My new column is live in The Drum:
A brand is more quantifiable than we think. In his new Promotion Fix column, Samuel Scott uses an outdoor campaign for a new vegan cheese to show an example of how to build a strong one and why OOH can be very effective.
After a six-month third national lockdown, Israel opened on Sunday amid the country’s continuing successful vaccination effort. The prior week – before the stores, museums, hotels, restaurants and pubs were full of people again – I took a quiet stroll down Tel Aviv’s beachfront to see the views that I had not seen in a year.
At a time when the streets were almost empty except for outdoor ads, it was an out of home campaign for a new local vegan cheese brand, GAIA, that has been stuck in my head ever since. (And that alone is the best sign of brand advertising success.)
Even though I am the complete opposite of a vegan – one of my common breakfasts is a lamb, bacon and egg sandwich with garlic mayonnaise, spices and hot sauce – I recognised that GAIA is an example of building brand equity.
(The Hebrew at the bottom says: “New! Vegan Cheese Line” and then shows “herb,” “goat,” “classic,” “cheddar-style,” “black pepper,” “chives” and “paprika” varieties.)
First, it is important to remember the difference between a product and a brand. Vegan cheese is a product made from soy, nuts or vegetable oil. All vegan cheese products are essentially the same. But a brand is a product with something significant that distinguishes it from competing products and within the category. And that significance lives in the minds of human beings.
Second, we must understand the purpose of brand marketing. Today, marcom departments are often separated into two “units”: performance and brand. “Performance” is short-term, logical and focused on metrics such as clicks, leads and sales while “brand” is long-term, emotional and pays attention to goals including awareness, top of mind and purchase intent. Supposedly.
But there is more to it. The primary goal of brand management is actually to build brand equity.