D branding: breaking the corporate code of the networked economy. "Reserves of the human psyche: a sign system of communication with the unconscious"

Today there are many great stories of successful brands, many authors of magic recipes for success, and only one thing. important rule- there is no universal path to recognition. A brand is by definition a unique unit, it must stand out and therefore building a strong brand is a process of finding your own path to success.

Among the many proposed generalized approaches, it seems appropriate to single out the method of four-dimensional branding by T. Gad and the theory of twelve archetypes by M. Mark and C. S. Pearson.

T. Gad in the basis of his theory of 4D branding laid the idea that there is an abstract mental field of the brand, which has four dimensions - functional, social, mental and spiritual.

The first is the functional dimension- covers the sphere of product creation as perceived utility for the consumer. Anything related to physical quality, taste, style and efficiency falls into the functional category. At this stage, development is important unique product or a service, as well as a benefit that the client directly feels. The functional dimension also includes naming. The value of the functional dimension also depends on the position of the brand on the curve of its life cycle... The closer to the beginning, the more important functional characteristics are in determining the meaning of a brand's existence, its role and, sometimes, physical usefulness. All brand developers who rely on the functional dimension sooner or later face the problem of blurring differences between their own brand and competitors.

The second dimension is social- equally important, since social life, social identification and acceptance of the individual by society have great importance... In the social dimension trademark, or a logo, itself becomes a symbol of belonging, which ideally creates a brand. The desire to feel friends are around is strong not only among consumers, it also extends to corporate clients... The social dimension is of great importance when choosing business partners, suppliers, employees.

The third side is the mental dimension... It's about what people think of themselves. This dimension is by its nature deeper: it penetrates into the essence of the personality and affects the psyche, soul. Life experience shapes the personality, reactions and behavior of a person. Helping to customize and reconfigure mental representations of ourselves is a great opportunity for a brand. The personal pleasure or excitement we get from the realization that we have something special is the basis for increasing the added value of a brand.

Spiritual or ethical dimension, - this is a very wide range of activities of the enterprise for the benefit of society. These are ecology, sponsorship, charity and other socially pressing issues. Brands that claim to be exemplary in this regard also open themselves up to criticism if they cannot live up to the high standards they preach. Understand "spiritual" and you will understand the connection between a brand, product or company and this broader system.

So, based on the analysis of all facets of four-dimensional branding, a brand code is formed (like DNA for a person) - an information frame for building a four-dimensional brand model.

The second interesting method of creating an effective brand was the practical application of the theory of archetypes by M. Mark and K. S. Pearson. It is a classification of sustainable patterns of behavior based on the mental heritage of humanity according to Jung's theory.

This approach allows building psychologically constructive brands using the archetype as a motivational beacon for the consumer. The versatility of the method is that this classification can be used not only in the context of the types of clients of the company, but also the types of goods and companies.

The modern consumer has gone through many changes. He has become more competent, well-read, interested and demanding. Today people are more and more hungry for success, money and fame. Increasingly exposed to stress, lack of time and chronic fatigue a person stubbornly goes to his goal. So, demanding a lot from himself, he wants the same from life - something appropriate, newer and more prestigious, better and more useful, more interesting and worthwhile. This is a confirmation of the theory of the ever-increasing human needs. And the product must meet these requirements not just in words. We live in the century information technologies where information spreads with incredible speed and is carried in huge quantities. That is why it is important to convey your message, to be heard, understood and selected from the mass of different competitors.

Thus, in order to conquer your consumer, a deeper approach is needed: you need to give him what he wants, perhaps without even realizing himself. This can be achieved by manipulating the value.

Value management assumes that in conditions of high competition and overload of human consciousness with images and appeals, it is necessary to endow your product with meaning (meaning). The meaning of the product should not only cover its functional usefulness, but also convey a call for the satisfaction of hidden desires, allowing you to discharge yourself at a psychological level. A modern busy and constantly tired person wants to buy a product that helps in self-determination, solves his real problems, a product that he wants to believe in.

These are the products that successful brands based on archetypes are. Generalizing the theory of value management archetypes, we can conclude that a branded product should be a friend, have a history and character, embody a certain personality and carry a semantic load. Using this theory and psychographic analysis of consumers, it is possible to correctly select the archetype that most fully meets the requirements of target consumers and will bring guaranteed brand success.

