Brand ≠ IP, operators need to have a deep understanding of IP and brand

Brand is not equal to IP, there is a clear difference between the two. If you want to build a brand IP, operators need to have a clear understanding of both. The author of this article conducts an in-depth analysis and discussion on the differences between brand and IP from four aspects and shares it with you.

The rapid development of the Internet has spawned a number of Internet-related brands. Opening your mobile phone is like a happy "zoo". I don’t know when it started, but brand IP has become very popular. Many companies have tried to build their own brand IP to make the brand more vocal and recognizable in the market.

Brand IP has many characteristics such as high recognition, interactivity and entertainment. At the same time, as an IOCN that highlights the brand personality and social value, it can enable the brand to have continuous communication power and accurately reach consumer groups.

Many times we don’t understand what IP is, and always equate brand with IP, or treat them as the same concept. In fact, there is a clear difference between brand and IP. If operators want to build a brand IP, they must have a clear understanding of both.

1. The Concept of IP and Brand

Brand is people's evaluation and cognition of an enterprise and its products, services, and cultural values, and it is a kind of market trust. Brand is the embodiment of the comprehensive quality of goods, the result of a company's long-term hard work, and an intangible carrier of the corporate image. Simply put, brand refers to consumers' awareness of products and services.

IP is the abbreviation of Intellectual Property, which usually refers to the results of intellectual creative labor and is the exclusive right enjoyed by intellectual workers in accordance with the law. It can be understood that IP can carry a variety of cultural and creative forms such as pictures, texts, audio and video. What it ultimately reflects is people's cultural and emotional resonance.

2. Brand ≠ IP, in-depth understanding of IP and brand

After understanding the concepts of brand and IP, I found that the difference between the two is very obvious. Operators cannot simply distinguish a thing from its concept and appearance, but must try to understand the thinking logic behind it.

In a narrow sense, IP (Internet Protocol) is actually a collection of network domains, a link channel. Behind it is the existence of traffic logic, which can attract more people to visit and pay attention. Therefore, it is much easier to understand brand IP from this perspective. An exclusive brand IP can bring its own traffic collection. IP carries information, which is a virtual thing that can change anytime and anywhere.

A brand is different from an IP in that it is essentially a trust mechanism that can reduce users’ selection costs. The more positive interactions there are between a brand and its users, the greater the intangible asset value the brand accumulates. Therefore, a brand carries products and is a benign interaction between people and enterprises.

Once you understand the content behind IP and brand, you will find that the paths they take to achieve their goals are different. Fundamentally speaking, the reason why companies build brands is to achieve product sales. A good brand can achieve sustainable sales goals that bring excess profits. What IP provides to consumers is not the functional attributes of the product, but an emotional sustenance that can achieve interaction and value identification with users.

It can be said that when users like a brand, it is an emotional transfer of empathy based on a rational choice, while liking an IP is simply a "heartfelt" decision, an emotional investment. In real life, brands are often the ones who "spend money". Brands need to constantly attract new users and please users; and IP is like "treasure". By continuously outputting content, it attracts many sponsors to pay and cooperate, thereby attracting more and more fans.

Having written this, I believe you have a deeper understanding of the difference between brand and IP. The essence of IP is to maintain its dissemination and influence by continuously outputting personalized and relevant content. Therefore, content, especially original content, has become the cornerstone of IP development. Therefore, the power of IP can support or even create a brand, and it also benefits from the continuous output of content to maintain the powerful traffic effect of IP.

Just like many of Disney’s representative IPs, the continuous launch of new works has made the Disney brand long-lasting. It can be said that IP can determine the trend of a brand!

Brand owners can try to create their own exclusive brand IP or use well-known IP to serve the brand. In order to break through the minds of consumers and increase user loyalty to the brand, we need to integrate the characteristics of the brand and IP, provide good product services, and use brand IP to give the brand more "content" to allow consumers to better accept the brand and products and achieve more product sales.

3. Thoughts on brand IP operation

As more and more companies have tasted the sweetness of IP, various "IP-based" corporate brands have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and controversies about brands and IP have become rampant.

When it comes to brand IPization, many people's first reaction is "animalization of logo" or "personification of brand", to the extent that our mobile phone screens have become a "zoo", or cute cartoon characters, and when you click on an APP, you will see all kinds of friendly "little X" and other "brand IPization" with "cuteness" as the characteristic.

