Building Brands that Earn Customer Loyalty: Businesses Partner to Develop Better, Behavioral Approach to Branding

Boston, MA/Menlo Park, CA -- In a market where brand loyalty is hard to win, and even more difficult to maintain, it takes more than an ad campaign to gain competitive advantage from your brand. If consumers don't experience what you promised - such as faster service, better selection, or an expert sales force - they will go elsewhere.

proBRAND LLC, a strategic brand consulting firm based in Silicon Valley, CA, and Celemi, a global learning design consultancy with North American headquarters in Boston, MA, have jointly developed "Behavioral Branding" to take businesses beyond merely promoting, or communicating, a brand to actually building an inspired workforce that understands what they must do to live up to their brand promises. This comprehensive program takes companies through the full process of developing, understanding, implementing and maintaining a brand strategy.

The new product offering is a combination of proBRAND's Total Brand Management™ approach and Celemi's Living the Brand蒂 strategic learning program. Total Brand Management enables companies to bring a brand-building perspective to all business processes so they can leverage their brands for maximum advantage. Celemi's Living the Brand蒂 learning program can be custom-designed to help solve specific issues related to branding and product launch marketing activities. During the experiential learning program, participants realize how their daily interactions with customers, co-workers, distributors, agents and other key stakeholders influence brand perception, and can work together to develop strategies and tactics consistent with brand development goals.

"We have created a seamless, fully integrated program," says Finn Jepsen, managing director of Celemi's Learning Marketing division. "What we are doing is fundamentally different than communications-focused branding. Through behavioral branding, employees and other company representatives learn how their everyday actions impact their relationships with customers. So, in effect, they learn to manage the company brand by managing their customer relationships. The results are more powerful and longer lasting than any ad campaign."

Behavioral Branding at Work -- Acer and MTN

Celemi and proBRAND originally joined forces to help Acer, the world's third largest PC manufacturer, increase brand awareness, enhance their image, and build long-term brand equity. First, proBRAND worked with Acer to develop a global brand development foundation, including positioning, mission, vision and brand values. Then, Celemi designed and implemented a customized learning program to encourage employees to embrace the brand and to show them how to deliver its promise on a daily basis.

The multi-faceted learning program -- which includes on-line assignments, interactive hands-on team seminars, and an electronic learning challenge that allows employees to rehearse their behavior in a simulated marketplace -- continues to roll out globally.

proBRAND and Celemi are currently applying Behavioral Branding at MTN, a mobile telephone service provider in South Africa. Their work has centered around identifying and making the most of the company's crucial "Moments of Truth," those touch points where consumers form their brand perceptions. This includes all manner of contact - from exposure to the company through sponsorships, advertising, signage and promotions, to each individual's experiences with customer service, activation, distribution and billing.

According to Marty Brandt, president of proBRAND and author of PowerBrandingTM: Building Technology Brands for Competitive Advantage, the Behavioral Branding program is well suited for both established companies and those new to the concept of corporate branding as a source of competitive advantage. Says Brandt, "It is a matter of empowerment. Every employee becomes empowered when he or she recognizes all of his or her behaviors shape the brand perceptions that influence the success or failure of the enterprise."

Adds Jepsen, "As products become more commodotized and services less differentiated, consumers will gravitate toward - and be more loyal to - those companies whose culture and values best reflect their own. Companies who live the promise of their brands on a daily basis will win."

Editorial Note: For more information on brand building programs and access to companies who are implementing them, contact Saskia deRaat at 973- 543-4301 or saskiaderaat@ricepr.com.