Many brand strategists’ strive to develop points of differentiation that drive brand preference among consumers. The key to winning is assumed to be differentiation; however, your brand won’t even be considered if it’s considered to inadequately deliver on a key must-have dimension. You will not be a player – which means you have no chance of winning – no matter how compelling your point of differentiation is.

The solution is the point-of-parity concept, which was introduced to the branding world in Kevin Keller’s book, “The Principle of Positioning.” It’s defined: Points-of-Parity (POPs): Associations that are not necessarily unique to the brand but may be shared by other brands (i.e. where you can at least match the competitor’s claimed best). While POPs may usually not be the reason to choose a brand, their absence can certainly be a reason to drop a brand. The solution is to change a liability into a point of parity, meaning the brand is “good enough” at the dimension, that it’s no longer excluded from consideration. The points-of-parity concept is another perspective on how to make or keep a brand relevant. There are two points of parity types: category and competitive.

Category Point-of-Parity

A category point-of-parity means that a brand offers perceived necessary category features. For example, nowadays a consumer is likely to look over a bank or credit union that doesn’t offer a convenient and secure mobile deposit feature. In another example, German auto manufacturers resisted adding cup holders to their automobiles as they insisted vehicles are “driving machines, not open beverage carriers.” Eventually, cup holders became a must-have for many and the German auto manufacturers were forced to incorporate the feature.

“The solution is to change a liability into a point of parity, meaning the brand is “good enough” at the dimension, that it’s no longer excluded from consideration.”

The Jaguar brand lacked four-wheel-drive vehicles Jaguar executives saw their brand being perceived as irrelevant by those who wanted four-wheel drive. When the group of four-wheel-drive buyers grew to 50 percent of the purchasers in their top geographic markets, Jaguar introduced an all-wheel-drive model. The vehicles they introduced weren’t intended to be seen as superior to the Audi Quattro and similar models, but rather good enough that most buyers wouldn’t exclude Jaguar from consideration.

Competitive Point-of-Parity

A competitive point-of-parity is designed to negate a competitor’s point of differentiation. A common brand problem is when buyers perceive a competitor to have better product quality. Hyundai had a significant quality issue In the 1990s, Hyundai made cars that were overwhelmingly considered to be of inferior quality to other vehicles in the market. After fixing the quality problem in the early 2000s, consumers still shunned the brand. It took years, but through a variety of programs and communication channels, Hyundai found ways to communicate the new quality levels and gained quality parity. Their quality was perceived to be good enough that attention could turn to points of difference such as price, styling, gas mileage and warranty.

McDonald’s Loses Swells of Customers to the Competition

Mcdonald’s had a competitive parity problem when it lost customers who were concerned about the nutritional quality of their foods. Instead of giving any consideration, they began to veto the brand and purchase healthier alternatives. To respond, Mcdonald’s began offering grilled chicken sandwiches, a variety of salads, fruit smoothies, apple wedges for Happy Meals and reengineered their signature fry recipe dramatically reducing the “bad” fat. The goal was not to make McDonald’s a destination for the healthy-eating segment but to create enough parity so that the number who wouldn’t even consider the brand was reduced.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the problems McDonald’s needed to solve. Starbuck’s success presented a serious threat to McDonald’s breakfast and off-hours business. The brand saw this challenge as an opportunity. The advent of McCafé in 2007, with a line that included cappuccinos and lattés, changed the competitive landscape. McDonald’s didn’t aspire to be better than Starbucks; the goal was to just provide a close enough experience to Starbucks that they’d create a point-of-parity with respect to quality. As a result, a segment of Starbucks consumer base started to include McDonald’s in their consideration set.

To grow your brand, you must create “must-haves” that define subcategories

The only way to grow a business (with rare exceptions) is to create “must-haves” that define subcategories, manage those subcategories to success and build barriers to inhibit competitors from becoming relevant. In conducting research for both of my books, Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant and Aaker on Branding, I found that most major bursts of growth are associated with the creation of new “must-haves.” Those who aspire to grow will learn to shift focus from competing for brand preference to subcategory competition.

Subcategory Competition

Subcategory competition starts when a firm creates a “must-have” that defines or redefines a subcategory. The “must-have” can involve:

• A feature or benefit such as the high fiber content in Fiber One
• A systems offering that combines existing components such as Microsoft’s Office which integrates suites programs • A new technology like cloud computing that Salesforce.com pioneered
• A product designed for a segment such as Luna, the energy bar for women
• A dramatically low price point like that provided by JetBlue airlines
• A shared interest such as Sephora’s BeautyTalk • A personality such as the competence of Charles Schwab or the humor of Southwest Airlines
• A passion such as that shown by Whole Foods Market for healthy foods

Organizational values such as Patagonia’s concern for the environment In selecting a “must-have” opportunity, there are two risks. First, the difficulties of creating the “must-have” driven offering should not be so exaggerated that the opportunity to own a growth subcategory is missed. Second, professional and personal biases resulting in inflated incremental innovations should not lead to investing in subcategories that are not viable.

