I was stood outside a local cafe - waiting for my usual soy flattie - this morning when three teenage girls walked in, all wearing tees, one Lacoste, one Champion, and one plain which - as most Kiwi would assume - was AS Colour. First thing I thought was isn’t it funny how the same quality tees can have very different price tags. The brander in me could only stare into the sky, smile and appreciate the genius that is branding.
This is a really good example of how branding is so much more than a logo. Is a little wee crocodile justification for a $130 tee? Especially if you can remove the croc and the value of the tee becomes $20 (bought from AS Colour). Yes! It’s completely worth $130, because that wee little crocodile has been building its brand for decades, it’s been working incredibly hard to strategically position itself, building strong affiliations along the way, providing flawless brand consistency and creating invaluable brand equity.
Does that mean that AS is a cheap brand? Not in the slightest. These clever individuals understand their customer base (wider than Lacoste), they have a great price point but most importantly their brand communicates an ideology that truly connects with their customers and society values. Quality, sustainable and plain. They have also created a movement of creatives using their clothing as canvases. Very smart!
Crafting a great brand is not about how it looks, it about how it portrays its mission, the actions it takes, the behaviours it has, connections it makes and movements it can build.
This is the same for every business, so remember when you are creating a brand think about your market, you customer and your ultimate goal before you start thinking about the colour of your logo.
Brands should be built to live a long fruitful life in an ever-evolving world.
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