A while ago we wrote a post about how Innocent Drink owes much of its success to its innovative branding. But it’s not the only company we admire here at Gorilla. Building a successful brand involves a number of different factors, and to illustrate this here are three other brands we love for very different reasons:
Branding we love:
Benefit Cosmetics for its tone-of-voice:
Since it was founded in 1976, Benefit Cosmetics has emerged as a beauty brand loved by women the world over, with a presence in 43 countries and 4 million social media fans across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The brand’s playful, tongue-in-cheek and rather risqué tone of voice lends itself to its social media platforms and is a source of constant entertainment to its fans. Benefit’s ‘Laughter is the best cosmetic’ tagline is the philosophy underlying everything it does, from humorous digital campaigns to quirky product names like ‘Dr. Feelgood’, ‘Hello Flawless’ and ‘They’re Real’. A successful style of branding, it’s also been adopted by other beauty companies like Barry M and Batiste.
Branding we love:
Dyson for communicating its brand values
Founded in 1992 by James Dyson, the manufacturer of vacuum cleaners, hand-dryers, bladeless fans and heaters has always worked hard to instil its brand values in the minds of its target customers. Dyson has never competed on cost and in order to justify its premium price tag, the company’s brand identities ‘innovation’, ‘aesthetics’, ‘luxury’, ‘creativeness’, ‘modernity’, ‘functionality’, ‘reliability’ and ‘effectiveness’ need to be communicated clearly. One of the ways in which it does this is through its television adverts – which could almost pass as car commercials. With James Dyson explaining the engineering behind the product and openly speaking about how he’s dedicated his life to inventing the most innovative, beautiful and powerful vacuum cleaner on the market, the company is successful at targeting consumers who are willing to pay more for high technology and unbeatable quality. Just like Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, James Dyson’s own celebrity is an important factor when it comes to selling as he’s the one vouching for the company’s brand values.
Branding we love:
Virgin Atlantic for its customer relationship
Despite not having a huge marketing budget, the airline is definitely up there when it comes to branding. With a positioning statement of ‘Flying in the face of the ordinary’, their aim is to be the envy of all other airlines, and by doing things like having an onboard bar, offering passengers massages and providing top quality food and drink, their image is fun and ultra-cool, much like that of a boutique hotel. Despite only flying with them once or twice a year, Virgin’s customers want to maintain an ongoing relationship because thanks to the airline’s clever branding, they’re made to feel like part of the in-crowd.
Virgin guarantees that the passenger comes first at all times and this is apparent in all aspects of its service. One of the best examples of this is when a crew member delivered a pair of red wellington boots to a customer who mentioned on social media that he was having a grey, rainy day.
