Distinctive Brand Assets, or, Give Me a Shortcut for Effective Marketing
What the Liquid Death skull, the Netflix 'ta-dum' and KFC's Colonel have in common
Distinctive brand assets are the shortcuts that people build in association with brands. From the McDonaldâs golden arches to Intelâs 5 note jingle, thereâs evidence that these shortcuts make marketing more effective, yet the majority of ads donât deploy them.Â
Good morning!
A friend recently sent me this video which is the perfect example of todayâs topic: distinctive brand assets. Guess the brands sponsoring this content đ
Liquid Death x ELFâs little designed-for-TikTok collab is clever and got a lot of people talking. But what I want to talk about is how to build brands across channels without always showing a product or a logo. Which brings us to distinctive brand assets!
Distinctive brand assets are non-brand-name triggers, or shorthand for brands in peopleâs minds. Liquid Death own black and white and skulls: so much so that nearly anything black, white, and bold is almost certainly a Liquid Death ad - even though thereâs no can or reference to water in sight. Â
Here are some more examples:
Visual - McDonaldâs golden arches, the Economist red
Verbal - Mastercardâs âPricelessâ tag, Oatlyâs tone of voice
Auditory - Intelâs 5 note jingle, Netflix âTa-dumâ
Hereâs a harsh truth: Most people donât care about brands. 77% of people wouldnât care if brands disappeared. I know! Shocking! I know that doesnât apply to you, dear reader, but for most people: itâs true!
Iâm guilty of overcomplicating a lot of things (in life! in work!), but when thereâs an easy win in my grasp, I will TAKE it. Distinctive brand assets are easy wins.
At their simplest, brands are memories.Â
Creative is one of the unfair advantages brand builders have to refresh that network of memories. Great creative builds and triggers memories by capturing attention and building positive memories that come to mind at the right moment.Â
A common mistake brands make is trying to fit in to signal that they are part of an industry or interest group. âThe [insert category] uses trees and green, so we should too.â This is âsafeâ in the sense that you wonât catch any flack for these decisions, but you certainly wonât earn a memorable position by doing this. The biggest hack you can use as a brand builder is to consistently using the same, distinctive brand assets that people associate with your brand.
Basically, youâre building a Pavlovian response: see the golden arches, think of happiness. Hear the âta-dumâ, think about the show youâre binging on Netflex. Not surprisingly, logo is the most commonly used DBA. Interestingly, while audio is less frequently used, itâs more effective than visual assets - a potential opportunity for the right brand.
Letâs dive into the research đ¤ż
đ§ The rule:Â
For more effective marketing, pick and use brand elements consistently.
âĄď¸ Implication
Think beyond logos and make sure youâre clear on what your brandâs distinctive assets are: music, audio, creative style, voice, or characters are all potential distinctive brand assets to leverage.Â
â Avoid this common mistake
Not showing distinctive brand assets in your ads. In a study of over 2,000 pieces of creative, less than 50% of ads deploy a distinctive brand asset.
đ The case study
Thereâs a clear link between marketing effectiveness and distinctive brand assets. A study by IPSOS use of brand assets are linked to stronger branded, and more effective branded attention. They are more effective than talking about or physically showing the brand name, and the highest performing creative ads show them 34% more often.
đ° Bottom line
Pick âem and stick to âem.
đ¨âđŹ The OG behind this research
WARC, IPSOS
Summary
Whether youâre in the trenches shipping work or working in a massive organization where coordination is tricky, itâs worth asking the question: what are our consistent elements across all of our channels? What colors, sounds, visual elements or ideas are we using to build and summoning the memory of our brand?
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âď¸Thanks so much for reading - I so appreciate your attention!
Amanda