Branding. Art. Or Science. (Part I: What Is Art But A Way Of Seeing?)
By Elgin Ong, Senior Researcher, StrategiCom
19 June 2008

What is a brand?
Do you know what a brand is? Most would think at this point, “Sure, I do! Nokia, Mercedes Benz, Louis Vuitton…” But what exactly is a brand beyond its name?

It is an expectation met. A brand is a promise of satisfaction.

To meet this promise of satisfaction, a brand must convey a perception of greater worth and value. Branding can rouse powerful emotions that translate into service quality and customer loyalty – leading to a stronger reputation that will allow you to compete on something other than pricing.

So what is, and who is a brand? Everything.

People. Products. Services. Organisations. Places. Religions.

Even you.

But the truth of the matter is that people usually only associate brands with large multinational enterprises. This could be due to the fact that brand management literature typically places more emphasis on large and multinational brands.

What about small and medium-sized enterprises? Do they have brands too?

In fact, brands are there wherever a competitive marketplace is. And to be a competitive brand in a competitive marketplace, past studies have shown that branding can improve the firm’s competitive advantage.

So to have a distinctive brand, be prepared to gear up and provide a distinctly different sensory and emotional experience!

What Is Art But A Way Of Seeing?
Is branding an art?

In Wikipedia, art is defined as something that stimulates a person’s process of thinking, ideas or emotions through the senses (sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste). Let’s look at how some other definitions of art excite the different human senses.

Hughes (2004) described art paintings as being consistently ranked as one of the world’s most valuable objects. Sotheby had sold the renowned Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe for about a million dollars. Would any rational accountant have placed such a high value on this item? Obviously, Not! It’s an art piece!

It is clearly evident in the art painting market that prominent images have high recognition for price, value and investment. It has become an emerging asset class. That is why brand researchers should take a lesson or two from the visual artists’ insights on branding, images and value creation.

Art pieces aside, what about artists?

Some who know of leading artists who build and promote themselves with a recognizable name, look and style would think that such is a brand.

Andy Warhol is a famous American artist whose work was exhibited in many venues such as The Museum of Modern Art. Warhol painted famous products such as the “Campbell’s Soup Cans” from the Campbell Soup Company, and Hollywood celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor.

Despite being dead for 20 years, the Andy Warhol brand remains very much alive – in numerous retrospective exhibitions and books. One study by Gardner and Levy conducted in 1955 explained that Warhol’s art such as the Campbell soup series showed that brands are psychological; and not attached to the product they inhabit.

The power of brands is proven by taking Campbell’s Soup Cans out of the consumer context and into the art gallery. Warhol illustrates how brands function outside the realm of the product. On top of influencing the iconic value of the soup, Warhol also contributed towards building a successful global brand.

This is but one salient example from the pool of many other successful artists. In fact, great artists who frequently have their work exhibited and bought may be seen as twin engines of branding knowledge: both as image managers; and managers’ image.

In other words, the artists are the managers of their own personal brand too.

Seeing Is Believing
I visited an art gallery in Queensland recently to soak up some culture one weekend. To my untrained eye, all the pieces looked more or less the same. On closer look, I was greatly surprised to discover something very different in the pieces – one painting was priced a good 100 times more than all the others.

The owner explained that the particular art piece was the creation of a talented artist and could thus fetch an extraordinary value when auctioned. Before I could attempt to reason the logic, the owner exclaimed: ‘It is sold.’

So why are some people willing to part huge sums for an art piece? It is because of the emotional responses like trust, confidence, image and value which are attached to the product.

There’s no denying that people perceive things differently. Some are willing to pay a high price for art because of how it makes them feel. The art brings out an emotional response, and people place strong value on the experience of feeling that particular emotion. This is the power of brands! Their value is completely contained with the emotional response they elicit from customers.

It’s not only museum pieces that stirs ones emotions. Retailers such as Gap and Toys “R” Us have also come up with creative methods to stimulate our senses. For instance, AEI Music Network is one partner to the toy retailer that specialises in crafting music collections tailored and designed for a specific company’s brand image. From a mobile phone to Tickle-Me-Elmo – whatever needs be designed to suit customers’ preferences best can be customised. Not so far from home, Japanese brand Nagusakiya Mera Chan sells chocolates with a musical instrument embedded in the packaging. This attracts young children to explore the product through the senses of touch and sound even before tasting the chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate, I love going to the supermarket with my grandmother. And every trip we make will always include extra time for her to choose the ‘right’ fruit. She explained that the bright red apples generally taste sweeter than the half-red ones.

Does this also mean that white eggs are fresher than brown eggs? Does coffee from a red can taste richer than coffee from a yellow can? Why do we associate some colours with ideal qualities, and not others?

Let’s look at why lipsticks are conventionally red in colour. Studies have shown that colours with long wavelengths (such as red) are arousing whereas colours with short wavelengths are soothing. As the lips are a sensual body part often associated with sex and seduction by Hollywood, blood red lipstick would excite and make the lips more provocative.

Another example is the Yellow Pages. Yellow Pages is yellow because it needs to be attractive and bright. The original reason was to lengthen the attention span of sleepy and bored telephone operators. If you realise, road-safety signs are generally yellow too. This probably implies the abundance of sleepy and bored drivers. I am not sure about you, but road-safety signs certainly relate to me – especially when I am trapped in slow-moving traffic.

So the right choice of colour for a logo is critical because not only does it need to be associated with the product, it will then set the mood of the brand. Some general colour associations are: orange for friendliness; pale blue for calm; gray for professionalism; and green for nature.

Hands Off!
Imagine yourself in a museum or an exhibition, where all the items are labeled ‘Please do not touch’. How do you feel?

Frankly, it only fuels my desire to touch it!

Because holding, touching and feeling are pleasurable ways of experiencing, exploring and being familiar with the world. If I were to buy a new golf club from Cleveland, I will certainly want to grip and have a feel of the club first. Likewise, if I buy a car, I will definitely want to test-drive it. The reason is to experience the imagined pleasure of possessing the item before I buy it.

Shoppers should feel what they are buying. Sometimes, shoppers should also smell what they are buying. This is because these are both ways that can conjure that memory of an emotion.

Smell is a highly effective method of evoking memory. And often, smell and taste work in tandem – their strong relationship has been demonstrated time and time again in studies: if food passes the smell test, it will most likely pass the taste test too.

In Singapore, it is often difficult finding a vacant seat at a café emanating such aromatic smells. More than the scent, shoppers seek a nook to escape the busy work and stressful lifestyle, to feel relaxed and enjoy tasty pleasures. For the holistic experience, look to Australian fashion brand Country Road – who sometimes offer their customers a glass of red wine when they visit the retail store in New York.

Necessity Is Stronger Far Than Art
Art is beautiful and mysterious in all its subjectivity and relativity. Is branding an art? Or a science of necessity?

We will explore this in the upcoming second half of this series.

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