There are three tasks required of brand strategists who are creating subcategories:

1. A firm must manage that subcategory so that it wins the subcategory battle. Subcategory energy, appeal and associations need to be conceived and communicated. Customers need to be knowledgeable about the subcategory and motivated to first make the decision to buy into the subcategory and then the brand, not the other way around.
2. A firm must also win the brand relevance battle. When the subcategory is the focus of a buying decision, the goal is to have your brand be the only one that is visible and credible with respect to delivering “must-haves.” If your brand is not the only one, it should be the most relevant.
3. The subcategory creator/exemplar brands need to build barriers to prevent competitors from gaining visibility and credibility, and thus relevance in the new subcategory. Creating a subcategory will not be valuable if competitors are capable of becoming relevant or even appear to be relevant to the new subcategory. The barrier need not be technological. It can be anything that inhibits competitors such as scale, brand equity, customer loyalty and more.

Brand Preference Competition

Far and away, the most common strategy is to engage in what I call brand preference competition, which focuses on making a brand preferred among the choices considered by customers in a defined subcategory. The goal is to beat the competition through the use of incremental innovation: faster, cheaper, better. Resources are expended on communicating more effectively with clever advertising, more impactful promotions, more visible sponsorships, and more involving social media programs. You win by making your brand preferred as opposed to making your brand the only relevant brand, the only brand considered.

“The goal is to beat the competition through the use of incremental innovation: faster, cheaper, better.”

The problem is that “my brand is better than your brand” marketing rarely changes the marketplace no matter how much marketing budget is available or how clever the incremental innovation is. The stability of brand positions in nearly all markets is simply astonishing. There is just too much customer and market momentum.

Brand preference competition is also so “not fun.” The opportunity to create “must-haves,” which are responsive to an unmet need and meaningful to a worthwhile market segment, will not happen frequently. However, when it does, brand strategists need to seize that opportunity, recognizing that something bigger than a point of differentiation is present, and manage it accordingly.

Stories are a hot topic in marketing because they have been shown to be superior to facts in getting attention, being remembered, in changing opinions, stimulating social activity, developing emotion, and curiously, even communicating facts. Many firms have added journalists, editors, and filmmakers to their staff to create or find meaningful stories and present them in a compelling way. Stories are often thought mainly to support tactical short-term communication objectives. But there is also a role for “signature stories” that represent some form of strategic statement about an organization’s mission, values, brand, customer relationship, or strategic intent.

L.L. Bean’s Brand Story Example

Consider L.L. Bean, a firm that would like to communicate its innovation culture, its passion for the outdoors, its commitment to quality, its concern for the customer, and the functional benefits of the Maine Hunting Shoe. Stating such facts is unlikely to create interest, credibility or even a connection to L.L. Bean.

In contrast, consider the following story: Leon L. Bean, an avid outdoorsman, returned from a hunting trip in 1912 disgruntled because of his cold, wet feet. With little resources but a lot of motivation and ingenuity, he invented a new boot by stitching lightweight leather tops to waterproof rubber bottoms. The boots worked so well he offered them for sale via mail order as the Maine Hunting Shoe, using lists of nonresident Maine hunting license holders. Unfortunately, most of the first 100 pairs sold had a stitching problem and leaked. Mr. Bean faced a defining moment! His response? He refunded the customers’ money even though it nearly broke him and fixed the process so that future boots were indeed water-tight. This story communicates the L.L. Bean brand far better than any presentation of facts.

What Is A Signature Story?

A signature story is an intriguing, authentic, involving narrative (as opposed to a stand-alone set of facts or features) with a strategic message that enables growth by clarifying or enhancing the brand, the customer relationship, the organization, and/or the business strategy. It is a strategic asset that can be leveraged through time providing inspiration and direction both internally and externally.

A Signature Story Must:

• Be intriguing if not fascinating, some combination of thought-provoking, novel, provocative, interesting, informative, newsworthy, or entertaining to the audience.
• Be authentic – the story’s audience cannot perceive the story to be phony, contrived or a transparent selling effort. Further, there should be the substance behind the story and its message in the form of programs, policies, or transparency that support it.
• Be involving – the audience member should be drawn into the story (which usually, but not always, precipitates a cognitive, emotional, or behavioral response).
• Be strategic – the story should have a strategic message linked to the brand that enables growth by clarifying or enhancing the brand, the customer relationship, the organization, and/or the business strategy.

A signature story is an asset with enduring relevance and the capacity to inspire and provide direction over a long period. As it gets retold, signature stories gain authenticity, traction, and influence. The principal targets for signature stories are employees and existing and potential customers. Signature stories can provide employees a source of inspiration and a cornerstone for organizational culture and values.

The L. L. Bean story supports a higher purpose around innovation, the passion for the outdoors, quality, and the customer. Millennials, in particular, are attracted to firms that are aiming for more than sales and profits; a signature story can help with making that purpose authentic and clear.

Customers are also a valuable target because there is a segment that will find a brand’s values, customer relationship, and strategically important to them as they develop loyalties to brands and firms. Advancing the strategic position of the brand and organization in the eyes of this audience is challenging because of message clutter, media dynamics, growing customer ownership of context, and the complexity of social media. Signature stories can be an answer providing the ability not only to provide break-through visibility but to communicate the basic essence of a brand and organization.

The Secret to Creating Signature Stories

To find or create signature stories, look broadly for story heroes. Stories around customers, programs, suppliers, offerings are often employed to motivate customers. Four more: the employees, founder, a business revitalization strategy, and a future business revitalization strategy are usually oriented to inspiring employees.

