How To Become An Icon

HOW TOBECOMEAN ICON

“Soft drinks and computer brands playthe role of deities in our culture. Theyare creating our most powerfuliconography, they are the ones buildingour most utopian monuments, they arethe ones articulating our experienceback to us - not religions, notintellectuals, not poets, not politicians.”

Anti-G8 SummitPrague

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HOW TO BECOME ANICON

The world, say activists, is becoming dominated by brands.

As power within business shifts from production tomarketing, brands have stopped being mere feelingsabout products, and have become cultural phenomena.

In the words of Naomi Klein, “Branding is, at its core, adeeply competitive undertaking, in which brands are upagainst not only their immediate rivals but all other brandsin the mediascape including the events and people theyare sponsoring.”

Some brands, they say, have forged as strong arelationship with consumers as institutions of state.

CERTAIN BRANDS ARE NOWADAYSBETTER RESPECTED THAN THEINSTITUTIONS OF STATE

Americans hold Coca-Cola and Nike in higheresteem than the UnitedNations.

Esteem (7 point scale)

Coca-ColaNike

United Nations

5.935.374.31

Germans hold brands likeMercedes and BMW inhigher esteem than any ofthe political parties.


BMW

Mercedes-Benz

Socialists (SPD)

Christian Democrats

5.195.124.033.66

Britons hold Adidas inhigher esteem than theirRoyal Family and theEuropean Union.


AdidasThe Royal Family

EU

5.384.533.79

Even in France, manybrands are held in higheresteem than theEuropean Union.


Major mineral waters

Levi’sEU

5.815.784.47

Base: Representative sample of adults aged 18+. Source: Y&R BAV study 2005

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What do marketers say?Marketers, have, by and large, been wrong-footed by thedebate.

“Branding is merely a reasonably effective tool for sellingproducts.” runs the mantra, “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Well who’s right?We’ve done research on this.

And we hate to say it, but the activists are right.

Some brands are becoming major cultural phenomena.

Their status has given them the ability to extendthemselves across many markets, without losing theirmeaning.

Their power is greatest amongst younger consumers,whose first instinct in life was to Barbie-theme their world,and for whom nowadays Nike is less a make of sportsshoe, and more a life philosophy.

In a world where the costs of marketing a brand haverisen year in year out for four decades, these new ‘iconic’brands have important new economies of scale.

The tide is therefore turning towards them, and away fromtheir smaller, more product based competitors.

How are classic branding companies reacting tothis?Most companies use high quality, professional market

HOW TO BECOME AN ICON

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research as their radar to alert them to changes in theircompetitive environment.

But these changes are happening outside of productcategories, in themediascape. And the worldoutside of product categoriesis a blind spot for marketresearch.

As a result, most companiesdon’t seem to have noticedthe changes.

A few have noticed. Butlacking a framework forthinking about the issues,they are powerless torespond to them.

This booklet is an attempt tomove the debate on.

The world is changing, andnew iconic brands areincreasingly dominating themediascape.

For classic branding companies, the choice is either tolearn how to build an iconic brand themselves – or toleave others to dominate the world.

SOME ICONICBRANDSCalvin Klein:Minimalist,monochrome cool.Nivea: Caring.DKNY: Theexecutive careerwoman packaged.Nike: In my soul Iam an athlete.Easy: Cuts the crapin airlines, car rental,internet cafes, creditcards.

THE BRANDED YOUTH OF A YOUNGWOMAN OF TODAY

1986: Born1990: Dressed head to toe in Baby Gap, gazes enviously at other tots in

Oshkosh.1991: Starts her Ninja Turtles collection.1992: Barbie-themes her bedroom, clothes, backpack, school equipment.1993: Flight attendant Barbie sets her dreaming.1994: Lunchbox wars, as character branded foods fight off her mother’s

soooo uncool private label substitutes.1997: Flirts with Spice merchandise.1998: Drops Spice merchandise.1999: Her Buffy backpack measures up well against the schoolyard’s

Backstreet fixation.2000: “I want to be a lawyer.” Starts buying Ally McBeal merchandise.2001: First snog. He is soaped, deodorized, shampooed and shaved by

Axe.

2002: Becomes a Kookaiette. Gazes enviously at her elder sister’sEmporio.


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For them, the issue is not one of corporate socialresponsibility.

It is one of survival.

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THE MARKETING BLINDSPOT

How is it that consumer goods companies, which spendmillions on market research every year, have to wait to betold by activists that there is a fundamental change in theway brands operate?

The answer is simple: all the changes are happening inthe mediascape outside product categories.

And their market research is designed to study changesexclusively within product categories.

• Retail audit research looks exclusively within Nielsencategories. If your brand stretches across six retailcategories, retail audit research will treat it as sixseparate brands.

• Every question on usage and attitude studies, from“Which of these brands of DVD recorder do you regardas hi-tech?” onwards is category specific. If a DVDrecorder manufacturer impresses consumers by buying


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up a feature film studio or inventing electronic pets, thatdoesn’t show up on the study.

• All brand tracking research from “Which of these makesof jeans would you consider stylish?” onwards iscategory specific. The fact that DKNY also makesoffice wear and a trendy mineral water doesn’t get alook in.

For nearly all types of market research, the world outsideproduct categories is thus a blind spot.

Introducing a map of the mediascapeFortunately Y&R have a piece of research that can lookoutside of product categories.

THREE STUPID MARKETRESEARCH QUESTIONS

The market research industry’s obsession withproduct categories leads to some funny questions:Thinking of digital video cameras, how would yourate Samsung for ease of use? (80% of thepopulation have never seen a Samsung digital videocamera, and therefore have no idea.)What brands of individually wrapped chocolatebiscuits, often in multipacks, can you name?Thinking of school lunch boxes, what do you think ofBritney Spears? (Yes, a market research company didask it.)

