Readers and clients know my brand framework revolves around “one claim and three proof planks.” To readers passing in the night and the those steeped in brand-speak and the many theories of brand planning, claim and proof may just be new flavors of the same old. But to those who have actually been through the What’s The Idea? planning rigor, the notion of mining proofs is unique brandcraft. When president Trump says there’s election fraud, that’s a claim. When he actually trots out proof of fraud we (will) take notice. When a bank says it offers the best customer service, that’s a claim. When they take 15 minutes to pull up your computer records that’s the opposite of proof.
But when talking about brand planning and brand strategy, claim and proof aren’t always the catalysts that cause people to buy. It’s inside baseball. It’s fill-in-the-blank stuff. Generic inputs. Only when they see actual proofs from their own company does it make sense. Does it become salient.
I’ve landed on a new rubric for selling brand strategy that is aligned with proofs but uses a notion which is much more easily understood. It revolves around a word more obvious in its ties to selling: Persuasion. Rather than call the selling keystones of brand strategy proofs, I will begin calling them persuasions. Proof out of context is generic science. Persuasion, as a word, stands on its own.
Stay tuned for more discussions of the framework around persuasions. It’s going to be fun!
Peace.
