Why Single-Minded Brand Focus Yields Wealth

A 7-minute read for everyone looking to build a high-value and high-performing brand.

In 1988, the late great Dan Wieden had just started Wieden & Kennedy. Their first client, Nike, needed a tagline. In an interview with Design Indab, Wieden revealed the final tagline was inspired by the last words of a death row inmate Gary Gilmore who said, “You know, let’s do it.” Weiden recalled, “I remember when I read that, I was like, that’s amazing. I mean, how, in the face of that much uncertainty, do you push through that? I didn’t like the ‘let’s’ thing, and so I just changed that, ’cause otherwise, I’d have to give him credit.”

Dan penned “Just Do It,” and the rest, as they say, is history. It is remarkably simple and single-minded. It became the foundational expression of Nike’s positioning, propelling it through the 90s and into today. Nike established itself as the leader in athletic footwear and apparel through its consistent, single-minded positioning. Over the decades, Nike has consistently communicated powerful and motivational messaging, making it synonymous with perseverance and athletic excellence. A singular messaging and positioning strategy that has not changed for 35 years. A positioning now imbued on consumer consciousness. Wearing the Nike badge has a clear, single-minded meaning.

None of Nike’s single-mindedness has limited its ability to scale and expand into a wide range of apparel and accessories. Contrary to what some believe, being single-minded is not a limitation. It is the key to building sustainable, meaningful, and, most importantly, memorable and loyal relationships. It is the key to effective cross and up-sell. It’s how brand equity is built. And brand equity is where they bury the wealth. “Just Do It” remains the guiding beacon for the brand. And will be thus, I imagine, in perpetuity.

Some Supporting Science
Memorability is facilitated by focus, simplicity, and understanding the limitations of our memory. Formulated in 1988 by educational psychologist John Sweller, Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) refers to the cognitive system responsible for holding and storing information in our minds. CTL suggests that our memory can only hold a small amount of information at any one time and that instructional methods should avoid overloading it to maximize retention.

CLT relates to our Working Memory, a system in our prefrontal cortex with a limited capacity to hold information temporarily. It is essential for reasoning and guiding decision-making behavior but is easily overloaded. It has direct implications for remembering and retaining brand meaning. We’re simply not wired to remember a ton of stuff. Working Memory is a limited cognitive resource preferring to process information that is singular and easy to understand. Effective brand strategy understands this. Less is more.

What a brand says and does define it. Brands get one shot to get it right. First impressions stick. Second impressions confirm and reinforce. Brands own space of singular meaning in consumers’ minds by being consistent over time, building a relationship in the subconscious. This intangible connection, this cognitive recall or awareness, facilitates familiarity and preference in the isle of a supermarket or among a list of suppliers.

This is how to build equity and goodwill. And equity and goodwill drive both market performance and financial success, as well as increase transaction multiples. Strong brands build wealth and improve all outcomes. If you’re not sure, check with Apple.

Single-Mindedness
Naturally, brands must deliver on the brand promise through on-brand, quality products and services. To build a brand, this is a given. But it starts with a compelling, single-minded position and brand message that imbues meaning in the minds of a prospect.

People tend to remember two or three items most easily. Single-minded positioning and messaging simplify the cognitive load by presenting a retainable, focused idea or benefit. This clarity makes it easier for our brains to process and remember. Successful companies build solid brand foundations by developing focused, differentiated, and emotive positioning that aligns with stakeholder and business objectives, market opportunity, and competitive dynamics.

Getting to single-minded is never easy. Developing a memorable and leverageable positioning statement is a complex process steeped in discovery and research. A mass of data and learning is then distilled down to the attributes and value propositions that puts a brand in an ownable and defensible position for sustainable success. Not an easy process. It’s both a data-driven and a creative exercise, a process of distillation, elimination, and simplification. A brand cannot be all things to all people. But a brand can be one thing to everyone.