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It’s called BAV (BrandAsset® Valuator)

It’s been going for thirteen years.

And it’s reliable, because it’s based on interviews withover 450,000 people.

How does it work?The method is simple. BAV shows consumers a list ofconsumer goods brands, service brands, countries andinstitutions, and asks them which of a list of attributes andadjectives they associate with them.

But it does so without mentioning product categories.

For things as diverse as Coke, Air France and Poland, thequestions are the same.

It therefore provides a clear, comparative picture of allbrands, iconic brands included.

And because it ignores product categories, it measuresthe whole brand, not just part of it.

BAV started in 1993, and continues to ask the samequestions today.

Thirteen years of analysing the results has given a clearpicture of how brands behave in the mediascape.

First though, some clarificationsIf you’re a marketer, you’ll be familiar with the standardmeasures of in-category market research: the attitudebattery, the persuasion shift and spontaneous brandawareness.

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMHow do you tell if there is something wrong with your dog?

One way is to check whether the dog has stopped moving andhas started to smell.

If it has, then the dog is likely to be dead.

If not, the dog is likely to be alive, but you can monitor changesin the situation through regular checks.

This is the way most market research works. It concentrates onlagging measures like brand attitudes and claimed usership.

We recently looked at alcoholic drinks brands on a majorindustry survey. Claimed usership of failing brands fell offexactly in line with sales – but it did so two years after thosebrands had collapsed.

Using most market research is thus like driving using the rearview mirror.

Our differentiation measure, on the other hand, picks up changeat a much earlier stage.

If someone else’s brand’s differentiation shoots up, you havetime to respond.

If yours decreases, you have time to ask why.

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But you won’t be familiar withhow to measure brandsoutside categories.

So before we tell you aboutwhat we’ve found out abouticonic brands, perhaps weshould tell you how to studythem:

Measuring brands outsidecategoriesWhen consumers come acrosssomething new for the firsttime, they are usually not surewhat they think about it.

When the first Walkmanscame out in 1980, thosewho tried them felt oddwalking round with musiconly they could hear. Andpeople who watched themsilently boogie thought theywere weirdoes, not cool.

The one thing that people cansay when exposed tosomething that is very new and

WE’VE BEENTRYING TO MAKEBAV TRENDYWe’ve learnedthough, that a lot ofpeople aren’tcomfortable withBAV. Not becausethere is any flaw inthe methodology. Theproblem is that, morethan most forms ofmarket research, BAVgives you objectivetruth, and objectivetruth gets in the wayof what peoplealready think.


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WILL MY RESEARCHDEPARTMENT HAVE ISSUES

WITH BAV?

We’d be surprised if they didn’t. BAV is completelydifferent to most research. But it is intellectuallyrigorous:• In Europe, we have conducted waves of BAV in

1993, 1997, 2000, 2002/3 and now in 2005/6/7. Inthe US, a continuous panel is used. Across theworld, BAV studies 45 countries.

• BAV is stable because we convert brand attitudedata to percentile ranks. This eliminates culturaldifferences in questionnaire response fromcountry to country.

• BAV data is collected and processed by a varietyof major quantitative research companies, likeResearch International and Millward Brown.

• Is BAV compatible with existing research? Wesometimes look at BAV data just within productcategories. This in-category research revealsfindings comparable to conventional research.

• BAV also measures usership of brands. Thisusership data reveals that BAV measures ofbrand health connect directly to share growthand market development.

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big, is that it is somehow not like everything that has comebefore.

So the first element of brand equity to be measured onBAV is differentiation.

Two of the most differentiated brands on BAV in 1993 inthe USA were Starbucks and Snapple.

In 1997, Amazon and Yahooscored very highly ondifferentiation.

But is the brandrelevant?Of course, differentiation onits own is fine for a newbrand. But if after a coupleof years, all that consumerscan say about your brand isthat it is different, then youhave a problem.

Consumers haven’t workedhow to fit you into their lives- and you haven’t solved theissue for them either.

That’s why the secondelement of absolutebranding we measure is relevance.

“When Alexander the Great sawthe breadth of his domain, hewept,” said Milton, “for therewere no more worlds toconquer.”Perhaps if Alexander hadinvested in better mapmaking,he would have realised that hehad conquered just a fewpercent of the Earth’s surface atthat point, and have kept ongoing.


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With dramatically growing brands like Starbucks, we seerelevance start to grow as people fit the brand into theirlives and start getting into the lingo, talking about ‘tallskinny lattes’ in their office.

On the other hand, with distinctive but niche brands likeCitroën, we see a lot of differentiation, but low relevance.

EsteemHow then do we differentiate between a new brand andan established brand?

We’ve found that some (but not all) brands that have beenaround for a long time, and which have establishedthemselves, tend to develop a sense of esteem amongstthe general population. This is related to feelings that thebrand is of high quality and that it is popular.

Esteem is therefore the third of the key measures.

KnowledgeFinally, as a brand fits into the national culture, peopledevelop a sense of familiarity with it.

BAV checks this out too, as its fourth measure,‘knowledge’.

Four pillarsCombining the four into one graph gives the ‘four pillars’chart.

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Brands that are in a very strong position across societylook like this:

On the four pillars chart, new, up and coming brands looklike this, with high differentiation, growing relevance butwith esteem and knowledge still at a low level:

STARBUCKSUSADULTS/BAV 1995

ADIDASGERMAN ADULTS/BAV 2005

100-

Percentile

Rank

0-

BAILEYSITALIAN ADULTS/BAV 2005

FERRERO ROCHERFRENCH ADULTS/BAV 2005

Differentiation Relevance Esteem Knowledge

100-

Percentile

Rank

0-Differentiation Relevance Esteem Knowledge

100-

Percentile

Rank


100-

Percentile

Rank



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And household names that have tended to lose their edgelook like this:

Shape of the mediascapeWe then plot differentiation, relevance, esteem andknowledge to give us a picture of the mediascape.

