Building Strong Brands with Modern Strategies And Stories (w/ David Aaker)

What's up brand builderStephen Houraghan here  on the Brand Master Podcast and in this episode   i'm joined by an undisputed branding legend mr  David Aaker now David Aaker is a branding veteran   and pioneer and once hailed as the father of  modern branding David has authored no fewer   than 17 books on branding and marketing including  classics such as Building Strong Brands and Aaker   on Branding in 2015 he was introduced into the  american marketing association hall of fame   for his lifetime achievements in marketing and  on today's episode David opens up about what   brand awareness actually is and how to achieve  it how to create modern signature brand stories   and three actionable tips for brands  to get ahead in modern markets   so if you want to learn from a true legend in  branding about how to strategically build brands   using modern techniques then stick around for  this episode of the brand master podcast welcome   to the brandmaster podcast show specialized in  helping branding professionals and entrepreneurs   to build brands using strategy  psychology and creative thinking   hello everyone and welcome to the brandmaster  podcast i am delighted to have the one and only mr   David Aaker on the show with us today now if you  don't know David Aaker you're probably new to   marketing and branding because this man has been  around for a long long time and he has written   many many books and you know the likes of managing  brand equity building strong brands acronym   branding and his latest to creating signature  stories and owning game changing subcategories   we'll talk about different aspects of different  parts of your books throughout this chat David   um but i'd like to kind of get an understanding  of of how you became so obsessed about branding i   know for me my obsession with branding is probably  only a little over 10 years old but yours goes   back probably 40 45 years maybe how did that all  come about well i was working at uh i was teaching   strategy i wrote a book on strategy and uh i  came to believe that companies were too focused   on short-term financials and instead they ought  to build assets and uh so i sort of uh did a a   queer career epiphany and decided i'd  be you know devote my career largely to   help them do that and uh if i i looked around and  um my background included uh work i'd written in   fact books and taught courses on advertising  market research as well as strategy and so um   and i did a little study that asked people what  is your uh sustainable competitive advantage   and of the uh it got 41 answers something  like that and the numbers one three and ten   were all associated with branding it was uh  uh uh perceived quality brand recognition and   customer base so what so roughly what year  was that oh that was in the late 80s okay   and and so uh it seemed pretty obvious to  me that uh of all the kinds of of assets to   build i was best suited to work in the branding  area and so i uh i started off and at that time   branding brand equity was becoming kind of a big  deal because people were a little bit burnt out   in trying to achieve growth by cost reduction and  uh they were in the fact destroying brands and   they came to realize i think that they needed to  build brands and in fact some of their brands had   been destroyed by a price competition and and uh  and sameness and so uh there was a great interest   in building brands and providing growth platforms  but nobody had defined what brand equity was   so my first book was to uh define brand  equity and not only define it but to   uh to sort of discuss the 16 or 17 ways in  which brand equity was valuable to a company   and and you were you you said before that you  were teaching strategy well you were teaching   strategy more so at that time from a business  point of view so from your perspective and and   your philosophy what what is the difference  between business strategy and brand strategy   well uh they're sort of complementary brand  is really the face of a business strategy   and uh and a business strategy is enabled by a  brand you you can only go far with a business   strategy unless you have a brand to support  it so they have to have to work together   yeah yeah absolutely and in your your  your book managing brand equity that was   that was you kind of putting a flag in the  ground to define brand equity and as you   said no one had really defined brand equity back  then there wasn't this universal understanding   about what it was and you you kind of distilled it  into awareness image and loyalty can you can you   talk to us a little bit about that about how you  see brand equity well i as i said i not only uh   talk about um awareness which which i now describe  is as a brand visibility and credibility which is   the basis of brand relevance so that's sort of  the first pillar but uh i would also then say   well what does brand awareness give you and  it gives you a perce you know people recognize   the brand they figure it's you know there's some  reason i'm recognizing it's probably pretty good   it's sort of the first stage in buying you have  to be aware of the brand and so it has a lot of   things it gives you and uh brand image is uh you  know your perceptions what you think about it but   but the uh unique part of my definition  was loyalty most people perceive   brand strength as is sort of awareness and  image and and some of the other academics   that's how they define brand equity and  i added brand loyalty and that was really   really a game changer because when you when you  think of brands as customer loyalty it changes   everything you do it's no longer a communications  problem it's uh it's it's a brand experience   problem it's