A storyteller at heart, I generate value by developing brands that your target wants
Brand Management
What is your brand’s personality?
GENERAL TAKE
While the overall goal of brand management is to increase brand perception and demand, I like to think of it as creating a persona. Why? Because people like brands that they can relate to and that meet their needs. If the brand was a person, who would they be? What is their personality? What is their tone of voice? Do they have a sense of humor? What kind of friend would they be? Seems simple enough. But when not done correctly, the implications can be detrimental.
Brands need to have a detailed and disciplined understanding of their target market when defining their brand, from demographics and psychographics, to geography and philosophy. Only then can you craft a brand personality they will trust and gravitate towards. As Donald Miller wrote in Building a StoryBrand, brands should remember that people see themselves as the hero in their story arc, and they are looking to a brand to be a mentor in helping them triumph. Too many brands make the mistake of positioning themselves as the hero.
Princess Cruises Experience
BACKGROUND
One of the things I first noticed when joining Princess Cruises was that despite one of the highest brand awareness metrics in the hospitality industry (largely due to the very successful Love Boat TV show from the 80s), there was very little guidance on the Princess brand, what it meant, and how it should be applied.
Aside from a brand logo and color, there was very little definition on who the brand was and how its identity should be applied. Multiple agencies were each applying their own brand interpretation and the operational teams were not involving marketing in the application of the brand identity in the guest experience.
TARGETED APPROACH
I began the process of working with senior leadership at Princess to more clearly define the brand. I started by utilizing every piece of information I could gather on our target audience to clearly understand their mindset and needs. Not only did this include the data we had available based on past purchase behavior, but I took steps to develop new first-party research. I worked with teams to conduct endless focus groups. I spoke with travel agents, call center staff and onboard teams who interact with customers every day. From there, I was able to gain a clear picture of the target customer and started working with colleagues to build the Princess brand persona.
BRAND GUIDELINES
As a growing global brand, Princess needed a way to ensure consistency across new markets, offices and new creative agency partners. There was also a need to solidify the brand persona, ensuring all parties were on the same page when developing communications. I was able to work with our primary agency to craft the first Princess Cruises Brand Guidelines document. This central source clearly communicated the new brand persona including personality, tone of voice, graphic standards, photography standards, etc. and was distributed to all employees and partners who touch the Princess brand. It set the standard for creative development and ensured consistent communications across all departments and regions.
BRAND POLICE
Given the size of the organization, and the need to reign in undesirable and off-brand communications, I was asked to head-up a new brand management team dedicated to ensuring a consistent brand message, regardless of channel. This centralized system allowed us to build a brand personality over time by applying a consistent message throughout the organization.
We worked hand-in-hand with operational departments to apply brand standards in onboard communications, signage and product development. We also provided valuable consumer insights for teams when making important business decisions.
BRAND EXTENSIONS
Following the successful implementation of the new Princess brand standards, I began working with the product operational teams to craft new brand extension experiences for the onboard experience. These new branded experiences allowed Princess to compete from a messaging standpoint with other brands introducing new and elaborate hardware on their ships. Examples of successful new branded experiences included “Princess Chocolate Journeys” with Master Chocolatier Norman Love, The Princess Luxury Bed designed by The Sleep Doctor Michael Brues and celebrity designer Candice Olson, and the “Salty Dog Gastropub” in partnership with Ernesto Uchimura, the founding chef of Umami Burger.