Jason Conn introduced Mark Speece, who is
the Chief Executive Officer and Naming Director of
800 Degrees. His expertise in name
development, naming systems and naming tools has
been used by some of the world's best-known
branding firms. Prior to founding the
Atlanta-based brand consultancy with Natalie Ross,
Mark was responsible for verbal branding practices
at FutureBrand and Landor New York, as well as
corporate branding for The Sterling Group.
Historically, Mark has managed large-scale
programs including global repositioning and brand
architecture development, as well as directed
numerous naming and renaming assignments for
clients such as Boston Scientific, Delphi, DuPont,
Dow Chemical, Ford, General Motors, Microsoft,
Motorola, Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble, SunTrust,
Turner Broadcasting and Visa.
A
noted industry expert who develops and manages
brands that inspire, endure and create measurable
marketplace advantage, Mark is an adjunct
instructor at Emory University's Goizueta School
of Business and a guest lecturer at the University
of Virginia. His branding insights have been
reported by media outlets including Ad Age,
Brandweek, BusinessWeek, CNBC, USA Today,
Automotive News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
Atlanta Business Chronicle and Richmond
Times-Dispatch.
Mark lives locally and is
married with two daughters.
Mark
began his presentation with a discussion of the
definition of branding. Traditionally, "brand" has
been defined as a trademark or distinctive name
identifying a product or manufacturer, but Mark
claims that the definition for marketing purposes
should be more closely aligned with "personality"
- the totality of qualities and traits that
distinguish an individual, nation, or group.
The logo, music, packaging, "take away"
impression, and all unique characteristics are
included in the brand of a product. A brand,
just as in the old days of branding cattle and
sheep, should reveal ownership and remind a
potential consumer of reputation.
Branding
has changed over recent years. Yesterday's
brands were built with a consistent message, often
a tag line, repeated over and over again.
More money spent on advertising helped lead to a
stronger brand (example: Maxwell House -
Good to the Last Drop). Today, consistent
corporate behavior is the key to branding. More
emphasis on a consistent consumer experience leads
to a stronger brand (example: Starbucks - we may
not know the tag line, but we may be able to
describe the consistent experience). Tag
lines are not as useful or significant in today's
economy. Facebook did not need to brand a
tag line; it did accomplish the "branding" of an
online experience.
Today's challenges in
the branding arena include the commoditization of
products and of messages and consumer
cynicism. New technologies are quickly and
easily reproduced by competitors and efforts
toward a consistent message can get lost in the
multiplicities of today's information world.
Hardened consumers are often skeptical and may be
difficult to convince about the value of a new or
different product.
Another challenge
relates to "chasing the leader". Companies
like K-mart need to realize that consumers may
well choose them for a different reason than they
would choose Wal-Mart (price) or Target
(style). The key for today's businesses is
to compete for the customer, not with the
competition.
The formula for today's
economy is to create the product that is
differentiated, relevant, credible, and
sustainable. When all four of those criteria are
in place, then work hard on building consumer
awareness, preference, and loyalty. Finally, as
Jim Collins' urged in his book, Good to Great,
"know what you can be best at and what you cannot
be best at."
Library Book: Branding
101: How to Build the Most Valuable Asset of
Any Business by Don Sexton,
Ph.D.
