Many believe that Branding and Advertising may generate the same impact: awareness. So, if the outcome is identical, then why waste million-dollar into branding? Why not just develop a TV commercial and gain million viewers at the same time? I tell you what; what others may believe might not always be right.
There are more and more companies spending gazillion money, time and efforts to produce one advertisement that creates a boom in the market without really having a lasting impact. Advertising may give you a maximum exposure at a relatively short amount of time. But, could it build trust and loyalty? I don’t think so.
Let me start with the ultimate question: What is a Brand? As I have previously discussed in Formulation of A Brand, Brand is holistic unification of a company’s strategies with their operations, and how you communicate it in the eyes of the public; it is the whole story of your company and what your company is all about. Whilst Advertising is in its juxtaposition to branding, where it helps you to communicate and giving exposure of the story and message of your brand through mass media.
Advertising is one of the ways to communicate your message as a brand; but advertising itself could not create one brand. Branding is not just an overnight sensation; it takes steady growth and consistency in the way you behave over time to earn trust and love of people.
Take an example of the simplest most beloved brand in the world: Starbucks. All their employees know how to ‘behave’; all their trainings, the benefits of being part of the company, and their sense of solidarity through fair trade coffee served – generate a different approach on how they should ‘behave’ being a Starbucks employee.
It shows how, if you understand your brand – its values, its mission, its reason for being- and integrate it consistently into everything you do, your entire organization will know how to behave in virtually and all situations.
Therefore, through branding, it gives consistency for the whole company that guides behavior and quality, over time, builds trust. Advertising, if it is any good, should help to confirm what already is, not what should be.
Think of it like this: “Advertising is shouting. While Branding is whispering; when you whisper, people lean forward.”
So, do you shout or whisper?
Prepared by:
Feliciana Natali W., Brand Consultant in Verbrand, a strategic unit of Fortune PR. Graduated from Bachelor of Business in Marketing at Monash University – Australia with strong academic record, she has significant exposure in consolidation of data intelligence for service industry. Event wise, she was entrusted to coordinate talent division of Soundsekerta 2011 and 2012 organized by Indonesian Student Association in Australia. Project wise, she was assigned by Chambers Institute-Australia to manage their all-round marketingand Business Development department. She is currently involve in handling high-profile clients such as; PT Askes (Persero), many more.
Leave a Reply