Building brand identity is usually in the hope of building a blockbuster. I wanted to let y’all know that I am doing a program on coaching. Here’s an NLP concept that I have learned.
The Importance of Identity
I bought an outfit in a chain store. It fell apart. When I went back the salesperson washed their hands off the problem, but offered an easy return as per their policy. I had a problem with something from a standalone shop. The salesperson fixed the problem and showed me how to ensure that it did not recur. The people in both shops have similar roles and capabilities – but their behaviour differs because how they view themselves – their brand identity – is different.
Building a brand identity – or many
A lot of what we do is driven by our self-defined brand identity. When I define myself as a marketing strategy consultant, there are some things I can and cannot do. But when I define myself as an Independent Director – what I can and cannot do change, as are the capabilities required. If I define myself as an artist, then there is a different eco-system for me and if I were to meet Banksy I might see myself as a peer…
Each identity has a pyramid and we must nurture the capabilities and behaviour in that pyramid. Just having the capabilities will not suffice if you don’t have the identity. For example, I may be an excellent pianist but not define myself as a musician. Or I may be a musician but not play at office programs but only at private events.
Here is the NLP pyramid – I really like the easy to remember phrase “I can/can’t do that here”.
So what’s with Childish Gambino?
His legal name is Donald Glover and he is an American actor, writer, rapper, singer, comedian, director and producer. Pretty famous – used to write for 30 Rock at age 23, starred in movies, voiced adult Simba in Lion King etc etc.
He is also a Grammy award winning hip-hop artist, better known as Childish Gambino. He felt that his music deserved a separate identity. My teen is a fan of his music, not his movies, so till she mentioned he has a concert she wanted to attend – and NYT announced that he is about to retire – I did not realize that he was the same as Donald Glover.
It is a classic example of putting together the entire pyramid for building different brand identities.
Brands and Blockbusters
Childish Gambino is touring this year with concerts every week, sometimes even two per week! If you’re Taylor Swift you can rake in the moolah by making yourself hard to find. If you’re not-so-famous Childish Gambino, you need to focus on distribution and availability.
That’s the distinction between a brand and a blockbuster. And the difference is often the interest that you are able to build in your product. Which, er, costs money though you will hopefully recover it. As I argued earlier, $500 million was actually a frugal budget for Monopoly Go.
In the consumer world, blockbuster brands can afford to have standalone outlets or be selective about where they can be found. Regular brands will have to make it easy for customers to discover them.
A shortcut to being a blockbuster is to associate with one, as we’ll see in the next example.
Kalki the Blockbuster
It’s a Rs 600 crore film ($70 million) which puts it into the big league as the most expensive film made in India. It has a bunch of big stars from across India, which will ensure that everyone has heard of it. It is raking in the box office cash. Association with any aspect of this film can help to drive some of the lustre to you as well.
Hence the rise of the influencer. If the influencer invests in building their brand, they can monetize it by selling bits and pieces of their fame.
Can everyone get a slice of fame?
I was at the Bangalore airport lounge recently waiting for my daughter’s pancake to be made, when she called excitedly saying someone famous is here. I asked around and it was Shiva Rajkumar who is Kannada filmdom royalty – his late brother’s picture is part of the design of the lounge. As people queued up for their selfies, I understood that this was also influencer marketing – they would get their glory on family groups or insta by association.
In simple terms the blockbuster invests up front in building an outsize appeal and awareness and you can buy bits of it as per your capacity to pay. Think of influencer marketing as an EMI scheme 🙂
What about your identity?
My takeaway for building brand identity from the NLP pyramid is that I need to craft multiple stacks for each identity I wish to own. Same for brands. Whether they operate under multiple names or not depends on whether they have the capital to build multiple blockbuster brands, and whether there is a clash amongst their target audience for each identity. If it is a single audience, it is frugal to build a single brand.
I am going on holiday soon – not quite sure about writing next week. Enjoy the weekend!
