Recognize all these?
Greetings from Tampa! I gave up my weekend (and extended it by a day in either direction) to help staff the 31st annual Florida High School Model United Nations conference (FHSMUN). As a home government worker, my job was to keep the delegates on policy and on track, and to fundraise for the conference by selling shirts, flowers, and UN-themed errata. This experience really reminded me how important branding is — even this academic conference is obsessed with building its brand in order to expand.
It reminded me of my thoughts last wednesday when listening to Abhi Lokesh’s presentation of his business, Fracture. He emphasized again and again the importance of building a story around their brand and making customers feel like they were getting service their competitors had no answer for. Their idea is not revolutionary — but they are succeeding so far because their branding is cool enough to get customers excited about their product. They planned from the beginning to create a hip, recognizable brand, and they are now reaping the benefits.
FHSMUN, on the other hand, did not start out with such a goal in mind. Now the oldest MUN conference in Florida by a large margin, they have had to adapt to the changing business world and build a good reputation into a respected brand. FHSMUN has always had innovations that other conferences copied and an excellent dedication to detail, but they have just recently begun to relentlessly promote themselves. What started out as repetition of their selling points, ideals and mottoes has slowly become a consistent brand identity which has made FHSMUN the capstone of most schools’ MUN slate. This has made them immensely profitable which has enabled further innovations and improvements.
FHSMUN (and probably Fracture) will never be mentioned with Coca-Cola or Nike as a great brand, but the fact that brand identity is so important to this kind of organization is indicative of the business world in which we are now living. Governments, gang signs, and even serial killers all have to establish a brand to become memorable enough to today’s citizens. A company without a strong brand is like a person without a name: not memorable despite whatever they may provide.
How about these?
Strong brands stand out from the crowd, are consistent, and are considered in business decisions throughout all levels of a company. Branding is everywhere; an unavoidable necessity in today’s business world, even for organizations that are not trying to turn a profit. The best brands become more than brands — every time you google something or use a kleenex (i.e., any tissue) to blow your nose, you cannot help but notice how much brands affect our everyday life and language.
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