A Beginner’s Guide to Superbrands

In advertising and marketing terminology, “consumer items” are not only what you find on the grocery store shelf, but also in offices, cinemas, sports fields and nearly anywhere.  What do yogurt and celebrities have in common? Airports, politicians and hamburgers?  Lawyers, doctors, and diesel trucks? They all want you to want them. Not only in general, but also quite specifically. They will always want you to choose them over their competitors. The good examples provide information to help you choose; how long they’ve been around, how successful they are, how economical for your budget. The best examples condense all this information into a representation by a single image or idea, known as the “brand.” Far more than a logo on a package or a name on a screen, it’s “shorthand” for everything you feel or think of a commodity when you see or hear its brand name. The more positive and influential this perception is, is called “brand success.” What makes a brand successful? Well, as the saying goes, “it takes two to tango.” On one side, perhaps obviously so, brand success is determined by the consumer. In the simplest but most powerful component of brand success, they vote for brands with every trip past the cash register, with every appointment made, with every ticket purchased. Their vote says they agree with and believe in what the brand represents, and that it is doing its job well. This is why the smartest brand makers know who really owns a brand; not the person or company who created it, but the consumer for whom it was created. But prior to that, and perhaps a bit more seemingly “behind-the-scenes,” brand success comes from the ability of the product, service or person to maximize its desirability to its intended consumers.  If it (or he or she) fills their targeted need with the best combination of price, quality, aesthetics, availability, results, etc., that success becomes represented by its brand.  It is this side of the equation which is examined by Superbrands. The decision of the consumer which determines brand success is unique and intimate to each person who makes it, but the efforts made by the brand makers follow established concepts and guidelines. Superbrands not only celebrates those brand makers who are best at their jobs, but also reveals how they achieved this most valued position.