What Makes A Memorable Brand?
Who recognizes the little green straw?
Every client I’ve ever worked with has expressed the desire for their brand to be one thing – memorable. If someone says that they don’t care whether or not you remember their brand, they’re lying. Branding, in its essence, is the art of making a particular product, service, or organization memorable. However, you’ve probably experienced quite a few brands that leave little to no lasting impression. So, what sets the memorable brands apart? I’ll dive in to more detail as we go forward, but it really comes down to two characteristics:
being unique and being personal.
When I say that your brand needs to be unique, I am primarily talking about the tangible elements of a brand. These are the areas that I’m responsible for creating as a graphic designer – the logo, color palette, typography, and other visual aspects of a brand. Now, it’s easy enough to develop a mark, throw together some colors and type, and create a brand that looks pretty. But pretty does not equal memorable. In order for your brand to be memorable in a visual sense you need the following:
A logo that means something. Almost anyone can dress up your business name in a nice font and give you a logo. If a logo were all it took to make a brand, we’d all be branding experts. Really memorable logos give you a bit of insight into the lifeblood of your organization. Think of Apple’s iconic logo. Yes, it’s obviously an apple, but it’s the “bite” that makes it so unique. Not only does it create an attractive form for us to look at, but it also reflects the story of Eve eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Apple’s logo is a symbol of knowledge, and knowledge is what drives both the company and its consumers. Thus, Apple’s logo has meaning.
A unique physicality. This is easiest to explain in terms of tangible products, but I’d argue it can also be applied to services and organizations. The point is that something about your product itself has to be different from everything else that’s already out there. Nobody is going to remember what brand their lip balm is if it comes in the same small cylindrical tube that all other lip balm brand use, but everyone instantly recognizes E.O.S.’s ball-like balms. A unique physical form will imprint itself in a customers mind, and make your product instantly recognizable.
A distinct use of color. While not all brands have physical forms, they all use color. Finding a unique and distinctive way to use color is a powerful way to create a memorable brand – just look at the Tiffany blue box, Starbucks’ green straws, or Apple’s overall use of white.
Now, back to the beginning. I said that being unique was only half the equation.
Being unique is the easy part. It’s much more difficult for a brand to be personal.
For a brand to truly be memorable, it must be personal. This requires that the overall brand experience develops a relationship with the customer. This is done in a manner similar to how we build relationships with other people. So, how does a brand create a relationship with its customers? It’s all about communication and motivation. Here’s what you need:
A Strong Mission Statement. If you don’t know why you’re doing something, why would you expect anyone to care that you’re doing it? Your mission statement provides the why. It is the guiding force behind your brand. Your mission statement serves as a reminder of what you’re trying to achieve and tells your customers what you stand for. A good mission statement addresses the true meaning behind your product, service, or organization and provides an answer to the question, “Why would I care?” If you can answer the question of why, you provide a deeper meaning for your customers that will lead to the development of a loyal tribe of followers.
A Personal Platform. Steve Jobs, Dave Ramsey, Coco Chanel – these people are innately tied to, and often indistinguishable from, their respective brands. Your brand is no different. What you do as an individual reflects on your organization, and vice versa. As such, it’s important that consumers feel that they can support the human beings behind a brand. Therefore, it follows that you MUST allow your customers to know who you are and what you stand for – it’s easy to accomplish this if you include space for a personal platform within your brand strategy.
Continuous Interaction. It’s no longer enough to “sell it and forget it.” Great brands take every single customer touch point into consideration. They consider the language they use, what platforms they’re on, where to advertise, what organizations to partner with…the list goes on and on. In order to build a personal relationship with your clientele, you need to be where they are, interact with them in a way they enjoy, and ensure that every minuscule interaction that they have with your brand is a positive one. Our generation is always on and plugged in. Your brand must be too.
If you asked me which of these two categories was most important, I’d say it was being personal. Yes, I make a living off of creating the uniqueness, so I might be shooting myself in the foot here, but the truth is that nobody cares how cool, pretty, or eye-catching you product is if they don’t know who you are. Business of any kind is all about relationships, and relationships are always personal.
What do you think is the most important aspect of creating a memorable brand? Are there any brands you think do these things well? Any that are truly terrible? Scroll down to leave a comment; I’d love to hear your thoughts!