Differentiation and relevance tell you where a brand isgoing. So we combine them together to give a leadingindicator called brand strength.

Esteem and knowledge give you a sense of where abrand is, and where it has been. We therefore combinethem to form a lagging indicator called brand stature.

Plotting strength against stature gives a clear picture ofbrands on their way up, and brands on their way down. Wecall it the PowerGrid.

Over time, brands tend to move clockwise around thePowerGrid.

TWAUS ADULTS/BAV 1999

100-

Percentile

Rank


THE POWERGRID

Brand stature(Esteem & Knowledge)

Bra

nd

stre

ngth

(Dif

fere

nti

ati

on

&R

ele

vance

)

Power leaders

Decliningleaders

Eroded

Niche/Unrealizedpotential

New

Unfocused


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WHAT BAV TELLS US

BAV shows that there are clear differencesbetween the old ways of branding and the new:

Iconic brands are invariably stronger than thecategories they came fromBAV shows us that the majority of brands live incategories, showing up in similar positions on thePowerGrid.Those that don’t – the iconic brands – invariably have astronger PowerGrid positions than the categories theycame from. This means that they are invariably thestrongest brands in their category.

They also have more brand imagery of their ownSit in a category based market research presentation inthe offices of an insurance company, and you walk awayfeeling that the insurance company has a strong,distinctive brand image.

But this is driven by the fact that you are doing researchwithin the category.

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Measure insurance company brands absolutely, and over90% of their imagery is held in common.

Put another way, 90% of the John Doe Life InsuranceCompany is the generic DNA of ‘Life Insurance Company’.Only 10% of the DNA belongsto John Doe, the brand.

And it’s not just in insurance.This happens in banking, inairlines, and in many othermature categories.

Iconic brands have verydifferent image profiles.

Their image is likely to havelittle to do with other brands intheir category, indeed theirimagery is likely to be all theirown.

And they are more profitableIconic brands are stronger in financial terms too. TheAmerican brand financials consultancy, Stern Stewart, haslooked at the branding model, and has found that brandslying above the diagonal on the PowerGrid make onaverage an 8.8% gross margin. Brands that lie belowmake much less.

In general, iconic brands are in a better financial position

Most of the image of lifeinsurance companies belongsto the category, not to thecompanies themselves.The image of John Doe Lifeis 90% ‘Life’, 10% ‘John Doe’


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than any other brand in their category.

(If you are a classic marketer, now would be a good timeto start getting depressed.)

Iconic brands can comefrom almost any categoryNike and Adidas are strong,iconic brands. But the sportsshoe category from where theycame is lacklustre in terms ofimage and in terms of itsposition on the PowerGrid.

This suggests that any brandsof any origin can becomeiconic, if they are marketed theright way.

Iconic brands createeffects beyond theircategoriesIf you were the producer ofNescafe in the early nineties,you would be likely to dismiss

Starbucks.

Starbucks was a retailer, Nescafe was a consumer goodsbrand.

Starbucks was in ground coffee, Nescafe was in instant.

1.7x

VALUING BRANDSFUTURE GROWTH VALUE,AS A MULTIPLE OF SALES

2.3x

0.9x

1.3x

0.6x

Stern Stewart have looked atthe financial performance ofbrands at various points onthe PowerGrid. Brands fallingabove the diagonal producemuch higher returns oninvestment than brandsbelow it.

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But you would be wrong to do so.

Iconic brands have effects wellbeyond their categories. Andas Starbucks grabbed thecoffee limelight, Nescafe lost it.

Esteem and knowledge are nodefence against iconic brandsWe’ve looked at brands thatare highly esteemed byconsumers and also brandsthat are highly familiar toconsumers. Some of them arehousehold names.

Neither esteem nor knowledgeon their own can revive abrand’s fortunes.

What does it all mean?What it all means is simple. Any marketer who wants toremain competitive in coming years needs to considerbuilding an iconic brand.

Nike

Reebok

Clothing andfootwearcategory

Nike and Reebok areextremely strong brands. Butthe clothing and footwearcategories they came fromare nothing special.

Base: US Adults, 2005


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THE IMPLICATIONS AREHUGE

If the points in the last section don’t shock you, theyshould:

• Many of the iconic brands we have just discussed arecross-category brands. Not one is attached to just oneproduct. And conventional marketing wisdom says thatcross-category brands should be weaker, not strongerthan brands attached to an individual product.

• Cross-category brands should all have less brandimagery than the individual product brands theycompete with, and being close to commodities, havelower margins.

“No one buys a range”, goes the logic, “so don’t try tosell one.”

• Classic marketing tells us that a brand has to beassociated with a function, and that a marketer breaksthat link at their peril.

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Odorono meant no body odour. If Odorono launched aproduct with another function went the logic, that linkwould be broken and Odorono would die.

The whole of classic marketing is based on the logic ofone brand per need and one need per product.

In their 1980 classic Positioning, Trout and Ries arguedthat as soon as a brand lost the link with an individualthing, that brand would weaken and die.

Today, Odorono is dead anyway, and the winners arebrands that have broken out of the constraints of productcategories.

There is no such thing as a Sony, or a Nike or a Nivea. Butall are stronger than the product-centric brands theycompete with.

If Sony had stuck with its original meaning of a reliablerice cooker, it would be a historical footnote today. If Niveahad stuck with skin cream, it too would be dead.

On conventional logic, Calvin Klein should have weakenedas it expanded into fragrances and home furnishings. Itgot stronger.

Easyjet too should have weakened as it expanded intointernet cafes, car hire and credit cards. But it didn’t.

