A Strong Is-Does

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Back in the day, I was on a McCann-Erickson task force for business client AT&T and we created a tome entitled “Emerging markets? Does advertising drive adoption?” We looked at numerous categories of new products, with a particular view toward technology, and compared units sales to annual advertising expenditures. A statistics nerd then used some formula with a funny symbol the word “slope” in it to prove advertising did, indeed, drive product purchase.

 

That was then….when people were educated about products and services through TV ads, print ads, radio ads and brochures.

 

Today, many new products are first introduced to consumers online. The FUE (first user experience) of a product happens above the fold on a home page. A well defined, well thought out brand does a good job with this. Most don’t. Steve Rubel posted today about how poorly, even the top tier social media sites explain their services. Check it out here.

 

The Is-Does

A good brand plan articulates what a brand Is and what it Does. And it accomplishes this in a simple, unambiguous, differentiated statement. I call this the Is-Does. A string Is/Does is the most important step toward brand success. Peace!