How to advance a brand? Start with these 3 systems

There is a process for consumers to come into contact with and become familiar with a brand : recognition - cognition - identification. Corresponding to these three stages are the three major systems of the brand: symbol system, interest system, and meaning system. What can brands do in each system?

Just imagine the process of getting familiar with your friends, colleagues, boyfriends or girlfriends.

Except for love at first sight, almost all of them are a process from shallow to deep, from acquaintance to cognition to identification.

First, you need to remember the name and appearance of this stranger.

Then, you begin to understand what he does, what his specialties are, and what his personality is like.

Slowly, you become more and more familiar with him, and you feel that your personalities are compatible, your world views are similar, you have the same interests and hobbies, and he is the same type of person as you. In short, there are some aspects of him that you identify with, so you become friends and lovers .

Recognition - cognition - identification, this is the process of people becoming familiar with each other, and it is also the process of consumers coming into contact with and becoming familiar with a brand:

• Remember the brand name and logo first;
• The second is brand knowledge, what do you do, and how are you different from similar products;
• Finally, it’s the emotional and spiritual connection that makes you feel like “this is my brand.”

How to build a brand?

In fact, it is built based on the process of "recognition - cognition - identification" of consumers: first let consumers know you, then let consumers recognize you and understand you, and finally let consumers identify with you.

Corresponding to these three stages are the three major systems of the brand: symbol system, benefit system, and meaning system.

1. Symbol system

Lines do not exist in nature. The so-called lines are just the intersection of different tones, which are abstracted and summarized by the brain from objective things. Lines are an invention of our brain.

From the murals painted by primitive people in the Lascaux Cave in southern France 15,000 years ago, to the Neolithic painted pottery basin with human face and fish pattern unearthed in Xi'an, Shaanxi, from Picasso's cow to all children's simple drawings. Whenever we want to depict something, we always choose to start with lines to represent the world.

Lines are the basic means by which we depict the world; they are an abstract artistic language.

(If you were asked to design a logo for a cow?)

The human brain's perception of the external world is not copied exactly like a camera. When you see something, your brain processes the objective information it receives, first breaking it down, then abstracting and purifying it, and finally simplifying it into key features.

Think about what you will remember when you first meet someone: he has a red nose, she has big eyes, he has a blue birthmark on his left cheek, her hair is purple, his beard is gray...

We always tend to extract the main features of a person involuntarily, rather than taking a picture of him in our mind.

The brain hates complex information and can only understand simple information. We choose to use simple information to remember this complex world. This is the way of survival that we have evolved over billions of years.

In order to help consumers remember your brand better, the brand needs to create a simple and easily recognizable symbol system, which is the foundation of the brand.

The symbol system mainly includes: brand name, logo, color, pattern, packaging, mascot, product design, etc.

The key to designing a good brand symbol is to simplify the brand message and amplify the core characteristics.

In the pizza category, Pizza Hut is the leading brand. Le Caesar wants to seize the mental recognition of the creator of durian pizza and establish differentiation through durian pizza.

Although it has many other products on its menu, durian is its core feature. So Le Caesar revised its logo design.

From this change, we can see the key amplification of durian.

Among so many software and apps for memorizing words, 100cizhan stands out with the word "zhan". Every time you remember a word, you just cut it off in a cool way. This "砍" makes memorizing words full of pleasure and has a very vivid visual effect.

"Cut" is the core feature of Baicizhan, so the design and experience of the entire APP revolve around "Cut", from the logo to the promotional slogan "Cut off your years of feud with English". There are also "Cut" sound effects and actions in the process of using the APP, and you will remember it after using it once.

In 2011, the entire Shinkansen line running through Kyushu, Japan was opened, allowing travelers from other regions to visit Kyushu more conveniently. The Kumamoto Prefectural Government saw this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and intended to carry out some promotional activities to attract travelers to get off at Kumamoto Station.

The now famous Kumamon was designed by the writer Kaoru Oyama and his designer friend Manabu Mizuno, who designed the character. Kumamon's body is black, the main color of Kumamoto Castle, and his cheeks are painted with blush, which is often used in cute characters. The red color also implies the title of Kumamoto Prefecture as the "Land of Fire". It not only represents the volcanic geography of Kumamoto Prefecture, but also represents many delicious red foods.

The government appointed Kumamon as the prefecture's business director and happiness minister. He is Japan's first mascot civil servant and probably one of the most well-known civil servants in the world.

Kumamon, with his silly expression, silly image, and cute behavior, has now become the most recognizable symbol of Kumamoto Prefecture.

The same applies to Line friends who you must check in on in your Moments even if you cannot log in.