Conventional marketing is therefore being proven wrongby these iconic brands.


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So?If you think our findings on iconic brands are even wortha little consideration, you should consider the economicimplications for your brands.

Because for conventional, product-centric brands, thoseimplications are severe:

The new brands are cheaper to runRun one effective campaign across twenty differentproduct lines, and your marketing is a lot more efficientthan if you run twenty separate campaigns for twentyseparate brands.

The rules of marketing were written in the 1960s, whenTV airtime was cheap, and you could afford to launch anindividual product line, like a deodorant, with its own 4000rating TV budget.

You would be an idiot to try that sort of thing today.

Iconic brands have the edge today because they can usetheir marketing spend against many, many more productlines.

The new brands aren’t reliant on any specifictechnologyBase your brand around a new piece of technology in thefifties, and you would keep your edge for a decade ormore. Do so today, and you will be looking silly withinmonths. Technology develops so fast today, and is copied

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so fast, that technology promises are a risky basis for abrand.

Iconic brands are reliant on ideas, not on any particulartechnological edge.

The new brands aren’treliant on specificfunctional promisesMost past brands werebased on superior productfunctionality. But basing abrand today on a belief thatconsumers will notice thatyour product functionsbetter than its competitorsis a dangerous assumptionin many categories.

Nowadays, products aremuch more likely to workthat they used to, and mostthings do exactly what theysay on the packet. Cars,TVs and hifis used to breakdown all the time. Theydon’t any more.

So building a brand classically around a guarantee offunctional performance makes much less sense today.

In the UK, the fcuk brandexpanded in the 1990s throughclothes, toiletries andaccessories, without makingany functional promises. Itsname ensured it kept a sharp20-something singlesdemographic. If you lived withyour parents, they wouldn’tallow it in the bathroom. Andif you had kids, you didn’twant it there either.“Mummy, what does ‘fcuk’mean?”


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The new brands reduce consumer confusionCross-category iconic brands reduce the clutter inpeople’s heads. In the 1950s, adman Rosser Reevesimagined the human brain asa series of empty boxes.

His job was to put the name‘Anacin’ in the one markedheadache. In today’sconsumer society, aconsumer has to have thirtyboxes just to register all thecosmetics she needs.

How much simpler if she just has to remember L’Oreal.

The new brands advertise themselvesAnyone who protests about testing cosmetics on animalsis indirectly advertising the Body Shop. Anyone talkingabout their love of tall skinny lattes is advertisingStarbucks. A typical subway commuter sees ninety Nikeswooshes on their way into work*.

Iconic brands’ users raise awareness for them, leavingadvertising to do other, more important jobs.

The new brands don’t lose their edge as they get biggerConventional marketing says that it’s the small, up andcoming fashion brands that are cool. Once a brand gets

“I’ve had aswoosh tattooedwhere only myboyfriend can seeit.”

GIRL, 19, BERLIN

* SOURCE: S/OBSERVATION, LONDON 2002

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big, it automatically becomes mainstream, and loses itsedge.

But this hasn’t happened to Nike. It may be global, but itsimage is more leading edge than virtually any up andcoming sports brand.

Big needn’t mean boring any more.

THE VISION THINGHow do you build an iconic brand?

Iconic brands are diverse, and have many differentmeanings.

But there is one factor above all others that makes abrand iconic.

That factor is vision.

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have avision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly andforcefully on every occasion.”

THEODORE HESBURGH

What do we mean by vision?Vision is the difference between:

“We want to sell more than Pepsi.”

And:

“We wish to replace water as beverage of choice forthe people of the world.”

SERGIO ZYMAN

Most brands are a semi coherent collection of meanings,feelings, functional competencies and attitudes.


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Vision is not semi coherent. Vision comes from buildingyour brand around a single-minded brand idea.

Vision is not consumer drivenWhereas good brands meet consumer needs, and verygood brands meet consumer needs very well, iconicbrands do not seem to try to meet consumer needs at all.

Rather than sidle up to their consumers and try to be asnice as possible to them, iconic brands stick theirstandard in the ground, lay out their philosophy and awaitthe attention of users.

Their stance is magnet for innovator consumers and earlyadopters. And the endorsement of these groups acts as amagnet for the rest.

Vision has been around for a long time in marketing:

“We are not here to sell you a parcel of boilers and vats.”,said Dr Samuel Johnston in 1781 as he presided over thesale of Thrale’s Brewery. “We are here to offer you thepotentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.”

But it has become ever more important in recent years:

Brands are becoming more importantWe no longer live in an age of deference. All surveys showthat trust in institutions is declining.

Meanwhile, science says that it is our genes, not us, thatget the eternal life.

Stubble warsIn the past, Gillette was a razors company, and relied ona belief amongst men that Gillette razors werefunctionally better than those of Wilkinson. Todaythough, Gillette has extendedinto deodorants, fragrances,shampoos and gels. It is nowup against other shaving-to-shampoo brands like Axe, andits success depends onwhether ‘The best a man canget’ projects a morecompelling vision of manhoodthan ‘the Axe effect’.

Axe •• Gillette

• Wilkinson

BAV Spain

Base: All adults, BAV Spain 2005 * Axe is known as Lynx in the UK

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Perhaps it is therefore not surprising that consumers arelooking to somehow inject spirituality back into their lives,and that brands that help them do so are becoming asimportant as national institutions in the great scheme ofthings.

Creating visionCreating a brand idea is not easy, particularly for a brandwhich crosses several categories and which is not linkedto any particular usage pattern, type of person, or specificproduct function.

Most marketers, when they have a nice simple uniqueselling point to deal with, feel they they are on solidground.

But when that goes, many start to feel like they are beingasked to nail a jelly to the wall.

For this reason, Y&R have developed a process calledY&Rchetypes...


