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Brand definitions range from the clinical ("a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these that identifies the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiates them from those of competitors") to the indefinite ("the sum of all the images and associations customers have concerning a company") to the just-plain-silly ("great brands are born from people who are having fun and who have a sense of humor. Their personal excitement is reflected in the meaning of the brand."). Brands are powerful. They attract prospects, resonate with constituencies and remind customers to repurchase. Accenture found that 80% of corporate buyers believe that brand and customer service are more important than price. Brands shorten sales cycles. They also bolster competitive prowess and provide launch pads for new offerings. Brands are profitable, too. Consumers pay about 10% more for computers with an "Intel Inside" logo. As a result, every company wants to brand its offerings. But not every offering can be a brand. Companies can spend lots of money “building a brand,” but often all that’s built is an expensive failure. Unfortunately for those raised on mass-economy tactics, branding has even grown more difficult in the current customer economy. Consumers are more powerful, competition for attention and offerings is more intense and technology more vital. The Internet has also reshaped branding, although not in the ways that many believe. Road Runner and Wil E. Coyote are a parable for many branding efforts today. Despite the continuing faith of Coyote, his traps to capture Road Runner fail. Even Acme Corp. technology inevitably blows up in his face. In much the same way, organizations attempt to trap elusive consumers with Acme marketing techniques and technologies. CRM! Email! Banner ads! Like poor Coyote, these organizations never figure out that endlessly chasing customers is a lot less effective than relationships that persuade customers to come to them, again and again. “Awareness” was the currency of branding in the mass economy. If an offering pierced a level of "awareness" and was reinforced by sufficient distribution, then it had a better-than-even chance of becoming a brand. Mass media dominance and power guaranteed exposure, making "awareness" fairly easy to achieve. "Awareness" is a topic that has been extensively explored, starting with the books on advertising and PR that crowd bookstores. But in the new economy, "awareness" is not enough. Awareness is required, just as putting the key in the ignition is required to drive a car. But just as the ability to start a car does not mean the car will be driven well, neither does the creation of "awareness" mean that a brand will be established. Pursuit of "awareness" is a primary goal at many firms, but it has numerous problems. The first, and most important, is that it is a low bar that does not contribute to sales or profitability. Sufficient budgets can raise awareness, but what good has it done if few sales result? Secondly, the single-minded pursuit of awareness has backfired. Purchaser barriers are higher today because companies have turned to ever more intrusive marketing - even in schools - in the hope that a new or shocking medium will increase awareness of the message. Initially, it might have worked, but consumers have grown adept at blocking the interrupt-based tactics of most marketing today. What they can't block, they don't remember. How many commercials are seen - and even talked about - where the name of the advertiser is forgotten? Finally, the goal of branding is not awareness. It's not even an initial sale. It's repeat sales to customers, reinforced by a continuing relationship, that help build long-term customer value. In the mass economy, it might have been possible to create brands by selling products based on awareness. That's no longer possible in the new economy. Now, brands are made by capturing and retaining customers. Such retention is based on the emotional, experiential and functional drivers that create a relationship between a brand and its customers. What worked well in the mass economy is out-of-step with a world where customers drive relationships. They also won't work in the demand economy, where immediacy and personalization, not awareness, will shape strategies. If "awareness" has limited power in the customer economy and current branding efforts are not achieving hoped-for results, how do companies brand in the new economy? How can they ensure that brands endure through the now economy? The answer is FusionBranding. FusionBranding represents an innovative, comprehensive approach to brand building. It reflects the integration - or fusion - of traditional marketing with technology, measurement, globalization, supply chain excellence and changing customer requirements. Advancing lessons learned in the mass economy, FusionBranding is synchronized with customer imperatives. While mass economy branding stressed awareness, FusionBranding builds and strengthens relationships. Just as important, FusionBranding provides a framework for setting strategies, orchestrating relationships and measuring success. While branding worked well during the simpler age of the mass economy, FusionBranding is required at a time when customers hold the branding cards. Branding and FusionBranding differ significantly. Previously, companies could control information and exposure, allowing them to "position" their offerings and "build" their images. Technology and other factors have now shifted control to customers. They demand information, performance and results on their terms - and they have the tools to get what they are looking for. This means brands can no longer be defined by companies. They are now defined by customers, based on the corporate ability to consistently and responsively meet their requirements. Another difference: FusionBranding focuses on the long-term customer relationship, not on a "position" that's developed with competitors in mind. You know: The competitor boasts about speed; we have to focus on reliability. They have a large branch network; we'll stress caring and commitment. But customers care nothing about how a company sees its brand in relation to competitors. They only care about how an offering delivers quality, consistency, reliability and service - on their terms. Remember, most competitive differences can be duplicated. The one advantage that can’t be duplicated is a long-term relationship with a customer. The only valid branding strategy that incorporates competitive differentiation is based on price. However, this is universally acknowledged as the weakest and riskiest branding strategy. Of course, companies should be competitor-aware. But the primary reason to study competitors is not to learn their price or "position." It's how they are meeting customer requirements. What can they do for customers you can’t - or won't? Finally, branding efforts focus on marketing efforts. FusionBranding requires more. It seeks a customer equity-based organization that extends and expands long-term customer value (see chart). While mass-economy organizations measured themselves in terms of transactional efficiency, seeking the most efficient way to complete a one-time exchange of goods or services, FusionBrand organizations measure their effectiveness at building and maintaining long-term relationships. This book explores the three core principles of FusionBranding: Customer equity that reflects a continuing relationship; everyday operational excellence that incorporates technology and unified supply chains; and accountability, characterized by extensive measurability. Section 2 explores the value and development of customer equity:
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