Brand Simple: How the Best Brands Keep it Simple and Succeed


What common mistakes do you see again and again when it comes to their current branding routines?

The most common mistakes I see companies make relative to branding are, more or less, aligned with the three most important rules of branding.

First, a company’s promise might be wishy-washy, offer up nothing substantially different than its competitions’, or nothing that is relevant to me, or that it can articulate simply and clearly. For example, it’s hard to determine any good reason I should fly most airlines. Southwest, on the other hand, makes its promise clear, as does the Virgin brand, which leads me to believe it will be a cool experience (which it is).
Second, many companies don’t ensure that its employees understand the promise being made to consumers. They don’t take the time, or make the appropriate effort, to instill the meaning of the brand experience in those who will be delivering it, from the engineers or product developers to the customer service reps, or the store personnel. They don’t get that a brand is a collection of voices and points of touch that must hang together as one. This, of course, leads to the third mistake.
Third, the brand promise isn’t delivered consistently and eloquently from point to point. Consumers may have a wonderful brand experience online, but when they get to the store, or interact with someone on the phone, the brand promise falls apart. The best-in-class class brands ensure that every interaction is part of a whole, that every interaction dependably reinforces what the company wants people to think about its brand.