This presentation encapsulates my thoughts expressed in two of my recent blog posts on why brand-building needs to move beyond marketing and into the corporate sphere. Here, I explore and explain how brands are driven by business strategy. How they also add back to the corporate brand to take business strategy forward into new growth areas. With examples of GE, Sony and Pernod Ricard to illustrate my thinking. For more on brands please read my other presentations on Slideshare and visit my blog, www.peripateticperch.com

1. How Brands Propel
How Brands Propel
Business Strategy Forward
Business Strategy Forward
A presentation by Geeta Sundaram

2. All brands start out with a product idea targeted at a particular
customer segment
These are typically products with a differentiator – either in product
or in delivery system – that position themselves in a certain way in
consumers’ minds
The positioning is based on rational as well as emotional factors and
differentiators
Consumers try out the new product, and based on their experience
of it, start to build a relationship with the brand and the company
The company is always at least one step removed from the brand
and therefore doesn’t have a direct relationship with consumers
most often.
The typical brand journey

3. Therefore, brands are usually a
Therefore, brands are usually a
marketing activity, never a corporate one!
marketing activity, never a corporate one!

4. Why this needs to change
Consumers need reassurance of quality and would prefer to know
the entity behind the product
In the digital age, an absolute imperative since the internet
provides two-way communication all the time
It’s always the company to blame when things go wrong with the
product/brand
Most companies make several products that are often bought by
the same consumer and it helps to build familiarity

5. Most importantly, because a successful brand
Most importantly, because a successful brand
can change the future trajectory of the company
can change the future trajectory of the company
and it helps to take customers along
and it helps to take customers along

6. Business strategy, based on defined vision and mission, is
always the starting point
From the business strategy, we derive a marketing and
communications strategy
Brand communication helps establish the positioning of the
new brand and encourages consumer trials
Over time, the brand acquires salience in the market,
eventually leading to brand loyalty
Once it gains brand loyalty, the task is always to retain old
customers and attract new ones
How brands take corporate strategy forward

7. Brands compete with each other and improve along the
way, through relaunches, new variants, line extensions,
etc. based on changes in customers’ preferences,
competitive scenario, technology, etc.
In this process, brands can add value back to the
corporate brand, by strengthening existing capabilities
or adding new ones
This can help the corporate brand move up the value
chain, or in some cases, even expand laterally to a new
product and brand area, based on core strengths and
brand values.
How brands take corporate strategy forward (contd)

8. In other words, consider brands
In other words, consider brands
a propelling business force
a propelling business force

9. Stage 1: Preparation of the route map through brand strategy and
arriving at the marketing and communications strategy for how to
position the brand
Stage 2: Out in the marketplace, competing with other brands and
inviting consumer trials of the product and engaging with them,
building a relationship over several years
Stage 3: Back in the corporate war room, searching for ways the brand’s
achievements in the marketplace can increase the firm’s capabilities in
the category and beyond, through new learnings, brand assets and IP,
and new market potential that might be there to explore.
If we were to consider the brand journey as a tour undertaken in three legs,
this is what we have:
The three legs of the typical brand journey

10. How brands take business strategy forward
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{
Business
Strategy
Brand
Strategy
Brand
Communication
Brand
Salience
Brand adds value
to Corporate Brand
Brand leads Corporate
Strategy forward
Stage 1 of the brand journey
Stage 2 of the brand journey
Stage 3 of the
brand journey

11. Perceptions Experience
Beliefs Identification Brand loyalty
Brand communication to brand salience (Stage 2)
Stage 2 which is all about establishing the new brand and its positioning, takes
several years and works at two levels, that of the consumer and of the business
In consumer terms, brand communication to brand salience and loyalty
encompasses the following stages:
Since I have dealt with Stage 1 of the brand journey in previous presentations, let us
focus on Stages 2 and 3 here.

12. For the business, Stage 2 can be measured in terms of growth in sales, overall
increase in market, increase in market share, extent of trading up or down,
customer’s willingness to pay premium prices, etc.
This is also the stage where multi-product/brand companies can test out their
cross-selling strategies, in order to increase sales, but more importantly to
keep customers in the fold (see the connection with corporate brand already)
These are all indications of just how much traction the brand is gaining among
consumers in the marketplace and the business potential of the market itself.
This is also the stage where companies aim to increase consumption/depth of
consumption through segmentation, product relaunches, line extensions and
new variants, etc.
Finally, Stage 2 is the brand’s performance in the marketplace, where it not
only improves but gathers new experience and learnings through a process of
accretion.
Stage 2 (contd)

