Google is looking to reposition itself. That was the key takeaway from an interview the company’s co-founder and chief executive Larry Page gave to the Financial Times recently.
This may sound like heresy but the term “brand” has been so over used in the marketing vocabulary that it’s meaning has become – meaningless. Ask a handful of people what a brand is and you’ll get a handful of different answers. Perhaps the word brand has outlived its usefulness?
Leading brands are always differentiated by their shared values. If the values your brand represents are not aligned to the values of your target customer, no amount of marketing will move them to your brand.
The Blake Project’s research over the past twelve years has shown that brands whose values align with their customers’ values have much stronger brand equity as measured by brand preference, loyalty and emotional connection. I recently read Jim Stengel’s book, Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies. He has come to a similar conclusion after researching 50,000 brands in conjunction with Millward Brown Optimor.
Brands, just like people, have values – bedrock principals they stand for and hold near and dear to the heart.