a a brand innovation or a product  innovation problem it's uh uh it's a brand it's a   it's a customer engagement problem and so that  takes you in an entirely different way and it it   automatically gives you a you know long-term  customer value perspective on things you do   and in terms of what you said before about uh  loyalty being so important a lot of people would   speak about awareness and and image but really  loyalty is the the holy grail of branding now   going back you know 40 years um the way marketing  was taught in in universities was that you know   branding was this subset of of marketing and now  it seems that the brand has become the entity and   the brand now dictates so much more about the  business than just the marketing side of things   how have you seen the evolution of branding  from a subset of marketing that it once was   to where it is now well it's really dramatic it's  changed business it's changed culture it's changed   organizations because uh uh it you know well  brand management started in the 1930s around 1932   uh a fellow at g a png wrote a memo saying what  a brand team should do because he wanted to hire   one he was he was a brand manager for uh um for  sort of the second brand in soap or something and   and uh he wanted more people and they asked him  why and he wrote a three-page manual despite the   fact that procter gamble you could only write one  page mammals at the time but uh that same person   went on to become a secretary of defense later  and a president of p and g p g so it was a he   had a very successful career but the uh his idea  was what you do is you look at data find out weak   spots in the in the market share trend and you you  really jump in with some promotions or pricing or   improve distribution to correct those problems  and that's that's what brand management was   well if you flash forward to brand equity times  it's uh it's it's no longer what's how we gonna   you know correct the sales decline this week but  rather it's you have a time horizon one two three   years and you're dealing with entirely different  variables you're now dealing with strategic   variables you're dealing with the um you know  the composition of the product or service you're   dealing with a brand experience and so on and  so uh you're you know you're and it's all tied   to business strategy now it's not tactical with a  business strategy in the in the past it's it's the   business strategies on the table and who does it  changed it used to be that the brand was done by   uh you know several levels below the  chief marketing officer it was tactical   yeah and the chief marketing officer didn't even  pay much attention about it somebody else was look   checking the data and so on and uh and now the  marketing has the seat at the executive table   he's the vice president of marketing or the cmo  and and uh he's part of the executive team and   so he's intimately involved in strategy and he's  contributing a strategy because he has you know   access to customer insights he's got access to to  market trends and to forces within the marketplace   so it's very different yeah and and of course you  know the impact of perceptions on the the buying   decision over time i mean so much has been learned  um you know in in the last 10 or 20 years through   neuroscience as well about how decisions are  made you know it's it's just become so much more   uh you know people have become so much more  aware of the power of branding and what those   perceptions do so it's you know the the business  strategy has always been important but now the   brand strategy is up alongside it because people  understand the importance of those perceptions   we uh we we touched a little earlier  on on brand awareness but in terms of   practical uh advice because a lot of small brands  or or small businesses that's their first protocol   they want to achieve that brand awareness  they want to get some traction in the market   what would be some steps that a a business could  take to first achieve some kind of awareness in   the market and what what then are the benefits  of that and how can they springboard off that   well um i i advocate that they try to understand  what they want their brand to stand for   and i have what i call the brand identity model  i now label this the brand vision model but it's   it you're really asking the question how do i want  my brand to be perceived what uh what is the uh   you know what are the pillars what are  the and what and within all those pillars   and which might be eight or twelve of them which  are the most important and uh how can i make sure   that some combination of those pillars create  differentiation they resonate with the target   audience and there's something i can deliver and  uh and so those are the three things you're you're   looking for and and if you're if you're not there  yet you either have to have a program in place to   get there or you have to back away yeah because  you don't want to put out something you can't   deliver yeah that's the first step and then the  second step is to take those pillars and position   your brand by uh getting people to look at their  their choice in in those eyes and if you're lucky   you create a whole new subcategory of your own  where you're uh the dominant brand by creating a   unique set of features or benefits or personality  or values or something yeah and look we'll jump on   to to uh subcategories and owning subcategories  a little bit later but going back to one of your   other books brand relevance making competitors  irrelevant what are the the factors that make one   brand more relevant to a specific market segment  than other brands than their competitors well   what you have to do is to create subcategories and  create a sort of a new