although modern mores call for cooler friendships (partly because of the keen awareness of the potential for same-sex relationships to become sexual), there is a growing reliance on the part of many young people on friendship as a foundation for intimacy. Lovers may come and go, but friendships last for a lifetime. Jordache runs a lovely ad featuring friends (including boys and girls) with arms around one another in an intimate, friendly way. The connection is not sexual, but it is clearly close. The implied story is that "we really love each other -all of us. We are not lovers, but we really care."
The Lover also may be known as: Partners, friends, intimates, matchmakers, enthusiasts, connoisseurs, sensualists, team builders
How does Lover friendship differ from the Regular Guy/Gal archetype? For the Regular Guy/Gal, it is important to fit in and belong, but not to stand out. Lovers, by contrast, want to know that you are one of their best friends, that you really know them, and that they are really special to you. In this sense, the Lover can be the archetype of a group of friends who feel like they really know one another. They are connected not just by superficial allegiances, but by something much deeper. Vonnegut named this more intimate connection (than the "granfalloon") the "karass." In his mind, people who enjoy such a relationship are incarnated together for a reason, and they feel a special closeness. For many, this level of intimacy would not necessarily be explained in terms of incarnation. Rather, it might be earned, based on the time invested in building and sustaining it. Whether the love is romantic or of the friendship variety, the Lover's self-esteem may derive from the sense of specialness that comes from being loved. At its worst, this can lead to a pathetically desperate need to be loved that can drive someone to promiscuity or to stay in an unfulfilling or even abusive situation. When a person has a stronger sense of self, the Lover can be expressed without so much compulsion. At its best, it offers deep, abiding, intimate connection between people-the kind that fuels marriages (or friendships) in which love really does last forever. Lovers think of themselves as being wonderfully appreciative of others. However, they typically dislike competitors who threaten to supplant them in the affections of others. Associated with the Lover archetype, therefore, may be an underside of competitiveness that is generally unconscious and unacknowledged, with the result that jealousy can lead to very mean-spirited behavior. When the Lover archetype is active in an individuals life, he or she will want to look not only good, but, indeed, beautiful or handsome. The underlying desire is to attract, give love, and express affection in intimate and pleasurable ways. In friendship and in families, this propensity can include cuddling, sharing the secrets of one's heart, and bonding through shared likes and dislikes. With a romantic partner, of course, it also includes sexuality.
The Lover archetype is a promising identity for a brand • • • • •
Whose use helps people find love or friendship Whose function fosters beauty, communication, or closeness between people or is associated with sexuality or romance With pricing that is moderate to high If it is produced or sold by a company with an intimate, elegant organizational culture, as opposed to a massive ruler hierarchy That needs to differentiate itself in a positive way from lower priced brands
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The Jester Motto: "If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution. " THE JESTER ARCHETYPE includes the clown, the trickster, and anyone at all who loves to play or cut up. Some examples are young children, with their playfulness and spontaneity, Shakespeare's fools, the Yankee tinker in American history and literature, the Coyote figure in American Indian legends, comedians (think Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, the Marx Brothers, Lily Tomlin, Steve Martin, or Jay Leno), and many television and film comedians. While it is possible to have fun alone, the Jester calls us to come out and play with one another. Jester figures enjoy life and interaction for their own sake. Preferring to be the life of the party, the Jester has as his or her native habitat the playground, the neighborhood bar, the recreation room, and anywhere where fun can be had. While both the Regular Guy/Gal and the Lover censor themselves in order to fit in or attract others, the Jester Iets it rip, demonstrating a refreshing faith that it is possible to be truly oneself and be accepted and even adored by others. Perhaps because we live in such an earnest culture, the Jester tends to be a good brand identification because virtually everyone is hungry for more fun. You can think of the success of ad campaigns for milk, with famous people sporting milk mustaches. lf they were being stereotypical, milk would be promoted as being good for you. Instead, this great campaign recognizes how milk can connect any of us with our fun-loving, mischievous inner child. While all the "Got Milk” ads are great, some of the best show cookies, not milk, allowing the viewer to see cookies and inevitably want milk to go with them. You cannot see an ad like that without it activating the kid part of you that does not associate even the best coffee with cookies. The kid wants milk. Jester ads often cause us to laugh at situations that would ordinarily be sad, not humorous (like the comic slipping en a banana peel). One particularly vivid "Got Milk ad showed a man in a whole body cast. His friends had tried to cheer him up by feeding him cookies. His plight -being unable to ask for milk- leaves the viewer identifying with the frustration of his situation and essentially asking for him. Such a brilliant ad involves the customer in solving the problem by empathizing with what it is like to wish for the product being sold and not get it.
