The Brand Effect

Some of you will know that I am making a TV series called The Brand Effect, the first of its kind on British television. The Brand Effect looks at what brands mean, how they work, and how they affect our economy and culture. It’s a series designed to be of interest to the general viewer and the small business viewer: packed with content but not academic. The first episode, a general introduction to the subject of branding, has already been aired several times on MyChannel, Sky 171. Forthcoming episodes look at the nation-brand of Sweden and at my brand work with Hemsby in Norfolk (see below). Future programmes will look at luxury branding, branding of the everyday and charity branding, and we hope to be able to announce new channel outlets for The Brand Effect soon.

A new brand for Norfolk

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Norfolk. I’m a passionate advocate of the county wherever I go and I know countless others share my enthusiasm. Norfolk has it all: scenic beauty and variety, and a fantastic balance of city, town and village life. We know it has its challenges too: including its problematic transport infrastructure and its areas of deprivation.

But there is a bigger-picture challenge facing Norfolk, one which has yet to be addressed properly. There are several organisations trying to promote Norfolk, to attract visitors to Norfolk, to attract inward investment and to promote business success within the county. But not one of these bodies has yet tackled the elephant in the room, which is that Norfolk does not have a strong, coherent, positive brand. Before I go further, let me say what I mean by brand. Brand is not logo, or marketing, or PR but the set of meanings which your audiences hold about you in their heads and hearts. In short, brand is the sum total of what people think and feel about you. And if there isn’t a critical mass of people sharing a positive set of meanings about you, then you don’t have a good brand.

There are some people who are protective of ‘brand’ Norfolk and want to keep it unspoiled, unchanged, unpopular and secret. Others believe it is enough to describe Norfolk as ‘different’. And there are those for whom ‘branding’ Norfolk is simply a matter of promoting the county’s assets in a functional way: as though a brand was simply a collection of measurable ‘messages’. I can’t argue with the protectionists, except to urge them to see that the world is changing exponentially and that Norfolk must change too (while always protecting its heritage and its natural environment). For those who think the old idea of Norfolk being ‘different’ is enough – the stance is too simplistic to achieve the inward investment (of brains as well as money) which Norfolk needs to thrive in the long term. And the functional marketing lobby must understand that intellectual argument, facts and other rational ‘stuff’ can only ever do a part of the brand job.

Nobody is drawn to holiday in Norfolk, or to move to Norfolk, or to invest in Norfolk, by facts alone. That will only be achieved when Norfolk has developed a coherent, positive, compelling and distinctive brand: a brand which cuts through prejudice, ignorance, pre-conceptions and out-dated information to re-present Norfolk with emotional impact and lasting sweet aftertaste. In short, we need to make the world fall in love with Norfolk. To achieve that needs a serious, in-depth and properly managed examination of the county’s brand in all its aspects. Then it requires a pan-organisational brand champion to lead, manage and evangelise the Norfolk brand everywhere. Norfolk is already a wonderful county. Now it must face up to the challenge and responsibility of becoming a great brand.

The Vikings are coming, to Hemsby

Hemsby & Newport is a small seaside resort in Norfolk. Like many resorts it has faced a tough challenge in recent years, from changing holiday tastes, cheap flights, unreliable weather and now the recession. Yet Hemsby & Newport has much too offer: a fabulous beach, a magnificent location on the eastern edge of a county rich with holiday experiences, and a friendly, traditional seaside holiday ambience.

I started working with traders in the resort in March as a pro bono brand project. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to persuade a group of experts to join me on the project. Scott Poulson at Special Design Studio has created a fabulous new visual identity for the resort. Travel photographer Ian Aitken has created a unique new collection of portraits of the resort and its people. And customer feedback specialist Martin Kentish of Free Range People has initiated an instant text feedback mechanism for visitors to the resort. The big plan is a Scandinavian festival to be held in Hemsby in June 2010, celebrating Hemsby’s Viking origins: an event which we hope will demonstrate Hemsby’s new optimism and its many attractions as a holiday and visitor destination. We’ve already achieved an extraordinary amount of media coverage: and I was recently privileged to speak about the Hemsby project at a special destination branding conference in Stockholm, held by the United Nations World Travel Organisation and the European Travel Commission.

'Woolies' brand lives on

High-street retail casualty Woolworths has been resurrected online… while the brand is still fresh in people's minds. The British public had a great affection for Woolworths so the Shop Direct Group will be keeping the iconic name alive. The new site focuses on the children's wear, toys, party products and pick 'n' mix sweets for which Woolworths was most renowned. Prior to their demise, stores were criticised for a lack of focus so the online reincarnation has an accompanying blog site to poll British families on which lines they'd buy. Whether the brand can survive in the fiercely competitive world of online retailing remains to be seen... www.woolworths.co.uk

End to brand monogamy

The recession is reducing brand monogamy as a huge section of the UK population rethinks how, when and with whom they spend their money, according to marketing analysts Experian. A 'bounce-back consumer' is emerging - whose loyalty has to be won and re-won every day. They are demanding the best of everything across the price/service/quality/value spectrum, and drop the brands that they feel do not fully appreciate - and reward - their custom.
Businesses will need to focus on price, loyalty and service, as part of their brand building, if they want to win the hearts, minds and rebound pounds of the bounce-back consumer.

Habitat - a twit on Twitter

When premium furniture brand Habitat started using social media site Twitter recently, it began its 'tweets' with trending topic tags that had nothing to do with furniture or shopping, to get noticed by the Twitter community. The activity certainly attracted attention... Thanks to Twitter's immediacy and transparency, users quickly picked up on Habitat's spammy behaviour and broadcast their dismay. 'It's not what you’d expect from a classy brand’ as one twitterer put it. Although the offending messages were soon deleted, the brand damage had been done. Just shows why brands engaging with social media should understand it before using it.
Read The Guardian's coverage here

Did You Know?

The new list of top Superbrands for 2009/2010 will be published this month on 13th July. Last year, the BBC and British Airways were ranked in the top five strongest UK consumer brands but it will be interesting to see if they stay so dear in the nation’s heart following recent press on expenses and staff squeezes. More on the results next issue… www.superbrands.com

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