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ARCHETYPES

How BAV gets you out of thebrand values quagmire

Anyone who thinks that marketing is a professionalanalytical discipline has never been to a meeting to agreeand decide the values, or personality model for a brand.

When a marketer has the fastest brewing tea bag in thetea bag market, they have a rational product benefit andthey are fine. They can do side-by-side ads withhousewives demonstrating how they brew tea rapidly, andeveryone knows what the brand is about.

Once the rational benefit is gone, all hell breaks loose.

The meetings lead to diagrams of concentric circles,showing more and more adjectives in rings of core brandvalues or personality dimensions.

As time goes on, the brand diagram bloats, as more andmore stakeholders add more and more adjectives.

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The end result is a brand that is everything to all people,and therefore a brand that is nothing.

A way outHollywood found a way out of this personality mess sometime ago.

As movie storylines spread beyond the simple whitehats/black hats good-versus-evil stories of Westerns,

A fun game to play in the conceptual hell of brand developmentmeetings. Tick a box every time anyone mentions a phrase.

When you get a line, shout ‘bingo!’

BRAND PERSONALITY BULLSHIT BINGO

Paradigmshift

Semioticperspective

Underlyingbrandvalues

Rich icono-graphy

Underlyingvalue

structure

Needstates Neo-

Psycho-

graphic

discriminator

Matrixstructure

Schizmic

GranularPersonalitydimensions

Datamining

Tertiaryattibutes

Run thatup the

flagpole

Micro-targeting

Rich seamof wants

Holistic Perceptualparameters

Drivers ofmentality

Dancing ona pinhead

Parapsycho-logically

Move thepeanutforward

Qualitativevalidation

Deepdive


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scriptwriters started to struggle with the complexityof the characters they were writing about.

They developed a process called archetyping.

Archetyping is built on the observation thatthroughout history, there have been distinctsimilarities between the myths andstories told in all the cultures of theworld.

For example, the Medusa the Gorgoncharacter in Greek mythology betraysmany similarities in behaviour and attitude to theCatherine Trammel character in Basic Instinct.

The spiritual journey of Mel Gibson in Braveheart mirrorsthat of Perseus in Greek mythology.

The process was used heavily in films such as Star Wars,where the characters of Princess Leia (The Maiden), ObiWan Kenobi (The Sage) and Han Solo (The Rebel) wereall defined and developed using the rules of archetyping.

Transforming charactersArchetyping allows certain transformations in characters,which initially surprise viewers, but which aresubsequently easily accepted.

For example, viewers find it easy to accept that apowerful, evil man can turn into a father figure. As a result,few viewers struggle with the transformation of the evil

Most brandsstart out as

tight, focussedpropositions

like this.

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destructive terminator character of Terminator 1 into agood father figure in Terminator 2.

Similarly, the world accepted itwhen the following was saidin The Empire StrikesBack:

“You killed my father,Vader!”

“I am your father,Luke.”

Archetyping cantransform brands in thesame way.

How is archetyping used?Using BAV data and archetypingthinking garnered from academic,historical and movie industrysources, we have developed theY&Rchetypes process.

Y&Rchetypes cuts through the fogof brand values to identify rapidly a brand’s naturalposition in the mediascape. It does so processing BAVdata though some proprietary software.

Archetypes are simple. A brand can therefore more clearlybe defined using Y&Rchetypes than by any brand valuesor personality model.

After a few changesof management and

of marketingagencies, they end upas complex, unwieldy

structures like this.


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Archetypal Stories of the Maiden

The Maiden is threatened by a terrible monster. Shecannot escape, but she is rescued by the White Knight,who kills the monster. She falls in love with him, andagrees to follow him on his adventures. They live

happily together....

The Seducer tries to rape the Maiden while she iswalking in a field. She (a) manages to escape or isrescued by the White Knight who truly loves her, or(b) is abducted and taken to the Seducer’s castle.

...The Maiden returns with the Hero to his homeland. At

first she is welcomed by his family, but the EarthMother, under the influence of the Tyrant, grows

jealous of her. She is threatened and lied to until sheis eventually driven away.

...The Maiden is lost in a wood. She encounters a Witchwho, out of jealousy, casts a spell over her so that she

falls asleep, as if dead. The Hero finds her, andbelieving that she is dead, buries her in a tomb.

Source: QualiQuant/CRAM

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Using Y&Rchetypes, and the rules of archetyping, a brandthat has fallen into a weak position over time can easilyfound a new position in the mediascape.

Most brands are perceived by consumers to lack visionnot because they are fundamentally boring. They areperceived to lack vision because they are not single-mindedly projecting a role for themselves.

Y&Rchetypes can help define that role simply and quickly.

The next stepThen, once you have the brand’s role defined, you need toconnect it to its consumer.

Within product categories, this means identifying itsbenefit.

But when a brand operates beyond product categories, italso helps to dig deeper to understand the basic humanmotivations that attract people to that brand.

Rolex the watch is there to tell you the time. But in itsgreater role as a luxury, Rolex satisfies a much deeperrooted need...

“You’re so ambitious, aren’t you? Youknow what you look like to me, withyour good bag and your cheap shoes?You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed,hustling rube, with a little taste. Goodnutrition’s given you some length ofbone, but you’re not more than onegeneration from poor white trash, areyou, Agent Starling? And that accentyou’ve tried so desperately to shed -pure West Virginia. What does yourfather do? Is he a coal miner? Does hestink of the lamp? You know howquickly the boys found you. All thosetedious, sticky fumblings in the backseats of cars, while you could onlydream of getting out. Getting anywhere,getting all the way to the F...B...I.”

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The fictional Dr. Lecter, like students of human natureback to Marcus Aurelius, recognised that to motivate ahuman being, you first have to identify and understandtheir basic drives.