13. Back in the corporate war room, assess the product/brand
improvements over the years and what new capabilities it has created
for the company in the category
Increase in share of contribution to total revenue
Increase in share of contribution to profits, through ability to
command premium pricing and obviating the need for product
substitutes
How the new capabilities of the brand/category increase the
company’s lead over competitors in domain expertise as well as in
years
Value of new innovations, brand assets and IP created.
The third leg of the brand journey where it can add value back to the
corporate brand, if channeled well:
Brand adding value to the corporate
brand (Stage 3)

14. When brands manage to build a growing and loyal customer base by
innovating with the times, they don’t merely close the loop when
adding value to the corporate brand
They don’t take the corporate brand down the same circle again either,
but help the company move to a different growth trajectory by
creating another virtuous circle
This could be by helping the company move up the value chain or
helping it move laterally to a related category/industry based on core
strengths and brand values
Imagine these virtuous circles as a coiled spring that keeps expanding.
The examples that follow might help to better illustrate this.
New capabilities to help the company move up
the value chain or diversify

15. The Company has come a long way from Edison’s invention of the electric light bulb
in its 129-year history
With electric power as its core strength for several years, GE diversified into the
consumer appliances industry with its “bringing good things to life” brand
positioning
With electric power still at its core, but with new technology and electronics added
to its capabilities, GE moves into power turbines and nuclear technology
GE also diversifies into aviation and healthcare, by putting imagination to work,
with all its inventions and patents
In the digital, internet-driven age, GE goes into 3D printing or additive
manufacturing and diagnostics for industrial machinery
Poised to go further in powering new technologies using digital technology and IoT,
making it the industrial conglomerate best equipped to take us into the future.
General Electric – power as an idea

16. GE the world's
first electric bulb
GE brings good things
to life through
household appliances
GE the industrial
giant puts
imagination to work
GE takes you
into the digital,
connected future
Progression of the GE brand

17. Sony, “the one and only” makers of Sony Trinitron TVs, Sony HandyCam video cameras,
Sony Walkman and Discman audio devices and Sony PlayStation gaming consoles
dominates the consumer electronics industry
Building on its core strengths in imaging technology and audio, Sony innovates in
bringing new generations of devices to millions around the world
Sony acquires CBS in America in the 1980s and becomes a media and entertainment
company owning a treasure of content, though it continues to focus on its gadgets
Misses opportunity to reposition itself as an infotainment company in the 1990s, by
combining its strengths in imaging, sound and media channels into a cohesive whole
With digital technology, convergence of tech, internet-driven media and
entertainment, as well as streaming, Sony has real opportunity to reposition itself as a
media and entertainment giant, ready to take on the best in the industry.
Live work and play in the SonyStream could well be the new positioning of the
Company, combining content with gadgetry and offering new services through the
internet, which is the future direction of the industry.
Sony – media as entertainment and information

18. Sony, the world's
best-selling consumer
electronics brand
Sony acquires CBS in
the US and becomes a
media and
entertainment company
Sony brings you the
best of all worlds
with SonyStream
Progression of the Sony brand

19. France’s No 1 anis-based pastis drink-maker, Pernod Ricard enjoys pride of
place in the French beverage alcohol industry, especially in the South of
France
In 2001, it makes an audacious move to acquire Seagram, the world’s No 2
wines and spirits company
From French pastis, Pernod Ricard is catapulted into the international world
of fine wines and spirits consumption
With the spirit of conviviality as their core value, Pernod Ricard can compete
with Diageo by making better and more knowledgeable consumers of wines
and spirits
Diageo dominates through market share by acquiring largest brands in
important markets and is the leader in whiskies
While Pernod Ricard can make connoisseurs of its consumers through
connecting better with them and through its wider repertoire of drinks that
are truly international.
Pernod Ricard – conviviality as savoire faire

20. Pernod Ricard,
makers of France's
No 1 pastis drinks
Pernod Ricard acquires
Seagram to become the
world's No 2 wines and
spirits company
Pernod Ricard is the
world's best guide
to savoir faire in
fine living
Progression of the Pernod Ricard brand

21. Put the brand at the centre of your business
Integrate your product and corporate brands better
Always focus on core strengths and core brand values
Use your brands to innovate and create new capabilities
Let those new capabilities lead your company to growth and
a new future.
In conclusion:
Let the brand propel your business forward

22. For more on brands, visit the Business and Brands page on my blog,
www.peripateticperch.com and check out my other slide presentations on SlideShare.