What Great Brands Do

I led company leaders through a series of work sessions in which we covered elemental questions such as, Who are the best customers for our brand? What competitive position has the greatest relevance to and differentiation for our chosen targets and that we can consistently deliver? What differentiators give us the greatest competitive advantage?

So in “C” you need to point to evidence—the real reasons why people should believe that you really do provide that unique value referenced in “B.”

What do we have to start, change, or stop doing in order to really deliver on our brand identity and competitive positioning?

For “B,” the unique value you deliver is the thing that you do for people that no one does as well as you—or no one does at all

For “A,” your frame of reference, consider this factor to be the “mental file folder” you want consumers to put you in. Be careful with your scope in this respect.

Virgin uses its brand to drive customer targeting, service, and experience, and in doing so, it has become known as the customers’ champion. Virgin goes out of its way to relieve customers of the sacrifices they have had to make while dealing with large, impersonal category leaders in a wide range of industries.