With this in mind, we took everyone in the BAV study, andtook them through a deep, probing questionnaire,designed to peel away the layers of civilisation in theirminds, and expose the basic motivations beneath.

We then used the response to the full questionnaire to

LINKINGBRANDS TOHUMANITY’SDEEPESTMOTIVATIONS


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divide people into seven groups. The seven groups arebased on fundamental human motivations - physiological,safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization, asidentified by Dr Abraham Maslow in his famous hierarchyof needs.

We call the resulting segmentation the Cross CulturalConsumer Characterisation, or 4Cs for short.

What makes 4Cs any good?Every ad agency has a set of strategic tools nowadays. Allmake great claims for theirs – even though some may benothing more than a few PowerPoint charts emailedaround their network. So what makes our 4Cs tooldifferent?

1. It’s transparentWe don’t try to conceal our methodology.

You can try a 15 minute version of the questionnaireyourself, and see how it categorises you.

It’s online at http://www.4Cs.yr.com/diys.

4Cs is no black box.

2. It’s not the same as demographicsSo many consumer segmentations end up with groups ofpeople who look remarkably like standard demographicgroups.

Segment all adults into four groups by general attitudes,

and you’re likely to end up with groups that lookremarkably like:

If your segmentation looks like this, you’ll be better offmerely dividing your audience by age and income – thatway your groups will be much clearer to other people, andmuch easier to use when analysing other research.

4Cs groups are about deep motivations, and so theyaren’t demographics by another name. They thus give younew information about your brands.

3. 4Cs discriminates on brandsIf BMW looks exactly the same to all groups in yoursegmentation, the segmentation isn’t much use to BMW.

That’s not what happens on 4Cs. The segments rarely seeor use brands in the same way. We regularly find 40%more, or 40% fewer users of brands than expected inspecific 4Cs segments.

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Richer,youngerpeople

Richer, olderpeople

Poorer,youngerpeople

Poorer, olderpeople


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4. 4Cs is not based on clustersThe mysterious art of cluster analysis may give youinteresting results on an individual survey, but repeat yoursurvey a year later, and you’ll end up with completelydifferent clusters. 4Cs isn’t based on clusters, so thegroups don’t change from survey to survey. If you’re in the4Cs Succeeder group this year, you’re very likely to comeup as a Succeeder next year too.

5. 4Cs works across countriesAn American who agrees that ‘a woman is only fulfilled ifshe creates a good home for her family’ is a reactionary. A

HOW MASLOW’S HIERARCHY CONVERTSINTO SEVEN BASIC MOTIVATIONS

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Russian who disagrees withthat statement is seen inRussia as a dangerous liberal.Good segmentations thereforeseparate people according tothe norms of the society theycome from, rather than againstsome absolute norm. And so4Cs does this.

How do the seven basicmotivations help us?If we can identify the basicmotivations of people with anaffinity to particular brands, wecan start to understand themotivations that drive usage ofthose brands.

A brand like BMW appeals above all to Succeeders, forwhom it projects a sense of control and to Aspirers,because it affirms their need for status.

A brand like Saab has quite a different set of appeals.

Adoption curvesThe seven types also help us identify how far consumershave absorbed a brand.

The first consumers to discover new ideas tend to beExplorers and Reformers, followed by the Aspirers andthe Succeeders.

Dare you find out whatdrives you?

You can find out bytaking the 15-minute

4Cs questionnaireonline at

http://4cs.yr.com/diys

EXPLORERThese people are driven by aneed for discovery, challengeand new frontiers.Young in nature, if not inreality, Explorers are oftenthe first to try out new ideasand experiences.

They respond to brands thatoffer new sensations,indulgence and instanteffects.Their core need in life is fordiscovery.

THE SEVENBASICMOTIVATIONS

SUCCEEDERSucceeders possess self-confidence, have a stronggoal orientation and tend tobe very organised.

As a result, they tend tooccupy positions ofresponsibility in society.Their investment in the statusquo means they tend tosupport it.When it comes to brands,they seek reward andprestige, and will often seekout the best, because that iswhat they feel they deserve.On the other hand, they alsoseek out caring andprotective brands – theiraggressive attitude to lifemeans they need to relaxoccasionally..Their core need in life is forcontrol.

ASPIRERMaterialistic, acquisitivepeople, who are driven byothers’ perceptions ofthem rather than by theirown values.

As a result, they respondto what others perceive asbeing superficial: image,appearance, persona,charisma and fashion.An attractive pack is asimportant to them as itscontents.Their core need in life isfor status.

MAINSTREAMThese are people who livein the world of thedomestic and theeveryday.

A daily routine isfundamental to the waythey live their lives. Theirlife choices are ‘we’ ratherthan ‘me’.As their name implies,they are the mainstreamof society. They are thelargest group of peoplewithin 4Cs across theworld.They respond to bigestablished brands, to‘family’ brands and tooffers of value for money.Their core need in life isfor security.

REFORMER“Don’t tell me what to do orwhat to think” says theReformer, valuing their ownindependent judgement.Reformers are the most anti-materialistic of the sevengroups, and are oftenperceived as intellectual.They are socially aware, andpride themselves ontolerance.Reformers seek out theauthentic and theharmonious, and are often atthe leading edge of society.

However, unlike Explorers,they will not buy things justbecause they are new.Their core need in life is forenlightenment.

RESIGNEDThese are predominantlyolder people with constant,unchanging values built upover time.For them, the past is bathedin a warm nostalgic glow.

They respect institutions andenjoy acting in traditionalroles.Their brand choices aredriven by a need for safetyand for economy. Theychoose above all what isfamiliar to them.In life, their aim is basic: it isto survive.

STRUGGLERStrugglers live for today,and make few plans fortomorrow.Others often see them asvictims, losers andwasters - aimless,disorganised people withfew resources apart fromtheir own physical skills.If they get on in life, it willdepend more on awinning lottery ticket thananything they dothemselves.