buying set of of criteria   so you have to develop what i call a must-have  you have to have some sort of attribute of your   product or service or some kind of connection  with a customer some kind of customer relationship   that's different than anybody else and it  becomes in the mind of customers a must-have   they must have this and they start avoiding any  other offering that doesn't have that must-have yeah and and you know so i speak  about brand relevance as well but   when when i read your books you know obviously you  know we're we we talk a lot or you reference a lot   the the kind of bigger brands of the world and  i think the smaller brands now are starting to   catch up a lot more in terms of the importance  of brand strategy certainly the small business   owners they understand a lot more about brand  strategy just generally business owners understand   a lot more about brand strategy and you know  relevance as well as you know being completely   different and changing the the category or  creating subcategories often it's it's about   really connecting with who the person is the the  type of personality they are the the attributes   that they have through the the messaging of  the brand how important is that messaging to   make sure that it hits the right person in the  right way well it really depends on the product   class and within that the brand itself and  it depends on its heritage it depends upon uh you know what what kind of personality it's  able to express uh what kind of values lie   behind it what kind of people are behind the  organization especially with a service or b2b   business people are really making a relationship  with a company not a product and uh they want to   know about that product that shares its values  and so forth um so it yeah it it really depends   i mean brand personality for some brands and  some situation is really important for others   it's it's not a not not really a good option yeah  yeah i i i do agree with that brand personality is   you know it is a big topic but you know depending  on the industry it is more effective in some areas   than it is in others now i'd like to move on to  uh to talk about your book creating signature   stories because you know brand storytelling has  grown in terms of its importance its use um you   know it's it's understanding from you know brand  leadership teams and and how effective it can be   but it is often misunderstood as  well we we see a lot of stories   from you know certainly small businesses talking  about you know the founder and you know where the   founder has come from can you break down what  brand storytelling is from your perspective   well uh i got into the topic because my  daughter jennifer was teaching a course   on stories at stanford and uh and i i kept uh  dialoguing with her i said what is not a story   because you ask people for their brand story  they'll give you you know five bullet points of   some facts and and benefits and that's not a story  i mean that's not the the signature story that's   what i the phrase i developed because the senior  story is is a narrative it's a once upon a time   that something happened to some person  or some organization or something and uh   and and it turns out that stories are just such  powerful communicators i mean right now we have   such information overload such media clutter  such uh perceived sameness in offerings that   uh you know people just just uh basically turn  it off they don't let themselves get exposed   and if they do they greet whatever is there with  skepticism and cynicism and they counter argue   so so how do you break through that and and the  answer is stories because uh stories first of all   attract attention if somebody says i i got a story  to tell your ears perk up yeah and you listen to   it and then while you're there you get involved  you don't counter argue you don't say yeah but   you you just listen to this it's just a story i  mean you don't argue with a story and and then uh   what often happens in the story is is  you discover some quality of the brand   nobody is telling you that our brand is so great  because you discovered it yourself and and that's   that's the way to learn and remember and uh and  there's all kinds of studies and it turns out that   if you can embed a message in a story or have  the story motivate some message or have the   message of the story illustrate some message it  is it's it's order of magnitude more effective   not 20 but 200 percent it's just quite  remarkable yeah and there's there's been   we have learned so much about this again in in  uh in the last 10 or 20 years through the study   of neuroscience and through the the study of the  brain and and it really does tap into you know   the the pretty primitive side of of humans  and how we've kind of passed on information   from generation to generation long before you know  there was complex language and books and there's a   there's a great ted talk you've probably seen it  for anybody else listening if you haven't seen   it i definitely recommend going checking it out  it's by and you're a scientist called yuri hassan   and uh the title of the ted talk is our brain um  on stories or something along those lines and it   really does show the effectiveness of our ability  to remember story versus fact-based information   because we simply store stories in a different  part of our brain and we're able to connect dots   so it's so much more effective at landing  in in in the memory and that's at the end   of the day what branding is all about it's  about landing your message in the memory of   your audience so that they're able to recall  your brand um now you've defined brand story   or or um a way to activate story as a brand's  signature story so what is a signature story   and