There are many types of strategies, but none of them can be made of smoke. Strategy is the element that has to anchor with both legs in reality. After all – what is the most dangereous thing in business? – The answer is simple: an ILLUSION. At the very moment when management starts distorting the picture about what’s actually going on, the problems are not far away.

It’s not that hard to imagine a new entrepeneur sitting by the table with sheet of paper and books from Prof.Aaker or Prof.Porter, trying to come up with something that would sound like a strategy. Unfortunately this process is fruitless. And fruitless because it has no methodology. One can not imagine strategy – it must be planned following rationality and sequence. Not jumping from A to Z, but moving from A to B to C etc.

The best solution is the three rings model. The first ring is “what we have”, second – “what people want”, and third – “what competition does not offer”.

Naturally, there is no sense in offering what we ain’t got because people will soon find out we’re lying. Similarly, there is no sense in offering people what they do not want, because they will simply not buy it. The third ring is important because it includes the research of competitors. After all, the need to outrun the competition is why to think about strategy. If there is no competition, you’ve got monopoly, but monopoly means that the thing you’re offering can’t be bought anywhere else and there is no low-price alternative. People who really want it, will be ready to pay any price to get it. High margins are what brings profits. Low prices are good for turnover but bad for moneymaking. So, it’s important to be unique, it’s the way to make your profits bigger.

It is important to understand that strategy is not something theoretical and dry – strategy is the most practical thing on earth, besides, it is strategy with which the branding begins.

Factor for success is brand – the way company introduces itself, what perception does it create in the minds of people. But brand ain’t no façade builder only. Brand works with company as with the complex organism, because it is not possible to position yourself in some way just externally if this position is not supported by internal processes – attitude and thinking of employees that actually create and invent the products and services the organization will deliver to customers. For the external position to be supported by internal actions, brand must interweave everything the company is and does by one vibration, one concept, one notion. It means that everything gets tuned to one wavelength – starting with the minds of employees and ending with logo and graphic identity.

Strategy on paper is only worth how much that paper is worth. Strategy that is not alive, that is not practiced is just an empty sound. Theory is grey and just real life is flourishing green. And there is no other force that can bring strategy to life in everything the organization is, than a branding program.

Once the strategy is defined, branding brings it to life. Reflects it in products, employee thinking patterns, packaging, ads, office design, logo, etc, etc, etc. In EVERYTHING you are and in everything that tells people about you.

To make real change happen, you have to change what’s in people minds. And remember that strategy is that what’s actually going on every day. If you have one thing written on the paper, but there is something else happening each day – your actual strategy is what’s really happening.

All quiet.

Nobody knows.

Why nobody knows?

Because no one has told.

Carrots – like any other product – is a brand. Tomatoes is a brand. Pears is a brand. Grapes is a brand. Borjomi mineral water is a brand.

A brand is an idea in the minds of poeple about what a certain thing is. And brand is not limited to the business world only – a brand actually has nothing to do with business at all. Anything we have perceptions about by a definition has a brand. Business is just using brands in its interests — brands help communicate benefits and tie them with specific product name, thus creating brand in the minds of the people.

The ultimate practical side about brands is that these ideas we have about things (a.k.a. brands) determine our actions, thoughts and attitudes – and that’s why there is sense to invest in creating ideas about things. If we want to sell more carrots, we must care what people think of carrots. We must manage how carrots are perceived – what ideas spring to mind when carrots are mentioned.

If we want to sell more, we must create a selling brand for carrots in the minds of people.

Brand is just an idea in the minds of people – but what can be more powerful than evocative and motivating idea that makes us stand up and react?

Brands create reality because they have an impact on how we think, feel and act. What else does create reality than our actions, thoughts and atitudes?

This is the real value of brands.

The interesting thing is that the same offer is reflected in Obama campaign logo.

The circular form of the logo has a natural connection with the first letter of Obamas name. So it’s clear at once to whom this logo belongs. Of course, to Obama.

Inside the circle we see symbolic picture: white-and-red stripes from USA flag associatively become “the land of America” above which a new day rises. Of course it’s a day of Obama. The same similarity between Obamas “O” and the shape of the Sun identifies Obama with the sun circle, and makes him look like a Sun god, the life source of all living – after all, that is he, who is rising.

