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Guest post by: Andy Marken Become an Author

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Emotional Branding: How Successful Brands Gain the Irrational Edge by Daryl Travis, Prima Publishing, Roseville, CA, 306 pages, September 2000

Reviewed by G.A. “Andy” Marken, Marken Communications Inc., andy@markencom.com


With cover articles in BusinessWeek, Fortune and Forbes it is only natural that almost every company (especially marketing) has taken up the task of developing an organization-wide branding program and strategy. But before you get drafted into the company positioning team you may want to read Travis’ Emotional Branding since this is one of the few branding books we’ve read recently that focuses on what public relations people focus on…individual publics.

When we read the book we were reminded of an article that appeared in the New York Times early last year that summarized the strengths and weaknesses of the on-line holiday selling season. One person who had done most of his holiday shopping on-line remarked how fast and easy the experience had been. But he added that the Christmas shopping on-line hadn’t been as fulfilling as shopping in the malls and stores.

This shopper’s experience doesn’t account for the reason so many dotcoms failed but the lack of feeling fulfilled or connection with the “store” or product does highlight how little attention is placed on the actual customer and his or her experience. It also highlights why public relations has to be very pro-active in helping their companies understand where branding begins and ends – with the customer.

With more than 3,000 new products introduced in supermarkets alone each year, public relations and marketing have an overwhelming task of helping the company and its products in breaking through the clutter.

Typically branding starts with engineers designing a product with features and capabilities better than the competition. Marketing then “positions” the product in the specific product category against competitive offerings. The problem is that neither of the groups has done anything to create an emotional bond between the customer and the company and its products.

By citing a number of case studies throughout the book, Travis does an excellent job of showing us that the "touchy-feely” of emotional branding isn’t all fluff. There really is a lot of substance in Emotional Branding. As Peter Drucker once noted the focus on any company should not be getting new customers but keeping customers. He reasoned that it was far less expensive to keep a customer than get a new one and that existing customers were more effective in attracting new customers than the tens-of-millions spent on marketing.

Allow us to give you a personal example of emotional branding. On a business level we dislike Sony because they compete with one of our major clients. On a personal level we have purchased five Vaio computers – notebooks and desktops – in the past two years and when we’re ready to upgrade they are the first systems we’ll consider.

Why?

When we wanted a new notebook we went to one of the local “big discount” computer stores in the area. The service sucked and after returning for the second time for “missing” components we abandon the store and called Sony customer service. We explained what was missing from the recently purchased system – OS and applications software CD and operations manual.

Two days later they arrived at the office. A week later we discovered that the system’s second battery was also “missing.” Again we called and after a minor wait talked to a real human being who assured us they would ship out the battery immediately. Yeah, sure…we’ve all heard that one. Two days later the battery arrived.

Several weeks ago we purchased a desktop Vaio for a relative and sent in the rebate form for $100. A few days ago we received an email saying they had received our rebate request and that the check would arrive shortly.

We’re certain it will.

Logically I still don’t like the company. But emotionally I feel good about the brand.

Forget about customer relations management (CRM), web site experiences, market segmentation and the hyperbola about the company being customer-led.

Public relations people – perhaps more than any other members of the management team – have to constantly remind the CEO, head of engineering and director of marketing that it is the customer that is the center of the firm’s universe. Emotional Branding provides a refreshing set of reminders that one of our most important tasks is to constantly explain the customer to the company and the company to the customer.

In clear, practical terms, Emotional Branding will help you do a better job of ensuring customers feel good about your company…and its products. That’s where the branding begins. That’s where it ends.

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