They are heavyconsumers of alcohol andjunk food.Visual impact andphysical sensation are animportant element of theirbrand choices.In essence, they seekescape.


A Europe-wideunscientific poll of59 Y&R execsrevealed thefollowing split:

Identifying which types have the most affinity for thebrand gives an indication of how far down the adoptioncurve it is.

Once we have looked at response to your brand amongstthe 4Cs groups, we can see which groups it hasconnected with the most. And that in turn gives us insightsinto what the underlying attraction of that brand is forpeople.

Understanding the basic human motivations of your targetcan be big step towards developing a strong, visionarybrand idea.

Like most marketing services companies, Y&R has many Succeeders, Explorers, Aspirers andReformers on its staff.

The picture amongst the European population in general is quite different however. Amongstall Europeans, Mainstream is the biggest group, with 32% of the European population. Nextcome Succeeders (17%), Reformers (16%), Aspirers (12%), Explorers (8%), Resigned (8%)and Strugglers (7%).

WHAT 4CS TYPE ARE WE?

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WHAT ABOUT GLOBALBRANDS?

It’s currently fashionable to attack globalization and globalbrands.

So we’d like to launch an attack on global brandsourselves.

We’ve found out that many of the world’s so-called globalbrands aren’t global.

Many companies have global product distributionsystems, and globally aligned packaging.

But most so-called global brands vary so much fromcountry to country in terms of their core meaning, thatthey cannot really be called global brands.

We’ve found this out by looking at two things: how well-developed brands are on the PowerGrid, and howconsistent their meanings are across the world.

A brand that comes in the top right hand corner of the


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PowerGrid consistently from country to country scoreshigh on the PowerGrid development index.

A brand that is perceived in the same way from country tocountry, as evidenced from BAV meaning analysis, scoreshigh on the consistent meaning index.

Very few brands score well on both:

Source: Y&R New York

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The major cola brands vary hugely in terms of in meaningfrom country to country.

Only a few brands like Disney and Nike are strongeverywhere in the world, and mean the same thingeverywhere.

But should a brand with variable meaning worryabout this?That depends.

If a company believes that it can maintain a strongposition around the world through its distribution cloutand the superiority of its product, probably not.

But it shouldn’t kid itself.

If the relationship of its brand with its consumer varies somuch from country to country, the consistency of itsglobal position must be due more to its global strength asa producer and distributor than anything to do with itsbrand.

It’s not a great position to be in.

If any company like that slips up, it has no consistentconsumer equity to fall back on.

And the way is open for a brand with a single visionarymeaning to come in and take its place.

SUMMARY IN ENGLISH1. Activists have been saying that brands, not politicians, poets

or religious leaders are providing society with its spirit andvision nowadays.

2. Marketers have been saying that nothing has changed.

3. Our research shows that the activists are right. Today, somebrands command much more respect than the institutions ofstate.

4. The reason marketers have not noticed this is that all theirresearch is focused exclusively on product categories -whereas all the changes are happening outside, in whatNaomi Klein calls ‘the mediascape.’

5. Y&R has been researching brands in the mediascape, andcan confirm that some are very, very strong. We call them‘iconic’ brands.

6. Iconic brands are so strong that they can, and in many casesalready do, sell products and services in many categories,not just one.

7. They thus break the rules of marketing, and give theirmasters economies of scale over traditional marketers.

8. To build your brand into an icon, you must first clarify its rolein the mediascape. The process of archetyping can help.

9. Then, you need to make it relevant to people. This meansunderstanding the basic motivations that drive yourconsumer.

10. Branding today is a zero sum game. For marketers whoignore these new realities, the future is bleak.

SUMMARY IN FRENCH1. Pour les activistes, ce sont les marques, et non les hommes

politiques, les poètes ou les chefs religieux, qui confèrent à lasociété contemporaine son état d’esprit et sa vision du monde.

2. Les spécialistes du marketing, de leur côté, disent que rien n’achangé.

3. Pourtant, les études que nous avons réalisées montrent que ce sontles activistes qui ont raison. Quelques marques suscitent aujourd’huidavantage de respect que les institutions de l’Etat.

4. Si les hommes de marketing n’ont pas pris conscience de cephénomène, c’est parce que leurs études portent exclusivement surles catégories de produits, alors que tous les changementsinterviennent à l’extérieur, dans ce que Naomi Klein nomme lemediascape – le paysage médiatique.

5. Y&R, qui a mené des études sur les marques présentes dans cemediascape, peut confirmer que certaines d’entre elles sontaujourd’hui extrêmement fortes. Elles sont devenues des marquesemblématiques (iconic brands).

6. Ces marques emblématiques sont en fait si puissantes qu’elles sontcapables – et y parviennent effectivement dans de nombreux cas –,de vendre des produits et services dans un large éventail decatégories, et pas seulement dans une seule d’entre elles.

7. Elles brisent ainsi les règles du marketing et permettent deséconomies d’échelle par rapport aux schémas traditionnels dumarketing.

8. Afin que votre marque devienne emblématique, vous devez d’abordclarifier son rôle au sein du mediascape. Le processus de definitiondes archétypes peut ici s’avérer utile.

9. Il faut ensuite qu’elle soit adaptée aux désirs des gens. Cela veutdire qu’il faut comprendre les motivations profondes desconsommateurs.

10. Aujourd’hui, le choix d’une marque est un jeu à somme nul. Lesspécialistes du marketing qui ignoreraient ces réalités se préparentà des lendemains tres incertains.

SUMMARY IN GERMAN1. Aktivisten behaupten schon länger, dass heutzutage Marken und

nicht etwa Politiker, Poeten oder religiöse Führer der GesellschaftSinn stiften und Visionen geben.