This logo incorporates offer of Obamas campaign much better than it would be able to  using just words. In addition visually it is more powerful because surpasses rationally logical awareness, and directly talks to emotional and visual subconsciousness.

The logo of Obama, probably, is the most functional element of campaign, because it is possible to easily multiply, publish, exhibit, use as a badge etc. And of course – it contains the main message of the campaign “a new day over America”. Every time a person looks at this logo, he remembers the Obama story, his offer and program on his way to presidency.

The meaning of logo is seldom payed the necessary attention, because people simply just do not know what logo is needed for. It is perceived as a stereotype, a cliche, as a splash on a paper: “we need a logo, get some artist!” – That’s defenetely not he way how Obamas meaningful central symbol of the campaign came into being.

The meaning of a logo may be gigantic, because the person on a street will never see your factory or company as a whole. He will never know much about you. He has no time and no interest. Following: he will base his judgement on really tiny amount of information. And logo in this game is your symbol. It does symbolize who you are. A person sees a logo and concludes: this company is boring, careless and incomprehensible.

We live in times when carelessness in logo design is not a solution any more. Not that we could not live without them, but if you refuse one of the main supports for your sky-scraper, with time an ugly gap may appear in one of the walls.

Of course, logo alone is no relyable anchorage, it simply has to be as an expression of the overall positioning strategy. Is it clear exactly who you are, what uniqueness and value you offer? Do you know what people should think of you? – Well, expres it through your logo!

There is no doubt that any campaign consists of tenths of elements – pr, advertising, digital, atl, btl, fubar and snafu etc. But what sense there is to swing with hammers, if you do not knock the nail? And even if you do knock the nail – is that the place you really needed it to achieve your goal better and faster? What sense of all these tenths of instruments, if they do not deliver the message to the human consciousness – that Obama is the Sun king, that he is the one who is rising, that he brings a new day for America, a new start, new beginning?

Branding is the firm foundation of all things, because branding crystalizes central positioning strategy and controls implementation.

A person is socialized by family, society, media and peers – and social order emerges. Traditions. Norms. Habits. Models for common action. Standards and stereotypes.

But there always is an opportunity for alternative.

Do you know that in 1900. a woman could not smoke, because tobacco was considered for men exclusively. And only the wish of tobaco industry to sell cigarettes to women founded the campaign „for emancipation“ under the covername „light a torch of freedom“. The main event of the campaign was women going out on the street with cigarettes in their hands.

Thank you for smoking.

What is advertising? What is PR? – Nothing much than injection of ideas in the minds of people. Change and creation of perceptions, a.k.a. brands.

Reality does not exist anywhere else than in the minds of people. What we know and think – that is real for us, and according to that we act. And our actions, in turn, create and influence the material world we live in.

This is the value of brands – they actually create the world we live in.

When talking about nations, important is the ability to mobilize the nation. A state that nobody stands up for (does not buy what it offers) is having hard time. A strong and successful country needs nation that is proud for itself and its land, that willingly pays taxes and fights for fatherland and its well being. For a country unity is important, because if there is no unity, what are people doing together in one country?

But the most important thing for nation is idea.

Idea, of course, is something ethereal, valueless, made of air and nothingness. Everybody has ideas and ideas does not cost anything.

Such a view is dramatical mistake because there is nothing in this world stronger than idea. Ideas underlie all actions. What else motivates, if not idea? What makes people go to war if not ideas? Even a nuclear bomb is of zero value, if nobody has the idea to blow it up.

For a country there is nothing more important than idea around which to unite a nation. If there is no idea — there is no “axis mundi”, no center of gravity, nothing. Just chaos.

A nation is a brand in the minds of people. And it is not so important what guests (tourists and investors) think. The most important is what people who live in a country think of it in the context of themselves. Collective identity is what matters the most, as well as vision and idea “who we are, where we go, what unites us as a nation in this country”.

If there will not be a strong idea — there will be no strong attitude or action as well. For the idea to be strong it can not be unclear, doubtful, complicated, fake or weak. It has to be simple, understandable, meaningful and focused.

When idea is defined it must be communicated. And in the case of nation the first advertising is symbolics.

