Identity Vs Image
Mostly brand communication is developed by conducting focus group among its target audience, exploring need states and then proposing a solution to a particular problem that they might be facing in their everyday life. This approach is mostly reflected in the communications developed by most of the brands. They try to speak to you by telling you that they understand your world, problems, and aspirations. And that they have used this knowledge to come up with a product which will solve all your problems and make you happy. This school of communication can be called ‘that is why advertising’. This school of thinking is navigated by the consumers, should the consumers change their needs, the brands will follow.
The interesting thing about challenger brands is that while they understand their consumers very well, they do not essentially navigate or position themselves basis their consumers. Challenger brands instead take a position or a stance on what they believe in, and then like a ‘lighthouse’ project, they invite customers to navigate the brand. Such a position helps the challenger brand to always stay in notice, even if the consumers are not actively looking for them.
There is a myth that challenger brands do not pay attention to the consumers, but sail by their own will and style. It is not the case. Challenger brands have a powerful, sometimes personal understanding of their consumers because in most of the cases senior management or the owners spend a lot of their personal time face to face the consumers. This helps them develop a very deep understanding of what motivates their customers - but essentially they do not confuse this understanding with playing it back to the consumers.
Developing a Lighthouse Identity
Lighthouses are built on rocks and in the case of challenger brands it’s mostly built on:
A product truth which will give it credibility and own ability in the marketplace
A brand belief which is absolutely unique and on which an identity can be built. One of the defining characteristics of this brand belief is that it should be an active brand and not a passive onlooker like rest of the category. This belief will be the engine for everything that the brand does.
A product truth:
Chobani:
Chodani drove the wedge against large brands with absolute product difference, hear it from the person who started it
A brand belief:
Lenovo:
When Lenovo started to expand beyond their home market i.e. China. They were taking on leaders Dell and HP, who were typically doing the ‘that is why communication’ discussed earlier. Lenovo positioned itself as the brand which helps ‘doers’ with the campaign ‘For Those Who Do’.
Beyond communication, Lenovo started to support various people who were doing edgy work and used it as communication to project their brand belief.
DISCLAIMER:
This blog represents my views. They do not necessarily reflect those of my employer