can you give us uh maybe one or two examples  of a signature story sure uh well a signature   story is first of all a narrative it's a once upon  a time narrative and and second of all it's uh   you know it's authentic and it's engaging  and it has kind of a wow factor and uh   that means that when you hear the story you just  don't go to sleep or you just don't pass it by but   you you're you're motivated to say you  know this really is uh something i should   share it with somebody um and or it really makes  an impact on you it really pops and uh there's all   kinds of ways to get that quality it can you know  do it be entertaining it can be humorous it can   be informative it can be uh emotionally evolving  it can be engaging so there's a lot of avenues to   create that that thing but anyway it's something  that just pops out at you well one of my   favorite stories is that of life boy soap in india  they well first of all lifeboat was in was started   in the 1880s as a as a soap to help you avoid  disease and there was a cholera epidemic in london   at the time and it was starting to come at that  and ever since then it's been uh you know trying   to get people to wash their hands to be uh less  sick less subject to disease and uh and so they   started this program in india to you know again  get people to wash their hands and about six seven   years ago they said well this isn't doing that  great we can do better than this so they sat down   with a bunch of of uh their top creatives and  their agency and the brand people for a couple   days and they came up with the idea that they  needed to elevate the program and they needed to brand it and they branded to help a child reach  five because two million kids under the age of   five die each year mostly from diseases that  can be reduced by washing their hands right   and and and then the things sort of took off  and they put the new program in three villages   and made a video of a person in that village  that was affected by the program uh a mother   a grandfather and a and a daughter  and uh they got 44 million views wow   44 million views we're talking bar soap  they got 44 million views so uh you know   that illustrates a lot of things it illustrates  that if a um you know program is managed well   under you and it draws upon branding principles it  can do well and it can do enormous goods for the   for the business brand life boy i mean can  you imagine 44 million people it's it's just   it's unfathomable the the amount of views that  they got for as you say bar soap and well bring   it back to stories each of those three videos  was a story yeah that you got to know the person   intimately in each thing you got to know the story  behind the person why they were doing these things   each of them start out with a the first part of  the three-minute video you didn't really know   why the person was doing what they were  doing but then you learned in the uh   well i'll definitely go and find some links  to uh to those videos for the viewers and i'll   leave that in the show notes so if you check  it out you just just go to youtube and put   in uh help a child reach five help a child child  reach five that's a an easier way to do that but   as you said you know uh we we've we've got a  lot of uh businesses where they believe that   branding doesn't appeal to them because of the  category that they're in or because of the product   that they're selling and it just goes to show that  if you know if if you can activate a brand like   that to get 44 million views for a bar soap then  you know it's just a matter of creativity and kind   of attaching the right story uh you know that will  appeal to a specific audience so it you know it's   a it's a it's a great indication of how powerful  story is now you also within that signature story   is there a process that brands can go through  to to find what their signature story should be   that's a really good question  um and uh there's i've i've   i as the years go by i get more and more convinced  that story is so important it's the answer and uh   and so i've talked to a lot of companies about  that a lot of non-profits and um what happens   is that generally they uh they kind of accept  the premise that story is powerful because you   know they know it from personal experience or  from common sense that is going to be powerful   and uh but they hadn't really thought about it  before so they it's it's pretty easy for except   that president when somebody is is pounding at  him but the second part of it is finding the   story and the third part of it is presenting  it right and those are tough for them they're   not equipped to do either one and it's not easy  to find a good story no uh it just isn't and so   a lot of some companies are hiring newspaper  reporters and uh having them help them find   stories and then uh write them up yeah um so but  but it turns out stories can come from all sources   and that's another um plus or minus  about stories you can find them anywhere   i mean one source is that customers uh  or a company's heritage there was a uh   appliance company in china in about 1986 that  elevated a foreman to be ceo because the fight   the country the company was just failing and uh in  his first week a customer came in and said is his   his appliance broke down and he said no problem  they went to the warehouse to pick out a new one   and 70 of them were defective so he brought  all those 70 percent into the the factory   floor and he got people sledgehammers to to  destroy them and uh and and that started a   company that now makes more appliances than  any other in the world and it's higher oh yeah   uh and that sledgehammer is in a museum at  their headquarters and all you have to do   is to mention the sledgehammer and people will