Brand Potential
At its core, Brand Liberation is a “from” → “to” process.
Liberating the brand from a key constriction (see Proof’s Liberation Series Part 1) and moving it to a new place that’s ripe with potential. A great Liberation Idea is critical in this journey. After all, The Liberation Idea is meant to serve as a synthesis of the brand strategy and a catalyst for creative exploration.
Before a Liberation Idea can be developed, however, the brand’s new potential must be defined. Brand potential is not your stock price. It’s not your ad campaign. It’s not your digital assets.
It’s not your followers. It’s not your M&A candidates in waiting. It may involve all these things. But it’s certainly not defined by any one of them. So what is brand potential? Why is it important? Where can it be found? And how is it changing today?
First, a fun story.
Problem.
A “big” problem.
In the early 1970s the average fuel economy for American cars was 11 mpg! (Today it’s approaching 30 mpg, and there’s legislation on the table to increase the standard to 46 mpg by 2026.)
At the time, bell bottoms and mustaches were big, cars were enormous, gas was “cheap” and all was good in the world. Until it wasn’t.
In came the oil embargo, and gas prices leaped nearly 400% overnight. Talk about constriction.
Unrest at gas pumps and kitchen tables ensued. Suddenly...smaller, more economical, more reliable cars became the rage. Not to mention, driving a “boat” became something that hopelessly out-of-touch parents did, not their kids. GM, Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler all scrambled wildly to catch up.
Potential
Cut to a conference room in Tokyo years earlier and a group of executives poring over prescient plans for the coming launch of a new car that would take the world by storm.
Enter the mighty Honda Civic.
1400 lbs., a 1.2 liter engine, and a cultural buzz that rivaled the Bee Gees.
Oh, and fuel economy of 52 mpg.
Putting Potential at the Core
For Honda, the Civic was just another in a long line of inspired brand potential moments. And not a shabby one at that — more than 30 million Civics have been sold since launch.
What started as a motorized bicycle company in the 1940s, ultimately became a high velocity engineering juggernaut. Across the decades, Honda climbed to new heights thanks to constant innovation and a relentless pursuit of brand potential.
Not all new forays from Honda worked. But many did. And the ones that hit, hit big.
A Brand New Day for Brand Potential
Fast forward. What do we learn from Honda?
Focus, commitment, passion, dreaming — as Honda says — are all critically important. In fact, dreaming and imagining what a brand can be and where it can go next are jet fuel for every successful brand exploration.
(hold that thought)
Honda’s story, however, is an engineering tale at its core. While product evolution remains one powerful path for brands today, the truth is it’s just one of many. The range of potential for brands today is wider and more dimensional than ever before thanks to technology, new partnerships and an ever-growing list of the cultural, social and operational expectations consumers have for modern brands.
Where Does Brand Potential Live Today?
In many more areas than just product evolution/new product introduction. We went looking recently and our suspicions were confirmed.
The Drivers of Brand Potential Have Exploded
Proof conducted a study among 500 U.S. consumers in Q1 2023 and asked what is most important for brands to aim for today. Also known to us marketers as...where do you want a brand to show effort/potential right now?
The following rose to the top.
What do you expect brands to strive to do today?
- Continually evolve products with a goal of making the best possible 91%
- Create breakthroughs via new technologies, products and ways of doing things90%
- Go above and beyond to provide fast, respectful and helpful customer service 93%
- Demonstrate it’s a diverse company that understands diverse people and issues 91%
- Treat employees extremely well and always do right by them 95%
- Make products accessible and affordable to as many people as possible 92%
- Be a visionary, have an inspired view about the future and what’s coming next 93%
- Give back to communities and causes 90%
- Conduct business with the highest levels of ethical, moral and legal integrity 93%
The range is powerful, the consistently high values very telling.
Sure, consumers want brands to provide great products and services today. But they also want brands to be “good people” today.
It’s true across the board. And younger consumers (25 – 34 years old) rated giving back, treating employees well and introducing new technologies at even higher levels.
The Bigger Picture
This research, and our own experiences, point to enormous opportunities for brands to consider the bigger picture and their macro roles today. Opportunities to combine a social, technological and creative intelligence as one. Then, differentiate around strengths and/or act to improve upon weaknesses. This bigger picture involves thinking about the brand as:
Enlightened Citizen: does the right things, shows empathy, unifies, gives back
Humble Visionary: anticipates, solves, innovates, inspires
Trusted Performer: consistently delivers, does a bit more, expects a bit less
Responsible Business: acts with integrity, takes care of employees, helps take care of the world
Inspiring Entertainer: surprises, engages, usually makes it worth the few seconds to check in
Unleashing Brand Potential
This brings us to how brands are actually unleashing brand potential today. There’s no single recipe or silver bullet. No “right answer.” Each case is organic to the brand and the business dynamics at hand. There are, however, some powerful themes that begin to emerge, ones that we like to use in our workshops at Proof. We’ll highlight a few of them.
Opportunity Areas for Brands
1
Expand Your Mission
Reframe and elevate your brand’s purpose, the benefits you deliver and the business you’re in.
