This document discusses the importance of defining a brand through answering tough questions about the brand's story, message, and value proposition. It introduces the Brand Genome Process, which is a 3-step method to define the Unique Brand Proposition. This proposition forms the foundation of all branding communications and marketing activities. Defining the brand ensures the marketing strategy enhances perceptions and differentiation in order to increase loyalty and growth.

2. LET’S START BY ASKING SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS
Any meaningful marketing strategy
begins with defining your brand and
defining your brand means
answering some tough questions.
Like:
What's your (brand) story? What's your
message? Why should I choose
you? What’s in it for me? Why do
you (brand) matter? Why should I
care?

3. B4B HELPS ANSWER THOSE TOUGH QUESTIONS
B4B's Brand Genome Process helps
answer the kind of questions you
need to know before you spend any
money on marketing.
It also enables you to define your brand
values, your brand drivers and
most importantly your Unique
Brand Proposition (UBP).
The UBP is not only the foundation of
all internal and external brand
communications, it's the blueprint
for turning all of your marketing
activities into effective business
growth measure.

4. WHY BRANDING MAKES PERFECT BUSINESS SENSE
In todays digital world people simply
have too many choices and too
little time to make decisions.
From a consumers point of view
most offerings seem similar in
quality and features.
As a result, people tend to base their
decisions either on PRICE or on
PERCEPTION.

5. PRICE OR PERCEPTION
Take computers – there are literally
thousands of computers in the
market, so how do a consumers
decide which one to buy? Let’s
say price is the driving
motivation. Fact is even in a
particular price category, there
are countless brands to choose
from.

6. PERCEPTION
Here’s where the brand perception
makes all the difference. A
strong brand confirms the
customers expectations and his
emotional needs. It generates
greater loyalty and turns
customers into ambassadors.

7. WHAT IS A BRAND ANYWAY?
A brand is your customer’s perception
of what your company is all about.
It’s their gut feeling about your
business, your products, your
services.
Keep in mind –
People are emotional, intuitive
beings. They are not just looking to
acquire something, they are looking
for confirmation of their beliefs or
way of life.

8. PERCEPTION IS REALITY
So a brand is NOT just a logo, an
identity or an offer…
When it comes to branding -
it’s not what YOU say you
are, it’s what THEY feel you
are!

9. THE BRAND GENOME PROCESS
The BGP is a 3-step result-driven,
methodical process that leads to
the definition of a Unique Brand
Proposition (UBP).
.

10. THE UNIQUE BRAND PROPOSITION
The UBP is the foundation for
developing a compelling and
differentiating brand communication
strategy designed to ensure
increasing brand value and
sustainable growth.

11. THE 4 BRAND GENES
1) The Category Gene
- Defines socio-cultural
environment, trends, developments
and brand drivers.
- Target audience
- Category competition
- Positioning claim comparison
- Category structure and customer
needs analysis

12. THE 4 BRAND GENES
2) The Identity Gene
- competitive range analysis
- brand perceptions, beliefs
- positioning claims evaluation
- brand history

13. THE 4 BRAND GENES
3) The Performance Gene
- Performance profile analysis
- Performance claims evaluation
- Factual market positioning
- Performance rationale in relation
to brand claim

14. THE 4 BRAND GENES
4) The Emotional Gene
- Vision
- Purpose
- Desirability
- Relevance

15. STEP 1: BRAND ASSESSMENT
All (brand) stakeholders meet for a round-
table session to discuss the
perceptions and opinions of the
respective participants following a
customized questionnaire based on
the 4 brand genome categories.
Everyone is asked to respond to each
question in writing.
It’s paramount that those in the company
that influence and determine the
brand’s public perception take part in
this meeting. (Having said that, the
number of participants should not
exceed 10 members.)
The moderator should spend up to 1 hour
for each category, which means the
entire session should not exceed 4
hours.

16. STEP 2: EVALUATION
The collective responses are analyzed
and evaluated according to the
different gene categories to
determine the vitality of the brand
and to determine the brand features
that have the most differentiation
potential.

17. UNIQUE BRAND PROPOSITION
This also creates the strategic
foundation for the Brand Pyramid.
The pyramid is a unique
compression tool, which
summarizes the 6 brand factors to
determine the UNIQUE BRAND
PROPOSITION.

18. THE BRAND PYRAMID
THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

19. STEP 3: CREATIVE PLATFORM
Based on the Unique Brand Positioning
a creative platform is established
that serves as the guideline for
designing distinctive brand
communication tools and selecting
the most effective brand media
outlets.

20. SUMMARY
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share
one of my greatest passions: Helping
businesses to discover what makes them
unique, relevant and desirable.
Hopefully this short presentation has inspired
you to consider discovering what makes your
company unique and relevant in this noisy
and overcrowded market place.
I look forward to to starting our journey with you!
Robert J. Bee
CEO Bee4Brands
239-220-0564
bee@bee4brands.com