2. Vermarkter behaupten schon länger, dass sich eigentlich nichtsgeändert hat.

3. Unsere Marktforschungsarbeiten zeigen, dass die Aktivisten Rechthaben. Heute gebieten einige Marken größeren Respekt als diestaatlichen Institutionen.

4. Dass Vermarkter dies noch gar nicht gemerkt haben, liegt daran,dass sich ihre gesamten Forschungsarbeiten ausschließlich aufWarengruppen beziehen - während all diese Änderungen außerhalbihres Horizonts stattfinden, und zwar in der von Naomi Klein als‘Mediascape’ bezeichneten Medienwelt.

5. Y&R untersucht seit einiger Zeit Marken im ‘Mediascape’ und kannnur bestätigen, dass einige von ihnen wirklich sehr stark sind. Wirbezeichnen sie als ‘Icon-Marken’.

6. Icon-Marken sind so stark positioniert, dass sie Produkte undDienstleistungen in vielen Produktkategorien - nicht nur in einereinzigen - verkaufen können und dies in vielen Fällen auch schontun.

7. Sie brechen damit die Marketing-Regeln und geben ihrenVermarktern größenbedingte Kostenvorteile gegenübertraditionellen Vermarktern.

8. Um die eigene Marke zu einer Icon-Marke umzubilden, müssen Siezuerst ihre Position im ‘Mediascape’ klären. Das Verfahren zurDefinition des Archetyps kann hierbei helfen.

9. Dann müssen Sie bei den Verbrauchern die nötige Relevanz derMarke herstellen. Das heißt, Sie müssen die grundlegendenMotivationen verstehen, die Ihren Käufer bewegen.

10. Die Markenbildung ist heutzutage ein Nullsummenspiel. DenVermarktern, die diese neue Realität ignorieren, steht eine düstereZukunft bevor.

SUMMARY IN ITALIAN1. Gli attivisti dicono che oggigiorno la società trae il suo spirito e i suoi

sogni non già dai politici, dai poeti o dai capi religiosi bensì daimarchi.

2. Gli operatori di marketing dicono che nulla è cambiato.

3. La nostra ricerca dimostra che gli attivisti hanno ragione. Oggi alcunimarchi esercitano un potere di gran lunga superiore a quello delleistituzioni dello Stato.

4. Gli operatori di marketing teorici non se ne sono accorti dato chetutta la loro ricerca è incentrata esclusivamente sulle categorie diprodotti, mentre i cambiamenti stanno avvenendo fuori, in quello cheNaomi Klein chiama il “panorama mediatico”.

5. Y&R svolge ricerche sui marchi presenti nel panorama mediatico epuò confermare che alcuni di essi sono molto, molto forti. Noi lichiamiamo marchi ‘iconici’.

6. I marchi iconici sono così forti che possono vendere – e in molti casilo stanno già facendo - prodotti e servizi in più categorie e non inuna sola.

7. In questo modo, essi infrangono le regole del marketing e danno ailoro padroni economie di scala rispetto agli operatori di marketingtradizionali.

8. Per fare del vostro marchio un’icona dovete innanzitutto chiarire ilsuo ruolo nel panorama mediatico. A questo scopo, può essered’aiuto la creazione di archetipi.

9. Poi, dovete rendere il vostro marchio rilevante per la gente. Per farequesto, dovete comprendere le motivazioni di fondo che guidano ilvostro consumatore.

10. Oggi la differenziazione dei marchi è un gioco a somma zero. Per glioperatori di marketing che ignorano queste nuove realtà, il futuro ètutt’altro che roseo.

SUMMARY IN SPANISH1. Activistas han estado propagando que son las marcas comerciales,

y no los políticos, poetas o líderes religiosos los que en la actualidadaportan a la sociedad su espíritu y visión.

2. Las marcas han venido diciendo que nada ha cambiado.

3. Nuestra investigación demuestra que los activistas tienen razón.Actualmente, algunas marcas comerciales imponen mucho másrespeto que las instituciones estatales.

4. La razón por la que las marcas no han reparado en ello es que todasu actividad investigadora se centra exclusivamente en lascategorías de productos – mientras que todos los cambios estánocurriendo en el exterior, en lo que Naomi Klein llama ‘el panoramade los medios informativos.’

5. Y&R ha estado investigando marcas comerciales en el panoramainformativo y puede confirmar que algunas de ellas son muy peroque muy potentes. Nosotros las llamamos marcas ‘icónicas’.

6. Las marcas icónicas son tan potentes que pueden, y en muchoscasos ya lo hacen, comercializar productos y servicios en muchascategorías, no sólo en una.

7. De esta forma, pues, violan las reglas del marketing y ponen suseconomías principales por encima de la oferta mercantil tradicional.

8. Para constituir su marca en un icono debe, primeramente, definir supapel en el panorama informativo. El proceso de generación dearquetipos puede ayudar.

9. Porque tiene que presentarla al público como de importanciaprimordial. Ello significa comprender los motivos básicos queimpulsan a su consumidor.

10. Branding es, hoy en día, un juego de suma cero. El futuro es oscuropara las marcas que ignoran estas nuevas realidades.

The emailable version of this booklet is athttp://emea.yr.com/icon2.pdf

Y&Rchetypes, 4Cs, BAV and BrandAsset Valuator are registeredtrademarks of Young & Rubicam Brands

Written by:Simon [email protected]: +44 20 7611 6356

For new business enquiries, please contact:Yossi [email protected]: +27 11 797 6314

Helen [email protected]: +44 20 7611 6750

For press enquiries, please contact:Bernard [email protected]: +44 20 7611 6425

Y&R EMEA, GREATER LONDON HOUSE, HAMPSTEAD ROAD,LONDON NW1 7QP

Documents

How To Become An Icon