The Jester Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
To live in the moment with full enjoyment To have a great time and lighten up the world Boredom or being bored Play, make jokes, be funny Frittering away one’s life Joy
Rules Are Made to Be Broken Jesters are the archetype most helpful in dealing with the absurdities of the modern world and with faceless, amorphous present-day bureaucracies, partly because they take everything lightly and partly because they are happiest breaking the rules. The Jester's polities are essentially anarchistic, as illustrated by Emma Goldman, the famous anarchist, who said, "If I cant dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." The Jester's willingness to break rules leads to innovative, out-of-the-box thinking. It also makes for a good brand identity for things like fun foods that are not necessarily good for you. The Jester identification basically says, "Lighten up on nutrition and health, and have some fun." Candy (M&Ms, Snickers), snack foods (Pringles), cigarettes (Merit, "Lighten up with Merit"), and liquor (Parrot Bay; Kahlua, "Anything Goes") all promise a mini-vacation along with the relaxation of ordinary health rules. NeoPoint cell phones sport a Jester image, advising the use of the company's "smartphone to boost your IQ" and "make up for the brain cells you lost in college." So Jester brands help you avoid the logical consequences of irresponsible, unhealthy, or even illegal behavior. You might remember the
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all-time great Alka-Seltzer ad, "Mamma Mia, that's a spicy meatball!" The self-deprecating humor reassures customers that they can eat spicy food with impunity. The Jester also promises that activities which might ordinarily be seen as tedious or boring can be fun. Kubota tractor, for example, says, "The end justifies the tractor. The smell of fresh-cut grass. The quiet hum of precision. The ability to do more than you imagined. The belief that it's not really work if you enjoy it." Perhaps this is a "tractor thing," because John Deere likens the experience of riding its tractor to "your first pony ride," promising that "You'll never want your first ride to end." The turn of phrase that changes a negative assumption into a positive one is a great Jester strategy. Trident sugarless gum for kids turns the expectation that gum is bad for kids' teeth on its head. One ad, featuring a cute little boy half hidden by the bubble he has just blown, says, "He huffed and he puffed, and he strengthened his teeth." Similarly, ABC has run an ad campaign for many years that uses the line "TV is good," irreverently defends couch potatoes, and jokes about the allegation that watching TV leads to the disintegration of brain cells. The "yellow campaign," as it is known in the industry, has been noticed and talked about, but the question remains whether anything in the network's lineup or the company's culture reflects a Jester identity, and whether a clever advertising idea that would have been a natural expression of a Jester network simply ended up in the wrong home. Companies are wise, when expanding services or acquiring new companies, to stay within the same archetypal brand identity. Camel has done this well by expanding from cigarettes to what is described in an ad as "exotic travel" and "pleasure goods." However, while the Jester wants us all to lighten up, have fun, and stop worrying about consequences, this does not mean that the public will always buy in. For example, using a cartoon-image Joe Camel that people feared made smoking appealing to children was serious enough that even a Jester identity could not stave off popular outrage. Jesters dislike party poopers, people who are overly earnest, and those who are lacking humor. A downside of the Jester, therefore, can be a tendency to play through life without grappling with issues or thinking things through. When the Jester archetype is your brand's identity, parental guidance is suggested.
