Is Brand Juice Worth the Squeezing?

Let’s Talk ROI.

These days, it seems that any business recommendation provokes the same response: “What’s the return on investment?” And—where brand issues are concerned— the question is often met with uncomfortable silence or a snide remark about “our outdated logo.”

In fact, it IS difficult to account for the return on brand development costs. Which makes it much easier to find the budget for lead generation, or direct marketing, or even (could it be possible?) traditional advertising. Because even though we think we know that “half the money is wasted” on those things, we don’t know which half. And at the end of the day, we may have a few more leads, sales, or awareness, all of which may eventually make the cash register ring. But what’s most comforting to marketing folks is that we can measure the costs and results, so we can justify the expense.

But brand development, what’s that about? Don’t know how to manage it, measure it, or fit it into the marketing budget? “Take dollars out of my lead generation program and put it into brand development? Why don’t I just get in line at the unemployment office right now?”

Okay, take a deep breath and repeat after us: “Brand development is not a marketing initiative; it is a corporate initiative.” Your brand is not an advertising campaign or a lead generation tactic. It can—and should—and will—energize those efforts, but it is not “a marketing thing.” IT IS THE ESSENCE OF YOUR COMPANY. It’s reflected in your structure, your operations, in everything your company does. It’s whatever your customers and prospects think of when they hear your company’s name or see your outdated logo. And your brand—unlike leads—HAS REAL CASH VALUE.

How much?

Well, if you work for Maytag, your company brand is worth about 97% of your company’s total value. (That’s right, 97%!) If you work for Dell, about 92%. Where do those numbers come from? They represent the value of those companies’ intangible assets: the difference between their market cap (total value) and their book value (tangible assets). They’re the cash value of those companies’ perceived ability to fulfill customers’ expectations into the future. They are the value of those companies’ brands. We’ll call them “Brand Value.” And, yes, they are worth a huge portion of the companies’ total value. In fact, the Brand Value for the average Fortune 500 company in 2005 was 69% of the total value.

How can something intangible be worth so much?

Well consider this: at one time Chevrolet marketed the Prism, a car absolutely identical to the Toyota Corolla in nearly every way. The only material difference between the two cars when they left the factory was the nameplate. But there the similarities ended. Toyota charged $650 more for the Corolla than Chevy did for the Prism and most years, while they were competing, Toyota sold about 250,000 Corollas to Chevy’s 65,000 Prisms.

Here’s another difference: Chevy doesn’t sell the Prism anymore. But the Corolla? You’ll either be driving in one or behind one on the way home from work tonight. Why? Because everyone knows Toyota’s brand is about building absolutely reliable small-midsize cars, at affordable prices, while Chevy is known for, well, what is it today? American manufacturing? Trucks? Dollar for dollar, you can bet Toyota saw more ROI on its Corolla advertising than Chevy did on its Prism advertising.

Toyota’s ability to leverage their brand in this tactical way, and the promise that they can do it again and again and extend it across other products, is what makes their brand more valuable than any of their auto plants (which are depreciating assets anyway). Anyone can make a car, but only Toyota can make a Toyota. (Can you say the same thing about your brand?)

But how do I measure the ROI on my brand?

First of all, let us say that obsessing about every penny of ROI is not the best way to go about developing a brand. Well-developed brands pay out in many ways over time: in stronger sales, higher margins, more focused operations, and more effective marketing, just for starters. There’s plenty of return to be gained here. But because most of these secondary effects will be measured within the context of regular investments in marketing, sales, etc., they shouldn’t really be “double counted” as return on the brand development investment itself.

Those are returns on operating income anyway. And as we’ve seen, a brand is an asset, albeit an intangible one. So the return on the brand development investment is measured not in operating income, but in the improvement in the value of the brand as an asset—the Brand Value.

The fact that the brand development investment results in return on the increased value of an intangible asset makes it difficult to measure in absolute dollars. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to measure. The key is indexing the components of your brand and combining them into a single Brand Index, then recalculating at intervals. By calculating the difference between before and after, you’ll get a good take on brand development ROI.

So how much Brand ROI should I expect?

Let’s say your company revenues are $10 million. Using the average Fortune 500 listings, the intangible asset value (brand value, reputation, human capital, patents, momentum, awareness, etc.) would be $6.9 million or 69% of the total revenue. After conducting a Brand Insight Assessment (BIA), we determine that the company Brand Value Index is 40 (on a 100-point scale).

After one year of discovery, brand essence development, and internal and external brand adoption—all supported and driven by senior management—we conduct another BIA and determine that the Brand Value Index is now 50 points…a 25% improvement over the original benchmark.

Our marketing investment for the past 12 months has been $200,000—(fairly typical and realistic for an effective campaign to make a difference). That 25% improvement, calculated against the intangible value of $6.9 million, adds an additional $1.725 million to our intangible value. Now let’s do the ROI math: ($1,725,000 - $200,000) divided by $200,000…

It’s a gaudy 762.5%!

What’s all this mean? Our $200,000 investment has increased our Brand Value by a little over 17%!! Most companies would do this every day if they could.

