One of my favorite ways to wrap my mind around a brand is to do an exercise I call, “Is/Isn’t”. Basically all it consists of is making two columns, and writing abitrary items in either colum (IS or ISNT) to help develop an idea of what the brand is.
Recently, I stumbled upon THIS blog entry that highlights some work done by Landor & Associates . They surveyed 1000 people and asked them to associate products with one candidate or the other - It does a beautiful job giving an example and illustrating the point. In a slightly different format, they chose Obama and McCain, and showed what each candidate “IS” (and therefore, what the other candidate ISNT)… without further rambling:
Obama is a BMW sedan. McCain is a Ford truck.
McCain is a Blackberry. Obama is an IPOD.
Obama is a bag of Terra Chips. McCain is a bag of Cheetos.
McCain is a PC. Obama is a Mac.
Obama is a bottle of Sam Adams. McCain is a bottle of Bud.
Perfect example of how to use random associations to really develop an idea of what a brand represents, what people would be members of an audience interested in those things, and how to tell a story that those people will want to take a part in.
