Branding in

the Digital World.

Stephen McGill, President & Creative Director
mcgillbuckley.com | @mcgillbuckley | smcgill@mcgillbuckley.com
Thinking beyond logos and colour palettes
There is a great deal of talk about
brands and branding these days.
Very few people know what the hell they
are talking about.
Far too many new brands start with
a name and logo.
They should be starting with a strategy.
Far too many brand re-development
programs are supercial.
In the end all they manage to do is put a new
shine on an old turd.

81.2% of my presentation is about
branding in general.
Context is critical I think.
In the spirit of full disclosure
Perspectives on
branding
What a brand
is not
What a brand is
What great
brands do
How to build
a brand
Profuse
apologies
Branding in the
digital world
My upcoming brand rant
Opinions expressed here are my own
Perspectives
On branding
The art of marketing is the art of
brand building. If you are not a
brand, you are a commodity. Then
price is everything and the low-
cost producer is the only winner.
Philip Kotler, Kellogg
"Any damn fool can put on a deal,
but it takes genius, faith and
perseverance to create a brand.
David Ogilvy,
legendary Mad Man
A strong brand is a business asset
$54 Billion $104 Billion $47 Billion
Forbes.com
Strong brands can command a premium
Strong brands can overcome a crisis
(Perhaps not two though)
(simply)
What a Brand
is not
A brand is not simply: A name
Names dont dene people.
The same holds true for brands.
But a name can come to mean
something.
What do these names mean?
Nelson Mandela?
Martin Luther King?
Rob Ford?
Daniel Alfredsson?
And these names?
Google?
WebFuel?
General Motors?
TheCodeFactory?
A brand is not simply: A logo
There are strong brands with weak
logos. And there are lousy brands
with award-winning logos.
A brand is not simply: A logo
Like a name, a logo must come to
mean something.
(PS: It is better to have a great logo)
A brand is also not simply:
a colour palette
a product
or service
a social
media profile
a website
an ad
campaign
a tagline
A BRAND IS ALSO
not simply:
What you say it is
Brands are built on what
people are saying about you,
not what you are saying
about yourself.
Guy Kawasaki
Your brand is what people
say about you when
youre not in the room.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com
So, what the
heck is a brand?
In a perhaps misguided search for
meaning, I decided to search for
brand denition on Google?
No wonder so many people are confused.
I found 127,000,000 results.
Our denition of a Brand:
A brand exists in the minds of its audiences.
Quite simply, a brand is a collection of
perceptions, feelings and experiences
around a particular company, product,
person, service or cause.
Dening a brand involves:
Being clear about what it is you do
Determining how you are di!erent
Knowing why you matter to customers
Understanding the emotional connection
Dening a brand is:
Part art
Part science
A hair raising journey of discovery
Always more work than you think
What Great
Brands Do
Are committed to being di!erent.
Great Brands
Me too brands are brands without a future.
Be yourself; everyone
else is already taken.
Oscar Wilde
Are willing to take a stand
based on what they believe.
Great Brands
This helps build connections and loyalty.
"When you think of the blur of all the
brands that are out there, the ones you
believe in and the ones you remember,
like Chanel and Armani, are the ones
that stand for something.
Ralph Lauren
Are committed to owning a
distinct position in the marketplace
and in the minds of consumers.
Great Brands
driving machine
The Ultimate
Great Brands are
driven by a vision
Great Brands
I want to put a ding
Steve Jobs, Apple
in the universe.
Great Brands
Understand that
experience drives
brand value.
"We believed very early on that
people's interaction with the
Starbucks experience was going
to determine the success
of the brand.
Howard Schultz, Starbucks
Great Brands
How to Build
a Brand
(Heres a hint: dont start with the logo)
What typically
gets in the way
Poor support
at the senior
management
level
Supercial
thinking: the
logo and
tagline
syndrome
Company
realities and
brand vision
do not match
Closed or
dysfunctional
culture
Resistance
to change
Not making
the hard
decisions
Not getting
buy-in along
the way
An inward
focused
point of view
Micro
managing
the process
Not
knowing
your
audiences
Viewing
branding as
an expense
not an
investment
Understand that branding
is a business process
Corporate
Strategy
Brand
Strategy
Branding
Process
Strategic branding process
You must have an explicit understanding of where a
company or organization is now, where it wants to go
and how it plans on getting there.
Be clear on the short and long-term
business goals
1
Strategic branding process
It is critical to get senior people involved and onside
from the very beginning. Getting their input, support
and buy-in is a must on your to-do list.
Understand who the key
stakeholders are.
2
Strategic branding process
Invite opinions from a cross section of people from
di!erent departments. These are the people who know
the customers and help deliver the brand experience.
Involve a wide spectrum of stakeholders.
2a
Strategic branding process
Make sure you know their wants and needs. Go beyond
traditional segmenting to get inside their hearts and
minds. Can your brand connect with them? Will your
brand resonate with them?
Understand who your audiences
really are.
3
Strategic branding process
A brand vision forces you to know what you want the