The Customer As Hero

A customer hero can be effective because there is no “my brand or product is better than yours” connotation and the customer story is likely to be closely linked to either the organizational values or the brand’s value proposition. LinkedIn has a series of professionally created one-minute stories around “Creating Your Own Success” that involve leveraging LinkedIn. Dr. Chavez told about his dream of getting pets off of processed foods – and used LinkedIn to share his big idea. Jenni was laid off during the financial meltdown and several months of intense networking led to a marketing position and, ultimately, supported to decision to be on her own.

The Employee As Hero

An employee hero can be a source of a strong and memorable signature story because employees are on the front lines. Zappos.com, the online shoe store, has a set of signature stories around its ten core values. One of which is to deliver Wow customer service. One such story involves a Zappos.com call center employee who at 3 a.m. received a call from a customer who could not find an open pizza store. Instead of gently turning the customer away, the employee actually found a pizza store open and arranged delivery.

The Business Revitalization Story

This hero can clarify and motivate a new strategy and inspire employees and customers. Consider Zhang Ruimin who became the CEO of a troubled Chinese appliance manufacturer, Haier, in 1982. Early in his tenure he needed to replace a customer’s faulty refrigerator and found that twenty percent of his inventory was also defective. Zhang promptly had the dud refrigerators lined up on the factory floor and destroyed them with a sledgehammer in front of the whole staff to tell them and the world that poor quality would not be tolerated anymore. From that point on, the story served to define a new strategy and culture that ultimately led to Haier becoming a global leader. The story can work at the outset when the strategy is being implemented and over time as the strategy becomes an ongoing operation.

“A signature story is an asset with enduring relevance and the capacity to inspire and provide direction over a long period.”

When identifying the top print advertisements and best headlines in the last century of advertising, a 1926 ad written by a young, green copywriter always makes the cut. John Caples, only one year on the job, wrote: “They laughed when I sat down at the piano—but when I started to play!” Caples’ assignment was to entice people to buy piano lessons by correspondence from the U.S. School of Music. The hero of the ad was ridiculed by the guests when he sat down, but the ridicule turned to accolades and applause when he begins to play, only a few months after starting the correspondence course.

The ad was not only critically acclaimed but brought in a lot of customers. It illustrates the power of a story that has tension, emotion, challenge and a brand-driven resolution as opposed to a recitation of facts and functional benefits. A story, as we now know, is a powerful way to get people to get involved and remember a message. This story also nicely frames the subcategory by changing what the customer is buying and defining the relevant options.

There is a lot to learn today from this ad. It included almost no details about the actual course offering. Rather, the ad told a captivating story in graphic detail about what happened to someone who took the correspondence course, a story that brought tears of joy to readers happy for the piano player’s success.

The ad shows that functional benefits are not the sweet spot of persuasion and communication. Rather, what grabs people are emotional, self-expressive and social benefits. There is the emotion felt not only by the piano player who excelled but also by those hearing the story and bursting with pride that he accomplished his goal. The self-expressive benefit displays the ability of the man to express his talent, his perseverance and his ability to face those that had ridiculed him.

“A story, as we now know, is a powerful way to get people to get involved and remember a message.”

And there is the social benefit of the man being accepted into a desirable group. The brand was embedded so much in the story that a memory of the ad recalls a memory of the brand. Further, there was a specific call to action. You could send in a free brochure and a free sample lesson. Free! Think of the foot-in-the-door research that has shown how much impact a small action step can have.

Seven provocative and suggestive learnings emerged from a major study of patient satisfaction that was just released by Prophet and GE Healthcare Camden Group. The following learnings provide a profile of the surprisingly dismal picture of the patient experience in healthcare today, but also provide insights that will hopefully lead to massive improvements. Prophet, the branding and marketing consultancy, and GE Healthcare Camden Group, interviewed 3,000 consumers and 300 healthcare executives about the holistic patient experience. The focus was on the total experience, rather than silos such as hospitals, doctor specialties or insurance companies because all aspects of the experience are intertwined in the minds of patients. Input from providers provided a more complete picture of the current situation and its challenges.

Seven headlines that come from the study:

1. The patient satisfaction level is abysmal, which I found very surprising and discouraging considering recent industry attention and initiatives. Only 40% of consumers felt that they received a high-quality health care experience and only 35% feel that the providers have an empathetic staff. Worse, the dissatisfaction is much higher among those that have more experience with the healthcare providers; some 75% of frequent healthcare consumers said they were frustrated with their health care experience versus 48% of the rest.

2. Low satisfaction is even worse among millennials. The group values two related factors: the ability to control their lives and having digitally-enabled convenience in doing so (they’re used to both in other aspects of their life). They adore firms that provide these attributes like Uber, Starbucks, Zappos, and Square. These two factors also appear in their healthcare preferences. Among their favorite healthcare brands are ZocDoc (find a doctor), Oscar (obtaining insurance) and WebMD (managing health); all of which provide health-related solutions that people can access on their own terms. Further, over 50% are willing to use telemedicine. They rely more on input from friends and family and less on their providers than did previous generations.

3. Providers overestimate their current ability to satisfy patients by more than 20 percentage points. For example, only 40% of consumers feel they are receiving a quality experience, but over 60% of providers believe that they’re delivering a quality experience. performance gap.

