The latest book from the Ehrenberg-Bass institute is a fascinating foundation on distinctive brand assets - if you want to understand the science behind why distinctive assets matter, how to build them and crucially how to manage them, read on.
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Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk
It’s a sunny morning and you’re walking along almost any busy street in the world,
searching for a quick cup of coffee before a morning meeting. Up ahead, you spot a
circular logo and you instantly know you’ve found your morning coffee fix. The logo does
not include the word “coffee,” or even visually imply it — showing a white mermaid
against a green background — but your brain has been programed to effortlessly
associate it with the worldwide coffeehouse chain, Starbucks.
The Starbucks logo is a prime example of a distinctive brand asset, a component of a
brand’s identity that triggers the brand in the minds of consumers; they can be anything
that help consumers distinguish one brand from another - from a font or colour scheme to
a slogan or logo. These assets must be memorable enough to claim a spot in consumers’
endlessly busy minds and lives – a task that is becoming harder as the world becomes
more cluttered.
“Only the actions that have fought through barriers of
inattention and mental competition make a lasting impact on
category buyers.”
In her book Building Distinctive Brand Assets, author Jenni Romaniuk of the Ehrenberg-
Bass Institute — the Marketing Science institution responsible for research from Byron
Sharpe — first identifies what she calls the “seven costly sins of brand identity.” These are
actions by which brands unintentionally diminish the value of their distinctive assets.
Romaniuk then offers strategies for overcoming these missteps, while providing readers
with an overall foundation for understanding how distinctive assets work.
The task of building and maintaining a portfolio of distinctive brand assets that work
together effectively is not an easy one: but Romaniuk brings together theories,
measurement approaches and metrics, and advice on implementation and asset
management, to help brands navigate some of the challenges that they are likely to face.
For instance:
GLUTTONY
Gluttony is embodied in brand identity when a brand feels the urge to constantly change
and tweak its distinctive brand assets; a problem when you bear in mind that consistency
is the key to a strong identity.
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Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk
“Over time the link between the asset and the brand
strengthens such that even without the brand present, the
distinctive asset triggers the brand in the memory of
category buyers.”
Brand assets must be recognisable to be effective, so the importance of asset consistency
seems intuitive — but when faced with a decline in sales or growth, brand managers often
feel pressured to update assets. This may seem like a quick fix for the issue, but this is
hardly ever the case. Constant changes are unnecessary, even harmful, in building or
maintaining a brand.
GREED
Greed manifests when a brand tries to build too many distinctive assets simultaneously,
writes Romaniuk. This can lead to fragmentation, with no asset being given sufficient
resources to develop and succeed. Greed can cause a brand to spread its resources too
thinly, inhibiting the growth and maintenance of the brand’s distinctive assets overall;
instead brands must be ruthless in prioritising their most effective assets.
SLOTH
Sloth is demonstrated in the neglect of distinctive brand assets. Sloth can be particularly
damaging to a brand due to the nature of the human memory, which is perpetually
eroding and therefore must be constantly refreshed in order to remember and recall
information.
“The natural state of memory is decay, which means
distinctive assets need to be put to work.”
Brands must keep distinctive assets present in the lives and minds of consumers — or face
weakened assets and a weakened brand identity.
LUST
Lust in the world of branding is “that constant craving for the next big thing…[and] leads
to focusing on the new, but untested assets and ignoring the older, well-established
assets.” Relocating resources from older to newer assets leaves existing assets vulnerable
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Building Distinctive Brand Assets by Jenni Romaniuk
to both decay and attack from competitors. Thus, it is important to be able to recognise
when allocating resources to a new asset is the most efficient use of resources — the new
asset must add something meaningful to the brand portfolio.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK
Building Distinctive Brand Assets is billed as “for anyone with a brand logo, font or colour
scheme… [with] particular relevance for those who have wondered if (or have been told)
it’s time for a change”. The book is a solid reminder, as you might expect from the
Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, of the importance of keeping some things consistent in the fast-
paced world we live in. Consistency is key to stronger assets, and without these, a brand
will be unable to stand out in the marketplace and, ultimately, will struggle to have a
lasting impact on consumers.
But as well as those tasked with managing a brand, the book is a fascinating foundation in
brand assets for anyone with an interest; it is grounded in extensive research and offers
data-driven strategies for smarter, evidence-based marketing, that make this book
relevant for all marketers.
