Branding Canada

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Branding Canada

• It Takes More Than a Logo
• David Dunne
• June 1, 2001

2
Agenda

• Why is Branding Canada Important?
• Where Are We Now?
• What Will it Take?
• What Are the Issues?

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Why Is Branding Canada Important?
4
The Value of Brands
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The Value of Brands
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The World is a Cultural Bazaar

• Some product-country associations
• Italian suits
• French champagne
• German cars
• Japanese cameras

• Some brands with strong country associations
• Mercedes
• Coke
• Omega
• Fosters

7
The Literature

• Clear, consistent evidence of the effect of
  country associations on
• Products in general
• Classes of products
• Specific types of products
• Specific brands
• Often stronger than attribute information, and
  influences attitudes on specific attributes
• Hierarchy of biases
• Economic development
• Culture/political system
• Similarity between belief systems
• Differences across countries in attitudes to a
  specific country

8
Britain TM

• Associated with the past
• Buckingham palace, Beefeaters aging, elitist
• Impeding exports of high tech products
• Some proposed changes
• Drop Great aid recall and reduce colonial
  associations
• Present a more upbeat image of sport, culture and
  technology

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Risks in Britains Strategy

• Too great a departure from the past (credibility)
• Sustainability over time
• Diverse associations across the world
• Ability to differentiate versus other countries
  who want the same thing
• Branding only works when the image-making
  affects reality
• So far, has not had much impact
• Whoops! - British Beef

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Where Are We Now?
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www.adcritic.com (NIKE commercial)
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The Canadian Brand (Japan, March 1999)

• Key associations
• Nature
• Friendly people
• Safe
• Not associated with high technology
• Not innovative
• Doesnt have advanced technologies
• Achievements not well known

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Conclusions and Recommendations (Japan)

• Positive, but static, image
• Has not been successful in communicating changes
• For contrast India, UK
• Create a general, unified slogan
• Canada, Building Tomorrow Today
• Canada, Smiling on Tomorrow, etc.
• Create image that Canada is dynamic, innovative
  and tolerant a model country of the future
• Focus on High Tech/IT

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Talking to Americans(US, April 2000)

• Limited interest to Americans, but somewhat more
  in border states
• Know a little about political system, geography
  and business
• Is it really a democracy? (monarchy, socialism)
• Vast, pristine wilderness
• Resource based
• Nice, laid back -- too much so?
• Value collectivism versus Individualism
• NAFTA reduced tariffs, increased paperwork
• Different treatment of Canadian and Mexican
  borders (but high awareness of recent terrorist
  incident)

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Talking to Americans
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Conclusions (US)

• Canada does not provide the US with knowledge
  about itself
• Strong nature/wilderness association
• Canada is not seen as important to Americans
• Americans do not want to see increased security
  at the border

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Investment Partnerships Canadas Message to
Potential Investors

• A world leader in telecom, e-commerce, multimedia
  and software development
• Highest rate of post-secondary enrolment in the
  world
• 1st in the world UN Development Index
• Low wage, stable workforce with inexpensive, high
  quality infrastructure and very low operating
  costs

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What Will It Take?
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Ten Dos of Branding

• Understand your customers needs, wants, desires
  and values
• Deliver what they really want
• Develop an emotional connection with them
• Provide adequate support
• Price appropriately
• Be consistent
• Integrate marketing communications
• Integrate the companys efforts behind the brand
• Plan for and manage crises effectively
• Monitor and protect brand equity

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Understand Your Customers Needs, Wants, Desires
and Values

• Managers of great brands do constant research
• They go further than just finding out likelihood
  of purchase, to understand their lives,
  feelings, values

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www.adcritic.com (Molson commercial)
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Understand Your Customers Needs, Wants, Desires
and Values

• Managers of great brands do constant research
• They go further than just finding out likelihood
  of purchase, to understand their lives,
  feelings, values

Implication 1 To brand Canada, start with
customers
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Deliver What They Really Want

• A product isnt a set of features, but a bundle
  of benefits
• Understand the underlying need
• Deliver it better than anyone else

24

• The California Milk Processing Board

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Deliver What They Really Want

• A product isnt a set of features, but a bundle
  of benefits
• Understand the underlying need
• Deliver it better than anyone else

