This presentation was given for the Mancom class of 2008-2009 as part of the class Brand Communication.

1. Brand Warfare
David F. D’Alessandro
10 rules for building
the killer brand
Michaël huyghens, Gert Maes, Joey Van Locke, Anneke Schack, Lowie Van Holme and Gert-Jan Jeddens

2. BRAND WARFARE (2001)
David F. D’Alessandro
CAREER WARFARE (2004)
100 Most Powerful People in Sports ’02 (Sporting News)
Four Best New CEOs ‘01 (Money)
50 Best CEOs ‘01 (Worth)
EXECUTIVE WARFARE (2008)
Marketeer of the Year ‘86 (Ad week)

3. It’s the brand, stupid

4. THE EARLIERS NOW
The number-one brand simply No longer the biggest guy
stayed the number-one who wins, but the fastest,
brand smartest guy with the best
command of new
technologies

5. 3 events toppled the number-one brands:
1. Consumers’ attitudes changed
2. It costs less to enter a business and create brand
3. The unlimited access to information that consumers now
have

6. Customers have infinite knowledge and choice
Sell an experience!

7. Codependency can be beautiful

8. Paradox
The more brands consumers have to choose from, the more
they need to cling to one good brand

9. Good brands do 3 things for stressed-out
consumers:
1. Saving time
2. Projecting the right message
3. Providing an identity

10. The brands: comfort, trust, convenience and identity.
Consumers: promise
Consumers need good brands as much as good
brands need them

11. Rule 3:
A great brand message is like a
bucking bronco - Once you’re on,
don’t let go

12. • Brand message = most important
• New brand Established brand

13. • No need vast advertising budgets
– First wave e-commerce
• Back to old media
– Second wave e-commerce

14. Then why are so many ads so obscure?
Engineers not marketeers
Perpetual spinelessness
Apple (1984)
Legitimacy

16. It was
no

17. Only established brands
are allowed to be obscure
Communicate, do not celebrate
A brand message has to speak to consumers

18. and
Knowledge
•Self-knowledge Discipline
•Self-awareness

19. Keep it relevant
– A brand message
• Never ending
• Cannot stand still
• Can be remade
Keep it consistent
– Virgin example

20. If you want great advertising,
be prepared to fight for it.
Rule 4

21. • Brand
= Know where it stands for
= To give a voice through advertising
• NOT Personality-free clichés

22. Advertising Agencies
don’t want to help !
– Flatter the client and win the
account
– Generate the greatest revenue

23. The key to great advertising
“A lot of people who know nothing somehow feel
completely qualified to override the ideas of people
who spend their lives writing, designing, casting
and directing advertising.”
I’m not a creative person, but …

24. BE MEMORABLE
• Most companies are afraid to produce
advertisings that suggests anything
unpleasant.
• DON’T BE AFRAID OF CONTROVERSY.

25. • Don’t change the advertising
because you’re bored with it
It doesn’t mean that
the public is tired of it
• Tell the story of your brand

26. 1. Know what your brand stands for
2. Let the creative people write and design
3. Protect the creatives
Great work will follow its own accord

28. Make use of the HALO effect
Transferring emotion
from an event or
person to the
sponsoring brand

30. Halo
Effect
Positive
Effect

31. But do not forget that sponsorships are risky
Halo effect Horn effect

32. Horn
Effect

33. Negative Effect

35. Get in for the right reasons
Think twice before spending millions of
marketing dollars

36. Understand your players
Know what to expect from
the sharks

37. The Event Organiser
• Do not allow your exclusiveness to be attacked.
• Get it in writing
Be tough, or be
prepared to be
gouged

38. The Television Networks
• The network probably overpaid for the sports
property.
• Buy only the commercial time you need to buy
Any more is wasted.

39. The athletes and their
entourages
• Olympic games
sponsored by REEBOK
– The Event REEBOK
– Athletes NIKE
• Who do you think was
remembered?
So don’t waste money

40. Look for a balance
of power
Event organizer
Athletes
Sponsor
Television networks

41. DO NOT CONFUSE
SPONSORSHIP WITH A
SPECTATORSHIP

42. HALO

43. Reaching millions
85%
Industry
leaders
80%
excellence
& quality
Good Cause

44. Use your sponsorship

45. Use your sponsorship

46. 1. Check the moment
2.Win goodwill
3. Appreciation

47. Right Expectations

48. Right Expectations
This is not Halo!!
15%: More likely to buy
50%: actively hostile Inkind Marketing

49. Real
Measurable

50. Sponsorship = Investment
Not working? GET OUT!

51. DO NOT ALLOW
SCANDAL TO
DESTROY IN 30
DAYS A BRAND
THAT TOOK 100
YEARS TO BUILD.

53. Scandals
DOVE AXE
UNILEVER

54. Brand is
destiny
Are you really as greedy as you are portrayed?

55. You need a basis
of trust

56. Define YOURSELF
Key rule of marketing:
Do not allow your enemy to define you

57. 1
You
can
be
better

58. 2 You can be cheaper

59. 3
You can
attack

62. Failure
to
answer,
makes
you
look
weak

63. Do not stall
You can run, but
you can not hide

64. The Perrier benzene scandal

65. MAKE YOUR
DISTRIBUTORS
SLAVES TO YOUR
BRAND

66. Internet: liberated consumer

67. Death of the salesman
1. Willingness of manufacturers
2. Ignorance of consumers

68. Smart brand do not frustrate their consumers!
Face up to your limitations

69. Beat your distributors into submission by creating
demand for your brand

70. USE YOUR
BRAND TO
LEAD YOUR
PEOPLE TO
THE
PROMISED
LAND

71. “What do you do?”
Your identity
=
What you accomplish

72. Looking for a job
The pay
The position
Character of the work environment
Those are sacrificed

73. The best people want to work for the best
brands

74. Why?
• Status
• Personality of the workplace
• Big names: magic on a résumé

75. A strong brand makes a tough decison easier
See the various points of view through
the prism of the brand.
The Brand
What do I have to do to support the brand?

76. A strong brand will inspire the people
on the inside
The greatest motivator: the brand
=> a greater purpose
=> let your people live the brand

77. Ultimately, the brand is the CEO’s
responsibility – and everyone
else’s, too

78. 1. Convince your employees to worry about the
brand
2. Keep the brand front and center in
all decisions

79. 3.Do not forget what the brand means
4. A healthy respect
for the brand is
contagious

80. Conclusion
“Will the decision hurt or help the brand?”
A business focused on its brand is a business
primed for success!

81. It’s the brand, stupid

82. Codependency can be beautiful

83. Rule 3:
A great brand message is like a
bucking bronco - Once you’re on,
don’t let go

84. If you want great advertising,
be prepared to fight for it.
Rule 4

86. DO NOT CONFUSE
SPONSORSHIP WITH A
SPECTATORSHIP

87. DO NOT ALLOW
SCANDAL TO
DESTROY IN 30
DAYS A BRAND
THAT TOOK 100
YEARS TO BUILD.

88. MAKE YOUR
DISTRIBUTORS
SLAVES TO YOUR
BRAND

89. USE YOUR
BRAND TO
LEAD YOUR
PEOPLE TO
THE
PROMISED
LAND

90. Ultimately, the brand is the CEO’s
responsibility – and everyone
else’s, too

91. ? ? ?
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