Discover the DNA of your brand (and build a better business!)

Issue 1 - December 2007

The psychology of ‘brand’ or ‘branding’ is not well understood by many, (not even by those in ad land), and what makes up a company’s brand (or DNA) even less so. Shedding light on the matter can greatly benefit the potential of a business to succeed.

DNA provides the building blocks of life. Each of us is unique having our own make up of DNA. The same can be said of companies, businesses or organizations. To reveal the brand DNA of these, regardless of size, turnover or category, one has to ascertain what brand values lay at their foundation.

Brand DNA is what makes up your company’s personality, gives it the point of difference from every other company or organization. Aside from the fact that the group of people that form the company are individually unique, the collection of these unique beings united under a set of values creates a corporate culture. The culture is then expressed to those coming into contact with the company in the form of an established set of guidelines such as policies, procedures, and a unique way of doing business. Prospective employees (or customers) that share those values will be attracted to the organization, and those that don’t, won’t.

Whereas people are ultimately stuck with their personal DNA, a business’s DNA, or brand values, can be altered to allow a better fit with the changing demand of their customers. For instance, McDonalds made a significant change to its brand values recently towards a fresher and healthier corporate image. No longer were consumers accepting of ‘fast food’ simply on the basis it was produced quickly. It now had to offer a level of nutrition with every meal to be acceptable. The outcome was more than a menu change, it meant the company had to alter its brand values (DNA) and communicate the new ‘genetics’ to staff, management, and then the general public via advertising.

Not every company has made the effort to identify its core brand values and the owner/manager relies on an intuitive understanding of their brand by staff and customers. Adopting this approach is at best ‘hit and miss’ and much like running the business without a financial plan.

A brand’s DNA can be largely represented by three or four core brand values. These core values constitute the primary foundation that conveys a brand’s overall image to stakeholders. Derived from dozens of characteristics or attributes that a business may be composed of, these brand attributes are distilled down to say three or four “brand pillars” to enable everyone: management; staff; customers; and others, to quickly and succinctly understand what the brand stands for.

Identifying a company’s brand pillars is a collaborative, interrogative and dynamic process involving senior management and key personnel. These brand pillars are more than just motherhood tags that management has dreamed up in a vacuum. They are core values that people at all levels ‘feel’ when working within the organization. Finding the right four words is not an easy or simple process and should be facilitated by a qualified moderator. The moderator assists a review of the company’s culture, beliefs, competencies, skill sets and experience, and then distills these attributes down to core ‘truths’ revealing the brand’s DNA and ultimately its core brand pillars.

Once identified, tested and agreed upon, the brand pillars must be communicated to all within the organization ensuring continuity of the brand image to the marketplace. This will require cooperation by all departments such as production, HR, accounts etc. This is far more than just a marketing exercise and failure to integrate the brand pillars absolutely will ultimately undermine the brand’s potential to succeed. By the same token, once fully integrated, this process can be one of the most powerful tools a company has to unify its most valued resource and market itself to the world. The brand pillars become a benchmark by which all decisions can be measured to reflect the business values.

At this point it would be very useful to give you an example of how the brand pillars works. However, being highly proprietary, such information is confidential. It’s no different to offering an acquaintance your own DNA map; it’s just all a bit personal! Aspects of the organization’s brand DNA can be made public, such as strap lines or positioning statements that are derived from the brand pillars and encapsulate the essence of the brand for public use.

NrG Advertising has a qualified brand pillar facilitator on staff and we welcome your enquiry as to how the process could assist your business achieve greater success. Simply drop Greg Marshall an email at greg@nrgadvertising.com.au and he’ll only be too pleased to arrange a meeting at your convenience.

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