Surina Sayal
Marketing

World Brand Congress 2010: "Smash your brand," provokes branding guru, Martin Lindstrom

Lindstrom tells marketers to "smash" their brand, that is, become independent of logos, and instead own multiple "smashable" components, such as sound, colours, shapes and smells that audiences can connect with at a non-conscious level.

On day one of the World Brand Congress 2010 in Mumbai, renowned brand strategist and advisor, Martin Lindstrom, who is also the author of the bestseller, 'Buyology - Truth and Lies about Why We Buy' had the audience listening in rapt attention. Dressed in all-black, his signature style, the brand guru dished out pointers and learnings to marketers and brand representatives.

Lindstrom -- who is a trusted advisor for top executives in numerous Fortune 100 companies, including McDonald's, Nestlé, PepsiCo, American Express, Yellow Pages, Procter & Gamble, Microsoft Corporation, Unilever and Nokia -- shared that in many instances, a logo doesn't do its job. Discussing the power of subliminal signals, he shared the example of Marlboro, where just the symbol of a man on a horse is enough to convince a smoker to light up.

World Brand Congress 2010: "Smash your brand," provokes branding guru, Martin Lindstrom
He cited a study, where a billboard was put up with the image of a cowboy, without any logo or message. The next week, the same image appeared along with the Marlboro logo. It was seen that the first hoarding got more response than the second, with people lighting up more easily after seeing the first. This was because after seeing the second image, and noticing the logo, the rational side of the brain kicks in with a warning, "These guys want me to smoke, but I'm not going to." In the case of the first image, the communication was non-conscious, and incredibly powerful.

Lindstrom also advised brands and marketers to be able to "smash" their brand, that is, become independent of logos. Instead, he suggested they own multiple "smashable" components, such as sound, colours, shapes and smells.

World Brand Congress 2010: "Smash your brand," provokes branding guru, Martin Lindstrom
He shared that back in 1915, the original design brief for the Coca Cola bottle was that it should be recognisable, even when it is smashed into thousands of pieces. In an engaging manner, he got members of the audience to take out their business cards and rip off the logos. Then, he asked others in the audience to try and recognize the brand once that was done. Nobody could recognise a single brand once the logos were torn off.

"I'm not saying that the logo is disappearing," said Lindstrom, "I'm saying you should own signals that are so powerful that people can feel who or what the brand is."

He drove home this thought with the picture of an African child's palm placed against the palm of an American, and when everyone in the audience recognised the brand, he agreed that it was, in fact, an ad for United Colors of Benetton.

"Everyone is familiar with the imagery the brand has built. The brand's message is that there should be more tolerance towards other cultures. What has that go to do with clothing? Nothing. But the fact is that they're getting people to buy into emotions here," said Lindstrom.

Another such example he cited was Apple. The brand has created a number of "smashables" or recognisable features, such as the white ear cord, its silhouette advertising style, the wheel in the iPod, colours, the navigation, even the naming strategy, with every product carrying 'i' in the beginning of its name. In fact, the brand has a total of 27 "smashables".

"I can bet if someone named something the 'iToilet', people would buy into it, because they'd think it had linkage with the Apple brand," quipped Lindstrom. A similar example of a strong naming strategy is McDonald's, which adds a 'Mc' before most of its food items.

A different kind of product placement strategy was also seen in the movie Wall-E, said Lindstrom, where references were made to the Apple brand, without once using the logo or brand name. For example, in the movie, when Wall-E has finished recharging his batteries, he emits the Apple Mac welcome chime. Thus, when people watched the much-loved Wall-E, they were thinking, "How cute". However, they were also non-consciously feeling empathy towards the brand, that is, Mac.

On the other hand, Lindstrom stated, brands using "clip art" in advertising, such as a picture of a "handshake" are wasting their time, because it allows no room for differentiation or standing out. He cited that brands that used this "handshake" imagery in their advertising included Airbus, Lufthansa, UBS, KPMG, GM, Deutsche Bank and even Tiffany & Co, where one couldn't tell the difference between the handshakes in each brand's campaign.

Lindstrom also suggests that brands go back to their archives and reinvent themselves, and not throw away their recognisable signs and symbols. "Look at what worked. Many times, a brand is built over the years, but with the incoming of a new chief marketing officer, and a new marketing strategy in place, all of these icons and symbols are gotten rid off," he said.

For example, a few years ago, McDonald's wanted to redesign its signature roof. Lindstrom shared that 56 per cent of all consumers in the world get a craving for McDonald's when they see the shape of the roof; and if this was altered, McDonald's would have unknowingly thrown away that 56 per cent target audience. "Marketers are doing this every day. You are killing your brand, and you don't even know it," he said.