4. Healthcare companies want to improve patient experience but focusing on and implementing the strategy is proving to be elusive due to competing priorities. In a 2014 survey from the American College of Healthcare Executives, 75% of providers say that patient experience is critical to their success but on the list of the CEOs’ top concerns, patient satisfaction doesn’t make the top five. It is a priority that falls well behind managing the massive amounts of industry consolidation and finding the right merger partner(s). In the Prophet and GE Healthcare Camden Group study, 85% of providers admit they don’t have a clear picture of how to improve the patient experience.

5. There is a remarkable ROI story behind improved patient experience but it doesn’t always carry the day because it is not well documented or communicated. Patient experience investment drives increased capacity, reduces operating costs, improves employee retention and build an enhanced brand that creates loyalty and thereby increases revenues. One study showed an improvement in on-time appointments from 18% to 84% and led to measurable payoffs in terms of productivity and impatient referrals translating to $460,000 average additional patient revenue per physician per year.

6. Improving the patient experience will require medical systems that break down the siloed nature of the industry, including the payment sector. And that is not easy. It requires structural change with established organizations merging or creating close partnerships with other organizations with a different discipline and objectives, often with people, culture, and processes that are also dissimilar. Structural change often slows the pace of progress in improving the seamless integration of medical services.

7. Kaiser Permanente and Mayo Clinic show strong cases of success. Kaiser Permanente with its comprehensive health care model has the highest customer loyalty ranking in the health insurance category with a net promoter score 23 points higher than the industry average. Mayo Clinic has a strong reputation for delivering an amazing patient experience with concierge-level services. In both cases, it is the empowered people and culture that largely drive the service levels and customer satisfaction, although smart use of enabling technology is also a factor. They both go beyond fixing what is broken to surprise and delight their customers.

“All aspects of the experience are intertwined in the minds of patients.”

Earlier this week Forbes ran an article announcing the release of a Prophet brand ranking Index which ranks the “relentless relevance” of 400 top brands from 29 categories. The respondents were U.S. consumers, active in the category and familiar with the brand, so the results go beyond visibility and reach to understand the attachment to the brand.

Relentless relevance was measured by four dimensions:

• Customer Obsessed: Being important to a person’s life, connecting emotionally, and creating happiness.
• Ruthlessly Pragmatic: Makes life easier by being dependable, available, and delivering a consistent experience.
• Distinctively Inspired: Inspires, has a meaningful purpose, is trustworthy, and in-touch.
• Pervasively Innovative: Pushes the status quo, engages with customers in new and creative ways, and finds new ways to address unmet needs.

Brands that are relentlessly relevant are likely to be dominant leaders of a subcategory which is usually the best route to growth as I explained in my book Brand Relevance.

Several findings caught my eye:

1. The top three brands, Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, are considered highly reliable enablers of what is important in the life of respondents. They score high across all dimensions. All of these brands are highly visible and have been the subject of positive news as well as controversy. But at the end of the day, their customers still love them, and loyalty wins. I recall hearing Phil Knight commenting on why he was running highly-controversial Nike ads. He noted that all he cared about was his core target markets, and they loved them. It’s that intense focus on the core customer that creates brand enthusiasts that stick with your brand through thick and thin.

2. Involvement is a driver of relentless relevance. The scale “engages me in new and creative ways” helped give the brands PlayStation, Xbox, EA and Etsy a place in the top 50. Etsy, admittedly a surprise to me, helps those in the Maker Movement reach a bigger pool of shoppers. The e-commerce company has devoted itself to building an authentic, people-driven marketplace, with 23 million buyers to date.

3. The Ruthlessly Pragmatic (dependable) dimension is more influential than expected in weighting the relevance score. After the first three brands, three of the next five, Netflix, Chick-fil-A and Spotify all scored extremely high on the Ruthlessly Pragmatic dimension that includes concepts like availability, consistent experience, dependability, and making life easier. It is great to be inspiring, innovative and central to a person’s lifestyle but simply delivering your brand promise is of very high value to consumers.

4. Fifteen of the top 50 brands were classic brand names that largely delivered functional benefits, or so it seems. Leading the way with positions in the top 25 were Betty Crocker, Band-Aid, Clorox, KitchenAid and Folgers. All were extremely high on the Ruthlessly Pragmatic dimension, reinforcing the hypothesis that delivering to expectations may not be glamorous, but can drive a brand’s ability to create and keep a loyal segment which can be the basis of a healthy long-term business. There’s also likely to be some emotional benefit linked to the nostalgia of growing up with these brands – they become part of the fabric of people’s lives. Likely connected: Many of these brands had relatively high scores on the “trust” dimension as well.

5. Four of the top brands including Netflix at number 5, Spotify at number 8, Pandora at Number 19, and YouTube at number 43 are Internet media brands and score high on the “important in my life” dimension. Two more, Pixar at 11 and Disney at 24, are entertainment brands and were extremely high on both “makes me happy” and “connects with me emotionally.” Not only are these companies providing a more fun experience for their customers, but they are innovating the experience and constantly keeping it fresh and relevant in consumers’ lives.