Audi 's signature four-wheel drive technology, quattro, is Audi's most important sports gene.

Quattro means "4" in Italian. When registering the trademark, a small gecko was used as the symbol.

What is the most powerful thing about geckos? Grip! Even if it is as smooth as a mirror, you can climb it without any hindrance. Audi uses the gecko as the logo of quattro to illustrate the grip of the full-time four-wheel drive.

Later, when it came to China, the word "gecko" was extended to mean "shelter", "avoid disaster" and "blessing", implying safe driving and staying away from disasters. In traditional culture, geckos are celestial dragons and palace guards, and they also represent exorcising demons and bringing prosperity to the family.

So you can see the gecko logo on many cars, even if they are not Audis. The gecko has become a classic case and symbol in automobile history, and Audi has also created many classic advertisements for this little gecko.

In addition to external symbols such as name, logo, color pattern, and mascot, the product design itself should also strive to create iconic features and form a unique identity.

For example, BMW's double kidney grille, when you see it on the road you know it is a BMW.

This is the brand's symbol system, the core of which is to enhance identification so that consumers can recognize you and know who you are at a glance.

To build powerful symbols, the method is simple, just add, subtract, multiply and divide:

• First, do subtraction, organize and simplify product information, and find out the key features and essence of information;
• Then multiply to multiply the core features;
• Then add rich subjective information perception to the objective information features;
• Finally, division is carried out, and other messy information is discarded, and the interpretation and display are centered around the core symbols.

I won’t go into details here and will write a separate article about it later.

2. Benefit System

The benefit system is the product and brand knowledge that consumers possess, which mainly includes category attributes, functional benefits, and quality performance. Therefore, the interest system can also be called a knowledge system.

But product knowledge must be centered on the vital interests of consumers. Otherwise, for an ordinary consumer, why should I remember so much of your messy knowledge?

From the user's perspective, the core of the brand's interest system is to answer two questions:

1. What does it have to do with me?
2. What makes you different from others?

Question 1: It is to solve the problem of user needs. It is necessary to clearly tell consumers what benefits the product provides and what needs it meets. Question 2: It is to solve the competition problem and create differentiation.

For example, Jiaduobao ’s interest system consists of two layers:

1. Why drink herbal tea? Because I’m afraid of getting a sore throat, especially I need to drink it when eating hot pot or barbecue.
2. Why should we drink Jiaduobao herbal tea? Because compared with Wanglaoji , my Jiaduobao is the best-selling herbal tea (the best-selling one is the best, otherwise why do people choose it?)

The benefit system actually includes two major theories: USP and positioning. One is the reason to buy, and the other is the differentiated label.

In 2005, Hebei Yangyuan Company was on the verge of bankruptcy. None of its 15 product categories, including Eight Treasure Porridge and Walnut Milk, could win the favor of consumers, and it was not qualified to compete with Wahaha and Yinlu.

After several months of market research, they found that beverage categories such as mineral water and milk were highly competitive and had a dazzling array of products, but walnut milk was relatively unknown. So they decided to cut off other categories and concentrate their efforts on walnut milk.

Why is walnut milk so unknown and ignored? Just because you didn’t answer question 1 above, what does it have to do with me? Why do I drink walnut milk instead of milk, juice, mineral water, coconut milk, herbal tea, or iced black tea?

The reason given by Hebei Yangyuan for consumption is: it is good for the brain and improves intelligence. Drinking walnut milk can improve the brain and improve intelligence.

According to the traditional wisdom that what you eat will replenish what you need and like cures like, walnuts have always been known to nourish the brain.

So who needs brain supplements the most?

Of course it’s students (although men, women, young and old can drink walnut milk, but when doing marketing, you must find the group that is most sensitive to this functional benefit).

The student population is large and stable, and has a strong ability to drive consumption.

Hebei Yangyuan therefore targeted the student group and fully portrayed the typical scenes of students "studying hard and taking exams nervously" in their advertisements.

The product is named Six Walnuts , which allows consumers to intuitively feel the presence of walnuts and establishes a strong association with brain health.

Of course, there are not 6 walnuts in Six Walnuts. It is said that the number six is ​​used mainly because "six" is auspicious, and there is a saying that Chinese medicine recommends eating 6 walnuts a day to nourish the brain.

The original slogan of Six Walnuts was "Six Walnuts, good at six points". This is a very self-righteous slogan. After hearing it, you don’t know what’s good about it, and you won’t be interested in delving into what these six points are.

In 2009, the slogan was changed to "Use your brain regularly and drink more Six Walnuts", and sales have been out of control since then. This new slogan answers the product benefits and provides a reason to buy.

