The following is a summary of Chapter 3 of the book “Integrated Branding” by F. Joseph LePla and Lynn M. Parker. Buy the book.

Most people associate branding with its visual expressions, or brand conveyors (e.g.- logos, marketing materials, ads, etc.). An integrated brand, however, directs message and action everywhere in the company.

For instance, consider this painting, called “His Master’s Voice.”

The point of the painting was that the sound emanating from the phonograph was so clear, the dog (whose name was Nipper) thought that he was listening to his master’s voice in real-time…thus, the name.

In later years, this same painting was employed by RCA to illustrate one of that company’s brand drivers, “sound fidelity.” Sound fidelity is a powerful driver of the RCA brand.

So, in essence, the driver makes the image meaningful, not the other way around. The caveat to this is that the company MUST live up to its drivers. This means that everyone at RCA- engineers, marketers, human resource managers, service personnel, sales people, upper management, and even accounting must all strive to insure that their actions reinforce the idea of “sound fidelity.”

If RCA did not live up to the idea of sound fidelity, then the image of Nipper staring cock-eared into the phonograph would not seem true. As a result, consumers would not buy into it and the brand would be destined for failure.

So, how can you build a strong brand? Start by redefining what a brand means to you. Integrated branding is about acting out and expressing core values. The image of Nipper took hold because it was inherently true. It matched the experience the consumer had with the product. RCA didn’t draw a picture and then build a story around it, they instead built an image around their story. And it stuck.

In short, get past the idea of viewing branding as a communications process. Approaching branding in this manner is flawed for three main reasons:

1. Campaigns not directly tied to organization and brand drivers run the risk of not reflecting core values and principles, and may actually have an adverse effect if consumers have an experience that doesn’t jive with your company image. Campaigns such as this are ill-advised and tend to set an expectation that you simply cannot fulfill. Therefore, you’re doomed from the start. Integrated branding matches message with action.

2. Marketing communications may not be in sync with brand actions. After Hurricane Katrina, insurance companies came under fire all along the Mississippi Gulf Coast for wrangling with customers over claims. This ran counter to the various “Are you in good hands?” and “Like a good neighbor” slogans. Communications fell out of sync with brand actions. Integrated branding insures that everyone is on the same page and helps create a powerful, universal, replicable experience for the consumer.

3. Without brand drivers to point the way and serve as a roadmap, your company is less likely to leverage all of your strengths through your products and services. This creates a serious lack of direction and leaves designers with very little to work with. This tends to result in an overly general or watered-down message. Integrated branding involves a directional approach that serves as a reference point for all things pertaining to your brand.

Avoiding the shallow brand

Integrated branding also helps create longevity for your company. Over time, most brands achieve parity, and the only way to maintain loyalty is by decreasing price and making up for it on volume.

Without a strong sense of direction and a firm foundation upon which to base all company decisions, this is more than likely the path your company is going to follow.

The marks of a shallow brand are:

• Focus is on the transaction, not the experience
• Has little or no emotional involvement on the part of the consumer
• Selling points are features or price
• Makes an unclear promise
• Consumer loyalty is low or fading
• Provides few possibilities for relationship-building with the consumer

Ask yourself, “is my interaction with the brand just a transaction?” If you answer, “I could take it or leave it,” then you’re probably looking at a shallow brand.

Integrated branding helps create strong, lasting relationships with consumers…relationships that are based on your core values and strengths.

Conscious brand action

Using communications to drive brand is a type of unconscious action because it isn’t based on any underlying strengths. In the integrated brand model, brand drivers actions. And values drive brand. This differs from alternative and traditional methods in that it’s a bottom-up approach and goes much deeper than traditional models and provide tremendous clarity of purpose.