The Jester archetype is a promising identity for brands • • • • •
Whose use helps people belong or feel that they belong Whose function helps people have a good time With pricing that is moderate to low Produced and/or sold by a company with fun-loving, freewheeling organizational culture That need to be differentiated from a self-important, overconfident established brand
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Providing Structure to the World Caregiver, Creator, Ruler IN MEDIEVAL TIMES, walls were built around villages and moats around castles in an attempt to maintain order and to protect against marauding Vikings, Visigoths, and Vandals. Later, early American settlers cleared the land immediately around their cabins so that invading animals or Indians could be more easily seen. Today, the threats to one's well-being may be less immediate or dramatic, but people still create lawns and build walls as expressions of the same desire for security and order. Anthropologist Angeles Arrien sees people with a strong stability orientation drawn to physical shapes that are square, arguing that even physical shapes have an archetypal quality to them. So perhaps it is not surprising that so many people in their family-formation years wish for or purchase "center hall colonials"-square buildings with square, symmetrically arranged layouts. And, of course, their car of choice is the squarish, safe Volvo. Individuals generally relate to these desires from the archetypal stances of the Caregiver, the Creator, and the Ruler. The Caregiver has a heightened awareness of human vulnerability, but is less focused on concern for him- or herself and more preoccupied with alleviating other people's problems. (This is why a 12-year-old may feel more confident baby-sitting than staying home alone.) The Creator exerts control by creating a poem, a musical composition, a painting, or a product. Consider the film Shakespeare in Love. Shakespeare is feeling powerless. His career is not going well. He is in love with a woman who has to marry another. So he has a wonderful love affair with her and then takes his feelings and channels them into the writing of Romeo and Juliet. The act of structuring experience into artistic form gives a sense of control and also offers the world great beauty. The Ruler takes control of situations, especially when they seem to be getting out of hand. It is the Ruler's job to take responsibility for making life as predictable and stable as possible. (The Ruler's very affect communicates, "I have everything under control.") Sizing up the human situation as inherently unstable, Rulers put procedures, policies, customs, and habits in place that reinforce order and predictability. The film Elizabeth (a fictionalized version of the life of Queen Elizabeth the First) shows the process by which a young, idealistic woman becomes queen, essentially failing in her role until she learns to embody the Ruler archetype. The Caregiver, Creator, and Ruler find satisfaction in environments that seem stable: Old Town anywhere; large, substantial buildings; sturdy cars and appliances; cultivated gardens and parks (rather than "untamed" nature); comfortable and well-made furnishings; anything they themselves have designed, and technology that enhances the control they have over their environment. Together, they help make a profitable business. The Caregiver anticipates people's needs, seeing what will make them feel secure, safe, and nurtured; the Creator takes charge of innovating -new products, new manufacturing processes, new organizational and marketing structures and approaches; the Ruler then manages these new structures, seeing to it that quality is consistently delivered.
Stability
Belonging
Independence
Mastery
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Today, the desire for stability and control meets with special challenges as the pace of contemporary living forces each of us to deal with new situations daily if not hourly. CEOs recognize that even though they do all the right things one year, market, economic, and legal conditions will change the next year, and the business needs to be restructured and rethought. Mergers and acquisitions now routinely pull the rug out from under workers' feet, forcing them to reconsider their livelihood and sometimes to seek training in entirely new fields. Funding for culture and the arts is abundant one year and missing the next. Because of the uncertainty of life in general, and contemporary life in particular, the Creator, the Caregiver, and the Ruler are especially useful archetypes for today's brands. When they are not clouded in wistful nostalgia, but are interpreted in a contemporary and relevant context, they instruct us on how to preserve order and stability and how to reconcile our desires for consistency with change.
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The Caregiver Motto: "Love your neighbor as yourself " THE CAREGIVER IS AN ALTRUIST, moved by compassion, generosity, and a desire to help others. You can think of Marcus Welby, Florence Nightingale, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Bob Hope entertaining the troops, or any caring mother or father. The Caregiver fears instability and difficulty not so much for him- or herself, but for their impact on people who are less fortunate or resilient. Meaning in life, therefore, comes from giving to others. In fact, the worst fear is that something will happen to a loved one -and on the Caregiver's watch. In Life Is Beautiful, the father is so motivated by love for his son that it seems almost immaterial that he himself is killed, as long as the child is saved. The archetype is also related to images of God as the loving father who cares for His children. Predictable caregiving images are associated with the nurse, the old-fashioned country doctor, the neighborhood cop, teachers, and the like. But the true nature of the Caregiver, and of our relationship to the archetype, is deep and complex, as complicated as our own relationships with the original Caregivers in our lives. Throughout time, symbols of caregiving, expressed mostly as a powerful maternal figure, have been alternatively sentimentalized and demonized. In an article in Newsweek, Anna Quindlen points out that Mrs. Copperfield and Marmee in Little Women are elevated as paragons of virtue, while Mother in Sons and Lovers, Mrs. Bennet of Pride and Prejudice, and the comical Mrs. Portnoy are all treated harshly by their creators. Bruno Bettelheim describes how in children's legends and fairy tales, the maternal figure is often split into two opposites: the entirely wicked witch or stepmother and the perfectly pure good witch or fairy godmother. It is difficult, it would seem, for us to integrate the complexity of the Caregiver into a coherent whole.
