Executive Director
of the
Jim Moran Institute for
Global Entrepreneurship
at Florida State University
Brand Promises
A business exists because the consumer is willing to pay you his money. You run a business to satisfy the consumer. That isn’t marketing. That goes way beyond marketing. ~Peter F. Drucker
Branding is such an important element of marketing and the vision of the firm as it represents the promise to meet a customer’s needs. Branding is a concept that covers so much more than marketing.
As branding is such a critical element with any firm, I am going to write a series of articles on this very important concept. This is the first of these articles in the series branding dealing with brand promises. A brand promise is the set of expectations and guarantees that a company offers to its customers.
As Peter Drucker says, customers buy your products and services and you must satisfy the customer. Branding is the way a business satisfies the customer besides prices.
Just look at Apple or Disney who have great brands that came from years of working and developing their own brand. Not only must brands bring customers in the door, but once they are there they must deliver on their promise. What would happen if Disney had a dirty park??
It is so important to understand that a brand is not yours but it resides in the customer's mind. That is for a brand and a brand promise to be successful, it must always be seen from the viewpoint of the customer.
While a cute logo is okay, what really differentiates a brand is the brand promise. Just look at Coca-Cola whose brand promise is, “the real thing” and how much they can charge for their brand over other non-branded drinks. Southwest Airlines has always had a brand promise related to price and FedEx’s brand is “peace of mind.” When FedEx started, its brand promise was delivery by 10:30 AM. It still has this delivery time as part of its core values but it has changed the brand to reflect changing values in our society.
With any brand promise it must be customer-centric. If it is not related to the customer, it is not effective. Additionally, some brand promises have to create a new industry classification, such as Red Bull. They knew that the cola and citrus market were saturated as well as sports drinks. Red Bull used as its brand promise , “to revitalize body and mind”. Just look at how this customer centered brand promise clearly differentiates it from other industries. Disney’s brand promise is, “family fun entertainment.”
Volvo’s brand promise has always been, “safety". I bought both of my kids a Volvo because I recognized this brand promise and it meant so much to my wife and me as it gave us piece of mind. Volvo is trying, however, to update this brand image to become much more into the 21st century.
Bank of America’s brand promise is, “The Bank of Opportunity.” In order to get to this brand promise they analyzed the strengths in all of their businesses. While they used hard data to come up with this brand promise, there was so much that was not quantifiable. They had to use judgment, creativity and flexibility.
Now go out and make sure you have a brand promise that represents a promise your company can deliver which is also customer-centric.
You can do this!!
Jerry Osteryoung is the Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at Florida State University. He is also the Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at FSU and Executive Director of the Jim Moran Institute of Global Entrepreneurship. He can be reached by e-mail at
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or by phone at 850-644-3372. All of Dr. Osteryoung's articles can be found in a searchable form at www.cob.fsu.edu/jmi .
This article originally published on April 22, 2008.
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