Hello, again. In the last session, we looked at some core concepts that help us define what is a brand. We stressed the importance of words like promise, agreement, dialogue, consistency. We also argued that brands are a bit like people. So, they build relationships with consumers. They not only need to be built, but also managed through time. But how do you even begin to build a brand? I like working with a simple model called the Brand Asset Valuator. You will be able to see this in more detail in your reading after this video. A proprietary brand of the agency Young & Rubicam and developed by leading professors in Ivy League colleges like Columbia and MIT and Dartmouth, the Brand Asset Valuator has information on over 50,000 brands in over 50 countries with over 70 metrics on each brand. The secret behind the Brand Asset Valuator is that how brands have built is actually pretty simple. They bring together all the concepts that we have spoken about already and as we move forward in the course you will see how every new concept we cover is linked to this model in some way. Building brand starts by recognizing four key pillars that explain a brand and its contribution to business performance. These four pillars are differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. Differentiation is also referred to as energized differentiation. It explains the brand unique meaning and its momentum. It is the soul of the brand, what the French call the Elon deque. It is the reason for being of a brand and acknowledges the ability of a brand to stand apart from its competitors. A brand should be as unique as possible, because brand health is built and maintained by offering a set of differentiating promises to consumers and delivering on these promises consistently. Sometimes we also call energized differentiate in the unique selling proposition. As we move into positioning later on in the course we will understand a little bit more about what the point of difference really is and how it is articulated in branding in a positioning statement. Brands in trouble show little or very low differentiation, but differentiation alone is not enough for the long-term success of a brand. The second pillar is relevance. This pillar explains how the brand fits into people's lives. This is how appropriate it is. It refers to the actual and perceived importance of the brand to a consumer market segment. It helps determine therefore the size of the brand churn and it is incredibly important for marketeers because it is strongly linked to size and to penetration, penetration opportunities. Together, differentiation and relevance, build a brand promise. They are capable of predicting the strength and the vitality of a brand, which basically means its capacity to grow and to keep growing. Brands with clear differentiation and strong relevance are able to sustain premium pricing as well in their categories in all of them, whether it's a basic cream cheese or a fast car and will therefore yield higher margins eventually. Together, they are also a good indicator of a market maturity and category saturation. This is very important in consumer packaged goods for commoditized categories, because it happens when relevance overcomes differentiation. People stop seeing the value of one brand versus another and eventually yield price advantages. The other two pillars in brand building are steam and knowledge. These focus on consumer experience and are critical to assessing whether the brand is truly delivering against its promise. Esteem discloses how well regarded a brand is. It includes the degree of reputation, of respect, of consideration towards consumers. Perceived quality and consumer perceptions of how brand is able to keep its promises are critical aspects of esteem. High esteem translates into forgiveness and into loyalty. Just imagine how important it is. High esteem is always a sign of love from users, what we term loyals or heavy users in consumer package goods. Good brands have high esteem, because it means the brand is loved, even if sometimes the brand is not that well-known. Knowledge, sometimes referred to as familiarity, reveals how well people truly know the brand. This awareness about the brand shows the intimacy that consumers share with this brand. This is fully and directly related to the consumer experience. Esteem and knowledge build what we called brand stature and this is linked to current brand performance, to successes, and to brand's emotional capital. So, in summary, we have explored how to build a brand and have been introduced to this concept of the Brand Asset Valuator and we have learned the four pillars of building a brand; differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. In the next video, we will look at something really fun and interesting. The brands that we love and the brands that we hate. See you then.