be  reminded about a core pillar of the higher brand   and that is they're only going to make top quality  merchandise because he said at that uh at that   event that that that's over we're not making bad  stuff anymore and that started them on the road   and and it just goes to show that stories can as  you said stories can kind of come from anywhere   but i think the common denominator and the  glue has to be the relevance of the story   to the audience um of course you know that  story of the the sledgehammer it taps into   this idea of we aren't going to take this anymore  you know we now stand for quality and you know   we're going to put a sledgehammer to to you know  the old way of doing things and this is the new   way of doing things and of course the the audience  that's going to resonate with them because   that's what they want they want somebody  representing them that's not going to take   defaulted uh goods and make sure that the goods in  front of them are are quality but it can also come   from any other different source it can come from  the journey of the audience and the challenges   that they go through on a day-to-day basis or it  could come from like the the bar soap story you   know a shared challenge that you know you want to  make the audience aware of that they can overcome   so stories can come from many different places and  i know that you also talk about story culture what   is story culture and how do you instill that into  a brand well i think that's just the the sort of   when the the organization has accepted the role of  strategic stories and they have created a process   to find and and nurture them and then a process  to present them they've got staff they've got a   procedure so if a story occurs there's somebody  to take it to and that person can follow up and   do the research and write it up so uh uh so in a  in a story culture people have got their eyes open   looking for stories and they've got a a structure  and a system to follow up when they find one yeah   yeah and and that's great if if you know and and  this has to be internal this has to be part of the   core of the brand whether that is uh through the  the values and you know discussing this internally   as a way to kind of get the brand's message out  there and if if you're able to bring stories   in from different angles different perspectives  they're just new ways to to activate the brand and   kind of leave a message that's that's more likely  to to be remembered in the mind of the audience   now i i want to kind of transition into uh your  your book owning game changing subcategories now   for a lot of our audience uh you know we  they they would be freelancers or agency   owners dealing with small to to medium  sized businesses but what exactly is   a sub category from from your perspective and  and how do you go about creating a new one well   it involves uh innovation and uh it both would  like what i call and i mentioned before must-haves   you have to develop some sort of a product  feature or benefit or some kind of relationship   with a customer uh that might be based on  a shared value or personality or something   yeah or a way of interacting with the customer  and and that has to become something that becomes   important to the customer it becomes something  that influences what they buy so they only want   to buy that subcategory that has that feature  and so my uh this is really a book about branding   and disruptive innovation because there's a  whole bunch of books on disruptive innovation   but they largely ignore branding and what  i believe is that branding is critical   to success in with that kind of a strategy it  it first of all you have to become the exemplar   the brand that represents that subcategory and  then you have to use that example of brand status   to position the subcategory which means you  have to dictate what uh elements people are   going to look for in a in their decision  and uh and make sure that they they uh   include one of these must-haves or two of  these must-haves in in that decision and three   you have these days you have to scale you have  to scale really fast you can't just uh you know   do it slow and have a high price at the first it this just won't work and that's a branding  issue to scale it requires you know you know   getting visibility and credibility out there it  requires getting your message out there so people   understand there's these must-haves available  and fourth there you need to build barriers   you need to build barriers so that competitors  won't benefit from this sub-category you've   defined and managed and you can do that  by having a large customer base quickly   you can do that by having a strong image that you  have the must-haves and this is the go-to place   for that it can happen by ongoing innovation  where you're changing the goal post on a daily   basis it can happen by owning this must-have  by branding a feature a branding a relationship   and something that you can then own and i i think  that's a great uh example of how business strategy   and brand strategy complement each other because  to scale so quickly in a new subcategory the   business strategy has to be talking to the brand  strategy and vice versa because that kind of scale   you know needs business thinking and it  needs brand thinking at the same time so   it's a great example of the point that you made  earlier that they are complementary and they   need to be speaking to each other and it's really  extraordinary there must be a hundred books out on   on innovation and disruptive innovation and  the importance of uh setting up a new product   and uh and by famous authors and they're really  good books but they really don't mention branding   and so so you talked a little bit earlier about  