6. Seven fashion-connected brands populated the top 50 including Nike, Sephora, M·A·C, North Face, Under Armour, Adidas and Victoria’s Secret. Many had high scores on the “distinctively inspired” dimension. All involve a high level of involvement and energy as well. Relentless relevance measured on those that are active in the category and familiar with the brand provides a key brand equity indicator that is not available on other brand strength scales and represents a brand relationship that is a key to business success.

“Brands that are relentlessly relevant are likely to be dominant leaders of a subcategory.”

In my last post, I wrote about why I believe Lifebuoy’s “Help a Child Reach 5” campaign is the most effective social responsibility program running today. The program’s mission is to help one billion people develop better handwashing habits and thereby prevent some of the two million deaths of children under five that occur annually due to poor health and hygiene.

In this post, I discuss why two particular stories Lifebuoy shares in its program are so powerful. Brand stories are the hot, new currency of content marketing as firm after firm hires editors, writers, and videographers to find and record these narratives. Lifebouy seems to have cracked the code. The following two videos produced by Lifebouy provide insights into what it takes to tell an impactful story in a mere three minutes.

The first video was filmed in the Indian village Thesgora. Because of the village’s high rates of disease, Lifebouy chose it as the site for its pilot handwashing program, which resulted in a reduction in diarrhea from 36% to 6%.

In the film, a father is shown walking a long distance on his hands through fields, puddles, and a stairway to the nearby temple to seek God’s blessing. As the man walks, he is accompanied by villagers and people playing music. Inspiration for the story is rooted in the local practice of expressing gratitude by doing something like sacrificing a favorite food or walking a long distance.

We then learn the reason for the man’s journey. He finally saw one of his grandchildren reach five and is overcome with delight. The video ends by telling the viewer that two million children die before their fifth birthday because of diseases that can be combated by better handwashing. The emotional impact is powerful and reinforces the importance of Lifebuoy’s handwashing program.

In the second video, we are introduced to Utari and her tree. Utari has an attachment to the tree: she waters it, dances around it, protects it from water buffalo and stands by it late into the night. Why? We learn in the video that Utari’s son will turn five the next day, and it is a village tradition to plant a tree when a child is born.

For far too many mothers in Utari’s village, only the tree remains after five years. But Utari is one of the lucky ones and her worship of the tree reflects that gratitude. The video closes with an explanation of why the Lifebuoy handwashing program works is vital to reducing those deaths.

“The first video was seen by over 19 million people and the second by over 11 million.”

The first video was seen by over 19 million people and the second by over 11 million. Why were these videos so powerful and influential in helping the Lifebuoy program get 250,000 people – one-fourth of their overall goal – to adopt effective handwashing habits? There are many reasons including:

• The characters are real, interesting and authentic.
• Curiosity about who the characters are and what they are doing drew people in.
• The video showed real emotions, which generated a connection with viewers.
• The statistics of global infant deaths, which can be addressed with a simple and effective program were shocking.
• There was a direct connection to Lifebuoy and the impact of its hand washing program.

My current nominee for the best social program ever is “Help a Child Reach 5”— a hand-washing program sponsored by a brand that virtually disappeared from the U.S. a half-century ago, Unilever’s Lifebuoy soap.

However, Lifebuoy is far from dead internationally. The brand is dominating the market in India and other emerging countries, with a fourth-place ranking in Kantor World Panel’s 2015 valuation of users and their buying frequency of 11,000 global brands in 35 countries—only falling behind Coca-Cola, Colgate, and Maggi.

With “Help a Child Reach 5,” Lifebuoy’s mission is to save lives by spreading the importance of good handwashing habits around the world. This campaign is driven by two facts:

1. Every year, 2 million children fail to reach their fifth birthday because of diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia.
2. Handwashing with soap at key occasions can reduce diarrhea by 45% and pneumonia by 23% worldwide, thus reducing infant deaths substantially.

A pivotal event in Lifebuoy’s “Help a Child Reach 5” effort was the implementation of a showcase program in Thesgora, a 1,500-home Indian village. The program, which showed a reduction in diarrhea from 36% to 6%, became the subject of a three-minute video featuring a grandpa walking on his hands through town to celebrate one of his grandchildren finally reaching 5 years old.

The video has now been seen over 19 million times and the resulting case study helped Unilever accelerate the program throughout India and in 24 other countries. Lifebuoy executes the “Help Children Reach 5” program with creativity and flare.

In India, 1,500 Unilever employees have volunteered to help teach school children the importance of handwashing through child-friendly materials, including comics, songs, games, and rewards. The importance of washing for 20 seconds on five key occasions throughout the day is driven home through a device that illuminates germs that are still around after one hand wash.

But it doesn’t stop there. Mothers are educated because over 40% of infant deaths in India occur during the first 28 days of life. Unilever retrofitted water pumps so that children can embrace the habit more easily. Unilever even put the phrase “Did you wash your hands with Lifebuoy today?” on over 2.5 million pieces of flatbread called “rotis” during a Hindu holiday.

“Leon Kay of triplepundit.com, posited that this was the most impactful program ever in terms of the number of people reached.”

Plus, the company has created dozens of videos expressing the impact of this initiative on children, parents, and communities as a whole. Lifebuoy is also leveraging Global Handwashing Day, October 15th, which was established in 2008. In fact, on October 15, 2012, Lifebuoy’s office in Dubai set a Guinness World Record when they got people from 72 countries to simultaneously wash their hands.

