Much has been said about the nature of branding. We at Milton Bayer believe that brands are not only at the heart and soul of a company, but they are the heart and soul of a company. They are the sum total of the beliefs and attitudes of who you perceive yourselves to be as a company, and more importantly, whom your consumers believe you to be. To miss-manage your brand and default on your core reason to exist can undermine the trust that you establish with those who believe in your brand enough to chose it over another. It is therefore essential to give yourself every advantage in communicating your uniqueness in ways that position your brand as the preferred choice in its category. Creativity enables this process to happen, and without it, your position in your market is under long term and short threat.
What is creativity, and how do we use it as a tool to build your brand?
Creativity is the ability to bring imagination into reality. A creative company such as Milton Bayer starts developing ideas and then has the capacity to bring those ideas to life. We at Milton Bayer love to work with new ideas and see them realized. Our expertise falls primarily in the area of Marketing Communications. We have years of experience in taking brands and multiplying their efficiency and communicating there distinctiveness in ways that surpass their competitors. We thrive on taking new and current brands and injecting them with the life they need to succeed and surpass their expectations. But how does this happen?
Please read on to find a few reasons why creativity is an essential component in building brands at Milton Bayer.
Creativity gives cut through by communicating a brands relevance:
Cut-through is the ability that a brand has to stand out and communicate in a marketplace of multiple messages fighting for attention. This is done in the first instance by communicating clearly a brand’s relevance. A brand must be able to take its basic physical components and benefits and communicate them in a way that is compelling and attractive. If it is not relevant to the consumer, its of no interest. Its not a matter of communicating hype or sensation, or drawing people to a whirlwind of activity alone, but unveiling and communicating a brands real substance to sustain long-term interest.
A creative company like Milton Bayer does this through insight. Being able to make the innovative connection between a brands proposition and the consumers need in a way that is relevant to them.
An example of this is what Macdonald’s has done to its public image in recent years, repositioning itself away from being an unhealthy fast food brand, to moving towards being the relivent low end family restaurant of choice again.
Creativity makes the complex simple:
Its not hard to communicate a complex idea in a complicated way, but it is hard to communicate a complex subject in a simple way. If you think that people hear branded messages thousands of times on any given day, simplicity is key in communicating that idea in a way that is easy to get and succinct.
A company such as Milton Bayer uses creativity in its work to discern which of the numerous potential avenues that can be taken and looks to find the simplest way of telling a story. This allows the consumer to understand the products benefits and engage there interest within a very short period of time.
The iPod is a great example of how a product that was a new category that originally seemed quite complicated and confusing became simple and easy to understand overnight. This won the hearts of many consumers around the world to the apple way of thinking.
Creativity helps people rethink an old category
In oversaturated markets in almost every category there can be a real danger that brands will find it hard to stand out and communicate their distinctiveness. Things can get very stale in a world of copy-cat’s and replicas. Companies can cautiously veer on the side of safety, rather than distinctiveness, which in logical terms is potentially quite self-destructive as it makes everything in the category generic and in the long run undermines a entire category’s value.
This can be due to a lack of creative vision, and this is where a company such as Milton Bayer uses creativity to offer relevant alternatives that are unique and distinctive, enabling companies to see what the future could potentially look like in a way that can gain cut through and impact.
As an example Hovis took the concept of bread packaging to a whole new level by focusing on the contexts that the product was used in rather than simply the written information that communicates the products nature, elevating its position within the category to new levels.
Creativity adds value to a brand
Brand value refers to the composite value added to a product that is exclusive of the material manifestations of the product alone. When you think of Coca Cola for example, it has been said that you will leave a richer person if you were to own the Coca Cola brand rather than all the physical assets that the brand owns, such as the manufacturing sites, logistics and distribution facilities as well as all the advertising and retail capabilities. This is referred to a brand’s intangible assets.
The process that makes this possible is down to branding. Engaging consumers with the promises of what they can expect when they buy a bottle of Coca Cola, which makes it a given for so many people around the world. Creativity enables the brand to takes the basic message of “buy this sugary drink and you will not be thirsty and more” and takes it into a whole new stratosphere of value. “Buy this product and you buy into a worldwide family and history”. Enabling the brand to be a tool of communication that says something about the consumer, rather than just a drink.
If you would like to discover how Milton Bayer can add value to your brand through creativity, please contact us here to find out more.
Posted by Richardo on March 5th, 2010 No Comments »