Jonathan Bond
Co-Chairman, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners
Brands used to be all about finding that one unique rational product attribute and hammering away at it. Today the great brands have meaningful relationships with their customers that go far beyond a single attribute.
Great brands are complex matrices of attributes, features, experiences, values, and emotions that bind the customer to them on a variety of levels. However, each strand of the brand is weak and easily broken by a competitive offer. That’s why uni-dimensional brands are vulnerable. Look at each “connection” to the consumer as a single weak and fragile thread. Taken together, though, all of these threads can weave a strong fabric, binding the brand to the customer in a way that is all but unbreakable.
The great brands of today are diverse, yet consistent. Like a great actor who can take on many roles while maintaining the essence of who he or she is, a great brand is consistent, yet extendable; complex, yet universally understandable. A brand that does all of these things — a mega-brand — is the ultimate business weapon in today’s world.