Due to the active couple, Gad's book and his ideas have become very popular in our country.
There were even offices that "built brands according to Gad."
The author himself has also risen well in his popularity. Exalted supporters pissed on boiling water, concocting the most intricate justifications for his genius. I heard the phrase "Gad's methodology is Gad himself." Well, okay, dry residue.
4D model
Gad talks about 4 "dimensions", that is, 4 components of the consumer's perception of the brand.
1. Functional dimension.
It's stupid to argue with this, although the very idea of ​​coming up with some special functionality for the product after the fact is abnormal. But that's all branding is like that.
2. Social dimension.
Brand as a symbol of belonging to a group.
And you can't argue with that. But the groups are very different - from marginal groups of body fashion lovers to broad property groups, social strata. By what means this is achieved and what groups are generally possible - this is not the case. In general, the second trivial "idea"
3. Mental dimension.
For a more correct perception, I would call it rather “individual measurement”. Brand - as an element of self-presentation, self-esteem of the consumer. And, too, it’s all true! But again, apart from empty words about “penetration into the soul,” nothing concrete.
4. Spiritual dimension.
Here the author went crazy and started talking about “values”. Not about values ​​as an element of the motivation system, but about universal values, "spiritual values", about the "concern" of the brand in front of society. That is, consumption should become a kind of process of manifestation of the spiritual essence of the individual. Perhaps Western consumers, turned on the ideas of tolerance and any animal protection, sometimes need such props for their self-esteem (from the point of view of philosophy, this is generally an attempt to make black white), but the rule is not universal, it is not relevant for all groups, and even less for all markets. Although in some cases, pedaling the theme of humanism or environmental friendliness is a winning strategy. But there are too many reservations that were not indicated by the author. As a result, we got a beautiful-hearted but rather lifeless picture.

But the author went further. He really decided to offer some kind of "methodology" for translating these 4 dimensions into reality.
This was called the brand code, that is, a set, again, of the terms that must be described for the company or brand (by the way, the author does not make a difference)
1. Use of the product.
The point is obvious.
2. Positioning (differences or advantages relative to competitors)
In my opinion, the starting point should not be the parameters of competitors, but human needs. But this option also has a right to exist.
3. Style (image, external features, brand behavior (?!))
The concept of style or image for a brand is extremely important, but here it is just a mess of concepts, without any principles, even general ones.
It seems that you will not undermine it. Although the examples that Gad gives are idiotic. There is no connection with consumer psychology. Everything is invented just like that.
4. Mission.
"What would we do if we weren't doing it for money"
Here, the author does not distinguish between an external, market-oriented mission and an internal company mission. Kakbe is the same thing. But we must talk about what is important to the audience and not about what they want. Again, there are no mechanisms. The rationale for this importance too.
5. Vision (future of the brand)
Well, that's just nonsense. especially "vision" helps in our country and in crisis. Not to mention that long-term market forecasting is unrealistic. What kind of vision are we talking about and why is it?
6. Values
See Spiritual Dimension. Obvious stupidity.
Summary: a bunch of platitudes and nonsense. There is no hierarchy of terms, there is no order of work, there are no methods in each of the cases (for comparison, we have all this indicated and quite clearly).
As a result, you can, as always, come up with anything, then "justify" it. What is beneficial for the "creators" of creative orientation.
In this context, Gad's phrase that the best brand code is not immediately perceived, but only over time, is good. Which allows me to explain with a smile even that I screwed up.
I like the fact that the author has dug in those markets where the brand factor is of very little importance. Whatever you do, it has little or no effect.
I sincerely envy people who can promote such crap without a twinge of conscience.

4D BRANDING offers a revolutionary 4D model for understanding the strengths and weaknesses brand. It can be used to create a new brand and analyze existing ones. The model allows companies to develop their own unique Brand Code or Brand Thinking Field, a unique corporate DNA, and then use it to drive every aspect of the business, from manufacturing innovation to recruiting. The 4-D BRANDING model includes:

FUNCTIONAL DIMENSION Describes the unique characteristics of a product or service.

SOCIAL DIMENSION Deals with the consumer's experience as a user. Starbucks, which introduced the United States to European coffee culture, is indicative.

THE MENTAL DIMENSION A brand affects people like Nike with its "Just Do It" slogan. A new value is being formed in the minds of consumers.

SPIRITUAL DIMENSION Refers to the values ​​behind the brand. 4-D BRANDING addresses the very core of consumer beliefs directly, as Anita Roddy does in her The Body Shop.

Companies invest fortunes in building and maintaining their brands. Most of this money is spent without any clear purpose and without the possibility of evaluating the result. 4-D BRANDING provides an efficient algorithm for analyzing and evaluating branding results, backed up by a host of facts.

On our site you can download the book "4D Branding" by Thomas Gad for free and without registration in doc format, read the book online or buy a book in the online store.

Renowned marketer Thomas Gad shares his way of getting loyal customers.

The modern world is teeming with information, both necessary and unnecessary. At the same time, people have a completely natural desire to hide from this stream. It turns out that technological progress, with its inherent ability to produce more and more data, and humanity, trying to protect itself from them, are moving in opposite directions. Remember how many friends you have in social networks... Two hundred, three hundred, perhaps a thousand? Now think, how many of them do you regularly communicate with, how many of them are you really interested in? The data of my (and not only) research shows that on average it is only 8-10 people. One way or another, your whole life revolves around this little group. Business uses everything. possible ways so that through these groups of 8-10 people to penetrate into the life of each of us It is quite natural that you are more likely to be interested in something that interested someone in your immediate environment. The same applies to information about products or services. Therefore, the business uses all possible means to penetrate the life of each of us through these groups of 8-10 people. For this, companies are ready to do anything, conduct a bunch of research, torment the focus group with hundreds of questions. Although, in fact, you only need to ask one: "Are you ready to recommend this product to your friend?" Everything is the answer to this question and will show the person's attitude to the brand. Accordingly, by focusing on such a result, the brand is more likely to become successful - once upon a time this principle was successfully played by the automobile brand Mini Cooper. They released a new model and were about to start a large-scale advertising campaign, veil all the huge outdoor advertising, put videos on television ... But then we decided to spend the entire advertising budget on people. They provided such good service and additional privileges to those who already owned a Mini Cooper that they simply could not help but recommend it to their friends and family. The latter, seeing all this, inevitably thought about buying this particular car. To build and analyze the effectiveness of the brand, I came up with my four-dimensional model, the so-called 4D branding (from D - dimension, dimension). It can be used to create a new brand or to evaluate existing ones. In essence, this four-dimensional model allows companies to develop their own unique brand code, a brand thought field that will be relayed to consumers. By focusing on one of them, manufacturers can activate the corresponding sphere of human existence.