The Caregiver Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Protect people from harm To help others Selfishness, ingratitude Do things for others Martyrdom of self, entrapment of others Compassion, generosity
In prehistoric times, people carved little figurines of mother goddesses who, then as now, must have been revered for the power to give birth as well as the capacity to support life through providing food, comfort, and nurturance. Throughout history, the Caregiver as an archetype has been associated with both maternal and paternal feelings of protectiveness toward children and the attendant willingness to do what is necessary to take care of them, even if doing so requires considerable sacrifice -but also, with the darker fears of exerting excessive power and of being controlled. One classic Greek myth evoking both the loving and the destructive. power of the Caregiver -a myth that formed the basis for a religious cult that lasted thousands of years- recounts the great love of the grain goddess Demeter for her daughter Kore. When Hades, the lord of the underworld, abducts Kore, Demeter is so distraught that she wanders the world over, searching for her daughter and unable to sleep or eat. When she discovers what has happened to Kore, she refuses to allow any of the crops to grow, threatening humankind with massive starvation, which is alleviated only when her daughter is returned. In this story, Kore goes underground every year. We have winter because of her mother's grief when Kore is gone. Commenting about the desire to sometimes demonize the role of the Caregiver (in this case, the maternal role) as a technique for trying to break free of its power, Anna Quindlen, writing for Newsweek, says, 'Fat chance, Freudians. Whether querulous or imperious, attentive or overbearing, warm or waspish, surcease or succubus, she is as central as the sun." Understanding the complexity of the Caregiver and our relationship to it is essential to tapping into the full depth and dimension of the archetype in brand communication. It is also critical to making the archetype useful to contemporary consumers who more than understand that caregiving is a complex
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affair -fraught with conflict, sacrifice, and the difficult desire to support, rather than suffocate. As Quindlen puts it: Motherhood (and, we would add, most forms of caregiving) consists largely of transcendent scut work, which seems contradictory, which is exactly right. How can you love so much someone who drives you so crazy and makes such constant demands? How can you devote yourself to a vocation in which you are certain to be mode peripheral, if not redundant? How con we joyfully embrace the notion that we have ceased to be the center of our own universe?
The Caregiver also may be known as: The caretaker, altruist, saint, parent, helper, or supporter
In our work on “Sesame Street," it has been helpful for us to constantly keep in mind the natural human tension between mothering and smothering. The metaphor that has proven useful is considering the parent who cries in alarm, "Don’t climb that tree! You could get hurt!" compared with the one who says, “Now if you're going to climb that tree, think about it. While you're going up, make a plan for how you're going to get down." The distinction has helped everyone from sales and merchandising people to the shows creators to remember that “Sesame Street" is a decidedly mothering brand. While other shows for preschoolers sugarcoat reality, “Sesame Street" deals honestly with issues such as loss, racial and cultural differences, anger, and so on, but in a totally constructive, age-appropriate way. A recent campaign for Blue Cross/Blue Shield successfully navigates the same terrain and at the same time provides a contemporary guidepost for parents. A strong and confident mom holds her nine-or-so-year-old daughter, with the accompanying text: I check "worry" at the border. For I hold the pass that opens doors. Wherever we go, With our Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plan, we're covered. My only concern? Keeping this vacation forever in memory. This is my plan, To take care of... Their mind. Their body. Their spirit. Their health. Another very contemporary Caregiver campaign which acknowledges that caregiving is a complex task shows a girl of about the same age leaning on her mother's arm, on which the following words are written: "stay involved in my life." The copy goes on to talk about how it would be a lot easier if kids came with directions, but since they don't, we can only hope to laugh with them, sing with them, teach them a joke, listen, and talk. The ad ends with the line, "Parents: the antidrug." AT&T, a great Caregiver brand, was once famous for wonderful commercials about caring and connecting. Among the most celebrated was a spot titled "Joey Called," in which a sad and somewhat lonely day is made perfect for an aging mother and father because their son, Joey, calls them from abroad. While touching and highly effective, the "Reach Out and Touch" advertising almost welcomed a competitor to parody it. One such MCI ad showed a woman crying and being comforted by her husband -not because she was touched by her son's call, but because she was distressed by how much it cost. Over time, though, MCI realized that an identity based purely on price would impede it from being a true leader in its category. The company cleverly picked up a Caregiver identity by positioning its next big price offer within the context of a program called "MCI Friends and Family." All the people you care about and who care for you could sign onto the plan, and you would all get a discount. The advertising making this offer was warm and emotional, and AT&T was totally blindsided. Not only had its arch competitor usurped the caregiving essence of long-distance calling, but it did it in a more contemporary way -not purely sentimental and wistful, but practical, immediate, and celebratory. In another contemporary vein, Caregiver brands and campaigns that celebrate the nurturing capacity of men, in spite of the many pressures they face to the contrary, are more than touching; they are powerful social validations of most men's own best intentions. For example, in a Land's End catalogue photo, a man dressed in business casual is in the classic Caregiver posture, slightly bent over his
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child. (The implied message is, "You are safe with me.") He is going upstairs with his little girl. His hand is on her back reassuringly. The explanatory message says, "Business casual. For when your second most important meeting is with your CEO." These brands that reconcile the caregiving instinct with a world that often devalues it are not just effective in the marketplace; they play a constructive role in the evolution of our culture.