Picking Your Shot
The hardest part of being single-minded is putting a stake in the ground and committing to a focused brand articulation. For many in the C-suite, something inevitably feels left out. CEOs often have an endless list of what makes them special. This is a problem. Give people too much to remember, and they remember nothing. An effective positioning should clearly state the audience, the market context, the single unique value proposition, and the single proof or support for that claim. Say too much, and the audience will experience cognitive overload. Getting there is an exercise in distillation and picking your shot. Not an easy process, but the rewards of single-mindedness in brand meaning and messaging are huge and make everything else flow.

It doesn’t matter the category or company size; single-minded brands get remembered. Coca-Cola is a prime example of a brand that has maintained a consistent and single-minded message for over a century. Coca-Cola has positioned itself as a provider of refreshing happiness and a symbol of joy, togetherness, and positivity. While its tagline has changed many times, it has always stayed true to the same core brand positioning while adapting to changing consumer preferences and expanding its product portfolio. With a market capitalization of $258B, Coca-Cola’s brand value is estimated to account for anywhere between $60-$80B of its cap value, depending on the study.

Coke knows that owning the “happiness” space in the minds of the market demands repetition and consistency reinforced over time across all touchpoints and all customer engagement experiences. This repetition facilitates memory by consistently reinforcing a singular and ownable position. Coke owns happiness.

A Few Other Thoughts On Being Single-Minded
Brands with single-minded messages can tap into emotions more effectively. Emotionally charged messages have an increased impact on our memory. When a brand communicates a clear, emotionally resonant message with consistency, it leaves a lasting impression, making it more likely to be remembered.

If you are single-minded, it’s much easier to be consistent, and consistency over time is key. Remember the Illusory Effect (or the Validity Effect), coined by Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein, and Thomas Toppino from Villanova University in 1977. The Illusory Effect is the tendency to believe information to be correct after repeated exposure. For a brand, say it long enough, and it will become you. Think Volvo and safety. When a brand consistently communicates a specific benefit or value proposition, we associate that message with the brand itself. We understand its meaning. Over time, this association becomes embedded in our memory, owned by the brand.

Brands that communicate single-minded messages stand out from the competition. They create a distinct and differentiated position by singularly articulating what makes them unique or what problem they solve. This increases the chances of remembering among a swill of competitive messaging. This is particularly relevant where differentiation is perceived as commoditized, a situation often found in tech-impacted categories.

A single-minded brand message often captures greater attention due to its simplicity, focus, and ability to be retained. People pay more attention to what they can remember. In a world bombarded with information, focused brands cut through the noise, hold our attention, and have a higher chance of being recalled, both consciously and unconsciously. By communicating a focused, single-minded position, brands are more salient and memorable to consumers.

A Word Of Caution
Brand equity takes years to build and only one misstep to destroy. This is why brand-conscious companies are managed by leadership who understands the 360º, always-on nature of brand development and maintenance. Brands are fragile. Every touchpoint, engagement, message, and experience must reinforce the core positioning to every constituent in the market and among leadership, management, and employees. Every person in a company has a role and responsibility in building, reinforcing, and maintaining a brand.

There is a similar risk when changing core positioning. Pivoting can be dangerous if established positioning shifts. Accumulated brand equity can be lost, conceivably negating years of investment and loss of audience trust while requiring complete reeducation of the market — an expensive proposition. Sustainable positioning considers business evolution and growth from the beginning, allowing a brand to evolve under a consistent brand positioning halo to ensure that business evolution does not threaten equity built over time.

Interestingly, the stronger a brand’s existing equity, the easier it is to get out of trouble. Remember Tylenol? New Coke?

If you want a valuable and sustainable brand that drives loyalty and builds advocates, start at the beginning and lay the strategic foundation. Be clear about what you want people to remember and the competitive space you want to own. Single-minded brands are memorable because they simplify information processing. They benefit from repetition and consistency, evoke emotions, create strong associations, stand out from competitors, and capture attention. And this builds valuable equity over the long term.

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About the Author: Lysle C. Wickersham leverages his background in both advertising/branding and investment banking as co-founder of BRANDThink, LLC, a brand and business strategy consulting firm supporting general businesses, agencies, and PE/VC’s in amplifying value creation and building high-performing and high-value businesses. Lysle on LinkedIn. BRANDThink on LinkedIn.

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