Getting the best out of "brand"
Reading up on the interesting perspective in branding that Jonathan Salem Baskin brings to campus as the keynote speaker for Trademarked, our first event of the new quarter, I can’t help but to think about how it applies to the Kellstadt Marketing Group. Now entering its second year of existence, branding the group is something of a priority. KMG’s first year was a runaway success in the eyes of most people I’ve talked to and our goal is to make sure that as many people involved in marketing at Kellstadt (students, alums, faculty, etc.) feel that this group brings something valuable to campus every time we come together.
As a marketing student, of course, success in the above endeavor appears to be a branding concern. Simple. Get the Kellstadt Marketing Group name and logo out in front of as many interested parties as possible, tout your product, say a few magic words and – voila – you now have scores of members, the ability to put on bigger and better events, diversify your offerings and grow even bigger. Easy, right? At least that is kind of the layman’s view of marketing. And while we in the industry might know better, it is a perspective we help perpetuate by buying into the hype. It is this thinking that Baskin seeks to expose in his book. "Branding," the buzzword marketers call upon when they need to take a product from drab to fab, isn’t that simple any longer – if, in fact it ever was.
One of the most salient (salientest?) concepts prompted by Baskin’s book, “Branding Only Works on Cattle” (Amazon) is that consumers require far more from a brand in order to be motivated to action. Whereas once upon a time you might have been able to sell your brand of sugary corn flakes with only the help of an orange tiger and catchy tag line, today’s consumer requires a product to say “They’rrrre great sources of your daily fiber!” than, simply, “They’rrrre Great!” People require a greater level of detail and a clearly defined value proposition to get them to splurge on anything more than awareness.
There is an attitude baked into marketing culture that awareness equals success. An industry shorthand for advertising's ability to influence perception that has perhaps lost some of its original nuance with age. Baskin uses Burger King’s “King” ads as examples of a campaign that undoubtedly boosted awareness (like the creepy “King” character or not), but likely didn’t really get anyone to go out of their way for a Whopper when craving a fast food burger no matter how hip/edgy/odd you thought the creative was.
Fact is, with a group like ours “branding” has much less to do with awareness and much more to do with engagement. The Kellstadt Marketing Group brand will be successful if the quality of our experience is superlative for each and every member. We are successful if we can deliver on our group’s promises, providing valuable resources for Kellstadt marketing students and alumni, growing the opportunities for our members to interact in more meaningful, marketing-centric ways and contributing to more inclusive culture of marketing at DePaul.
These points hit at the core of Baskin’s thesis on the “futility” of branding in today’s world. Awareness is no longer enough in a market of unlimited choice. Your branding efforts have to cut to the quick and tell people exactly how your product or offering will benefit their lives. For a growing group like KMG, it means that our resources need to be spent reinforcing our value proposition, ensuring members come away with the feeling that their involvement with the group was a valuable use of their time. The metric that measures that will ultimately be the best judge of our brand’s success.