The Caregiver archetype is a good identity for brands • • • • •
For which customer service provides the competitive advantage That provide support to families (from fast food to minivans) or that are associated with nurturance (such as cookies) For services in the health care, education and other caregiving fields (including politics) That help people stay connected with and care about one another For non-profit causes and charitable activities
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The Creator Motto: "If it can be imagined, it can be created.” THE CREATOR ARCHETYPE is seen in the artist, the writer, the innovator, and the entrepreneur, as well as in any endeavor that taps into the human imagination. The Creator's passion is self-expression in material form. The artist paints a picture that reflects his soul. The entrepreneur does business her own way, often flying by the seat of her pants. The innovator in any field turns away from business as usual, tapping into his unique ability to imagine a different way. In the arts, you may think of Georgia O'Keeffe or Pablo Picasso; in film, you may remember Amadeus exploring the eccentricities, as well as the genius, of Mozart. Creator brands are inherently nonconformist. The Creator is not about fitting in, but about self-expression. Authentic creation requires an unfettered mind and heart. Creator spaces include workshops, kitchens, gardens, social clubs, and workplaces -any place creative projects take place. Creator brands include Crayola, Martha Stewart, Williams-Sonoma, Sherwin-Williams, Singer, and Kinko's ("Express yourself”). They also include foods, such as taco kits, which have, as part of their attraction, an invitation to kids to create their own "personal" version of the taco, as well as quirky, iconoclastic brands like Fresh Samantha, which almost shout, “The imaginative and different." When the Creator archetype is active in individuals, they often are compelled to create or innovate -anything else and they feel stifled. Authenticity will seem extremely essential to them, as great art and society-changing inventions typically emerge out of the depth of soul or unfettered curiosity of someone who, in many ways, is a cultural pioneer. Indeed, artists typically see themselves as such, creating the world of the future. They may be pessimistic about the culture at large, but they trust the creative process and believe in the power of imagination. Generally, they express their creativity in artsy clothing, homes, and offices. Creators fear that their creations will be judged harshly by others. They often have a punishing inner critic and censor that says nothing is ever good enough. As a result, they also fear giving in to this voice and failing to express their gifts at all.
The Creator Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Create something of enduring value Give form to vision Having a mediocre vision or execution Develop artistic control and skill Perfectionism, mis-creation Creativity and imagination
People who are high in the Creator archetype, moreover, think of themselves as desirous of freedom, which they are. In this way, they are like the Innocent, Explorer, and Sage. However, a deeper motivation is the need to exert aesthetic or artistic control -to be, in a way, like God, to create something that has never been there before. Ultimately, what the Creator desires is to form a work of art so special that it will endure. And, in this way, the Creator achieves a kind of immortality. Employees frequently make jokes about how every new boss decides to reorganize, yet every Creator knows that structures determine outcomes. If you do not have the right structure, your vision will not be realized. Creative types love the process of dismantling old structures and creating new ones. That's what most consultants, especially those in the field of organizational development, most prefer to do. In marketing, the fun is coming up with something new -some innovative approach that will catch the public eye while it also expresses your own or your company's vision. In research and development, the Creator provides the impetus to develop new products and services. At its best, the Creator archetype fosters real innovation and beauty. At its worst, it provides an excuse for irresponsibility and self-involvement. The Creator tends to be intolerant of shoddy, mass-produced merchandise and the attendant lack of both imagination and attention to quality. Accordingly, purchases are a way that Creators demonstrate their taste and their values.