There is nothing wrong with making characters cute or animal-like, and it is indeed pleasing to the eye. If you can successfully establish your own IP culture, you can achieve twice the result with half the effort. Because IP is very suitable for fragmented communication, it has characteristics such as high recognition, high sense of identity, and strong sense of scene immersion, which are things that traditional brand image work is unable to accomplish. It can be foreseen that brand IPization will become a larger development trend in the future.

As an operator, you can think about brand IP from the following four aspects:

1. Role positioning

The role positioning of brand IP is very important. It determines the richness of brand emotions and also affects the creation of subsequent story content. Good character positioning can make users fall in love with it at first sight, or make them feel like they have known it for a long time. It can lock the user's attention and facilitate subsequent dissemination.

When mentioning Haier, everyone will think of the "Haier Brothers", two little boys in shorts. Not only did they become Haier's first-generation logo, but the popular science cartoon "Haier Brothers" also became the childhood memory of countless people. While influencing a generation, it also made Haier a household name in home appliance brand and a representative of excellent brands.

In operational practice, inadequate character positioning can easily lead to insufficient character emotions, limited ability to attract fans, affect the continuous creation of stories, and hinder the brand IP process.

2. Image building

The shaping of IP image directly affects the brand image. Although IP image is not completely equivalent to brand image, certain personalized characteristics that the company or brand hopes to convey to users can be reflected through IP image. IP can play a certain role in promoting brand image. Each personalized IP image can attract people with corresponding characteristics.

This is also why when we open our phones, the screen is filled with animals and cartoon characters. These personified images are easier to remember, more approachable, and more conducive to interaction. For example, the brands we are very familiar with, such as Tmall, JD.com, Suning, QQ, etc., and Alibaba products can even create a happy "zoo". In addition, there are brands such as "AC Girl" on Station A and "2233 Girl" on Station B that use some silly, cute and other distinctive cartoon characters to attract fans, which can not only increase users' brand favorability but also attract fans.

The brand gives these IP images a certain personality (which can also be understood as role positioning), which carries the spiritual connotation of the brand and is entertaining, making it easier for people to accept and eliminating the sense of distance between the product and the user. After the brand becomes IP, it becomes warmer and easier to interact with.

3. Storytelling

Stories, stories, and more stories.

We often hear people on the Internet talk about this term. There is no doubt that telling a good story is the basis for building a good brand. It is a common human trait to like listening to stories. Stories can connect people from different circles and backgrounds to pay attention to the same things. In a sense, the essence of brand IP is "telling a good story."

IP is like a living organism, constantly outputting new content, keeping pace with the times, and constantly presenting rich personal charm. The richness of IP content also affects the vitality of the brand image. Therefore, IP content must be continuously output. The reason why many brands fail in IPization is the lack of content. Without the support of content, the IP image will lack the medium for spreading topics. An IP without topics to talk about will not be successful. It can be said that content is the flesh and blood of IP.

Of course, brand operators also need to broaden their horizons and understand the meaning of "story" in a broad sense. A story is not necessarily an article, video or animation. A story can be a poster, a topic maker, performance art, or even a set of emoticons, etc.

For example, Kumamon has captured many fans with his large number of funny performance arts and emoticons. Stories are the carriers of characters and boosters of IP. They can help brands break through circles and enter the public eye.

Powerful storytelling can bring more traffic to the IP and generate commercial activities.

4. Values

Every company has its own values ​​to convey, which can be spiritual connotations such as struggle, innovation, integrity, and hard work. The purpose of brand IPization is to gain users’ recognition of values ​​and culture, and to provide consumers with a spiritual sustenance. It is conceivable that a child who grew up watching the cartoon "Haier Brothers" will have his own understanding of science, and the brand awareness he develops during his growth process is also deeply rooted.

The spiritual core conveyed by the IP character is a direct reflection of the corporate and brand values. Through the output of IP values, the brand can gradually occupy the minds of users. When users need a product, they will unconsciously think of a certain brand, inspiring users to transform their purchasing behavior from need to love.

Whether it is the story or the character image, the output of the IP image must infect users through values, such as the emperor’s cold temperament, the rise of mourning culture, the dream of saving the world in "Avengers", the craftsmanship advocated by Hammer, and so on.

Brand IP must be managed with heart and stimulate the subconscious in human nature, so as to attract more users' attention. By stimulating users' feelings and transforming from rational functional positioning to emotional sustenance, resonance can be created to bring greater driving force for subsequent business behaviors.

