Hello everyone. How busy have you been trying to decode the personality of a favorite brands? Come on, practice, you should practice and practice, only practice makes perfect. Brand values are linked to brand personality. But what we've seen, the personality refers to how the brand acquires human-like aspects in terms of how it behaves. Brand values are the true North of a brand, s cluster of meanings and after it concepts of what is desirable and what other brands' principles and standards. That is what the brand stands for and believes in. Sometimes, you will see a strong link between the two. As with brand personality, brand values are also confirmed by what both actual customers, non-customers, or potential customers are saying. So, in any brand house exercise, you must take into account the general impression your brand has on the whole brand churn, even if you would normally be more receptive to feedback given by your own consumers. Brand values are so important to a brand. Their standard is very core. They are at the center from which everything radiate, and these includes communications, design, voice, tone and feel, and customer service amongst others. Most practitioners argue, brand values help to capture the three P's of a brand. These are not the four P's of marketing. We're not talking about marketing. So, we're not referring to price, or promotion, or place, or product. The three P's of a brand are: proposition, personality, and purpose. We have already covered the first two. In this session and the next, we need to cover purpose. Because without values to guide you, your brand will seem just like any other. As it loses its effectiveness and recognizability, your brand growth will suffer. So, how do you go about defining and identifying your brand values? Basically, you talk to non-consumers to reject this, to potential customers, to your core consumers. What do they all agree on? This will be the negatives and the positives. The first thing you need to do is to leave ego at the door. Focus on what you truly stand for, not the idealized version of your brand. If you start with values you don't like, you will end up articulating what you've really are like. I dislike Ryanair intensely, it feels cheap with all the yellow plastic. So, if I had to create an airline, I would go for detail and fight for value such as refinement. But if I was suddenly working for Ryanair and had to define a core brand value for the brand, I would leverage its rawness, its no frills, its crudeness. I would argue a core Ryanair value is realistic or frank, and there is a value in that. You must also go about describing your brand in quick words or short sentences. Think Apple, I instantly think innovative, challenging, cool. Steve Jobs once said," To me, marketing is all about values This is a very complicated world. It's a very noisy world. We're not going to get the chance to get to people to remember much about us, no company is". So, we have to be really clear on what we want them to know about us. You need to stick to consistency, fewer values that you can sustain through time. Consistency is the true brand builder. Only when you stay true to your values and are consistent in communicating them, do you have any chance that everyone has a relationship with your brand says the same thing about you whether it's a consumer or a shareholder, whether they buy you or they hate you. So, let's have a quick list to do's in brand values. First, keep them memorable, this means short. It's easier to remember for four than five, and never more than ten. Then, keep them meaningful. They reflect who you are, they are things you're willing to stand behind to fight for as a business. There is passion behind brand values. Also, they need to be actionable. Integrity is wonderful, but it's vague and it doesn't articulate how someone should act. Choose honesty instead, it is an action that shows integrity. Next, make sure they are well-defined. Netflix created an entire slide deck that explains in full detail what each value means. They called this the Nine Netflix Company values: judgment, communication, impact, curiosity, innovation, courage, passion and honesty. Google this if you have time, you won't be disappointed. Then, ensure, please ensure, they are unique to you. Yes, there might be other businesses with similar words or statements, but the entirety of that list should be unique to your brand, pretty much like your DNA. Finally, never forget, values are timeless. Yes, they're shaped by experience but they should not change. If they do, only with a great deal of consideration. They are the signposts for everything you do, still waiver or sway from them. Values are often so central to a brand, you can capture them in your perceptual maps which we covered in the last module. Go back and practice, relate to these two concepts. In the next video, we will look in detail into brand vision. So, stay tuned.
