Brand platform: the complete guide to creating it

In increasingly competitive markets, the success of a company depends essentially on its marketing strategy. Multi-national, start-up or SME, the creation of a brand platform represents the essential element of effective and coherent corporate communication. The brand platform is a reference document that summarizes the DNA of a brand: its missions, values, history, positioning and codes.

Concretely, what is a brand platform? How do you create it?

In this article, you will learn about:

- The definition of a brand platform.

- The different stages of creating a brand platform

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1/ What is a brand platform?

The brand platform is essential for establishing an effective and striking corporate communication strategy. To ensure their success and differentiate themselves from the competition, brands must define many elements such as their history, their codes, their values or even their visual identity. These elements are among the best practices to adopt in order to successfully build a strong, consistent and relevant brand.

Thus, the brand platform is a document containing all the strategic information of a brand. It defines the company's guidelines in terms of communication and marketing actions to be implemented. This document is available to collaborators and strategic partners. Its primary function is to clarify the vision, objectives, identity, brand image, positioning... This list is obviously not exhaustive, however, for the brand platform to be relevant and to allow the development of a global communication strategy, it is imperative that it contains at least the information that allows employees to clearly identify the identity of the brand, its DNA and its values as well as storytelling, visual identity, editorial strategy and the approach to take on social networks.

If a company works with service providers or partners, this document is all the more essential insofar as it centralizes the company's main lines of communication which will ensure the homogeneity of marketing actions.

All parties will thus be able to put in place coherent actions, in accordance with what is defined there.

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2/ The elements of a brand platform

1) Define your brand identity: the Kapferer prism

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Determining a company's brand identity means defining its DNA: what differentiates it from its competitors, what makes it unique and recognizable. According to Jean-Noël Kapferer, it is based on 6 elements: the physical, the relational, the reflection, the personality, the culture and the mentalization.

A- The physical:

This first element refers to the physical characteristics of the brand. It's about how we perceive the brand, especially through its visual characteristics that help consumers identify it.

Apple is a good example of a brand with distinctive physical characteristics. Some ideas that come to mind when we think of Apple include: modernity, elegance, and minimalism. The brand has successfully reflected these attributes, which are its core values, in all of its products. Colors, logos, and packaging are other common elements of the physical.

B- The relational:

This element focuses on the nature of the relationship between the brand and its consumers, including the abstract aspects of the relationship and the more tangible aspects. How a brand connects to its audience and the type of relationship they want to build with is entirely up to them.

The questions to ask yourself are then:

What are the types of services or the attitude that the brand wants to transmit? Customer-centric attention to detail? A more distant attitude? For example, BMW has a serious but playful relationship with its customers, while Ferrari's relationship is more serious and exclusive.

C- The reflection:

Reflection refers to the image that a brand has of its target audience. Reflection is a set of stereotypical beliefs or attributes of a brand's target market, which is often highlighted in advertisements and other communications.

For example, Coca-Cola and many other soft drink companies describe their consumers as fun and friendly teens because it creates the desired impression for the soft drink brand. In reality, the range of consumers of these drinks is much wider, both in terms of age and personality.

D- Personality: ‍

To convey their personality, brands can use a specific writing style, tone, attitude, or colors. For example, Coca-Cola uses its iconic typeface and the color red to communicate the happiness and moments of joy that the brand personifies.

E- Culture:

According to Kapferer, culture is the set of values that fuel or form the foundation of a brand. In some cases, this includes the culture and values of the brand's country of origin (for example, Ferrari is associated with luxury and the Italian sports car tradition).

Toyota used culture to establish a set of guiding principles known as “The Toyota Way.” These principles incorporate Japanese cultural concepts, such as “heijunka,” which means “work like a turtle, not like a hare,” and refers to leveling the workload to minimize waste.

F- Mentalization:

Mentalization is the feeling perceived by the customer when buying or using a product from a particular brand.

For example, he may feel very proud. This is the case of a customer who buys a Lacoste polo shirt and is happy to wear it, because it is a quality piece of clothing from a well-known brand.

2- The mission

The mission of a company is to present and decipher its reason for being. It defines the objective of your company, both for your employees/collaborators and for your customers. It charts a clear path for your business and is the mission that everyone associated with your brand follows. If you can't define a clear mission, it could mean that your overall purpose as a brand is being misunderstood by consumers — or that they simply don't know what they can expect from your brand.

The mission must be able to excite your consumers and employees. It should primarily focus on what your brand wants to achieve, and should aim directly at that goal.

3 — The vision

Identifying the vision of your brand significantly determines the prospects for the evolution of your brand. A vision describes what your business will look like and how your consumers will see your brand in the future. It must create an impact that is both aspirational and inspiring. Your vision should clearly state the ambitions and goals of your brand.

Your vision should give your consumers an idea of how your brand can affect them in the long run.

4- The values

Brand ethics are essential today. It is therefore essential to precisely define the values defended and the main principles that guide the company on a daily basis. Your brand values should demonstrate integrity while being competitive and differentiating you from other brands. For any brand, the main objective of its values is to show the qualities that you value in your culture. Your values guide your business in making good decisions that will benefit both your business and your consumers.

5 - The promise

The promise is a kind of contract of trust signed between the brand and its customers. It represents the way in which it engages with its targets. To do this, the brand promise must meet a customer need and demonstrate that the company has added value that its competitors do not have.

3/ How to create a brand platform?

Creating a brand platform can take weeks or even months of work. However, you can make this process faster and easier by following all of the steps below.

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1- Study the market:

Conduct a market study to discover your target audience, your direct and indirect competitors. Think about the people who are buying your product. Create an image of your ideal customers and think about how you can persuade them to choose your brand.

Next, identify your niche and look at businesses that are already selling something in that niche. Gather all the information about the competitors, check out their websites and social networks, and then highlight the pros and cons of each. Conduct a SWOT analysis to assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in order to develop an effective competitive strategy.

2-Create a brand philosophy:

Think about the purpose, values, unique proposition, and personality of your brand. All of these elements should resonate with the values and needs of your target audience, they should reflect their lifestyle. Make a list of adjectives to describe a brand like a real person.

3- Define a visual language and a tone of speech:

The visual language and tone of your speech should match your philosophy to create a holistic image of your brand. Choose the main types of content you use in marketing campaigns, define the main colors, and develop brand style. Then think about how you are going to communicate with the audience. This step will help you create strong associations with your product in the minds of your target audience.

4- Choose the right business name:

Create a catchy slogan and an appealing logo. These are the first three things that new customers pay attention to when they encounter your brand. Your name and slogan should be memorable and easy to pronounce. Try to capture your brand values in these few words. Your logo, designed in a professional manner, should reflect the personality of your brand.

Now you are ready to create a brand platform for your business. It is important to review it regularly, to make changes to it and to make sure that the people who use it are all on the same page!

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