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The part of each of us that is drawn to the Creator archetype finds out who we are by what we create around us. Whether or not we have any artistic talent, our homes, our offices, and our lifestyles mirror back to us some core of who we are. The Creator therefore consumes, not to impress -but to express.
The Creator also may be known as: The artist, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer
The Creator within us is also drawn to other people's artistry, so we enjoy not only art museums, but also consumer goods with excellent design.
A Creator identity may be right for your brand • • • • • •
If your product’s function encourages self-expression, provides the customer with choices and options, helps foster innovation, or is artistic in design In a creative field, like marketing, public relations, the arts, technological innovation (such as software development) When you are seeking to differentiate it from a brand that “does it all” for the customer, leaving little room for choice When a do-it-yourself element saves the customer money If your customers have enough discretionary time for creativity to flourish If your organization has a Creator culture
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The Ruler Motto: 'Power isn’t everything. It's the only thing.” WHEN Y0U IMAGINE the Ruler archetype, think of the king, the queen, the corporate CEO, the president of a country, the super-efficient soccer mom -or anyone with a commanding, authoritative manner. To think of someone with power, imagine Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, or any Supreme Court justice. Somewhere in between is the boss, the father, or the mother who acts like someone born to rule. The Ruler knows that the best thing to do to avoid chaos is to take control. While Innocents assume that others will protect them, the Ruler has no such faith. Gaining and maintaining power is therefore a primary motivation. To the Ruler, it is the best way to keep oneself and one's family and friends safe. If you think of the royal court, impressive possessions and surroundings are desirable because they provide the trappings of power. Ruler environments are therefore substantial and impressive -think buildings with big columns and plenty of scale. Materials are meant to last and suggest timelessness -like granite or concrete, fine paneling, and heavy draperies. Ruler brands include the IRS, the White House, E.F. Hutton, Brooks Brothers, Microsoft, IBM, American Express, The Sharper Image, CitiBank, Cadillac, and Day-Timers, as well as most HMOs, old-style banks, insurance companies, and high-status law and investment firms. President George Bush could be seen as a presidential Ruler brand in part as a result of a prep school education and in part because his campaign stressed his insider status and his long experience in government. Ruler products also include home alarm systems, intercoms, zoned heating systems, and automatic lawn-watering systems.
The Ruler Core desire Goal Fear Strategy Trap Gift
Control Create a prosperous, successful family Exert leadership Chaos, being overthrown Being bossy, authoritarian Responsibility, leadership
When the Ruler archetype is active in individuals, they will enjoy taking on leadership roles and being in control as much as possible. Thinking about the best way to organize activities and setting in place policies and procedures provide a sense of self-mastery and power over the world that is very fulfilling. Rulers also have a heightened fear that chaos will ensue if they fail to take control. You might think of the Greek god Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders for an image of how responsible Rulers tend to be. For this reason, they tend to dislike people who are loose cannons and threaten to disrupt the order the Ruler has so carefully developed. People with high Ruler archetype tendencies are concerned with issues of image, status, and prestige -not because they are superficial, but because they understand how the way things look can enhance power. They act with a natural sense of authority that makes it easy for others to follow them. At their best, Rulers are motivated by a desire to help the world. At their worst, they are just domineering or controlling. If you think about kings, queens, and presidents, you will quickly see that they are charged with helping society remain peaceful (or, if they fail, sending out the military to head off threats), for establishing and maintaining the rule of law, and for putting into place policies and procedures that foster prosperity for as many people as possible. The Ruler as an archetype, then, helps individuals become wealthy, powerful, and established in their fields and their communities.
The Ruler also may be known as: The boss, leader, aristocrat, parent, politician, responsible citizen, role model, manager
The Ruler archetype likes hierarchical organizations because, in them, you know where you stand. Your role is clearly defined by a job description that tells you what you are supposed to do. You know who reports to you and who your boss is. The people you supervise are not supposed to go over your head to talk to your boss, and you do not go around yours either. Roles and relationships are stable and defined-until and unless anyone actually changes their job.
The Ruler identity mighty be right for your brand if you have • • • • • • • •
A high-status product used by powerful people to enhance their power A product that helps people be more organized A product or service that cab offer a lifetime guarantee Services that offer technical assistance or information that helps maintain or enhance power An organization with a regulatory or protective function A product at the moderate to high price range A brand seeking to differentiate from a more populist (Regular Guy/Gal) one or that is the clear leader in the field A field that is relatively stable or a product that promises safety and predictability in chaotic world
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