Definition
Simply put When an organization promises features, benefits and experience of it’s brand to it’s customer, then that promise in called Brand Promise
And it’s the organization’s responsibility to see that, that promised is fulfilled. Brand promise is not just some words you put together to dupe your customer. It is something you live as a brand.
Building blocks of a great brand promise
1. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Complex sentences and hard words are hard to remember, and they usually don’t trigger the same emotions that simple words do. A brand promise you can’t remember is an example of a bad brand promise.
A catchy yet simple play of words that represent your brand’s actual promise will take your brand far.
2. Credibility at stake
As stated earlier, if you can not live up to a promise, don’t make it. It is no different than a promise you make as a person to your friend.
A no promise is better than a broken promise, so make sure you have system in place to meet the expectation of your customers.
3. Did someone say unique?
Brand promise is not just a promise, it is a voice that distinguish you from your competitors.
With so much marketing noise around us it is becoming hard day by day to stand out from the crowd.
Just remember, it doesn’t always have to be about your brand. It is even better if it’s about your audience, your target market. If you promise to solve my problem, you got my ears.
4. Is your promise memorable?
Can you make your brand promise memorable?
Like Britannia’s: “Eat Healthy, Think Better”? A memorable promise can become an another identifiable brand asset, just like an audio logo or a visual logo.
5. Inspire me
As we discussed in brand experience people move if they feel an emotional connect with something. Can you create a promise that will inspire people?
Something like “Just do it” or “Think different” ?
Having said that, it doesn’t always have to be inspiring or moving emotionally, it can simply be Geico: “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance.”
Some Examples of great brand promise
01. Britannia – ‘Eat Healthy, Think Better’
Britannia is making a promise to deliver healthy snacks and biscuits. And healthy food will help you think better.
What they did is, they combined, what they promise to deliver and what a person’s gain in it is.
02. Hutch/Vodafone – ‘Wherever you go, we follow’
A promise to provide good network connectivity wherever you are.
You see how this has the ability to become a joke if Vodafone fail to deliver this ?
03. BMW: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”
Company claims to produce only the best vehicles. When they say ultimate driving machine they are not just talking about one aspect of a vehicle, it encompasses every aspect of the vehicle. And the joy of driving such vehicle.
04. Apple: “Think different”
It is a very cleaver promise, it promises to create products based on seeing the world differently and also inspire consumer of these products to think differently.
Psst… it’s a shrug off to IBM’s “Think”
05. Walmart: “Save money. Live better”
Walmart is a company which is playing a race to bottom in a price war and winning it too. And their promise is testament to it. They cleverly combined the feature and benefit their brand offers is short memorable phrase.
Conclusion
Take time to define what your brand stands for, define the brand theme, collect all the benefits, both tangible and non tangible and then brainstorm what you want to convey with your brand promise. To learn more about branding process, Read 5 steps to building a successful brand.
