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The Business of a Top 100 Brand

For the last decade, Interbrand has been producing an annual report on the top 100 ‘Best Global Brands’. It makes interesting reading. It doesn’t make truly compelling reading though, and it doesn’t offer much in the way of deep insight. Perhaps that’s to be expected – it’s the nature of the beast. When you’re looking for trends across 100 global brands it’s no real wonder that the common ground ends up being generic.

It’s a bit like the ‘Top 100 TV Moments’, and the ‘Top 100 Movie Moments’, and all the other ‘Top 100 Moments’ that exist as TV scheduling fillers. Whilst the journey through the respective ‘Top 100 [insert filler of your choice]’ can be an interesting one, you can be fairly certain that your personal favourite isn’t going to be number one. It is a source of constant disappointment to me, for example, that the angelic harmonising of the Von Trapp Family in the classic Sound of Music never actually makes it to number one anywhere except in my dreams.

And so, because we all kind of knew the report findings this year – the economy’s in the shitter, the financial brands have taken a pasting, no one trusts anyone anymore, social media and the digital landscape’s a bitch and none of the big brands really know how to deal with it globally… – I thought it might be helpful to offer an additional insight from Interbrand’s work that may offer some hope to the B2B community.

Seven of the Top Ten Global Brands achieve a significant proportion of their revenues from the B2B sector. Seven. Of the top ten. B2B.

I thought that was pretty impressive for the Business to Business market. IBM, Microsoft, Google, General Electric, Intel, Nokia, HP – they’re all big B2B players. Using Interbrand’s statistics, they have a combined brand value of over $300bn. That means those seven B2B brands in the Top 10 have a higher brand value than all the other B2C brands in the Top 20 combined ($271bn). Not too shabby.

So whilst we’re all scrabbling around in the muck and bullets of day-to-day B2B marketing life, it’s worth remembering that we have a significant pedigree to live up to. The next time someone tells you that ‘brands’ are things they buy in supermarkets, just remind them that, actually, the top brands are mainly B2B. (Then sniff the air, turn on your heel and exit leaving only a ‘talk to the hand’ gesture for them to remember you by…)

Scot McKee
Managing Director
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Brand Strategy & Services

A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of an audience. It’s not just a product or service that can easily be measured or touched. Nor is it just a logo or tactical campaign. Brand Strategy is the long-term management of perceptions and reputation. Building a brand is the ability to shape the perceptions of an audience – how and where they want to be communicated with – online, using existing, new and evolving digital channels.

The Birddog Brand Platform is a process of strategic consultancy and creative thinking applied to your brand, your business, your audience, your employees and markets. The outcomes are focussed messages that form a consistent brand story and a compelling way of telling it.

Some of the Things We Do:

Brand Strategy:

• Strategic Brand Consultancy
• Brand Strategy Planning
• Brand Audit & Analysis
• Competitive Positioning
• Audience-centric Brand Research (Primary & Secondary)
• Brand Workshop Facilitation
• Brand Promise
• Brand Values
• Brand Messaging
• Brand Narrative
• Brand Stakeholder Management & Training
• Brand Strategy Delivery
• Brand Guidelines
• Brand Adoption
• Brand Policing
• Regional Disparity Integration/Localisation
• Scaled Solutions – Local/National/Global

What to do next?

For full details of our services, contact Birddog. Not decided? Read the book first, then contact Birddog.

The Santa Brand

It’s perhaps worth remembering at this seasonal time of festive joy and goodwill to all men that Santa Claus was invented by Coca Cola. Well, OK, maybe not ‘invented’, but the perception we have of the jolly, rotund fellow in a red suit with white flowing beard – the Santa ‘brand’ – is effectively Coke’s.

From 1931 to 1964 the artist Haddon Sundblom shaped the image of Santa that we know and love by illustrating him in various festive scenes, clasping a bottle of Coke for his troubles. The red suit, the belt and buckle, the shiny black boots, the rosy cheeks, the white beard – it’s all the result of Coke advertising and its widespread circulation within the magazines of the day. Bummer huh? Well, maybe.

Prior to Coca Cola’s adoption and re-creation of the jolly, fat gift-giver, there were numerous, fragmented views of Santa Clause around the world. Some depicted him as a wild Norseman a bit like the ‘Thor God of Thunder’ Marvel comic character. Other characterisations would have us believe that he was more of a wood-cutter/native/pagan-type. If you look really hard, you’ll find Santa as an elf dressed in green robes (not red) with Mr Spock pointy ears and everything.

Whilst there are still many variations on the Santa theme today – for example, we still can’t seem to even agree on his name (Santa… Santa Claus… Saint Nicolas… Father Christmas…) – the jolly red cherub is predominantly the unified perception. That unification was achieved with a brand. The Coke brand. It’s taken almost 80 years, but hey, who’s counting?

This is not a criticism of Coke or commercialism by the way – the very opposite in fact. It’s really quite an achievement. Taking an already established brand – Santa – and reinventing him to become the widely accepted norm around the world is no small feat and is worthy of congratulations.

When you consider the outcome as a ‘brand strategy’ – it is almost exclusively positive. The Santa brand is an icon throughout the western world. It is recognised by all audience segments across all socio-economic demographics, rich and poor, old and young, black and white. It is instantly associated with giving (not taking). It creates an emotive response and engenders warmth, happiness, and goodwill to all men. By association, it triggers fond memories of the past and offers hope for the future through your kids. There is no competition. The Easter Bunny doesn’t come close.

Now hold your own business brand up to the mirror and compare and contrast it to the Santa brand. If it doesn’t appear quite as sparkly and festive by comparison, you wouldn’t be alone. So how good are you feeling about your brand strategy now? Mmmm. Well, it’s understandable that perhaps you don’t have such a high achieving brand considering the length of time that Coca Cola has had to develop the Santa brand – an awful lot can be achieved in 80 years after all and it’s perhaps unfair to draw the comparison. Ehh, or is it?

Here’s the thing. Take your existing brand strategy, take the path your brand has followed for the last few years, take the path it’s on now and project that path forward a few years. What the hell, live a little and project it forward 80 years. Now ask yourself the question, ‘Will the brand strategy for our business achieve even a fraction of the success and positive brand attributes associated to the Santa brand?’ If the answer is, ‘Oh…’, or, ‘Oops…’, or, ‘Mmmm…’, or, ‘Fek…’ you need to change the plan, change the brand strategy. You could always try hanging up your stocking and making a wish on Christmas Eve. Alternatively, you know where to find me. Christmas wishes to you all…

Scot McKee
Managing Director
Birddog Ltd.