Spare a thought for every bloke who goes by the weary name of consumer these days. He is faced with a mountain of tweets, Facebook updates and ever increasing iPhone Apps besides having the onerous task of ploughing through never ending hoardings, ads, TV commercials and pop-ups on his desk top.
It is becoming increasingly clear that if your brand has to make any genuine headway in this increasingly suffocating communications haze, it has to stand for nothing but one thing. Yes sir, after all the claims have been made, all the song and dance, all the shouting from the roof tops (and lap tops), if your brand does not mean one single word in the consumer’s burdened mind, you need to do a serious rethink. Chances are he won’t be thinking of you at a crucial time (read when about to make a purchase) because you’re saying everything, which when translated to consumer-grasp means nothing. To illustrate the point, here are examples of the one word/quality/advantage that springs to mind immediately when you think of the following brands
Nike
The iconic sports brand has probably the most cutting edge personality in the world. Built stupendously by a combination of irreverence, performance, innovation and sporting superstars the brand has given us the greatest advertising line of the century in ‘just do it’. However, think about it, and the one word that immediately leaps up with Nike is Air. It describes Nike’s unique technology, attitude and advantage. No other sporting brand can lay claim to it. And any consumer who uses Nike, knows he or she is connected to sporting history by the magic of Air.
Apple
Right up there with Nike in terms of attitude and innovation. Apple tore away the mask of gibberish from computing and gave it a friendly, quirky face, for an entire generation of baby boomers. Simplicity, minimalism, classiness have all been the hallmark of the Apple offering and all of us will have our favorite from its engaging array of products. But the one word (or in this case letter) that springs to mind immediately is ‘i’. So weather you use an iMac, iPod, iPhone, or iPad, Apple means ‘i’ which in turn stands for customized, personal and refreshingly creative.
Google
For today’s generation, not googling would be akin to something like not breathing. It is the place you can find anything and everything. So if you want to know about the birds of Colombia, the soups of Finland or a by-lane in the Honduras, just Google. Ironically for such a limitless reservoir, just one word is enough to describe it. Nobody and nothing owns the word ‘search’ like Google does. In fact you can replace the word search with Google and it means the same thing. (On second thoughts, try googling that to check it.)
Tata
This one’s easy. To millions of Indians Tata means trust and trust means Tata. Countless brands may have tried out claims like ‘trust is our tradition’ or ‘traditionally trustworthy’ or ‘trust is our middle name’ etc. but no one can come close to this word or lay claim to it like Tata. The company offers a zillion products and services. All of them are perceived with just one quality. Such is the power of being known by something singular. Trust me.
FIFA World Cup
By the time you read this Argentina would have played their match with Mexico in the ongoing world cup. And I hope like crazy they have won. Because for a tournament that has not quite lived up to all the hype, there is just one word that conjures up images of poetry, beauty and sorcery. To see that one word get the Jabulani while being attacked by four defenders all of whom are trying to cut him down, to see all of them bemused and befuddled in the twinkle of an eye, and then to see the ball dance, swerve and curve, before it thuds into the cross-bar...is one of life’s sublime joys. It is the one word that means magic. Messi.
(The author is Creative Partner, Dentsu India)