Airbnb decided it wasn’t simply in the hotel alternative business, it’s a catalyst for providing local experiences and fostering local belonging. This unlocked an entirely new business model for the company. Uber isn’t just a rideshare service, it’s an immediacy platform, able to bridge gaps of all kinds right away. Proof client Travel Texas saw an opportunity to become a travel curator not just another destination marketer. This put a new emphasis on illuminating bespoke Texas journeys and developing utilities like Trip Builders and Dynamic Maps that would help travelers experience their own unique trips to Texas. Open AI currently describes its mission as “creating safe artificial intelligence that benefits all of humanity.” All eyes are on how this mission will evolve and expand.
2
Create “Natural” Extensions
Leverage core competencies and brand equities into adjacent territories.
If anyone has a reputation for a better mousetrap it’s Dyson. Better hair dryer? It’s about time. Red Bull energy brought to racing? To extreme sports? To a clothing line? More please. Proof helped Stubb’s better connect with its “Flavor Maven” target and guided a whole new range of flavor and form extensions as a result. Dove has always been strong enough for strong women. And now it’s for men too. Cooking utensils from the Food Network? No brainer.
3
Inspire and Grow Your Community
Make your like-minded mission infectious and irresistible.
For CES, we wanted to inspire Progress Seekers everywhere to experience the 2023 CES show live. Our Be In It platform celebrated their desire to not just gadget gaze, but to be immersed in the full impact of technology today from mobility to sustainability to health and beyond. The Lululemon community connects, grows and sweats together and shares the brand’s core values. ESPN has re-inspired sports fans for years with its fun and over-the-top “we get you” passion for sports. The bulk of WhatsApp’s latest product development work is focused on new utilities for communities. Prime states a mission to continually reward its community in new ways. Emirates focuses on providing “incredible journeys” for its business travelers.
4
Break the Rules
Rebel, create opportunity via departures in POVs, product forms, distribution, pricing and more.
Rihanna developed a product line that broke traditions and finally celebrated the beauty of diversity with Fenty. She also sought female ownership not just partnership of a major brand creation. Bravo. Chobani decided yogurt didn’t have to be expensive, filled with artificial ingredients and sold only through supermarkets any more, leading to the total revitalization of the languishing Greek yogurt segment. Zip Car was the first to provide a solution if you only needed a car for just a few hours. Dollar Shave Club said consumers don’t need to pay $20 for three razors. Unilever did need to pay Dollar Shave $1 billion, however, for a company that was worth just $5 million three years prior. Finally, Samara Joy has recently reminded us of something essential — sometimes the power of revisiting, reimagining and re-energizing established “rules” and genres can lead to the biggest rule breaks of all.
5
Find Your Give
Identify the true footprint you want to leave and determine its role in how you go to market.
There’s no shortage of brands today involved in philanthropy and giving back. And that’s a great thing. We often say this: 1) make sure you find the cause that you’re most passionate about as a brand and can also deliver upon, and 2) decide if your efforts are integrally and authentically tied to your business model — Bombas, Tom’s — or better met by a foundation, program or activation. Proof helped 8,000 local Subway restaurants across 49 markets donate to 30+ local non-profit organizations, including local food banks and local Special Olympics branches.
6
Start a Family
Expand the portfolio or product line to meet changing consumer desires.
Coca-Cola corporate has developed a beverage portfolio that now delivers on an entire range of consumer need states and usage occasions from refreshment to indulgence to replenishment. Are changing needs and competitive incursions driving an expansion opportunity for you?
7
Be a Social Butterfly
Make a constant stream of exciting, fun and topical content part of who you are.
GoPro, Spotify, NatGeo, Inc., Mint and others have made a constant stream of brand and user-generated content a staple across their social platforms. Sharing and connecting have become inextricably linked with the core of these brands. Proof and Sprinkles deliver a fun and robust social program that continuously brings new flavors, designs, cultural connections, seasonal offers, brand news and more to the fanatical customers of this beloved bakery.
8
Celebrate the Segment
Celebrate the unique beliefs and behaviors of specific segments.
All consumers have behaviors. But certain segments have very unique beliefs and behaviors. The brilliance of the Nike brand really comes into play when it authentically connects with less mass sports such as running, yoga and lacrosse. For Champion Energy, Proof created a campaign that speaks to the very specific and hilarious idiosyncrasies of a group of energy customers that are hopelessly stuck in their ways…aka the Holdovers.
9
Evolve/Change a Perception
Help the world learn something new about you or see you in a new light.
Sometimes the brand just needs to catch up to its reality. Dunkin has brought its roadside, Americana roots into the modern day. Other times, misperceptions or lack of familiarity need to be challenged. We weren’t about to let Branson live another day being thought of as just a sleepy place to see country music shows. We woke up perceptions with a new campaign that brings to life all that Branson offers and all your vacation deserves.
Do You Have Potential?
No question. Every brand has an enormous reservoir of untapped, un-re-framed and unmarketed potential. Every brand has opportunity — at some level — to be liberated from something and put on a path of stronger growth. We had a thought…
...An Invitation, Actually.
Liberating brands is a turbocharged, fun, simultaneous and collaborative juggling act:
One part interrogating the business strategy for new growth opportunities.
One part excavating the brand for its most compelling qualities and what’s holding it back.
One part looking at the world for new trends, behaviors and possible points of connection.
We can start this in an initial three-hour work session. It’s our Brand Liberation Workshop. And you’re invited! With no obligations for us to become your agency or for you to do absolutely anything else. Tools, tips, thinking...great people, food and drink.
Just
email Bryan Christian, CEO of Proof, to set up an introductory call.
