Distinctive Assets in Branding

Why should your brand have distinctive assets? Why are they important to your branding? What is it that can make distinctive assets more valuable than overall branding?

What comes to mind when you see or hear these words: Gecko, beer on a beach?

Probably a specific brand came to mind for each of those. What has caused your mind to link these words or imagery with these particular brands? A significant investment of time, dedication, and money has been committed to build up memories in the public that helps these brands stand out in some crowded industries.

Byron Sharp claims that distinctiveness is more important than differentiation. The examples above of an insurance and beer companies are examples of that. They also are not remarkably different from other products in their categories. What they’ve done in building distinctive assets and characters is how they stand out and how consumers remember these brands.

Distinctive Assets Defined

They are more than just branding. They’re distinct facets of your brand identity. Distinctive assets are elements that you want to own and have others closely associate with your brand. They can be:

Colors {Tiffany & Co.’s Tiffany Blue)
Logos (Pepsi)
Patterns (Louis Vuitton Flower Monogram)
Characters (Geico Gecko)
Packaging (Coca-Cola Bottle)
Context/Environment (Corona’s beer on the beach)
Tone of Voice (Absolut Vodka’s “Absolut …”)

Usage

If your brand has multiple distinctive assets, there’s no need to use all of them all the time. The various assets you have available are almost like brand tools that you can utilize when the job suits that particular asset. A video advertisement on YouTube or a TV ad might use everything or almost everything. However, an advertisement in a magazine or a PPC advertisement might only use tone of voice and contextual clues.

Commitment is the Key

Don’t hesitate after identifying that you have just the right elements and its possible for you to have ownership over them. Commit as soon as you know everything is right. You need to achieve a consistent usage across a range of audiences. Reach is vital to the success of your defining assets being connected with your brand. If you commit, over time you’ll be able to build brand equity and establish recognition of your brand. Both of these factors will contribute to future business growth.