“Help a Child Reach 5” is a winning social responsibility program. It has already reached more than 250 million people and is on target to reach a billion people by 2020. One observer, Leon Kay of triplepundit.com, posited that this was the most impactful program ever in terms of the number of people reached. It certainly adds energy and a higher purpose to the brand and generates social and emotional benefits too.

There are three accelerating branding trends that affect nearly every business. The winners of tomorrow are going to be riding these waves rather than swimming against them.

First, there is a trend from “my brand is better than your brand” marketing to subcategory competition driven by the fast pace of innovation in the marketplace and a growing recognition that, with some exceptions, meaningful brand growth spurts are caused by a new “must-have” defining a new subcategory for which competitors are not relevant.

The evidence that subcategory competition is driving growth is abundant. For me, the insight started with my analysis of some 40 years of Japanese beer data. During that time there were only four major changes in the market share trajectory. Three of these were caused by new subcategories being formed or solidified: Dry Beer, Ichiban, and Happoshu. The fourth was when two subcategories, Dry and Lager, were simultaneously re-positioned.

I have found the same pattern in dozens of categories such as cars, financial services, computers, retail concepts, water, airplanes and many more. Growth, with rare exceptions, comes only when new subcategories are formed.

In the automobile space, for example, we know that was true for the Chrysler minivan, Prius, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Tesla and others. There are several implications. Firms need:

• To shift some investments from incremental innovation to “big” innovations.
• The ability to recognize what is a “must-have” in the marketplace and what is not.
• The will and capability to manage subcategories rather than brands, to make sure that their subcategory wins and that it evolves so it keeps winning.
• To own the subcategory by creating barriers to competitors.

One route is to brand the “must-have” innovations. A branded technology, for example, like Uniqlo’s HeatTech fabric that retains heat, is hard to duplicate because Uniqlo owns the brand.

Second, there is a growing shift from communicating facts about the brand, offering, or firm to developing content that interests and involves customers and populate that content with stories in addition to facts. The digital world, where customers are increasingly gaining control of the communication vehicles, is one driver of that shift. The tragic reality is that people are not interested in your brand, offering, or firm. They are just not.

An alternative is to look to what they are interested in, what activities occupy them, what they talk about, what are their passions. I call it the customer “sweet spot.” Then, find or develop content or programs around that interest area with the brand as an involved partner. Customers are not so interested in:

• Diapers, but they are in baby care and the Pamper’s LoveSleepPlay baby care site.
• Cosmetic products, but they are in beauty and Sephora’s BeautyTalk.
• Farm equipment, but they are in improving farming and the rural lifestyle and in John Deere’s Furrow magazine now over 100 years old and read by over 2 million farmers around the world.
• Hardware products, but they are in building homes for the homeless and thus Home Depot’s link with Habitat for Humanity.

A sweet-spot-driven content or program can generate interest and energy, create or enhance perceptions, engender trust and authenticity, and stimulate a social network.

“A sweet-spot-driven content or program can generate interest and energy, create or enhance perceptions, engender trust and authenticity, and stimulate a social network.”

Third, the trend toward having and elevating a higher purpose should continue to grow. In addition to being the right thing to do and addressing real social problems, a higher purpose can provide inspiration and meaning to employees. Being engaged in reducing global warming or enabling students to be more creative is more rewarding than just increasing sales and profits.

A higher purpose can also promote cross-silo collaboration by providing a common goal that encourages people to perceive colleagues as teammates instead of being irrelevant or even competitors. It comes more likely for the employee to assert “How can I make us succeed?” than “How can I get ahead?”

Another motivation for a higher purpose is to provide a route to customer relationships. Starbucks quest to inspire and nurture the human spirit one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time provide a way to connect that means something to customers. Patagonia, the ultimate in having environmental considerations in their heritage, in their products, and in their programs attracts customer loyalty among those that share their values.

A sizable and growing customer segment is looking for organic and natural products, and as a result, packaged food companies are facing a brand relevance problem. One company that has done well in this difficult and changing environment is General Mills.

The General Mills Acquisition Strategy

There is a lot to like about their acquisition strategy. Take major General Mills acquisition, Annie’s, bought in 2014 for just under one billion dollars: Annie’s makes Mac & Cheese, snacks, dressings and frozen food all under the organic and natural labels. The brand is fast-growing, authentic and high quality with an expanding product footprint. The purchase provides General Mills with another growth platform in the healthy eating arena. And there were important acquisitions even before the purchase of Annie’s.

“These acquisitions provided not only new growth platforms but an injection of knowledge and passion around organic and natural.”

Back in 1999, General Mills acquired Small Planet Foods, owners of Cascadian, which is a maker of organic frozen fruits and vegetables and Muir Glenn, the maker of canned organic tomato products. In 2008, Larabar, a fruit and nut-based energy bar that has become a player in the healthy end of a growth segment, was purchased. And in 2012, General Mills bought the “Food Should Taste Good” line of snacks, also marketed as organic and natural. These acquisitions provided not only new growth platforms but an injection of knowledge and passion around organic and natural.

