Brandloft: Brand Buzzword Process

Marketing communications professionals often refer to a positioning statement as a “blueprint” for the brand. Indeed, a sound positioning statement should reflect the “truth” inherent in a brand, make it relevant to the proper audiences and differentiate the brand from its competitors.


	The Good News? A sound positioning statement is a great start.


	The Not-So-Good News? By the time a positioning statement is approved by all key constituents, it usually is as complex as the first sentence of the Constitution.


	The Problem? Think of a sentence with three prepositional phrases and two sub-clauses. Now give it to a creative team and tell them that’s their direction. Actually, you probably just sent them in about five directions. The Brand Buzzword process addresses this problem by distilling the positioning statement down to one single word with all key constituents taking part in the process.


	Here’s How It Works. In the Brand Buzzword process, the positioning statement is the starting point. We then hold a structured brainstorming process with all key constituents from the client and agency and brainstorm on three key stimulii:


	Mirror Brands


	Aspirational Brands


	Cultural Icons


	What do all these brands and cultural icons have in common? Once we’ve identified key commonalities, we then have our “definition” for our brand buzzword.


	Then we work backwards: At this stage, science becomes art as we brainstorm as to what individual words fit the definition we’ve developed.


	Finally, we have it! Once we “discover” the brand buzzword we now have: a) A very clear and sharp direction for creative development bought into by all key client/agency constituents; and b) a common agreed-upon basis for creative evaluation.