When Vladimir Putin reanimated hymn of USSR back in Y2K and rewrote its words in 2001. to better fit his idea of Russia, he very well knew that actually he is BRANDING the country — and not so much for tourists and investors to come, but for everyday Russians. The main aim was to CONSOLIDATE, to GIVE HOPE, to DIRECT, to MAKE PEOPLE FEEL PROUD.

Today Russia’s idea about itself is “EMPIRE!” — it is “Brand Russia” that is being believed by people both in Russia and outside it. Both melody and text of anthem supports this idea.

Both business and nation consists of people. And if we want to create something from nation or from busienss organization, we have to program people, persuade them.

Russias anthem creates pride. It communicates basic values literally putting them in ones mouth already chewed. Sacred, beloved, great, glorious, ancestor-given, forever. There is definitely a lot to be proud of.

And people listen, believe, feel strong in their unity. And gladly choose to belong this nation because this identity is filled with pride and might. And powerful brand is born. Imperial Russia.

Unfortunately it must be done as soon as possible and we have no time to think about the brand for this company. None the less we must come up with a good name for it.

Ok. Let‘s start once again from the basics.

Brand – it is an idea in the minds of people. To buy they need reason why. They need an idea why should they buy. An impression about product or company will determine attitudes and actions towards it. Impressions arise anyway – manage you them or not. And better it be that you manage because otherwise there will be nothing but chaos.

Consider this. Does any generals take decisions by saying: war must begin! We have no time to think about strategy or find an effective solution how to win this war. Faster! Send all units ahead! Let us rely on good luck!

Of course, such things happen. But good luck happens seldom.

Branding is nothing supercomplicated that takes years or many months to complete. Good branding does not require piles of paper and complicated schemes or tables. Good braning must be really simple.

Why?

Because brand is an idea in the minds of people and if this idea will be too complicated, unfocused or unclear – nobody will be able to understand and remember it.

What idea do you get form this picture?

I remember a businessman asking to come up with a name for his company. He wanted to export wooden parts. On the last day before the official registration of the firm I remember us driving around in his car trying to figure out the unique offer of value that he could give to clients. We decided that what matters is „precision“ and „stability“. And the name „Presta Wood“ was born as a combination from pre-cision and sta-bility. For message to be decoded we added a tagline. „Presta“ sounds much like Italian „presto!“ what means „fast!“ – and we liked the connotation that company reacts quickly.

And this was all the branding needed. We went through with no focus-groups, no sensless prezentations, no board meetings, no public discussions or any other dull work that can take months and months to complete. Everything happened fast, simply and effective.

Good branding – it means to figure out what idea (brand) you want to emerge in the minds of people and how can you create that idea by using all the instruments that will testify about the product, organization etc.

Good branding needs different, simple and focused idea that makes your competitors seem like out-of-date, and appeals to the needs, problems, unsatisfactions of customers. Of course it all must be believeable – it must be rooted in truth, in something you really can deliver. And that’s it. Nothing much more.

Even if all you want is the company to look positive, responsive and customer oriented – this already is a brand platform. But to make this brand live you both be and demonstrate (by all means accessible) that you truly are positive, responsive and customer oriented.

When in creating something – be it product or company – is invested a lot of work, years of life, and a lot of monet wouldn‘t it be wise to invest some more time, money and attention to figure out how exactly this thing should be positioned to achieve your business goals more efficiently.

What sense was to produce all those tanks and rockets if we do not have a good idea – a good strategy – how to act to win the war.

Who does not know such brands as Reebuck and Nicke. The best of all copycats probably is the toothpaste Goldage.

Want some more? Try Harry Potter and his follower Tanya Grotter (the girl is from Russia).

Thieves from the first look, of course.

But let us go deeper.

Any word in the beginning is without a meaning. Just by gaining experience about the thing word is pointing to, an impression and idea about what it is (a.k.a. brand) starts to form in the minds of people.

Until we do not know how papaya tastes like this word is meaningless. Only after tasting papaya we get the idea about what papaya is.

Of course not only tasting is the way how to gain experience. Someone may tell us that „papaya – it is like the sweetest melon, just much tastier“. And that would mean something to you, wouldn’t it?

