Brand positioning describes how a brand can effectively compete against a specified set of competitors in a particular market.

In many cases, however, brands span multiple product categories, and may therefore have multiple distinct – yet related – positionings. As brands evolve and expand across categories, marketers will want to craft a brand mantra that reflects the essential “heart and soul” of the brand.

BRAND MANTRAS

To better establish what a brand represents, marketers will often define a brand mantra. A brand mantra, as expressed by Kevin Lane Keller in his book

Strategic Brand Management, is a short, three- to five-word phrase that captures the irrefutable essence or spirit of the brand positioning.

It’s similar to “brand essence” or “core brand promise,” and its purpose is to ensure that all employees and external marketing partners understand what the brand most fundamentally is to represent to consumers so they can adjust their actions accordingly.

For example, McDonald’s brand philosophy of “Food, Folks, and Fun” nicely captures its brand essence and core brand promise. Hey, makes me feel for a Big Mac right now!

Brand mantras are powerful devices. They can provide guidance about what products to introduce under the brand, what ad campaigns to run, and where and how the brand should be sold. They may even guide the most seemingly unrelated or mundane decisions, such as the look of a reception area and the way employees answer the phone.

In effect, brand mantras create a mental filter to screen out brand-inappropriate marketing activities or actions of any type that may have a negative bearing on customers’ impressions of a brand.

Brand mantras help the brand present a consistent image. Whenever a consumer or customer encounters a brand – in any way, shape, or form – his or her knowledge about that brand may change and affect the equity of the brand.

Indeed, when employees come into contact with consumers, either directly or indirectly, their words and actions should consistently reinforce and support the brand meaning.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD BRAND MANTRA?

Let’s quickly look at the brand mantras for two very successful companies – Nike and Disney.

Nike’s marketers adopted a three-word brand mantra of “authentic athletic performance” to guide their marketing efforts. Thus, in Nike’s eyes, its entire marketing programme – its products and how they are sold – must reflect the key brand values conveyed by the brand mantra.

And consider Disney. After an extensive brand audit, Disney adopted an internal brand mantra of “fun family entertainment” to serve as a screening device for all proposed activities and opportunities, and rigidly adheres to that no matter how appealing financially an opportunity may appear to be.

Brand mantras don’t necessarily have to follow this exact structure, but they should clearly delineate what the brand is supposed to represent and therefore, at least implicitly, what it is not.

Here are two key points worth noting:

1. Brand mantras derive their power and usefulness from their collective meaning. Other brands may be strong on one, or perhaps even a few, of the brand associations making up the brand mantra. For the brand mantra to be effective, no other brand should singularly excel on all dimensions.

2. Brand mantras typically are designed to capture the brand’s points of difference, that is, what is unique about the brand. Other aspects of the brand positioning, especially the brand’s points of parity, may also be important and may need to be reinforced in other ways.

So back to you. What’s your brand mantra? Still confused about what it is and how to write one? Take your time. For a brand positioning, once established, can be extremely difficult to change. And if you have any doubt about the effectiveness or relevance of your brand mantra, invest some time in revisiting it. It is critical in creating powerful brands.

Herman D Alvaranga is president of the Caribbean School of Sales Management (CSSM) the region’s first Public Training College specialising in contextual sales, marketing and brand management education, consulting and research. E-mail hdalvaranga@cssm.edu.jm