Brand platform

How are you different from your nearest competitor? At best, there will be a couple of benefits right off the bat - which is normal for a company immersed in work, but not enough to get ahead. To do this, you need a brand platform: it will describe all the strengths of your business and unlock its potential.

Service description
The brand platform is the key tool through which the brand tells consumers about its rational and emotional benefits, product properties, production, values. This is the most effective way to build consistent communication that allows you to attract new and retain old customers. Creating a brand platform is the basis of the brand complex, which determines all subsequent actions.

Principle
Often, unique characteristics that could be built into the brand platform are not obvious at first glance, so to search for such qualities, we resort to a comprehensive analysis of information about the company: we conduct interviews with top management, employees, customers and, if possible, competitors, study market and conduct research on trends and trends.

Many insights in one form or another are expressed by consumers of similar products or services. Here is one example of how it might sound: "I want it to be like this, but ..." is the pain of the client, which he unconsciously shares. Of course, the wording may not be so obvious, and our task is to find a request among the formal answers that will close the new brand.

The found insight is built into the brand platform through a combination of simple, but not always obvious levels:

• Customer need
  
• The problem he faces with competitors
  
• Brand solution

Such consistent work allows the brand to become relevant to the consumer and differentiate from competitors. On the basis of the created platform, we build a pyramid from product advantages to the essence.

Brand platform elements

1. Brand Attributes - "Tell Me"
   Product characteristics (facts and properties). Why our product is better than competitors.
   
   
2. Rational Benefits - "Sell Me"
   What is the benefit to the consumer from using our product.
   
   
3. Emotional Benefits - "Involve Me"
   What emotions does the consumer experience when using the product.
   
   
4. Brand character - "Describe me"
   What features does a brand have if you think of it as a person?
   
   
5. The essence of the brand - "Who am I?"
   What is the main idea in any brand communication?
   
   

Forming the brand platform, we consistently answer the following questions:

• What in our case helps to create value that is different from competitors?
  
  
• What is the consumer experience with the product or service from competitors?
  
  
• How does our product or service differ from competitors, both for the worse and for the better?
  
  

Having received clear answers, we draw conclusions for each item and proceed to the development of positioning. The main task is to determine which "position" of the brand will be the most beneficial in relation to what competitors report about themselves.

Brand metaphor
Based on the pyramid, we build a tone chart and formulate a mission, after which we move on to the creative stage and create metaphors — creative images that can convey the essence of the brand on a verbal and visual level. So, having determined the key meanings, we select for them the appropriate form of expression in communications.

Creating a brand platform with the help of insights suggests that the basis is hidden from prying eyes and the consumer often cannot unambiguously say what it is. At the same time, any person feels it on a subconscious level. This effect is achieved by working with metaphors, when we answer the question: "Brand like what?"

Based on one brand platform, we develop several positioning hypotheses. Each of them is a general idea, which is accompanied by a description and examples.