Branding for the Long Run

Christmas is coming. And so is the annual extravaganza of ad spending, as Brands open their wallets in the hope that customers will do the same in this, the year's most important selling season.

But not every Brand will be sprinting to blow the budget. A savvy few will do little in the way of traditional advertising. They will instead continue to treat Brand-building as the marathon it is — by focusing on remark-ability: delivering a customer experience so great that it's worth remarking about to others.

A case in point is Running Room. With 92 corporate-owned stores, they are North America's largest specialty running retailer. These guys do a lot more than sell sneakers: they create an integrated Brand experience that begins with all staff being runners themselves. They therefore understand your challenges and needs as a customer — comprehension that's the basis of superior service delivery. And superior products, including a Running Room Brand of premium-quality footwear, apparel and accessories.

These same staff members broaden the Brand experience by hosting running groups and clinics — to help you train for a marathon or other race (many of which the Running Room sponsors), or even learn how to run in the first place. The Running Room community is further intensified through online forums, where customers are very active at sharing info on everything from training techniques to carpooling.

It all adds up to a Brand that has highly differentiated itself in a very competitive industry. To a Brand that gets customers talking.

What does the Brand Coach coach?

Those Brands about to spend like crazy on advertising this Christmas? Most would admit that word of mouth is infinitely less expensive. And far more effective, because it's far more trusted by consumers and less likely to be ignored (or missed altogether) in the hyper-barrage of Christmas messaging.

What the heavy advertisers can do, and indeed every Brand should do, is seize upon the reality that A Brand is what people think of you™. And that Brand equity is the value of what people think of you. And that developing remark-ability is the starting point of shaping those thoughts.