Re: self-branding

From: Ivan Weltman <ivan_at_tudogs.com>
Date: Wed 7 Jun 2000 23:33:04 +0200

IVAN WELTMAN <ivan_at_tudogs.com> WROTE:
> I feel compelled to get involved here. One doesn't HAVE
> to know what the brand is before one generates
> awareness. A legitimate tactic is to build awarenes of
> an ill-defined brand, find out who is using it and
> why, then home in on the customer group, and what is
> the customer-defined concept.

TO WHICH MARLENA SCHWARZ <marlena_at_sharpe-partners.com> REPLIED:
> This is absolutely backwards and in my opinion the
> reason why most dot coms (in particular) fail at
> "Branding". The fact that people have heard your name
> is simply name recall. Nothing more. But, if you have
> established a successful Brand your company will be
> associated with certain attributes that you intend to
> stand for and represent a promise to the consumer.
>
> Furthermore, building name recognition of an
> ill-defined brand then figuring out who likes to use it
> is a very, very risky and expensive experiment. Good
> marketing practice is much more scientific than that.

Market research shows a high correlation between market
share and awareness; low correlation between market
share and advertising recall.

Look at recent dot.com failures; most had well defined
target markets, well defined image objectives, clear
positioning, excellent creative and well funded
advertising strategies. The reality is, that branding
takes time, and depends on the gestalt of all
experiences customers and potential customers have
with that brand.

The risk, particularly in incipient markets, is getting
it all wrong at the beginning!




Received on Wed Jun 07 2000 - 16:33:04 CDT