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No name. No logo. No tagline. Delicious branding.

Posted by Steve Merino on 28 September 2009 | 4 Comments

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I can think of few finer classrooms to discuss the importance of good branding than the stretch of I-95 that cuts through Northeast Philadelphia. It boasts some of the best—and worst—billboards you’ll find anywhere.

It’s been said that billboards are the best medium to start with when launching a new campaign. Because unlike television, print or radio, billboards force you to be quick.. After all, the billboard is your entire brand and messaging distilled down to its purest form.  David Ogilvy once claimed that when writing billboards, you’re allowed only seven words. And that guy retired to an estate in France, so he’s probably right.

Your copy needs to be compelling. Your visuals must be interesting. And your messaging better be as clear as the surrounding blue sky. In Hey Whipple, Squeeze This, Luke Sullivan said billboards are more than ads. They are events and should be treated as such.

And right now, no one is doing billboards better than Snickers. 

 

 

Outdoors. But totally in-brand.

What I like best about the Snickers billboards isn’t necessarily their messaging. After all, while “Sir Snacksalot” is funny, I’m not sure it’s compelling copy. However, it is one of the better cases of effective branding that I’ve seen since, well, I still ate candy bars.

Let’s look at these billboards a little more carefully.

 

 

There’s no logo. No call to action. No website. Heck, they don’t even mention the company’s name. But the instant you see it, you know it’s for Snickers and cannot be for anyone else. And that, my friend, is extraordinary branding.

Sometimes effectively building on your brand means using your brand assets in a unique, engaging and totally proprietary way. In this case, Snickers embraced their packaging, their brand colors, their font treatment, and most importantly—their attitude—to create a big, bold branding campaign. With some simple word play done in their signature font, they followed Ogilvy’s strategy and started out with great billboards, then translated their messaging perfectly into other media. See for yourself.

 

 

Let’s get to the chewy center.

This Snickers outdoor campaign gives us some important lessons to consider when considering our branding campaigns. 

  • Recognize that your actual brand is a lot more than what your advertising looks like.

  • Think about your logo and what it signifies. Consider your corporate colors and what they convey. How can you take more ownership of them both?

  • Establish your brand personality, tone and voice—and always speak in it.

  • Create a sales promotion or online experience that highlights your brand’s strengths.

 

Be like Snickers. When it’s time to think about your brand, go beyond traditional tactics. Go viral. Promotional. Even outdoor. Ultimately, you can create a branding experience that really satisfies.

 


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Comments

  • What makes you customer link the benefit behind your brand? what visually connects in the mind of the consumer? is your brand well positioned? would your target audience mix up, or link immediately , once your corporate colors appear?
    From experience, i do believe that a brand is the sum of all aspects related to the service or the product, the good and the bad, even the sales person in a way is being connected to the brand, and the value to teh consumer is being sold as a package.
    When starting your own business, one of your most important concerns is to develop your company's face to the world. This is your brand. It is the company's name, how that name is visually expressed through a logo, and how that name and logo extend throughout an organization's communications.
    A brand is also a kind of promise. It is a set of fundamental principles as understood by anyone who comes into contact with a company. A brand is an organization's "reason for being"; it is how that reason is expressed through the various communications to its key audiences, including customers, shareholders, employees, and analysts. A brand should also represent the desired attributes of a company's products, services, and initiatives.

    Apple's brand is a great example. The Apple logo is clean, elegant, and easily implemented. Notice that the company has altered the use of the apple logo from rainbow-striped to monochromatic. In this way they keep their brand and signal in a new era for their expansive enterprise. Think about how you've seen the brand in advertising, trade shows, packaging, product design, and so on. It's distinctive and it all adds up to a particular promise. The Apple brand stands for quality of design and ease of use.


    Posted by Zeina Shennak, 19/10/2009 9:00am (11 months ago)

  • true, they're noticable, but they haven't made me buy one snicker's bar...jsyk, we keep a bag of little candy bars in the freezer just because we like a piece of chocolate now and again...i'm just saying that because i'm probably part of their demo...

    it's cute and noticeable, but my question is, as always, is it working??...

    Posted by johngf, 18/10/2009 5:06pm (11 months ago)

  • They could do this as Snicker trade dress is highly recognizable; some brands aren't.

    Posted by Lisa Radin, 08/10/2009 5:31pm (11 months ago)

  • Agreed. This campaign is simple and effective. When the billboards first came out, I asked my 11-year-old daughter what she thought about them. She said, "It makes me want a SNICKER!" Pure genius.

    Posted by Tara Anne Michels, 08/10/2009 3:52pm (11 months ago)

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