The spokesperson was initially Mei Ting, but later changed to Lu Yu. This decision is extremely wise, not only because the programs hosted by Luyu give people a more intelligent feeling, but also because Luyu herself has an intelligent brain that does not match her petite figure.

So you can see that everything Six Walnuts does is to build its own knowledge system around brain supplementation. Moreover, walnut has become an iconic identification symbol.

As for why you should drink walnut milk from Six Walnuts instead of other brands? That’s because six walnuts represent the walnut milk category. When people mention walnut milk, the first thing they think of is six walnuts. Would you drink Lulu Nut Walnut or Huiyuan Love the Little Time?

3. Meaning System

If a brand wants to win people's recognition, it must play a certain role in people's lives and represent certain life concepts, emotions and values ​​in people's minds.

• People drink Coca-Cola because it makes them feel happy;
• People open champagne because it represents victory and celebration;
• People believe in NIKE because of its great sports spirit of "just do it";
• People are obsessed with Apple because of its technological leadership, simple design experience and aesthetics.

The brand’s meaning system represents the formation of a community with common value beliefs and psychological patterns between the brand and consumers. It includes identity, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual identity.

1. Identity

What kind of consumer image a brand creates represents the ideal self-perception in the minds of real consumers.

Consumers use shopping to express their ideals—“What kind of person do I want to be?”

The core consumer benefit of Xiaomi mobile phones in the beginning was cheapness and high cost-effectiveness, but the user image it created was that of a mobile phone enthusiast, born for enthusiasts. This paved the way for the brand’s growth.

Let’s look at the Hammer phone . The user identity it creates is that of a literary youth with unique tastes who does not follow the crowd. But hipsters are a group of people who don’t have much money and like to be picky, so Hammer’s road has always been so difficult.

On the other hand, 8848 targets the wealthy class, who are willing to pay money without talking nonsense, so they make much more money.

The identities of several major luxury car brands have now been confirmed by big data . Audi represents red-top businessmen, Mercedes represents the wealthy class, and BMW represents the young upstarts. And Cadillac... they will probably sue Amap.

2. Aesthetic Identity

The brand's design concept and aesthetic style are crucial for users to express their personal taste.

Driven by Apple's demonstration, more and more brands are now adopting a minimalist and cool style, such as Xiaomi and NetEase Yanxuan .

Among luxury car brands, Lexus has risen strongly in recent years, mainly due to its avant-garde and bold design concept.

The spindle-shaped family front face and the body design that combines the flow of liquid metal and the lines of Japanese samurai swords have won the recognition of many consumers.

As the former global general manager of Lexus said in his column for Lexus Fanatic:

“Some people don’t like our designs, which is actually a good thing because excellent designs are often controversial. In a diverse society, good design is not about winning everyone’s approval, but about making those who like it fall in love with it completely and become its loyal fans. You either have no feelings at all or you love it madly, there is no middle ground.”

This is aesthetic identity. The era of mediocrity in pursuit of everyone's satisfaction is over.

3. Emotional and spiritual identification

The core value of a brand includes three levels: functional value, emotional value (perceptual value) and spiritual value (symbolic value).

Functional value is the interest system mentioned earlier, and emotional and spiritual value is the meaning system mentioned here.

But the reason why I use the term brand meaning system instead of value system is that I hope everyone will realize that what I am talking about here is——

We should start from the user's perspective and look at the significance and role of the brand in the consumer's life, rather than from the company's perspective and look at what value the brand delivers to consumers.

Only when a brand wins the recognition of users (in terms of identity, aesthetics, emotion and spirit), can the brand have loyal fans.

If a brand only provides physical value but lacks psychological recognition. Then the brand may have a large number of user groups and loyal consumers, but it will not have loyal fans.

The current situation faced by many of our traditional brands is that they have users but no fans. The reason why consumers continue to buy it is simply due to inertia and channel monopoly, which gives emerging brands the opportunity to subvert it.

There are countless examples of emotional and spiritual identification. The brands that I personally identify with include Apple - think different, Nike - Just do it, Johnnie Walker - keep walking, Keep - self-discipline gives me freedom, DIESEL - Be stupid, and Coca-Cola - open happiness.

A great brand is not only an expression of product selling points and benefits, but also speaks to the user's heart, expresses the user's emotions, life concepts and values, and what is in his mind.

When we buy something, we are never just buying an object, but a dream. Live the life of your dreams and become your ideal self.

A brand is actually a dream factory.

From the symbol system to the interest system (knowledge system) and the meaning system, let consumers know you, recognize you, and identify with you from the inside out and from the shallow to the deep, and finally connect with the brand and become fans of the brand.

The process of building this system and deepening cognition is the brand.