So, the 4D branding model includes 4 dimensions: functional, social, mental, spiritual. Functional presents the features of a particular product, then what benefits the consumer can derive from it. An example of such positioning can be Nokia. At a certain point, the company decided to focus on a user-friendly interface, a simple menu that everyone could understand. By highlighting one of the features of its product, it has actually come to be associated with ease of use. Social measurement determines how a brand relates to a person within a society. That is, how a brand can play on existing relationships in groups or build them on its own. Thus, the I love Ukraine initiative from the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, having formed a movement under the patriotic slogan “Share your love for Ukraine”, has earned itself an image national company who cares about the country. Mental measurement refers to the individuality of each person, communicates with him directly. An expensive, high-quality car usually boosts self-esteem. This is why Rolls-Royce can sell self-confidence for a lot of money. Spiritual the dimension concerns the values ​​behind the brand. And if a product or service is surrounded by a value halo, then consumers, buying it, get something much more than what they paid for. Good example - mineral water"Morshinskaya". The creators of this brand focus on the fact that each person needs an update during the working day, recharging for a good appearance and productive activities. Thus, they propose to solve the existing problem in a specific way - drink water, refresh yourself and gain strength. No matter how important branding may seem, the most interesting thing is that it could perfectly exist without the huge efforts of companies and manufacturers. Wouldn't consumers themselves be able to understand the quality of the product, put their own meaning into it and give preference to some trade mark? Of course they could. But this is clearly not in the interests of the manufacturer, right? He needs customers to choose exactly his product or service, only they line up for them. Actually, therefore, manufacturers claiming leadership have always spent and continue to spend a lot of time and money building their brand. Forbes.ua 23.03.2013

4D branding by Thomas Gad

Every day we are bombarded with incredible amounts of information - necessary and unnecessary. And every day these volumes continue to increase: it is expected that by 2020 total amount world information will double every 36 hours. Needless to say, most of this information is directed towards programming our behavior - in particular, through advertising messages.

It turns out an interesting phenomenon: the more information becomes, the more better man learns to fence off from it, and the more sophisticated attempts of advertising to break into our heads become. It turns out vicious circle: society and business are moving in different directions, and at each new stage of this circle, the toolkit is improved and the struggle between man and business becomes more severe.

In this situation, it is not enough to tell a person about the delights of his proposal - he is already crushed by a variety of choices. It is not enough to create an excellent USP and find the "best solution to the client's problem." Today, the task of business is to form the style of thinking and lifestyle of its client, so that with every action and every choice he is guided by a clear system of values ​​- the system of brand values. Which, in fact, is the main task of branding.

To date, a sufficient number of branding technologies have been developed - for every taste. In this article, we will take a quick look at the model. 4 D branding by Thomas Gad. Thomas Gad offers a four-dimensional model (four dimensions of the brand), which creates a complex description system and allows you to shape the mental field of the brand.

4 D branding by Thomas Gad: brand dimensions

Functional dimension. This dimension represents the benefits that the consumer receives, describes the benefits of the product and its functional characteristics. For example, if your brand focuses on convenience, ease of use, and simplicity, then create them in your product. Make your product the best in any measure, and convey this idea through an advertising message - a brand that does not have a reliable basis on real functional benefits deprived of the future. But this is only the first step.

Social dimension. This is the dimension that determines how a brand relates to a person within a society and sets social priorities. At this stage, it is determined social role the brand (and hence the role of the consumer), as well as the social benefits that the client receives.

The mental dimension. This dimension refers to a person's personality, character and lifestyle, as well as their dreams, aspirations and hopes. This dimension works with who a person is and who wants to be, and also paves the way from one to the other.

Spiritual dimension. This dimension concerns the values ​​behind the brand. When this dimension is properly constructed, the purchase becomes something more for a person than satisfying his own needs. In maximum realization at this stage, the brand forms the path along which a person builds his life, and this path is associated with something greater than the person himself or the brand to which he is committed.

Does the company need it? Of course, because the more clearly the brand is structured in the mind of the consumer, the more loyal the latter will be. And the model 4 D Thomas Gad's branding gives you that opportunity. Does the consumer need it? Paradoxically, this question is not as straightforward as it might seem at first glance, and in the following articles we will analyze the psychotherapeutic aspects of branding.

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