Brand Building 201: Finding The Ideal Way

The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off ofstarts
anwith PR. The only exception to this rule is selling to the
existing category. Branching takes patience and time.early adopter market.Real success is a combination
There are two speeds for launching a brand, eachof short-lived and longevity
one withproducts and services. Short-lived can provide the
its own pros and cons.Speed A, like a hot air balloon,additional capital needed to fuel big advertising
takes a long time tocampaigns
prepare before the actual launch. PR, mediaor new research. If you look at the toy industry, you
marketing,can
favors A. Longevity success favors A. A tree growssee every Christmas they have short-lived fad items
stronger with a well-established roots. And this canand they
onlystill maintain items, like the Slinky, now celebrating over
occur with good soil, careful fertilizing, watering, and50 years.Service businesses need to use a
time.Speed B, like a helicopter, takes off quickly butcombination as well. Few
requiresin these areas understand the concept and usually
more fuel on take off, fuel that isn't there later on.brush it
Advertising favors B. Speed B for the Internet meansoff as N/A, non-applicable, to them. Mainly due to the
viralneed
marketing--spreading by word of mouth. For the Net,for multiple marketing campaigns and the work
this isneeded to plan
usually e-mail marketing.The main reason A is usuallyand implement. This holds a higher truth the smaller the
a wiser choice is becausepractice usually due to time limitations.Another gear in
people are suspicious of new and different. Anotherthe branding wheel is the number of
reasongenerations of buyers. Each generation have their
why it takes any business years to build their success.own way
Aof buying charactertics. The only answer for this, is to
typical reaction: "Wait and see if this new conceptknow how they are thinking and why they make the
turnschoices
out to be worth while". Letting the brand build slowlythey do.How do you move fast enough in a slow
using PR techniques can be like watching a tree grow.building process and
Youstill build credibility along the way? You can use the
can be lulled into falling asleep, however, don't be.same
Theremethod many public relations firms use--the leak. You
is a pivoting point where PR needs to turn intoleak
massivethe information before its ready for launching. The
advertising.There are two hurdles each speedgestation length of the leaking period depends on the
endures--credibility andradicalness of the concept. The more revolutionary
conventional. Advertising fails because it usually can'tthe
convey credibility. It can create conventional--peopleconcept, the less advertising should play into the
wantcampaign.Advertising is used for brand maintenance
to buy what other people want. People buy to benot brand
normal.building. As I mentioned earlier, advertising lacks
People like to visit restaurants that have lots of carscredibility, the crucial element for brand building.The
outbest way for PR use is to announce a new category
front. Yet conventional cannot succeed withoutnot a
credibility.new product.
Credibility is why the most effective brand launching