Telus Outbeavers BellConsistency is the number one rule of Branding: because a Brand is what people think of you, you must remain consistent in order to maintain mindshare. On August 1st, after tens of millions in ad expenditure and less than three years, Bell abandoned spokesbeavers Frank and Gordon. Days later, they trotted out a new corporate logo and a completely different campaign that must build from zero.
On August 6th, in the 8th year of its brilliantly extendible concept, Telus announced its latest critter iteration: the meerkat, a notoriously sociable creature, will star in a new series of ads demonstrating the anyhow, anywhere ability of the Brand's new smartphones. Instead of giving in to the ad agencies' constant compulsion to do something entirely new, Telus has formalized the refreshing of its message by unveiling new creatures in the third quarter of every year. Telus has few peers with the resolve to stay planted in our minds for the long haul. Most comparable is MasterCard, whose 12-year-old-and-counting “priceless” campaign has embedded in the popular culture (type “priceless” into YouTube and you'll see what we mean).
What does the Brand Coach coach?The overwhelming amount of advertising in our lives makes many believe that ads are the Brand itself. So let's be clear: as a certain book has suggested, a Brand is not advertising, cute or otherwise. It is instead a critical marketing tool by which a Brand — which consists of every experience ever had with an organization — is expressed. Take a page from Telus: tell your ad agency to do “fresh,” not “new.” Save your money. And enjoy the consistently climbing Brand equity that comes from sticking with the number one rule of Branding.
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The contrast with Telus, the smartest communicator in Canadian telecom, has never been more obvious. Their striking white marketing pieces are instantly recognizable, populated without fail by a cute zoo of animals that support the Brand's positioning statement: The future is friendly.
