At Denvir, we have a passion for brands. We love everything about them; from the process of creating brands, to the feeling they give us as consumers. The latter is something almost everyone can relate to. If we asked you to imagine slowly opening a beautifully simple, matte white box, to unveil a clean, shiny, black glass surface, you would probably dig up the memory of unboxing an Apple product. You may also recall the feeling it gave you. That, is why we choose to do what we do; to create feelings.

The ultimate question in marketing has always been, “how do I get people to buy my product?”. But is this still the right question to be asking? We now live in an age where major breakthroughs are fewer and further between, and for some products the opportunity for improvement is close to nil. Think about this. ‘Company A’ and ‘Company B’ are trying to fulfil the needs of the same consumer, in a market with limited opportunity for product improvement; it stands to reason that their products will be nearly identical. Retailers should be packed with perplexed looking statues, staring at products from open to close, frozen, trying to make impossible decisions. Whatever they decide, consumers essentially buy the same product. So, how do they decide?… Brands.

The new ultimate question in marketing is “how do I get people to buy my brand?”. Arguably, this has always been the question, and only the answer has changed. As the tangible differences between many ‘products’ plateaued, consumers looked to intangible benefits offered by ‘brands’; shifting from rational to more emotional purchasing behaviour. Emotion (in some form) is now the key, and developing a relationship with consumers that goes beyond simply ‘fulfilling a need’, has become the difference between a good brand, and a great brand.

It’s a little embarrassing to realise, having studied and practiced marketing for many years, that the key to a building a great brand was given to us in the first book ever mass-printed.

“In the beginning, there was the Word…and the Word was God.” John 1:1

While clearly out of context, building great brands does begin with one word. That word should be at the core of every message to your consumers, it is omnificent, it is the god of your brand. When we build brands at Denvir the first thing we do is find ‘the Word’; here’s why.

It’s all well and good saying “go forth and develop an emotional connection with your consumers based on intangible benefits”, but that’s a pretty ‘open’ brief. There are a lot of ways you could tackle this, and while there is no right answer, it is important to have one answer; a single core principle that your brand is centred upon. Coca-Cola is ‘happiness’, Volvo is ‘safe’, APH Hydraulic Engineering is ‘trust’. Without that one word, brand messages become confused, and we all know what happens in relationships with poor communication. The emotional connection is lost, and you get dumped for someone who might not be better than you, but doesn’t send out mixed signals.

Don’t let smooth-talking Fabio steal your consumers.
Tell them how you feel, and call us if you need a wingman.