LET’S GET YOUR DREAMBOAT SAILING

In this three part series, we will figure out clever branding strategies for sailing your startup.

Are you thinking about starting a new venture this year?
Want to put soul into your brand; infuse it with character?
Then this blog series is meant specifically for you. At the end of the series, you will learn how to:

– Influence your consumers by just being yourself
– Turn your product/service into an irresistible brand
– Ask premium rates because your brand transfers tangible value to your customer
– Expand the reach of your brand
– Align your business purpose with the core proposition of your brand

A clarity about these objectives will help you invent your brand.

Got an idea? Brand it.
Great ideas make great brands. When companies like Nike, Harley-Davidson, Apple or Coca-Cola launch their ‘break the box’ campaigns, the ‘wow’ feeling is so overwhelming that advertising agencies begin to scratch their heads, rub their eyes and begin to wonder, if they can ever come close to that kind of ideation. What they forget is that it’s not just ideas that differentiate the brand communication of these companies – it’s their towering, iconic standings that gives context and meaning to their simplest of ideas.

To be sure, this kind of idea execution cannot and does not come easy to a Johnny Come Lately. Even if a startup tries doing something radically different, the attempt may end up coming across as gimmicky, lacking the salience of an Apple communication.

Yet if you can somehow pick the big idea, craft it into the right message, use the right medium, and the right moment to drive it home, it will get delivered. A clutter-breaking idea evokes emotion that churns up huge brand loyalty in the target consumers.

Spirits company Johnnie Walker once conceived a gallery of “artwork not yet created” titled Future. Ten artists displayed blank canvases, promising to paint masterpieces on them, provided prospects agreed to buy them in advance. This was a huge bet, but guess what? In the end, the auction sold triple the amount expected!

To be sure, the spirits company is in no way associated with art. But merely by disrupting its own comfort zone it surprised the audience and humanized its brand enough to make the idea sell.

The Coke video is full of snoopy, randomly-looped together clips of people doing ridiculous things that make them feel good about themselves. Ireverential, candid and tongue-in-cheek, it brings a smile to the viewers’ face. You don’t have to be a Coca Cola to try something similar – which couldn’t have cost the moon.

Video is not the only medium. You could create a strong first impression even through your website. One example of this is of Mint, a personal finance site that makes dealing with money look fun and easy, but without losing the serious touch. Simple, effective, functional and utilitarian – the website says it all.

Through design, UX, content and treatment, it makes money management appear so fun and interesting.

Inspiration can dawn from anywhere. But sometimes the best ideas come from places where we are not looking.