Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
How brands can earn their stripes to become icons
Secret lies in unlocking memories on the right cue
TRULY iconic people are, by definition, hard to come by. The term “iconic”, after all, suggests a level of recognition and significance that few of us will achieve in our lifetime.
By contrast, the likes of Miriam Makeba, Albert Einstein and JFK are individuals whose legacy will be remembered for centuries. This fact points us to a distinctive quality of the iconic few: collective awareness and memorability. Icons are icons precisely because of the shared associations and meaning that have been created around them.
In just the same way as Albert Einstein is an icon of modern physics and a symbol of intelligence, various cues are emblematic of him as a person.
His shock of grey hair, his cheeky tongue-out pose, e=mc2. For many, these cues trigger similar memories of the great scientist and what he stood for in turn. This sense of salience is a characteristic of all iconic cues, whether they relate to human beings (Marilyn Monroe’s mole) or to institutions (the light blue berets of the UN).
In a similar way, there are a fortunate few brands which have built up iconic status over time.
With this iconic status come distinctive cues which trigger, in our minds, the memory structures related to that brand. At Brand Union, we refer to these cues collectively as “Brand Assets”.
They are ultimately the ownable, value- holding and valuegenerating components of the brands we help build.
The primary function of all Brand Assets is essentially to signal the underlying brand and unlock the memory structures associated with it. As such, all Brand Assets have the power to act as a standalone brand cue.
In a retail context, for example, Adidas’s three stripes can effectively replace the brand name and logo. We refer to Brand Assets such as these ( which do not overtly link back to a brand’s character traits or attributes) as “Identity Assets”.
There are also Brand Assets, like the BabySoft/Andrex puppies, which go a step further and speak directly to core associations (in this case softness). We refer to these special meaning- bearing assets as “Core Iconic Assets”. In addition to cueing functional attributes, they can also relate to character traits or components of the brand narrative.
To achieve icon-worthy status, a brand should first bring something of significant value and relevance to the table – something worth remembering in the first place. As with iconic people, iconic brands typically stand for something. Vanish makes stain removal easy and saves us time. Jeep’s challenge to explore offers us something a little deeper.
Purpose is the ultimate source of a successful brand’s memory structures and aligning brand communications and experiences with this has been the purview of brand consultancies and brandsavvy clients for over a century.
What is often less formalised is the creation of brand iconography (or “Brand Assets”), which help savvy brands unlock (and sometimes create) the memory structures at key moments in the purchasing cycle.
A Brand Asset which most brands have mastered is the logo. But this is just one blunt tool in a broad and ever-expanding toolbox. Ultimately a multitude of sensory cues, which are both broadly recognised and owned, can be developed into Brand Assets. And it is these characteristics (uniqueness and ubiquity) that define them, whatever form they may take.
Seen through this lens, patterns, sounds, characters and scents all have the potential to be Brand Assets.
Louis Vuitton, BMW, Singapore Airlines and KFC provide strong examples in each instance. The brands have made significant investments in the creation of valuable cues that extend far beyond logos and visual identity.
Each of these memory triggers has its own unique characteristics.
Some (more powerful) brands have many, some have none. Most have developed over time and many have emerged organically too. As brand owners and managers come to better understand the nature of the iconic Brand Assets, they are able to develop, nurture and edit them more deliberately. Their ultimate objective, as with any asset, is their ability to generate and store value.
Can Brand Assets realistically be considered assets in the first place? We argue they can and that the value they generate is significant. Iconic Brand Assets create focal points in marketing communications that can embody attributes and stories in ways that are powerful and memorable.
They also allow brands to achieve greater consistency across touchpoints and over time. But beyond this and most importantly, they have the power to unlock memories of the brand (and sometimes key associations) at the moment when purchasing decisions are made. By considering and developing Brand Assets with this function in mind, smart brand builders can engineer salience.
While this is a compelling proposition for any brand, it is particularly promising for those entering dark markets. By purposefully crafting and emphasising non-logo assets, smart brands can develop an arsenal of brand cues. These link back to the brand (and in the case of Core Iconic Assets, its most appealing associations and memories) without requiring the presence of the brand name.
How then can brand builders consciously create, reinforce and defend these Brand Assets?
While there are a number of tools and methodologies that can be applied effectively to ensure the most impactful Brand Assets are being leveraged, there is no onesize-fits-all solution.
To complicate matters, in a digital world, the power to attach meaning to Brand Assets increasingly sits outside the boardroom. ( The misinterpreted bite from Apple’s fruit is a case in point.)
It is within this complex and nuanced context that Brand Union has been working, with a number of global clients, to hone the Brand Assets methodology. Our objective is simple: build tools and processes which help systematise and operationalise this approach. In each instance the optimal mix and function of Brand Assets changes.
Likewise, the range of preexisting cues that we have to work with differs between brands. One feature of these various projects, across a variety of categories from beer to financial services, has been their ability to create real value.
● Human is head of Strategy, Brand Union.