What a Brand is vs What a Brand is not

What a Brand is vs What a Brand is not

A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a product (in a lot of contexts it is used interchangeably with a product). Albeit, it takes the form of these two; but a brand is much more than a logo or a product.  According to branding expert and famous author Allen Adamson, a brand is “something that lives in your head. It’s a promise that links a product or service to a consumer. Whether words, or images, or emotions, or any combination of the three, brands are mental associations that get stirred up when you think about or hear about a particular car or camera, watch, pair of jeans, bank, beverage, TV network, organization, celebrity, or even country.” It is the feeling a person has about a product, service, or company.

These means brands are defined by people. Not by companies, marketing departments, advertising agencies, or CEOs. A brand is not what you say it is. It’s what they say it is.

A brand’s fundamental characteristic is that it is a promise. As a promise, it offers specifics benefits and values and it is meaningful and relevant to its users and different from the competition. It is this promise that makes a brand distinct. The promise is therefore a brands very essence, its soul. If it seizes to consistently deliver on its promise then it is dead! Look at this way; a brand is the reason why you buy a Sony television instead of a Philip’s even though both products might have the same basic specifications. So why buy a Sony if it stops to fulfill your expectations?

Lets share these 13 definitions of brand from www.how-to-branding.com. The definitions will help us understand better what a brand is. Savour them.

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy. It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by award-winning advertising as well as the god-awful ads that slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, slipped into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best employee—the shining star in the company who can do no wrong—as well as the mishaps of the worst hire you ever made. It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are subjected to when placed on hold. For every grand and finely worded statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory consumer comments overheard in a hallway, or in a chat room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become psychological concepts held in the minds of the public, where they may stay forever. As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best you can only guide and influence it.”

“A brand is more than just advertising and marketing. It is nothing less than everything anyone thinks of when they see your logo or hear your name.”
David F. D’Alessandro

Your brand is the truth about you, well told.
Unknown

“A brand is a promise about who you are and what benefits you deliver that gets reinforced every time people come in contact with any facet of you or your business.    Bill Chiaravalle and Barbara Findlay Schenk

“A brand is not simply the message the marketer intends to send to a customer. A brand is the message the customer perceives about the product, which may be something altogether different than the message the marketer intended to send.”
Steve Yastrow

“A brand is not a product: it is the product’s source, its meaning, and its direction, and defines its identity in time and space.”
Jean-Noel Kapferer

“A brand is a promise wrapped in an experience—a consistent promise wrapped in a consistent experience.”
Charlie Hughes and William Jeanes

 “A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect.”

Al Ries

A brand is the sum total of all the mental associations, good and bad that are triggered by a name.”
Roy H. Williams

“Brands are defined by the customer. They exist as a feeling that extends beyond the product itself. The brand experience includes your marketing, customer service, even feelings shared customer to customer.”
T. Scot Gross

 “Brands are decision-making shortcuts in a world of people like you looking for shortcuts.”
Harry Beckwith

“A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiate them from those of the competition.”
American Marketing Association

“A brand is essentially a container for a customer’s complete experience with the product or company.”
Sergio Zyman

I believe we are on the same page now as regards what a brand is and what it is not. Next up is branding.

Chris Tion is the Managing Partner at BohoMedia Limited a Brand Management Agency in Abuja.

NaNeN's Dedication

The cool morning breeze of May 2, 2010, didn't only herald the birth of a beautiful Sunday, it also ushered in a special day in my life; Nanen's Dedication and Thankgiving Mass.

Ok sorry. Nanen is my daughter, she was born January 31, 2010. Dedication and Thanksgiving Mass is our way of saying thank you to God for her life. It is also an opportunity to host family and friends in celebration.

The day turned out very well. All my elder sisters from Makurdi came and it was fun all the way. T2's (my wife Ngodoo is T2) aunties and cousins also showed up, so did lots of my friends. It was a fun-filled day and quite memorable.

I had feared the worst because of the people I know; I was expecting a large crowd so I was afraid I would run out of food and drinks. But thank God my fears came to naught. The crowd was just okay and the food adequate.

Turned out to be a real great day for Nanen, She was very beautiful in her pink dress and wore a cheerful look all day. My friends were all falling over themselves to hold her. Felt really proud being her daddy!

Today, we say, no more

OPEN LETTER FROM NIGERIAN WRITERS
Nigeria's failure to make the progress commensurate with 50 years of nation-building is not just a failure of leadership. It is first and most catastrophically, a failure of followership.
As ordinary Nigerians, we have failed to create an environment where good leadership can thrive. By glamorising fraud and ineptitude, we have created a country hostile to probity. Our expectation from Government House is mediocrity, so that good government surprises us pleasantly and excellence continues to amaze us.
Instead of an environment of accountability, we have fostered sycophancy. We have been content to follow every stripe of leader - from the thief to the buffoon. The consequence is that for months we have been happy to be ruled even in absentia.