barriers and the importance of speed when getting   in there creating a new subcategory and getting  those barriers up what are the dangers of not   uh you know not activating that brand quickly  enough not having the structures in place to scale   what are the the the dangers of of you know is  it is it that the the your competitors can can   come in be more prepared have the business and the  brand strategy and then own the subcategory that   you've created oh yes in fact uh research shows  that almost all market leaders almost all of them   were not the pioneers the pioneers almost always  get beat down by somebody bigger or more resources   uh they've advanced the concept and uh and you  know you just it's just quite amazing and uh   a lot of people some people you at usc have  looking at some of the big successes and tracked   them back to the early days to see if they were  the pioneer and it turns out they almost always   were not they were the first ones to get it  right they were the first ones with with the the   uh insight the expertise and the resources to uh  you know to dominate that market and let it grow   i i think the the perfect example for me the one  that jumps to mind for me is in the mp3 space   there was a brand called creative and they had  a a great mp3 there was a lot of mp3s before but   creative was the first one to have a product  that was you know it ticked a lot of boxes   and i actually had one of those one of those  mp3s but but then apple came in with the ipod and   their ability to scale their ability to  couple business strategy with brand strategy   and something completely unique is i think is  a perfect example of how you know being the the   first to market is is not always a guarantee for  success it is the the brand who acts fastest and   and are able to put up those those barriers as you  pointed out the ipod is a perfect example of that   the ipod was introduced two years before apple  it was introduced by uh sony the mp3 yeah   sony had two products one out of their um  their computer division and one out of their   uh this audio division anyway they two  years before apple they introduced at   the big conference in las vegas an ipod and  it was uh it was two years too early i mean   they they couldn't have enough songs on it because  it wasn't big enough it wasn't easy to use and uh and it and it wasn't successful then then ipod  came along i think that a very unappreciated   genius of steve jobs was timing yeah and also he  and another unappreciated quality of steve jobs   was his ability to stay on top of technology  he really understood where technology was   and so he his timing in instance after instance  was was impeccable and uh sony i i i really like   the the example of of sony because i've referenced  sony when compared to apple uh before as well um   and and i've just reached down there as you were  speaking to pick these up so so these are wireless   headphones from sony that i bought about a year  ago now these compete directly with the airpods   but as as i i mentioned in one of my  youtube videos i do not know the name   of this product now i can go to my bluetooth  there and i can tell you that it's the wf-10 so the difference between how apple brands and  how sony brands um you know are is is is huge   you know if if sony branded the way  apple did we would all know the names   the name of of of this product and it would  make it so much easier for me to refer   refer this to somebody else to to spread that  word of med to have that uh you know to pass on   that brand equity and and you know it's it's it's  just a and as you said they did it with the mp3 as   well so apple is a great example of uh you know  assigning value to things through how they they   brand them and building that equity up in in in  a way that that other brands just you know they   they just haven't been able to keep up with apple  from that perspective um i i'd like to to to   now you've you've got all this wealth of  experience you've written all of these books   if and you can see over the the years from the  you know the times that we've gone through how   much branding has changed to where we are now  what would be your top three tips for brands   to get ahead in modern markets today well i i i  really biased i guess but i i just think that uh   these these two books plus what i'm working on uh  are really important for the future one is that   that you have to understand uh disruptive  innovation in the roles brand play   because that's that's virtually the only way to  grow i mean i've looked at a lot of categories and   all almost all of the major growth surges comes  from that it doesn't come from better my brand is   bigger than your brand marketing it just doesn't  and uh so if you want to grow i think in the   future that's uh that's a necessity and and the  other side of the coin is if you want to survive   if you want to maintain your relevance in the  marketplace which means visibility and credibility   you have to be making what they're buying  and if uh you know if you make uh um   suvs and uh and uh and then people start buying  compact uh uh hybrids it doesn't matter how   much they love your suv they could say you know  this is the best car i ever got i love this car   it's uh it's part of me i'm going to tell all  my friends that want an suv that to buy this   brand but if they and their friends aren't buying  suvs anymore they're buying compact hybrids   it doesn't matter how much they love your suv  and so you have to um you have to play defense as   well as offense you have to understand who else in  the marketplace is creating new subcategories for   which you are not relevant and you have to either  get relevant or or do something else to compete and then the second thing is like again i think  