How General Mills’ Acquisitions Power Relevance

Brand relevance is a measure of how integral a brand is to people’s lives— the more relevant the brand, the more equity, presence, and importance the brand has. General Mills took a unique approach to boosting relevance by recognizing new customer demands— in this case, the demand for healthy foods— and acquiring other brands that offer innovative, healthy products across different areas of customers’ lives.

Annie’s in particular is credited with providing leadership in product innovation and distribution. Several of the long-held General Mills brands joined the effort. Fiber One had been a leader in the fiber race for years – first in cereals, then in snacks – and is currently on a growth surge. If fiber is your concern, Fiber One will be preferred.

Nature Valley connects to the core health segment not only through its products but also because of its support of the national parks. The Nature Valley Trail View provides 360-degree views of 400 miles of national park trails across the country. Yoplait Greek 100 also has a lot of healthy characteristics and is one of GM’s current winners.

General Mills has also made product changes that have been responsive to the healthy eating trend as well. In 2004, it changed its cereal line to whole grains and reduced sugar levels sharply in kid’s cereals. Yoplait also reduced the amount of sugar in its products.

In 2011, General Mills begin to source eggs from cage-free sources. It was an early leader in gluten-free products, long before gluten-free became trendy. By adding gluten-free options to top-selling brands such as Cheerios, General Mills now has 600 products that are gluten-free. And of course, they have Betty Crocker to lend her credibility to their effort to improve food choices.

A Different Route: Kellogg’s Approach with Kashi

In contrast to General Mills, Kellogg’s, only a bit smaller in sales than General Mills, has gone a different route. Kellogg’s bought Kashi in 2000, its “healthy” entrée into the market, but it’s performing badly because it lacks the organic and natural focus of the brands that are competing for the knowable, health-conscious segment.

Rather, Kashi emphasizes whole grains, high protein and fiber, which is not enough today. It has experienced difficulty in connecting with the target segment, as exemplified by their response to a grocer who posted to social media accounts that Kashi uses genetically modified organisms (GMOs) despite their claim to be natural. Kashi replied that the FDA does not regulate the use of the word “natural.” And while this may be true, most people imply that natural means that processed food has no artificial ingredients, pesticides or GMOs. In part because of the decline of Kashi sales, Kellogg saw its earnings per share in 2014 decline sharply. In contrast, the earnings per share at General Mills continued a healthy increase year by year that it has enjoyed for the last five years.

On May 3, 2013, Uniqlo became the exclusive, multi-year sponsor of the New York Museum of Modern Art’s Friday night program, which offers free admission in the evenings. Almost a year later in March of 2014, Uniqlo launched SPRZ NY (Surprise New York) in partnership with MoMA.

Under SPRZ NY, Uniqlo puts artwork inspired by top contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring on some 200 items that will sell from $6 to $50. Some of the artists, including Ryan McGinness, will personally design clothing items based on their works hanging in the museum. It’s “the place where art and clothing meet.” The sponsorship is designed to showcase the huge signature 5th Avenue Uniqlo store that is located around the corner from MoMA.

“The place where art and clothing meet.”

The store redesigned the second floor so it looks and feels like a museum, with framed pieces of art-stimulated clothing on the wall. A Starbucks was added that provided more destination appeal and energy. A one-year anniversary of the launch saw a month of special events such as an Art of Discovery scavenger hunt in the museum, a design your own t-shirt program for kids, and a special New York art tour featuring secret locations.

The partnership works for four reasons:

It provides a brand image lift. The association and the programs provide a lift to the Uniqlo image of representing quality, innovation and contemporary fashion that works in everyday living. The art provides self-expressive benefits to some and a sense of being contemporary and fashionable without being trendy to others. It gives energy to the brand, the store and the store experience. Just think of having unique designs attached to interesting and visible artists. The MoMA connection is not possible to duplicate; it’s the ultimate characteristic of an exclusive sponsorship.

It energizes the flagship store. It provides a spotlight on the flagship store and by extension the Uniqlo effort in US major cities, which also offer many of the MoMA-inspired clothing items. It gives the Uniqlo 5th Avenue store a burst of energy and differentiation. Both are highly sought after and hard to attain for retailers, especially prime competitors like Zara and H&M. The fact that the store is around the corner from the MoMA cements the relationship.

It’s dynamic. The sponsorship was not simply an association based on paying more money than others, but it was alive, active and anything but static. Each year, Uniqlo not only sticks with the sponsorship but leverages it in new and creative ways. And all along, Uniqlo stuck to the core features of the MoMA and the SPRZ concept of creating surprising experiences.

It links back tightly to the Uniqlo brand. Free Fridays are labeled as Uniqlo Free Friday Nights. SPRZ NY clothing is featured in the Uniqlo 5th Avenue store and is available elsewhere. Except for the MoMA store, the only place that clothing appears is within Uniqlo. It fits Uniqlo, a brand with an emphasis on contemporary fashion for everyday living, on innovation and on having a distinctive in-store experience.

Who wants to spend time with someone who is so boring that he’s described as having no personality? Maybe it’s better to be a jerk because at least you’ll be interesting. Having a personality is equally helpful to brands, especially in the digital age.

Not all brands have, or even should have a strong, distinctive personality, but those brands that do have a significant advantage in terms of standing out from the crowd, having an on-brand message, and supporting a relationship with customers. Personality is an important dimension of brand equity because, like the human personality, it is both differentiating and enduring.

