Branding that works: case studies
By Simon van Wyk
In this month’s podcast and in his book “Branding Only Works on Cattle”, Jonathan Salem Baskin discusses a few examples of “anti-branding”, successful branding by companies that are focused on getting people to buy things, rather than simply creating an image or a feeling. I’ve collected some links to more information about these successful anti-branders.
Apple
As Jonathan Salem Baskin says, “Apple does things; it does not say or promise. Apple declares what they do, and lets others confirm it.”
More info:
- A case study on Apple’s business strategy by digital business writer Dave Chaffey.
- Marketing Apple: 5 Secrets of the World’s Best Marketing Machine: A self-explanatory e-book by Steve Chazin, a former Apple marketing executive turned consumer marketing consultant.
- An academic study of the launch of the iPhone.
- A profile of Apple in Wired that focuses on the cult of Steve Jobs, but also explains some of the history behind the “do, not promise” philosophy.
Nike
Jonathan writes that Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign “wasn’t a branding campaign to teach anybody anything…. it gave people a way to act upon desires that they already possessed…. Nike has never tried to change what people think, but rather to attach a behavior to what they already believed.”
More info:
- A short case study on the “Just Do It” campaign.
- A recent case study on a mobile marketing campaign by Nike for its Nike iD range of custom-designed shoes (free registration required).
- “Superbrand” case study on Brand Republic.
IBM’s InnovationJam
In 2006 IBM launched a business idea generator campaign to communicate with its hundreds of thousands of employees, their families and friends, clients and vendors. Jonathan writes that “InnovationJam may not have been conceived as branding, but it was quite possibly the smartest investment IBM has made in its brand for years,” because it was “branding that is truly integrated with the function of the company. It got people to do things, and thus it reached beyond the attention IBM itself could ever have purchased directly.”
More info:
- An insider’s view of the program from the Sloan Management Review.
- A write-up of the campaign in the Harvard Business Review. (payment required)
- Insights from InnovationJam 2008.
- A presentation earlier this year by an IBM communications expert describing social media initiatives for IBM that were borne out of InnovationJam.
Tags: anti-branding, Apple, brand, Branding, IBM, Marketing, Nike
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