Case Study in Core Values in Brand Marketing

From America’s #1 Business Coach for Introverts to Courage Coach for the Reluctant Marketers is a big shift for me. In a sense it is exciting because it becomes apparent as I go along, my positioning was stronger than I thought! This guest article of a case study, helped move what I knew intuitively, to a more clearly stated position of how it is you move from brand yourself with the problems you solve. I’ve got a lot more work to do in my transition. What can you discover about your brand from this case study?

Brand marketing allows companies to influence the ways in which they are perceived and build customer loyalties through a variety of marketing initiatives and strategies. We are all familiar with many ways in which companies advertise and most of us have a firm idea of the motivations behind these practices. When we are considering these strategies we need to remember the core values that must form the basis of all advertising and marketing strategies.

Core values are the ideas, associations, social positioning, values and morals that a company tries to project towards its customers. It doesn’t matter what the company is selling the values are at the forefront of brand image. Whilst this is not always explicit in many ways it still forms a core concept or foundation of the marketing strategies employed. To explore this we can look at a case study;

Red Bull utilises the Bull logo and their advertising campaigns are all focused on “giving us wings”. Prima Facie there doesn’t seem to be a hugely value laced brand image but if we unpick it slightly further then it very much is. Red Bull is carefully implying that they will give you energy (both physically and mentally) thus appealing to both the active person and the hard workers. The branding that goes along with this – that Red Bull gives you wings- provides a second value; letting our dreams come true. This subtle connotation creates a very powerful brand identity that strikes a chord with many people. This dual identity – Adrenaline laced activity and mental stamina instils the core values that Red Bull is trying to capture customers through.

This brief analysis demonstrates the importance in understanding how to present values and how to identify the core values of your brand and how you can then associate them. What Red Bull does is what every company does – position themselves in the market, identify the core values of their customers and then represent those values in their marketing strategy. If customers don’t make the associations with your marketing then they won’t identify with your products or services either. These cross associations form the foundation of understanding core values.

With that in mind then we need to analyse how brand marketing can be used to establish brand loyalty and how best to create the correct brand image. Initially a product or service may have in-built associations upon which you can instil other core values. These basic values might be usability, monetary value, status values etc. Upon these a company can then layer additional values through the initial associations – usability = reliability, calmness (no stress association), easiness etc. – Status values – cool, sleek, sexy etc. Layered values then provide a brandable image or projection that can emphasise to your customers what your brand represents.

With these layers of core values companies are able to implement brand marketing strategies that can drastically increase sales, customer loyalty and long term profitability. Remembering these foundations though is integral to long term brand marketing success.

Paul is a blogger based in the UK. He is currently writing about how brand marketing can considerably improve ROI in any business plan; large or small.

Now I’m thinking about the values I’ve been hopefully communicating like authenticity, self-confidence, relationships, and more. What are the basic values that you are conveying in your brand? How are these coming across in what you say and do? What about in your logo?