Now you could argue that converting an index of an intangible asset into cash is more theoretical than bankable. And we would agree…to a point. Because the fact that well-developed brands drive company earnings is not theoretical. We all see it every day, just like we saw it in the Corolla/Prism example. Which is why for most companies—certainly for the most successful companies—their unique brand forms the greatest part of their value. You can choose different ways to measure progress. But the principle is clear: the money you spend to leverage—and grow—your most valuable asset is a prudent investment, indeed.

A great brand grows from inside out.

We have all heard about branding…it's one of the hottest business topics going. But what is it really? We know that it is so much more than logos, color palettes and swooshes. That's branding and the tactical execution of a true brand development process.

But what if you really do take on the worthy and beneficial task of brand development? First, engage the whole process from a thorough strategic brand assessment, then initiate a brand value measurement research study to establish a benchmark for that all important ROI measurement later on, and follow that with participation in a brand workshop for senior leaders so that everyone's on the same page. Once completed, launch our proprietary process called Turning the Telescope™ to discover the true essence of your brand…the 'brand promise,' if you will. What have you done, what have you learned, what have you created?

What you've done is laudable. You've taken the first and most important step that you could take, and that's believing that proper brand development will lead to improved brand value and company value down the road. You've learned what your brand promise is…or, better yet, you've provided a forum for your brand promise to surface and be discovered.

But the key question is what have you created? Well, it's very simple…you've created an opportunity to move forward and reap the benefits of, maybe, one of the most important, sensible business decisions you've ever made. Or, you've set yourself up to fail miserably.

Why? Because brand development initiatives will almost always fail because you do them (or don't do them) and then forget about them. Or, you take all the energy and effort, and throw it out into the marketplace. But what did you forget?

That you build a brand from within first and always. The brand never grows from the outside. Sure, the outside world benefits and can see your brand promise come alive and serve well. But without nurturing, growing and fertilizing your brand promise from the inside out, you'll never have a brand that truly adds value to your company.

Take the Ritz Carlton, for example. Know that their brand promise is "ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen." Think that started with an ad campaign or a direct mail program announcing this new approach? No way. It started from within, from the essence of the company to establish the attitude, approach and style of customer service. It starts with the way you hire your people, with the way you train them, with the objectives and goals you set and the results you expect. It starts with training and desire and a purpose. Because that's what a true brand promise is. It's not a slogan or a logo. It's the evidence that's provided by your company that supports your brand promise. Think toilet paper is less expensive at Wal-Mart? You bet. "Always low prices"—that's the brand promise. Think BMW cars are highly engineered cars for serious drivers? Spot on. They are the "ultimate driving machine."

It's the really true secret of brand development. All the hoopla about building your brand and branding and the corporate identity systems is merely noise in the night unless you really dig deep into your organization.

It starts in your gut—developing, refining and instilling your brand promise…long before you ever go out the door with your first retail shop, ad campaign, product delivery or campaign rhetoric.

So what makes a brand strong? In a recent issue of HR Magazine, an article entitled "Branding Together" stated that if you thought the answer was money spent on ad campaigns, that you should think again. "Consider that Starbucks…hardly ever advertises. It relies on employees as evangelists. That's why HR's total involvement in marketing the company brand internally is vital—through training, communication and staffing. Employees need to be excited about the brand, able to communicate and connect with it, and then radiate that message to customers. Without employee buy-in, the brand's external promise falls flat in the real world of daily customer interaction. Customers hear one thing in the marketplace and experience another with the company. That disconnect can be deadly. Just visit the graveyard of failed attempts to re-brand the likes of Polaroid, Kmart and United Airlines."

It all really comes down to what we call Brand Touchpoints. Many times we forget that, as marketers, we touch and connect with our prospects and customers in so many ways. And each time we touch them in the pre-purchase, purchase and post-purchase experience, we provide them some more evidence to make another emotional decision about our company, our brand and our eventual, continuing relationship with them. Think not? Remember the last surly retail experience you've had? The long line at a counter? The poor information delivered late or not at all? The incorrect billing statement or invoice? All driven and controlled by employees. Given the right dedication and commitment to building a brand the proper way, it's all avoidable.

That's why our Brand Establishment Process, Turning the Telescope, is so effective. It starts the process by searching inward into the heart and soul of your organization to identify and celebrate what really makes your company's product and service unique and different…and then discovers what truly separates you from your competition. Now that's brand development.

And then long before that first ad runs or TV spot airs, you've reinforced, coddled, cajoled and developed this essence within the company to make sure that your true ambassadors and your true brand associates are ready to reflect your brand promise in everything they do. Think we're kidding? We had a Ritz Carlton bellboy put down his green plastic tray of dirty glasses, walk across a lobby and introduce himself to us after he overheard us wondering out loud where a certain bar was in the hotel. He then proceeded to take us to the elevator, open the doors, punch the appropriate floor and direct us in clear and simple directions how to reach our destination. Wasn't asked, wasn't told, wasn't overly paid. Just did it! Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. Now that's how you build a brand.