Implication 2 Different countries have different
attitudes to Canada, so there are different
starting points
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Develop an Emotional Connection With Them

• Relationship marketing make your brand their
  brand
• Im a Bud man
• I am Canadian
• Identify with their values and ideals
• Its one thing to have people buy your products.
  Its another for them to tattoo your name on
  their bodies
• Personalize communications
• Provide a home for the loyalist

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(No Transcript)
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The H.O.G. Myth
Moms
MYTHOLOGY
Exclusivity
Rebellion
Minivans
Old cool
White supremacists
America
Tradition
Gangs
Young cool
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Develop an Emotional Connection With Them

• Relationship marketing make your brand their
  brand
• Im a Bud man
• I am Canadian
• Identify with their values and ideals
• Its one thing to have people buy your products.
  Its another for them to tattoo your name on
  their bodies
• Personalize communications
• Provide a home for the loyalist

Implication 3 Have a set of values, and make
sure customers identify with them
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Provide Adequate Support

• Big brands werent always big so huge TV
  budgets arent a prerequisite
• Adequate support means enough to
• Generate awareness
• Build recall
• Develop favourable, unique and strong brand
  associations an appropriate image

Implication 4 Consistency of support is more
important than the immediate investment
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Price Appropriately

• Brands can improve margins by allowing you to
  charge more
• However, they dont have unlimited value
• Carefully test your ability to sustain a premium

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Brands Bargained, Belittled, Bartered and
Battered

• Consumers are waking up to the reality that many
  products are not really all that different
• I try to stick to well-known brand names
• 1975 77
• 1997 57
• I usually know the brand I will buy when I enter
  the store
• 1988 50
• 1991 33

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The Day the Marlboro Man Fell Off His Horse

• Facing intense pressure from discount brands,
  Philip Morris cut prices on Marlboro Friday
  April 2, 1993
• The result was a collapse in share prices of all
  major branded manufacturers observers questioned
  the future of brands
• The real lesson brands dont have unlimited value

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Price Appropriately

• Brands can improve margins by allowing you to
  charge more
• However, they dont have unlimited value
• Carefully test your ability to sustain a premium

Implication 5 Dont expect branding Canada to
change the world overnight
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Be Consistent

• The worlds greatest brands give a single, simple
  message to consumers
• This fundamental message is reinforced over time
• It is supported by marketing programs and
  sub-brands
• Although sub-themes may vary, the underlying
  message is the same

Implication 6 Find the right theme, and stick
with it
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Integrate Marketing Communications

• The same fundamental message should carry across
  all marketing communications
• Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) provide
  several advantages
• Increased reach
• Feeling of being surrounded by the brand
• Ability to reach consumers at key points in their
  decision process
• Ability to vary tactical messages while
  reinforcing main message
• Involvement of intermediaries
• Synergy

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The Effect of Nontraditional Media
Sales/purchase
Infatuation
Missionary Advocacy
Excitement
Virtuous Cycle
Buzz, Word of Mouth
Visibility/exposure
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The BMW Roadster Launch

• Product Placement
• Neiman Marcus Offer
• Internet Site
• Press launch

• Tonight Show
• Radio DJ
• Road Story Video
• TV
• Print
• Dealer Ad Promo

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www.adcritic.com (BMW commercial)
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Integrate Marketing Communications

• The same fundamental message should carry across
  all marketing communications
• Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) provide
  several advantages
• Increased reach
• Feeling of being surrounded by the brand
• Ability to reach consumers at key points in their
  decision process
• Ability to vary tactical messages while
  reinforcing main message
• Involvement of intermediaries
• Synergy

Implication 7 Every division Tourism,
Industry, Foreign Affairs must have the same
fundamental message
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Integrate the Companys Efforts Behind the Brand

• A brand is the relationship between a product and
  the consumer
• Every point of contact builds and modifies the
  impression the brand creates the 360-degree
  brand
• Consumers build brands (!) like birds build
  nests, from scraps and straws they chance upon

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Sustaining a Brand Image
Company/ brand Image
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Starbucks Brand Elements

• Great coffee
• Atmosphere
• People
• Specialty products
• Innovativeness

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The Starbucks Brand
We are transitioning from a very retail centric
view about the brand to a view that will allow us
to say that Starbucks role is to provide
uplifting moments to people every day. I didnt
say coffee Just like when you drop a rock in a
pond there will be ripples that come outside that
core, Starbucks is not just a pound of coffee,
but a total coffee experience. Scott
Bedbury Senior VP of Marketing
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Integrate the Companys Efforts Behind the Brand

