Words, Experiences, and Iconography
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Written by admin on July 3, 2008 – 6:19 pm
You’ve developed the basis for a great story by coming up with G.R.E.A.T. story foundations, and you’ve put these into the Seven-Question Test format, which provided you with a succinct message strategy. Now think about key words, rituals, and visuals that will bring your story to life. Words Language and words that connect with the target and are unique to brands helps to tell stories consistently and powerfully. Words are important. Think about describing a person. You might say, “He takes chances.”
However, the words courageous or fearless conjure up more emotions. So does risk-taker or specifics, such as “He cliff-jumps” or “He races dog-sleds in Alaska.” In describing a business relationship, you might say, “They’re a great partner.” But we’d bet that if you would use descriptive phrases, such as “They are good teammates,” “They’re an advocate for our business,” or “They are innovative,” you would differentiate them to a much greater degree. Choose your words carefully. Don’t use the same descriptions everyone else does. Some words should be banned from the language of branding because they are used so often and are such big tent words that they are almost meaningless, such as “quality” and “solutions.”
Most great brands have words that are unique to that brand almost like an insider code. Think about Starbucks you order a Short, Tall, Grande, or Venti. Those are very different words than small, medium, large, and extra large. They are unique to the brand Starbucks. “You’ve got mail” is indelibly connected to AOL. Great presidents and leaders have been defined by their words, such as “I have a dream” and “Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you.” McDonald’s has a Big Mac, a McChicken, McNuggets, and a whole host of other “Mcs.” The brand Apple has iPod, iMac, iBook, iTunes, and the whole iLife package of products that have become words in our everyday lives. “And 1,” the basketball shoe, owns the word “streetball.”
When you develop your message strategy, think about the words that will define your brand. Start incorporating them into the Seven-Question Test and actually plan to develop unique words that will define your brand in the common language of your consumers.
Experiences
When you order at Starbucks, you order your drink, provide your name, and then move down the counter, where your drink is delivered, your name is called, and you put a sleeve on your drink. This is a big part of the Starbucks experience. An experience is especially powerful when it happens with great frequency (like the Starbucks experience, for their core target). This experience is a little reward I can give myself every day.The experience for Piperlime, the new online footwear store from The Gap, is all about the way the shoes are presented when they’re delivered to your home. This includes the packaging, the coordination of colors (even down to the packing slip), the tissue, and the wording on the card that comes in each shoebox. Experiences, like words, embed the brand’s story in our minds and our hearts. Through repeated interactions, we have certain touch points embedded into our consciousness, and we associate these experiences favorably with the brand. Key words and experiences increase your chance of effectively communicating your story.
Iconography
Symbols of the brands we use are the rallying point for our emotions. We associate the golden arches with McDonald’s, the apple with Apple, the swoosh with Nike, the color red with Target, the Clydesdale horses with Budweiser, the mountains with Coors Beer, and the polar bears with Coke . . . the list could go on and on. Iconography helps define brands and makes them stand for something tangible. The visuals help tell the deeper story of the brand without words. These icons can go beyond just the visuals. The smell of Johnson’s baby power is iconic for this brand. The jingle for a brand can also be one of its icons. After you’ve developed a great story through a Seven-Question Test message strategy, spend time creating words, experiences, and iconography that will help tell your story through linkages to your brand story that come alive every time you experience them.
