The Power of What Your Brand Isn’t
Most organizations struggle to define their brand strategy — who they are, what they stand for and what they do differently. In fact, many don’t even know where to begin. Not to worry. Here’s an easy way to get started.
Make a list of all the things you aren’t. What don’t you want to be? Who aren’t you targeting? What aren’t you selling? What do you not want to do?
- We aren’t a mega bank.
- We aren’t corporate and stuffy.
- We don’t try to serve people living on the other side of the country.
- We don’t push products on people they don’t need.
- We don’t treat people like a number.
Sounds pretty good so far.
When you hear someone on your management team declare authoritatively, “We aren’t _______ ,” or when one of your employees responds with, “But that’s just not who we are,” make a note of it and keep track. Update your list. If you keep going, you’ll be on your way to writing a Brand Manifesto.
What the Dodge Charger Isn’t
Here’s a blunt-but-beautiful example of how this branding technique works, courtesy of Dodge Charger. The script for this 30-second commercial speaks volumes without ever saying mentioning anything about the product at all:
What is that thing? Well I’ll tell you what it isn’t. It isn’t a man bag. It isn’t man sandals. It isn’t a low-cal plate. It isn’t a yoga class. It isn’t an exfoliant with added moisturizer. It isn’t a couple’s cooking class. It certainly isn’t a small dog that needs a jacket if the temperature drops below 70. That’s what it isn’t. Dodge Charger.
The message is clear. You don’t need to know about the Charger’s 370-horsepower Hemi V8 engine with variable cam timing to know the Charger is a “man car.”
What USA Fed Isn’t
Spike is the official spokesdog for USA Fed, a credit union based in San Diego. Spike oozes with character, laying down brand messages about what USA Fed is not: “Say no to the fat cats,” “180° from banking,” Spike is a revolutionary. It’s more about what he’s fighting against than what he’s fighting for. “Viva la credit union revoluçion!”
What Apple Isn’t
When people think of Apple, they frequently associate themes like “innovation,” “cool,” “easy-going,” “friendly,” “intuitive” and “stylish design.”
But with its latest ad campaign, Apple has decided to amplify those perceptions by illustrating the stark contrasts between what the company is- and isn’t, what it does- and doesn’t stand for.
By personifying Mac and PC, Apple is making qualitative claims on a simple scale: Do you want to be like this guy? Or more like this guy?
Are you dull and boring? Or funny and friendly?
Complicated? Or simple and straightforward?
Convoluted, tedious and bureaucratic? Or intuitive?
Would you rather be ugly and unattractive? Or stylishly gorgeous, as this 30-second TV spot for Mac’s iMovie clearly illustrates:
Key Takeaway
Branding is all about focus — a focused promise, focused audience, focused messages, etc. It can be easier finding your brand’s focus when you dismiss things outside your field of vision. That’s why defining what you aren’t can be as valuable as defining who you are. These cultural absolutes are powerful insights that can create real clarity for your brand. (Tip: For everything you say you aren’t, you should be able to create a contrasting statement that defines what you are.)
Reality Check: You’re only going to get so far by defining what you aren’t, what you oppose and what you don’t like.
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Thanks for writing this post–it’s a super important topic that does not get nearly enough attention.
One of my two favorite questions when I meet credit union and bank CEO’s is this: “are you trying to be everything to everybody?” The only intelligent answer, they think, is to say “no, no, of course not!” So my follow up question is, “OK great–so who is it that you want to just stay the heck away from you?” This is the stumper. After about 10 seconds, they almost always say “rate shoppers,” which is totally expected. The fact that they can’t answer this question intelligently shows us our industry has a big problem with brand focus.
The problem stems from the fact that the commonsense of a bank or credit union exec tells them that they need to cast the net as wide as possible so that they can attract enough customers/members to be successful. But while this may seem like common sense, it couldn’t be more true. You can’t be a GREAT FIT for any customers/members without being a TERRIBLE FIT for some others. It’s just impossible. The examples you gave above are good.
The best brands are always polarizing.
Or, as ad legend David Ogilvy said, “Try to appeal to everyone and you will end up appealing to no one.”
That expression is perfect, and I find it useful every time I share it. One of the biggest pushbacks I get from banks and credit unions on this topic is “but we’re a credit union/community organization–we were founded to serve them, so we can’t turn people away.”