Today, we say, no more
Protest is not a dirty word. Even babies have a voice, long before they learn language or discernment. The child that is too docile to cry when it hungers or ails might die in the hands of the most benevolent mother. A leadership, however benevolent, requires an intelligent, demanding, and courageous followership to excel.
It is the responsibility of every Nigerian to voice the legitimate expectations of nation and to establish the standards to which our leaders must be held. We must expect great things from this country, so we must look for the leaders who can deliver. There is an acceptable standard of leadership, and then there is an unacceptable standard. We must honour leaders who excel, and censure leaders - at every level, and in every arm of government - who betray our trust.
If failure is not censured, there is no incentive in pursuing excellence. If sacrificial leadership is not recognised, then leaders of merit will not come forward, and the heroes in our cenotaphs will be the very architects of our failure as a nation. Although, we are justly famous for our generosity of spirit, for our ability to forgive and forget the gravest transgressions, Nigerians must also now boldly condemn the errors of leadership, and end the complacency that has brought us so low as a country.
The only reason for the existence of political leaders is to offer service to nation. Leadership is not an end in itself. It is a privilege to serve your country; leadership is not a right to be served by your country.
Today, Nigeria stands on a precipice. Behind us is a history that can push us, irrevocably, over the brink. Yet, we are writers. If we bring anything collectively to society, it must be the imagination and the inspiration to bridge impossible gulfs. Today, we must plumb our history, not to evoke despair, but to inspire resolve. Today, we call on Nigerians to hold hands across the trenches of our deep divisions and, somehow, find the resolution to dream again.

Reject ethnic fictions
Let us, as ordinary Nigerians, reject the ethnic fictions that local despots have used to colonise this country over the past five decades.
Let us dream a simple dream made fantastic by our present circumstances. Let us dream of a Nigeria that works, that evokes pride, and that inspires faith. Let us dream of a Nigeria of servant-leaders and sacrificial statesmen, a Nigeria which calls the best characteristics out of ordinary men and women. Let us call on that capacity for renewal to bring opportunity out of this crisis.
Let us recreate the excitement - and the possibilities - with which we approached the Independence Day of 1960.
In 50 years, the resources and destiny of this great country have been hijacked by private carpetbaggers and adventurers. Let us take back the sanctity of our polls. Let us rejuvenate the recall process. Let us police our resources, our leadership. We must liberate Nigeria anew. Today, we must take back our country.
As writers, the past and the future are fertile fields for the work of our imagination. Today, in this love-letter to our nation, we call on all Nigerians to take authorship of our nation's next 50 years. Our destiny is in our own hands.
Shall we write into it a bigger civil war? Another half-century of mediocrity and international disgrace? Then we need do nothing. But if we, the people of Nigeria, must write an inspirational epic of a humbled nation on her knees, who, breaking free of bondage, soars into the keep of eagles, we must begin by demanding only the best of our leaders.
In the days and months to come, we the people must find our voice, our votes, and our true values. And we must make them count.
Thank you.

Chuma Nwokolo • Abdul Mahmud • Afam Akeh • Helon Habila • Paul Onovoh • Chika Unigwe • Jude Dibia • Okey Ndibe • Chilo Zona Eze • EC Osondu • Tade Ipadeola • Unoma Azuah • Shola Adenekan • Amatoritsero Ede • Lola Shoneyin • Uzor Maxim Uzoatu • Ikhide Ikheloa • Uche Peter Umez • Nnorom Azuonye • Richard Mammah • Chike Ofili • Obiwu • Uche Nduka • Ogaga Ifowodo • Richard Ugbede Ali • Maik Nwosu • Akin Adesokan • Obi Nwakanma

THE ART OF LISTENING IN THE WORKPLACE

THE ART OF LISTENING IN THE WORKPLACE
Introduction
Listening is a very demanding process and perhaps the most critical element in language and language learning, for it is the key to speaking, and beyond that, reading and writing, (Rivers, 1981). Particularly in the workplace, listening is used at least three times as much as speaking, and four to five times as much as reading and writing. At all levels --- from entry level to managerial --- listening is perceived as crucial for communication, (Dozer, 1991).

MAN

MAN

Man of God’s image
But of an ungodly image
Man
Of virtue pronounce
But of vice in abundance
Man
Of time removed
But of ways unmoved
Man
A most honourable friend
But a horrible fiend