How do you get to be known by your initials? Famous for them? A permanent stamp in history?
JFK and FDR are memorialized this way. To complicate matters, JFK and FDR were worlds apart. The former was a male model, the latter was a world leader, both with earth-moving wives as different as black and white.
Both had brands— three letter brands that were loved in their heyday for what they represented. People knew what they stood for. Soaring figures that, in FDR’s case could change the world, and at JFK’s end, that shifted the perception spectrum to appear he could. One sold substance and hope, the other sold hope alone, but there is always a big market for both.
Think about it. Both men created three-letter brands that camouflaged their weak points and glorified their strengths. FDR was in a wheelchair and JFK was a pain based drug addict (and Marilyn addict). Both captured the imagination of the public and ruled in great measure because they lived up to their brands.
Do you? Does your business? Do you have a name alone? A true brand? Do you use dozens or hundreds of words to tell your story when three letters will do? Consider the following:
1. When it comes to branding, less is more. If you need time to tell your story, forget it. No one has the patience to listen. Look at your story today and cut it in half. And then cut it in half again.
2. Branding has almost nothing to do with logos and color systems. Worrying about this finger painting is the nonsense of business dilettantes. The myth that Nike has endured as a great company because of the swoosh is moronic. It has become an empire because it does a hundred things right from design to R&D to distribution. And because the driven animal who founded the company made sure it always lived up to its brand’s promise. You don’t need a sentence to describe Nike. In this case four letters do it all. Next time someone wants to polish up your logo, ask yourself if your product or service is as good as it can be before you spend a dime on art.
3. Ask yourself if the brand you have still has resonance. Still has meaning? What does Kraft stand for? Macy’s? Buick? Revlon? What does yours stand for?
If it’s time to go back to the drawing board remember the two men and six letters no one will ever forget.
Mark Stevens
CEO
Social poster
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I agree…I can’t tell you how many times I have read web sites that are so cluttered with text and graphics but presented no meaningful unifying brand message that I can walk away with some confidence in what the company does and how well they do it
Great question. Salespeople (me included) often forget what brand they are selling. They have, let’s call it, ‘insight’ to the particular brand, simply because they work there. This ‘insight’ often results with forgotten advantages that other people have to their brand which they intend to sell. For example – I sell advertising space in Croatian No.1 classified ads paper. People are very emotional with my product, and me and my salespeople often forget to use that as a hot button to sell. Instead, we talk to clients about our group, our connection with other European papers – and at the end we make them disappointed because that paper, that brand, is no longer ‘theirs’ – it belongs to some international group. So – let’s always remember what our brand means to so called ‘outsiders’, in the matter of fact – clients.
As a sales rep, branding is absolutely essential in creating a need, or rather a desire/emotion to be associated with that brand. I remember a friend who once received a call from me when I worked for Mercedes-Benz. She told me, “Ooh! That looks SO good on my caller ID.” “I’m going to leave it on there.” And why? Because of the brand. I sold ads in print media and often used Neiman-Marcus as a ‘happy advertiser’ to get new business. It totally worked.
BTW, it would be nice keep your great insights about business. JFK and his personal indiscretions had nothing to do with the fact that his initials represent an airport, many highways, streets, schools and too many other places named after those 3 little letters. I get SO tired of all the political .02/axes to grind of late. Thank you.
Tell it brother: “The myth that Nike has endured as a great company because of the swoosh is moronic. It has become an empire because it does a hundred things right from design to R&D to distribution. And because the driven animal who founded the company made sure it always lived up to its brand’s promise.”
And all the branding in the world hasn’t helped The GAP as they failed to have the right products in the right place for the right price!
Okay, I just wanna say this. I’m doing a report on the assationassion of John F Kennedy and I would like another oppinion. If you can spare the time, please tell me who you think assassinated Kennedy. You don’t have to, it would just be a great help.
Thanks, by the way
And I do apologize for bad spelling =.=
Good job not knowing anything about history by the way. Kennedy is a paragon for executive powers. Do you have less than a high-school education in history or are you just a biased selective memory gilded partisan? Nice grammar and spelling.