when this era of information overload media   culture and perceived sameness you you need to  understand stories and how to work at stories and   stories are not necessarily tactical they're  strategic too because they can they could be the   basis of internal culture with employee stories  or the stories that employees understand and learn   they can be strategic externally too because they  sort of cement a uh a perception or a relationship   there's a famous story at nordstrom's the  department store that uh a new nordstrom   employees in a store in anchorage alaska somebody  came in with two tires that were bald he said   these tires don't work anymore i want my money  back and this guy gave him his money back and uh   and nordstroms had never made tires although there  was a tire store in the site of what what is now   a norsome store but anyway uh that story has  been repeated again and again i'd give talks   to maybe a hundred people in california and i'd  ask them how many people have heard the nordstrom   story and sixty percent of them would raise their  hands this was 35 years after the story occurred   there was no advertising about it no effort  on nordstrom's to communicate that story   and sixty percent i mean sixty percent of the  audience i mean there's not even sixty percent of   the audience that could go to department stores  but uh they knew that story about nordstroms   that nordsom stand behind their product their  money back guarantee they they they live by it so   uh that's the second thing the third thing is the  subject of my new book which is going to be uh   this social programs and signature social programs  and how you use them to build relevant brands   and uh uh and i think that that in the future  even today people are demanding more than just   functional benefits they they uh they they  want employees want to work for and customers   want a relationship with and investors want  to buy companies that have a soul that have   a passion that have a purpose that they have a a  coherent social program that is having an impact   yeah there's been so much talk about brand culture  uh in in recent years and and uh how important it   is for the people to be connected to the work that  we that they do because you know what appears on   the outside of a brand is a reflection of what's  inside the brand and you know having the right   structures and systems in place so that everybody  believes in what the brand is doing is one of the   best ways to make sure that it's it's communicated  externally so that the audience believes it as   well um it's it's been uh it's been an absolutely  enlightening uh chat David and and you know for   those who i'm sure a lot of our audience already  has at least one or two of your books sitting on   their their bookshelves but for for those who  want to find out about your new books or kind   of go back to the uh to the to the old library  where's the best place that they can get in touch   with you and find out a bit more about your books  and be able to jump on there and buy some of them   uh i have a website davidaaker.com  yeah i think has that the theprofit.com   p-r-o-p-h-e-t that's a company i'm associated  with there's a website that has that but um   i don't know how easy it is to navigate  because i don't go there very much   but i think i think davidaaker.com is the  safe bet yeah and uh i don't i don't know   how australia works very well but in this country  these are the two books but in this country amazon   is is is the uh go to place yeah you could get a  book in a couple days yeah yeah i i was actually   just speaking um with uh with rob mayerson the  other day who who also had you on his show and   and he he brings everybody to his website and then  he redirects them to amazon to go and buy the book   so amazon is definitely uh one of the best places  to go and grab books but if you want to find out   what the books are what kind of books uh you can  get go to davidaaker.com um or if you know what   books you want to buy jump onto amazon you can  purchase them there David it's been an absolute   pleasure thank you so much for taking the time  out of your day and if and when you're ready to   uh to release your new books and you wanna uh  to tell us a bit more about them at the time   i'll be happy to jump on with you again and have  a chat about them oh good i look forward to it   thanks for the offer and thanks for having me  no problem at all thanks again David we really   hope you enjoyed today's episode thanks so much  for listening if you want to learn more brand   strategy techniques to level up your skills make  sure you check out brandmasteracademy.com there's   plenty of free resources and premium content for  you to download and get you going if you'd like to   join our facebook group full of like-minded brand  strategists all learning from each other then find   us by searching for the brand strategy community  where you can find exclusive content for members   as well if you enjoyed this content please be sure  to give us an honest review on itunes stitcher or   wherever you listened and make sure you tune in  for the next episode of the brand master podcast

Channel: Brand Master Academy

Views: 34,448

Keywords: building strong brands, David aaker, Modern brand strategy, Business strategy vs brand strategy, Modern brand strategies, Aaker on branding, Brand awareness, Brand storytelling, Brand stories, Creating signature stories, Brand relevance, How to create a signature story, Brand culture, Top branding tips, Brand strategy, Brand design, Graphic design, Branding, Marketing, Stephen houraghan, Learn brand strategy, Brand master secrets, Brand master academy

Id: 6Y47RN6N7kg

Length: 48min 32sec (2912 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 09 2022