brand to be and do over the long-term.
Make it simple enough for your customers and your
people to get it, remember it and embrace it. It can
often be the corporate vision
unless that was written by a committee.
Develop your brand vision.
4
unless that was written by a committee.
Strategic branding process
To make people happy.
Walt Disney Corporation
Develop your brand vision.
4
Strategic branding process
Any strong brand has to have at its core a promise that
lets people know what to expect from the brand. It
could be results achieved, an experience or acting in
a certain way. It must be relevant to your target
audiences. And it must never be broken.
Develop your brand promise.
5
Strategic branding process
Bruyre Continuing Care is the champion of our aging
population and those requiring continuing care.
- a McGill Buckley client
Develop your brand promise.
5
Strategic branding process
Take a long hard look at where your brand ts from
your customers or market perspective.
Develop your brand positioning.
6
What Is Your
Brand For?
Who Is Your
Brand For?
When Is Your
Brand For?
Who Are
Your
Competitors?
Strategic branding process
Develop your brand personality.
7
If your brand was a person, what kind of person would it be?
Developing a brand personality helps to create a human side
to your brand and makes it easier for people
to connect and identify.
Masculine or
feminine?
Underdog or
big dog?
Casual or
formal?
Serious or
humorous?
Plays by the
rules or breaks
the rules?
City or
country?
Traditional or
contemporary?
Strategic branding process
Develop your brand messaging platform.
8
These are the words that help people understand who you are,
what you do, how you are di!erent and why you matter.
Key Messages Benets Positioning Stories
Strategic branding process
A thoughtful, coherent and consistent brand identity system
allows a brand to a have an easily recognizable visual presence.
It should be driven by all the work done to date.
Develop your brand identity system.
9
Logo Applications Name Standards
Strategic branding process
Design your ideal brand experiences.
10
How will you turn your brand vision and promise into
brand-building customer experiences?
Think of how and where your customers come into
contact with your brand?
Strategic branding process
These are delivered at your brand touch points.
Design your ideal brand experiences.
10
What are all
your brand
touch points?
What can you do
to leverage
them?
Everyone plays a
role in brand
experience.
It should be
constantly
evolving.
You cannot NOT have a user experience. Lou Carbone
Which brings us to
Digital Branding
Digital marketing and an
increasingly digital world has not
changed what a brand is.
It has however radically changed how a brand is
discovered, delivered, perceived and experienced.
With digital diversication getting bigger and
with more channels appearing each quarter,
brands are going to shift from "Should I be here?"
to "What should I do now that I am here?" Success
will be linked to how well the brand can
di!erentiate itself and the levels of emotional
engagement it can create.
Robert Passikov, Consumer Experience Guru
What then is Digital branding?
An environment?
A platform?
A format?
A device?
(It is likely all these things
with more to come)
}
It is one of the many possible channels through which
a brand can connect.
It is an increasingly important touch point for brands.
It can be a driver of customer perceptions and experiences.
More than ever digital is the rst encounter with your brand.
Our view on digital branding
Lead with business and brand strategy, leverage with technology.
Be where your audiences are.
Constantly look for insights.
Engage, experiment, evolve.
Beware of the digital disconnect.
Our approach to digital branding
How will we meet our business and brand objectives?
How will we deliver on our brand promise?
How will we reinforce our brand positioning?
How can we deliver brand experiences?
How can we deliver our brand personality?
A few digital branding questions:
Territorialism of di!erent practitioners.
An overabundance of self proclaimed experts.
Too much focus on technology at the expense of strategy.
An overinated estimate of its value (perhaps).
Too much emphasis on price as a benet.
A few digital brand concerns:
What excites us about
digital branding:
An entirely new environment for building brands.
Enhanced abilities to monitor brands.
Direct connections with brand audiences.
What about
Canadian Brands?
Top Canadian Brands
Top Brands In Canada* Top Canadian Brands* Canadas Most Inuential Brands**
1. Disney 1. Tim Hortons (10) 1. Google
2. Lego 2. Westjet (16) 2. Facebook
3. Johnson & Johnson 3. McCain Foods (18) 3. Microsoft
4. Rolex 4. Canadian Tire (28) 4. Apple
5. Nestle 5. Jean Coutu (32) 5. Visa
*Source - canadianbusiness.com (scores are based on trust, admiration, respect, good feeling and overall esteem)
** Source Iposos Reid Research
Canadian brands we admire
Lets Pick A Great New Local Brand
Great positioning DIY
Fun, friendly, quirky personality
Delivers an engaging brand experience
Great products (a matter of taste)
Understands brand touch points
Closing thoughts.
Be driven by business strategy and goals.
Make sure you have an inspiring vision and a compelling promise.
Be di!erent and be clear.
Dont overlook the power of personality and experiences.
Get yourself a really nice logo!
Want to develop your brand?
When youre going
through hell,
keep going."
Winston Churchill
Thank you for
your time.
Any questions?