Enhancing Self-Expression Benefits

People express their own or idealized selves in part by the brands that they buy and use, especially when the brands are socially visible and have a personality. Such a brand is a badge that tells others what you value and how you live, and, more importantly, reaffirms to yourself what is important in your life.

Using an Apple computer expresses for some a non-corporate, creative self, based in part on the perception that the Apple brand’s personality is irreverent, creative and young, and challenges convention. The use of Betty Crocker expresses the home/mother/nurturing side of some of its users because “Betty Crocker-as-person” is a mother figure: a traditional, small-town, all-American person who cares about cooking and about her family. Wearing the Nike brand reflects “Nike-as-person”: someone who is exciting, provocative, spirited, cool, innovative and aggressive, and into health and fitness. Being a Patagonia fan expresses a passion for the environment and for sustainability. Being a Dove user reaffirms a belief in real inner beauty.

Providing the Basis for a Relationship

A brand personality can help build an understanding among the brand’s company and can communicate internally, about a brand-customer relationship that can suggest programs and be the basis of brand loyalty.

For example, consider the following relationship metaphors: A well-liked and respected family member—a warm, sentimental, family-oriented, traditional personality—would match brands like Hallmark, Hershey’s, John Deere and Campbell’s. A person whom you respect as a teacher, minister or business leader—someone who is accomplished, talented and competent—is like IBM or The Wall Street Journal. A companion for an outdoor adventure—an athletic, rugged and outdoorsy personality—is like Nike or The North Face.

A stimulating companion—an interesting personality with incredible stories—is like the Dos Equis beer spokesman, “the most interesting man in the world.” A “brand-as-person” who has a passion for healthy, organic foods is reflected by the Whole Foods Market personality.

Representing a Functional Benefit

A brand personality also can be a vehicle for representing and cueing functional benefits and brand attributes. It can be easier to create a personality that implies a functional benefit than to communicate that functional benefit directly. Further, it’s harder to attack a personality than a functional benefit.

The Harley personality is a rugged, macho, America-loving, freedom-seeking person who is willing to break out from confining society norms of dress and behavior, which suggests that Harley motorcycles are powerful and have substance. Meanwhile, MetLife has used the Peanuts characters to create a personality of being warm, approachable and humorous, a highly desired but hard-to-achieve personality for an insurance company.

“People express their own or idealized selves in part by the brands that they buy and use.”

The Energizer rabbit is an energetic, upbeat, indefatigable personality who never runs out of energy—just as the battery runs longer than others. Wells Fargo, as represented by the stagecoach, reflects an independent, cowboy type who delivers reliably. Although competitors may actually deliver superior reliability and safety of assets, because of the stagecoach, Wells wins the battle of perception.

Guiding Brand-Building Programs

Tactically, the brand personality concept and vocabulary communicate to those who must implement the brand-building effort. As a practical matter, decisions need to be made about the communications package, including advertising, packaging, promotions, events, customer touchpoints, digital programs and more. If the brand is specified only in terms of attribute associations, little guidance is provided.

To say that TaylorMade golf equipment is of high quality with an innovative design does not give much direction. However, to say that “TaylorMade-as-person” is a demanding professional conveys much more. A brand personality statement provides depth and texture, making it more feasible to keep the communication and other brand-building efforts on strategy.

One retail chain created a mythical “brand-as-person” with a home setting, a family, interests, opinions and activities. The company gave that person a name. Let’s call her Sue. Then whenever a product, communication or operation initiative was proposed, the criterion was: Would Sue do it? The concept led to easier and better decisions.

Helping to Understand the Customer

The brand personality metaphor can help a manager gain an in-depth understanding of consumer perceptions of the brand. Instead of asking about attribute perceptions, which can be both boring and intrusive, asking people to describe a brand personality often is involving and can result in more accurate and richer insights into feelings and relationships. The arrogant and powerful personality ascribed to Microsoft, for example, provides a deeper understanding of the nature of the relationship between Microsoft and its customers. Or the personality construct might be a better entry into understanding the calm emotion associated with Celestial Seasonings tea than a discussion of attributes.

A variant is to ask what a “brand-as-person” might say to you. In a credit card study, one segment who perceived the brand as being dignified, sophisticated, educated, a world traveler and confident believed that the card would say things like, “My job is to help you get accepted,” and, “You have good taste.”

A second intimidated segment perceived the card to be sophisticated and classy but snobbish, aloof and condescending, and believed that the card would make comments like, “I am so well-known and established that I can do what I want,” and, “If I were going to dinner, I would not include you.” The perceived attitude of the brand toward the customer was a big insight into where an important customer segment was coming from.

Providing Energy

When developing a brand vision, there frequently comes a point at which someone asks: Does the brand contain any energy? And if not, how is it going to communicate and succeed or even be relevant in today’s environment? A brand personality often is a good way to introduce energy into a vision.

A strong brand personality, such as those surrounding Mercedes, Muji or American Express, can provide energy by adding interest and involvement. It effectively amplifies brand perception and experiences. All airlines seem very similar until the energy created by the personality profiles of brands like Singapore, Southwest and Virgin are considered. Think of the energy surrounding the personality of the AXE brand, which is obsessed with being successful with attractive women.