StrateScapes -The Art of Brand Translation


		Excerpted from StrateScapes - Volume 6, Number 3

The Art of Brand Translation
Why there’s more to it than slapping on a logo … or a coat of Whispering Pine paint..

The drama of watching homeowners gasp at their newly painted countertops or moss-covered walls has, no doubt, helped propel The Learning Channel’s interior design show, Trading Spaces, into mainstream popularity.

Unfortunately, the participating homeowners often pay the price for the show’s high Nielson ratings, as the designers tend to inject their own taste rather than redecorate a room in a way that complements the overall style of a house.

Now what, you’re wondering, do paint color and interior design choices have to do with marketing and your brand? Just as your home gives off a feeling about who you are — warm and friendly, sophisticated and worldly, or fun and informal — so does your company’s brand. Which means whatever message you’re sending to motivate customers to take action, that message has to support your brand as well. Deviating from that will only compromise the strength of the brand you’ve worked so hard to build.

Wachovia: Uncommon Marketing

Wachovia Bank’s “uncommon wisdom” brand was rolled out to help customers see that the bank’s vast resources and experiences would help them achieve their financial goals. The CCG team worked closely with Wachovia’s brand development team to create in-branch and sales collateral, as well as direct mail campaigns that took this brand ideal and made it more tangible to customers.

“There are case studies that, over time, can show a correlation between brand strategy and earnings per share and market cap.”

– Wachovia Chief Marketing Officer Jim Garity,
quoted in American Banker

Bring texture to cross-sell programs
Both Commerce Bank and Wachovia Bank (see inset right) recently rolled out advertising strategies that focused on their brands rather than product offerings. For Commerce, the brand-focused marketing strategy hoisted its bottom line — the average balance for new accounts increased nearly 50 percent per household.

At the center of this strategy was a new slogan, “ask listen solve,” which Commerce felt communicated the bank’s unique solutions and its commitment to helping customers with their individual financial needs. So, in rolling out a new direct marketing campaign for the bank, CCG translated this sentiment into a cross-sell program that used a combination of individual customer survey results and demographic and account data to recommend targeted products.

“In essence, we translated the brand into a personal, targeted communications strategy,” said Greg Sultan, VP national marketing manager. “‘Ask listen solve’ drove how we chose to analyze data, segment customers and deliver product offers. It turned out to be much bigger than messaging and imagery.”

A&P: Fresh Communications

A&P’s fresh obsession goes far beyond its produce and meatofferings — it now transcends the delivery of its loyalty program customer communications. CCG developed a CRM strategy that includes a quarterly food and lifestyle magazine, creating aspirational momentum within its program tiers, as well as providing fresh ideas and service. Also part of the plan is a monthly self-mailer that complements the program’s flagship publication with quick and unique recipe ideas.

Add an element of light to loyalty programs
A well-translated brand may be even more critical when it comes to building loyalty in the retail industry. After all, brand awareness and recognition are part of the reason why customers keep coming back to a particular store.

A&P Canada had already put a considerable amount of work into developing its brand image as the “fresh obsessed” food leader. So when CCG stepped in to run the grocer’s loyalty program, every decision made and every deliverable created reflected the brand’s personality.

“There’s always concern when a new agency comes in to roll out a large CRM program. But since we make brand translation such a big part of the overall marketing strategy and plan, our communications are always in sync with a client’s brand, and, oftentimes, we further strengthen it,” says Sallie Burnett, CCG VP national sales. “In this case, A&P’s ‘fresh obsessed’ brand not only carried through into every headline we created and every produce image we selected, but it also drove our entire approach to building customer loyalty.”

“By initiating a lot of customer touches using seasonal, timely concepts, we reflected the personality of the brand simply in the way that we communicated with the customer — delivering fresh ideas and fresh service,” she explained.

Avoid a complete renovation
In the rush to get a higher response with your next marketing initiative, don’t forget that it’s one more opportunity to leverage and reinforce your brand’s strength. When embarking on this “redesign,” be sure to get experts with a proven track record for getting results as well as the desire to become immersed with your company’s brand.

Just as you probably wouldn’t choose to have live moss stapled to your walls, you also don’t want your most personal communi-cations to sound like they’re coming from someone else.

How CCG translates brands for direct marketing

Step 1: Communications Audit
Gather copies of print ads, collateral, direct mail campaigns, newspaper inserts, radio/TV ad reels or transcripts to get a sense of tone, messaging and personality of the brand.

Step 2: Internal Brand Worksheets
Quiz representatives from many facets of a client’s company using a Brand Personality Quiz to discover how the people nearest the brand actually view it. Send a Brand Checklist to gather requirements, such as graphics standards, fonts, logos and corporate style sheets.

Step 3: External Brand Insight
Examine any detailed demographic or focus group information available to get a sense of how customers view a brand.

Step 4: Competitive Analysis
Get to know competitors through a Market Review — an exercise that helps identify brand strengths.

Step 5: 360º Brand View
Distill findings into a document that serves as a guide for positioning a brand. This Brand Map allows us to look at the possibilities with a brand and how to leverage it to connect
with customers in a stronger way.

To find out how we can support your brand as well as your profits, contact Senior Vice President/Strategic Consulting Lane Ware at 800.525.0313 x106, or send an e-mail to lane@customer.com. from someone else.

STRATESCAPES and STRATESCAPES SUPPLEMENTS are published by Customer Communications Group, Inc., a full-service agency specializing in relationship marketing and customer communications. Our comprehensive, turnkey services include data analysis, customer segmentation, strategic consulting, account management, creative execution, print production and multimedia solutions.