The same way name Harry Potter was without meaning in the very beginning. Only by accumulating experience – by hearing comments, reading about it in newspapers, seeing news about it on TV and after all – reading a book itself – idea about what Harry Potter is starts to form. And brand „Harry Potter“ emerges.

Tanya Grotter obviously is using similar phonetics to exploit the popularity of Harry to promote herself. Girl-wizard Masha-Kasha would be absolutely anonimous instead of Ms.Grotter who has much stronger connection to the world of magic.

None the less there are two options here. The first one is that people just mistake Tanya for Harry because they just do not know exactly which one of them is the real thing, or cannot afford it, or just makes a mistake by not noticing the tiny differences.

Try comparing Colgate and Goldage toothpastes.

The other option is when the follower wants just to borrow a little meaning from already existing name with influence.

By the way, this is what the all-famous Jason Bourne does.

In contrast to Harry and Tanya it is not likely that James (1952) has an intention to sue against Jason (1980). Though there is no doubt that popularity of Mr.Bond has much helped Mr.Bourne to gain momentum.

Even on the poster Jason boasts his supremacy above the one on whose shoulders he stands. At the same time Goldage does not prides itself over Colgate (if still exists at all).

Conclusions? Obviously there is a difference between stealing and borrowing forever. The key is not only the mastery of making a copy smart, but being unique enough in addition. Probably the formula „it is just like (…) but much better, tastier, interesting“ is in place here.

Brand creation and advertising basically is attachment of meaning. If something is meaningless – it is un-known, un-wanted and un-desired. Not a good position in a market. Branding and advertising is about selling, but to sell – you must appeal to peoples needs, demonstrate that your product means something important to them.

And nobody can create meaning form anything – cration of meaning is like cooking. You always use something to create something new.

What there is to talk about water? Water is water everywhere. Even in France.

But not really. It turns out that water in France is something special – at least more special than anywhere else. If there were no difference, would it make sense to transport water through all the Europe and sell it at a price four times higher than any other water on the shelf?

But Evian is being transported throughout all the Europe and people are gladly paying higher price.

And why?

Because it is Evian. And there is no magic.

Evian has created a legend out of itself. They say it even has a healing qualitties. That it has been discovered already back in 1789. That each drop of Evian filters through the Alps befor it gets into the bottle. Besides – the idea of Alps is reflected in the logo of Evian that is on each and every bottle.

Each product must clearly define and persuasively tell people what value it offers and how it is unique. Evian does it brilliantly. For example: Camerone Diaz washes her face only in Evian. So.. it makes Evian the source of beauty.

Is Evian the source of beauty?

Who knows? But people believe it, by it and drink it. Somebody makes money.

Well, may be it does not matter, but try reading word „Evian“ from the other end.

Which fishing lines are the most demanded ones?

Those which have fish on their packaging.

PowerPro is well marketed american line. The name itself makes you think about strength and endurance (and that is what matters because no one wants to see his big fish go loose). Instantly you see the advantages: rounder, smoother, thinner. But the most powerful thing of all is brand promise expressed visually. It makes us think that this fishing line almost comes packed with the fish.

People do not buy a fishing line. Actually they even do not need one. People buy a promise that they will succeed in catching a fish.

Will people succeed because of the line – it does not matter. What matters is that people believe and feel inspired. What matters is that they already have bought this line not other. And besides – inspired optimists will definetely catch more fish than sad pessimists.

Of course it is important what experts say. They are the guys that do nothing else than go fishing all the time and then write in a fisherman’s guide „yeah, that line rules“.

But never the less – there are good lines that are sold poorly and some not so good that are sold much better because their packaging creates beter impresion, and forms more powerful brand in the minds of the customers.

Well, let me tell you.

Wait, no. You tell me. Tell me about the suffering of the Christ.

How many words and minutes will you need until I start weeping?

But may be there is no need for telling. May be it is enough to show the picture?

Dont tell about the suffering of the Christ — just show the picture. It is fast, simple and effective. 

Logo — it is a picture. And as a picture it is worth 1000 words. A good logo has to unveil the unique personality, show the idea, value and offering behind the company or product.

Logo is the most primary instrument of communication you have got, and together with the name of the company it is the first face of product or company for the prospect.