Branding is about creating a belief system – there has never been as important time as NOW to focus on this element of your business. Turbulent times mean businesses need robust belief systems in their brand.
To many great businesses, their brand is the business!

Below is a guide as to how to do this:

Great Brands always have history.
This is where they came from?

A brand has meaning, it has a magic glue that develops an emotional cord that creates a feeling about this brand.

People want to know where the brand came from, how they fit with it today and where it is going.

How to construct this meaning:
By breaking it down to a Brand Code:
These are the 7 core codes that define the brand belief system:
1. Creation Story
2. Creed
3. Icon
4. Rituals
5. Pagans
6. Sacred words
7. Leader

This constructs the believe system for the brand.
Believing = Belonging (ownership of the brand – ‘my tribe’! or ‘my type of school’)

The believe System:
1. Creation Story:
How it began, the heritage, the authenticity of why it became something. This is the DNA of the brand. This DNA forms the foundation of how the brand is communicated. Using visual clues with this ‘DNA’ re-enforces a sense of history.
2. Creed:
This is the ‘Bible’ that creates the legacy of the brand. A pass it on culture that keeps people feeling that sense of belonging to the brand.
3. Icon:
Iconic values that maintain unique features that separate it from others.
Think like, Jaws music is iconic or National Geographic yellow boarder. Mini Cooper
4. Rituals:
This is the habits of the brand tribe. Repeated interactions that are part of the brand. They are touch points (can be good or bad) Rituals are important to keep the believers ‘on plan’. Believers need rituals to believe. Give them (good) Rituals and they will believe. Identifying bad rituals that other brands have and convert them into good rituals for your brand.
5. Pagans:
They are non believes of your brands. They are useful to create sight as to what else you could be doing with your brand. Use to generate opportunities. Classicaly Apple used this: i.e. IBM had a slogan ‘think’, Apple introduce ‘think differently’ – this is about applying the opposite to help identify what their brand means. . Pagans also enable the Brand to learn and adapt to changes in tribal behaviour.
6. Sacred ‘Words’:
‘Words’ that, by their style and presentation, give unique clues as to what the brand is. These ‘words’ need to be learned before you can become part of the tribe, before you can be a believer. They can be jargon that create a sacred code. It’s a language that serves to define and distinguish them.
7. Leader:
A visionary leader that maintains focus and inspiration for the brand. All great brands have clear leaders that show the light for the future for the brand. Without this clear leader that the consumers of the brand recognise, the brand will lack a sense of future. All great brands have a sense of future.

A believer in ‘The Believe System’ = Desire to part of that brand.

Once people have this desire for your brand, it builds a barrier to avoid falling into the ‘value trap’. Value is an excuse used when the believe system breaks down.

Our desire for brands always defies logic. Think about cars, clothes, restaurants – desire takes you to places that help people fulfill their believe system to be part of that brand.

People in crisis will look to change, they will challenge their rationale for buying brands, without a deep and embracing believe system in your brand – your brand could become irrelevant to them.

To find out more about branding and how to develop powerful belief system in your brand, please contact Rob Ward at rob@on-ward.co.uk or call +44 (0) 7773777097

http://www.on-ward.co.uk/services