I think that’s idealistic BS. That argument used to be more valid than it is now. Today’s credit unions, in the world of community charters, have to compete against each other whether they admit it or not. And both community banks and credit unions alike obviously face stiff competition from online financial institutions. In short, the competitive environment is not what it used to be, and todays banks and credit unions must be as absolutely differentiated as possible…and truly differentiated companies are not right for everyone. Truly differentiated and strongly branded companies turn a lot of people off, and turn a lot of people on…and leave nobody indifferent.
It’s a cop-out to say you serve everyone in your community. It’s an excuse to dodge difficult (and often painful) discussions in your organization.
YOU (the branding hero):
“We’re going to have to forget about serving the underserved.”
THEY (the fearful):
“But that’s what our credit union is about. We serve the community and its needs.”
YOU:
“Well we can’t serve the underserved while trying to build a financial institution targeting suburban families who need high-value services.”
THEY:
“But we need to build our investments, insurance and mortgage business.”
YOU:
“That isn’t the underserved market. You have to pick one or the other…”
THEY:
“We pick both! This organization isn’t about compromises or sacrifices, you narrow-minded ninny. We will be the premier financial institution with extraordinary service for everyone!”
YOU:
{retreating, crumpled and defeated}
Reality Check: Branding is hard work, which is something many people really don’t care for. It’s much easier to avoid challenges, duck confrontations and just keep doing things the way they’ve always been done.
I absolutely love this article and the concept it presents. It is a seriously underutilized tool in defining a credit union’s (and any business’s for that matter) brand.
As one of my favorite electronic music artists, Brian Eno said, “You define who you are and where you are by the things that you know you are not… You don’t quite know where you are, but you find yourself in the space left behind by the things you’ve rejected.”
It is much harder to define who you are when you have no idea what you are not.
I really like the idea of identifying what your brand isn’t, and agree with the comments above.
At the same time, I think many of the marketers and executives who would be stumped with this question are those that are paying little or no attention to the issue of brand in the first place. I could easily see many dismissing this exercise as pointless, and instead continue to move forward with a “we’ll take anything we can get” approach. Unfortunately for them, as others refine and focus on their brands, the amount of ‘anything we can get’ simply isn’t going to be enough anymore.
Exactly Brady. That’s why there are so few brands that breakthrough…in any industry or product/service category.
This article is exactly at the heart of the why we’ve launched the niche banking movement. There really aren’t any true “love it or hate it,” “we’re only right for 0.1% of the world,” “we hope to make some people mad” brands out there in the financial services industry. Everything is extremely middle-of-the-road…not objectionable to anyone, but consequently not embraceable by anyone either.
Our vision for the niche banking movement is one in which EVERY niche bank is flat out absolutely totally wrong for 99.9% of the total “eligible” population. At our banks, it won’t matter if you’ve got $10k and a pulse, if you don’t believe in what we believe in (which will be extremely narrowly defined), we won’t want you as a customer.
This is a good post, and we appreciate you spreading this perspective on brands.
Thanks for the comment, and you’re welcome.
Here, I have an idea. Let me offer some tangible, first-hand, real-world examples.
WHAT? The Financial Brand doesn’t cover investment firms, credit card companies, online brokerages, investment banks, accounting firms, etc. The sole focus is retail/consumer banking (i.e., retail banks and natural person credit unions).
The Financial Brand doesn’t try to compete with other websites that discuss branding, marketing and advertising on a more generalized level. If there isn’t specific relevance to the financial industry, The Financial Brand doesn’t write about it.
WHERE? The Financial Brand doesn’t cover the entire world. The focus is on financial institutions in English-speaking countries, primarily the U.S., but also quite frequently Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.
WHO? The Financial Brand doesn’t write for CFOs, accountants, I.T. people, compliance folks, or board members. They may find the site’s content interesting, but The Financial Brand is specifically written for financial marketers, including marketing managers/VPs, CMOs, CEOs, PR people, operations and HR folks.
There are some great points here. As branding professionals, we really want to help our financial clients find their point of distinction — to help them put that stake in the ground (no easy task in a commoditized and, dare I say, mature industry).
To those banks or credit unions who live in fear of missing out on the masses: just because you market your point of differentiation does not mean you need to turn away potential out-of-target customers. As Jeffry points out, there may be some accountants out there who find The Financial Brand interesting. The funny thing is, I bet that those accountants are attracted simply because The Financial Brand isn’t trying to be everything to everybody. Wait! Isn’t that where we started this conversation??