He shared that as a teenager, he once bought a one-metre slab of Toblerone, the popular chocolate from Kraft Foods. However, he found it hard to eat because of the shape and size. Therefore, he melted it and tried to sell it as flat bars, but people didn't like the taste even though it was the same chocolate, only in a different shape. Thus, he questioned, "Would Toblerone exist at all if it didn't have its characteristic triangular shape?"

Another example that Lindstrom shared was that of a store retailing wine from different countries. As an experiment to test the effect sound had on purchase decisions, subtle French music was played in the background, while shoppers browsed through the French and German wines. Interestingly, 77 per cent patrons picked French wine in this case. When the music was changed to German tunes, it was noted that 69 per cent consumers picked the German wines. "Eighty-five per cent of the decisions we make take part in the non-conscious part of the brain," revealed Lindstrom.

He also went on to discuss "Somatic Markers", a concept invented in 1989 by Antonio Damasio, which suggests that there are associations between reinforcing stimuli that induce an associated physiological affective state. Somatic markers are stored within the brain and can reoccur during the decision-making process.

Thus, when you get some sort of a shock, you tend to remember something. This could include negative or positive somatic markers. For example, one can clearly remember where he or she was on the day of the 9/11 attack, but can't remember what they ate just three days ago. Lindstrom also shared that the philosopher, Socrates was known to slap his students on the chin, when he said something important and wanted them to remember it.

Another example of this in the marketing world was that of Audi, the automobile brand, where Lindstrom showed the audience the same Audi car. He then said that one of the cars was made in Turkey, while the other was Swiss made, and asked which one they would buy. When most people chose Swiss, he pointed out that both countries are not known to produce cars.

He explained that it is a somatic marker in our brains that tells us that Swiss companies would stand for quality, engineering and expertise. Even more so is Germany, which is why brands like to flaunt the 'German-made' tag. Audi, for instance, chose to write its slogan in German -- 'Vorsprung durch Technik' that translates to 'advancement through technology' -- instead of directly saying 'German made'.

"Somatic markers have to break the rules," stressed Lindstrom. Here, he shared the instance of a fence hire company in Australia that came to him with the issue of building a recognisable brand name in temporary fences. His idea to them was to adopt a hot pink or fuchsia colour, which would make them stand out. The brand did as was told, and the colour was so dramatic that it was remembered. Today, PINK is one of the most popular fence hire companies Down Under.

While most of the examples he shared during his presentation related to B2C brands, he also shed some light on B2B communication. "I think of B2B communication as 'boring to boring' with their grey suits, grey ties, and grey hair and grey inside," said Lindstrom, "because B2B brands don't do a lot to make their brand stand out. But I suggest they should create an emotional relationship. Many don't dare to do this, because they think people will be offended."

He shared the example of 'Intel Inside', which is a supplier, but has made its signature tune so famous. Similarly, lens maker Carl Zeiss, when it sends across its lenses to the product manufacturer, sends these in heavy mahogany boxes that seem to symbolise weight and quality. "While you may not be able to tell one lens from another, you trust the wrapping around it," said Lindstrom.

Later in the workshop, Lindstrom went on to discuss how words are associated with brands. For instance, when one says 'safety' in automobiles, this is automatically linked to the Volvo brand. Why is this so? Because this was the brand that went on to create the safety bag, the backseat safety belts and the safety belt alarm, among other things.

Similarly, the word 'cowboy' is associated with the Marlboro brand. The brand Virgin and its Galactic space shuttle service are linked to the word 'courage'; while Google owns the word 'search'. "Every brand has to find its own word that it can own. What is your word? Don't say 'quality', 'service', 'international' or 'discount'. You can't own these."

He also shared that a brand should not just "say it", but also "live it". Thus, for instance, Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA lives its word, 'Do-it-yourself' not only through the offerings at its stores, but also in its business cards -- these have empty spaces in front of 'Name', 'Phone Number' and 'Designation', which employees fill in on their own.

Rituals play an important role in branding as well. A case in point is that 72 per cent of Marlboro smokers around the globe tend to tap the box twice, as was seen in the brand's old commercials. Many today do this, without even having seen this gesture, as it has spread as a ritual.

Another example is that of beer brand, Corona, which is usually served with a slice of lime in it. There are several theories about why this is done -- the Mexican beer uses lime to keep flies away; lime is used to improve the taste; it is just an old Mexican tradition; and so on. The fact is that this was the result of a bet between a bartender and a beer distributor in California, where the bartender did this on December 12, 1981 just to see how fast a ritual could spread, and spread it did!

Have news to share? Write to us atnewsteam@afaqs.com