There has been a lot of talk lately about breaking up tech monopolies. They have too much power. They inflate prices due to lack of competition. They tilt supply chains in their favor. All true. To the winners go the spoils until the government steps in. Or unions step in. AT&T was broken up when it gained too much power. I predicted Google would be broken up years ago; I’m still waiting. Monopolies are polarizing.
But in brand strategy, the goal of the brand planners to create a “thought monopoly.” That is, to establish impenetrable discrete values for a brand that customers want and at which the brand excels. I call them care-abouts and good-ats. At What’s The Idea? the brand values are 3, no more. The rule of three. And all brand values support a brand claim. The claim being a single idea, easily conveyed. Think of it as a tagline or tagline facsimile.
And though it’s a thought monopoly, the charter of the brand planner is not messaging alone. Thoughts are developed with proof and action. The fastest way to a thought is experience. So good brand strategy informs the product, the experience and the messaging.
No brand planner is happier than when they hear consumers play back to them the values they seed and plant in the consuming world. These values are the foundation of good commerce, of good branding.
Peace.