• A brand is the relationship between a product and
  the consumer
• Every point of contact builds and modifies the
  impression the brand creates the 360-degree
  brand
• Consumers build brands (!) like birds build
  nests, from scraps and straws they chance upon

Implication 8 Canadas brand is reflected in
everything we do -- i.e. stay close to reality
46
Plan for and Manage Crises Effectively

• In the internet age, news travels at the speed of
  light
• This can be good or bad for your brand
• It is much tougher to restrict communication
  about your brand than it was in the past

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The Tylenol Experience

• Tylenol had built up the trust of generations of
  Americans through effective marketing over the
  years
• 7 deaths in the Chicago area after a tampering
  incident in October 1982
• Many wrote Tylenol off
• On one day, every single human being in the
  country thought that Tylenol might kill them. I
  dont think there are enough advertising dollars,
  enough marketing men, to change that youll not
  see the name Tylenol in any form within a year

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Restoring Trust in Tylenol
7 Deaths announced
Return to Advertising
3rd coupon (1)
Recall
Offer to replace Gates ad Teleconference
Second coupon
Repackaging coupon
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Lessons from the Tylenol Experience

• JJ handled the situation very skillfully
• Confronted the issue immediately
• Full product recall
• Restored trust by preventing a recurrence
• JJ took the long-term view that the value of the
  brand exceeded the short-term cost of a recall
• The Tylenol brand had built up a huge reserve of
  trust with consumers, and JJ sought to protect
  this

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Plan for and Manage Crises Effectively

• In the internet age, news travels at the speed of
  light
• This can be good or bad for your brand
• It is much tougher to restrict communication
  about your brand than it was in the past

Implication 9 Know what might go wrong, its
effects and have a plan for dealing with it
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Monitor and Protect Brand Equity

• Develop a brand charter
• Define the meaning of the brand and how it should
  be treated
• Conduct periodic brand audits and tracking
  studies
• Distribute brand equity reports that summarize
  all relevant research information
• Assign explicit responsibility for monitoring and
  preserving brand equity

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Disneys Deliberations

• In the late 1980s, Disney conducted a brand
  audit and tracking study
• Found
• Widespread endorsements with little logic
• Characters were seen as overused
• Annoyed that children were involved in purchase
  decisions
• All product endorsements had an effect on
  Disneys brand equity
• As a result, Disney established a brand equity
  team to ensure a consistent image for Disney
  across all product endorsements

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Monitor and Protect Brand Equity

• Develop a brand charter
• Define the meaning of the brand and how it should
  be treated
• Conduct periodic brand audits and tracking
  studies
• Distribute brand equity reports that summarize
  all relevant research information
• Assign explicit responsibility for monitoring and
  preserving brand equity

Implication 10 Establish a central Brand Canada
office
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What Are the Issues?
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10 Implications for Canada

• Start with customers
• There are different starting points in different
  parts of the world
• Have a set of values, and make sure customers
  identify with them
• Consistency of support is more important than the
  immediate investment
• Dont expect to change the world overnight
• Find the right theme, and stick with it
• Every division must have the same fundamental
  message
• Stay close to reality
• Have a plan for dealing with crises
• Establish a central Brand Canada office

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Some Issues in Branding Canada

• Everyone wants the same thing, and some a further
  ahead
• The Need to Invest in Awareness
• Depth (Top of Mind)
• Breadth (Range of Categories)
• Costs C10-12 million, by one estimate but
  probably much higher
• What is Canadas Brand Personality?
• Brand Image
• Strength
• Favourability
• Uniqueness
• Different heritage, competition and cultural
  appeals across the globe
• Integrated communications single message,
  multiple media

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Conclusions

• Branding a country is a worthwhile initiative in
  principle
• Its a popular idea because most people do not
  understand its full implications and costs
• In the Internet age, attitudes can change quickly
  -- for better and for worse
• It is difficult and success stories are mostly
  grass roots
• It is nevertheless possible, and a
  sector-by-sector approach (viz. Germany, India)
  may make sense
• It requires a high degree of coordination and
  discipline