4. Misunderstandings of Brand IP Operation

There is no profound and complex methodology for brand IP operation; it mainly depends on practice. Many companies are obsessed with brand IP operations. While working hard to build their own exclusive IP, they also seek alliances and cross-border cooperation with well-known IPs. This can promote the development of brand IP to a certain extent, but there are some operational misunderstandings that operators should be careful to avoid.

1. Brand licensing does not mean brand IP

We often see products of well-known IPs on the streets, such as backpacks and suitcases printed with Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Taking Peppa Pig, an animation IP that has been quite popular in the past two years, as an example, its derivative products include many industry fields such as life, education, entertainment, and transportation. What operators need to think about is, while obtaining these IP licensing cooperation, will it bring huge traffic and increase brand influence to their own brand?

The reality is often cruel. IP licensing is usually only the right to use the IP. It may increase product sales in the short term, but it does not have much impact on the company's own brand. Instead, it increases the amount of topics for the IP itself and contributes to IP revenue.

Operators must understand that super IP is only a short-term sales tool for enterprises. They should try to avoid traffic diversion. After spending money, they should try to maximize their brand value and let the IP feed back to their own brand. They must not be blinded by temporary sales growth.

2. Brand IPization does not equal IP brand

It is not difficult to understand that brand IPization is not equal to IP brand.

The key point of IP brand lies in content, and the continuous creativity of content is the top priority in the IPization of brand. To do this well, we need to keep up with the development of the times. The fragmentation of information in the Internet age can easily weaken the IP characteristics of a product. This requires brand operators to output content in multiple dimensions, which must be both diverse and innovative.

Three Squirrels quickly increased its brand awareness by creating brand IP, becoming a popular research case in Internet marketing. Three Squirrels has established an entertainment strategy: vertical IP content and three-dimensional industrial operations. The ultimate goal is to build Three Squirrels into a truly personalized living brand. They have tried cartoons and offline experience stores to connect content and brand.

It is undeniable that Three Squirrels has some success, but it is far from enough for brand IP operations. Users’ awareness of brand IP is not strong enough, and operators still need to think deeply about the next steps in IPization.

Another example is JD Joy. JD cleverly used the social IP of the Year of the Dog and cooperated with a Hollywood director to launch the JD Joy IP movie "Joy and the Heron", creating a flesh-and-blood character. In addition to making movies, Joy also collaborates with the world's top IP LINE FRIENDS. This series of brand collaborations has enriched the IP attributes of JD.com’s mascot to a certain extent, but the IPization of JD.com’s brand is still a long and arduous process.

Once a brand loses its valuable content dissemination, its IPization will gradually weaken. This is one of the reasons why Internet giants continue to launch large-scale brand planning activities.

3. Brand placement does not mean brand IP

In recent years, the rise of reality show variety shows has allowed many brands to see traffic hotspots. Enhance brand influence through spending money on sponsorship, naming, and on-site product or brand placement. What Brother 7 wants to remind you is that brand implantation does not mean brand IPization.

As we all know, popular TV dramas have strong ability to gather traffic and also have strong ability to bring goods. Many brands can improve brand awareness and increase product sales to a certain extent by implanting their brands in movies, TV series, and variety shows, but this does not mean that progress has been made in brand IPization.

Referring to the first point, we can find that if the brand does not follow up with corresponding operational actions, the traffic and topic effects generated by the IP cooperation will have nothing to do with the brand at all. Brand operators need to proactively initiate topics and complaints based on the plot and on-site actions of variety shows, attract users' attention to their own topics, and combine interactive traffic with their own brands. You can use the content of programs or film and television dramas to create fermentation points, find KOLs to amplify the voice, play a wave of social communication, direct traffic back to the brand, and truly let IP serve the brand.

Conclusion

The IPization of a brand seems simple, including personalization, storytelling, entertainment, and interaction... Some brands have indeed boldly adopted IPization and achieved good results, but this is easier said than done. Most brands only try it out briefly and give up halfway.

The creation of IP involves multiple dimensions such as corporate culture, product tone, and brand temperament. In addition to requiring a large amount of financial investment, it also takes time. Only a very few can succeed, so there are those rare and high-value IPs.

Brother 7 believes that even if a strong brand IP is established, operators must be careful about their reputation, respect and understand users from beginning to end, and cannot treat IP as a talisman for the brand. With limited financial resources and energy, instead of blindly following trends and jumping on the bandwagon, it is better to work hard to provide quality products and services. This is the right way to go.

Author: 7 Brother (Brother Mai)

Source: 7Brother (Brother Mai)