The Visionary Brand Overview;
- What makes a brand Truly Visionary?
- Product,
- Innovation,
- Culture,
- Marketing?
It is a harmonious blending of product, marketing, and passionate culture, along with a visionary who establishes and commits themselves and the brand to ageless foundational principles.
What formula has sustained iconic brands such as; Apple, Nike, adidas and allowed them to maintain their vision and brand ETHOS for generations?
How does one brand lose its premium status while others thrive from generation to generation?
The Visionary Brand outlines the independent elements to emulating and successfully executing this foundational strategy.
- Define your Vision and build a Foundational Principles platform.
- Stick to your Vision while capturing global market share from your competitors.
- Create a continuous Pipeline of Innovation.
- Establish a Culture of Passionate followers.
- Engage, and build Loyalty.
- Embrace the changing tide of the new age adoption curve.
- Be an Artist, be yourself, and instill the courage to accomplish your Vision.
There may be Visionary brands, but no one company exists as The Visionary Brand; while some have most, none have all.
The Visionary Brand Overview;
- What makes a brand Truly Visionary?
- Product,
- Innovation,
- Culture,
- Marketing?
It is a harmonious blending of product, marketing, and passionate culture, along with a visionary who establishes and commits themselves and the brand to ageless foundational principles.
What formula has sustained iconic brands such as; Apple, Nike, adidas and allowed them to maintain their vision and brand ETHOS for generations?
How does one brand lose its premium status while others thrive from generation to generation?
The Visionary Brand outlines the independent elements to emulating and successfully executing this foundational strategy.
- Define your Vision and build a Foundational Principles platform.
- Stick to your Vision while capturing global market share from your competitors.
- Create a continuous Pipeline of Innovation.
- Establish a Culture of Passionate followers.
- Engage, and build Loyalty.
- Embrace the changing tide of the new age adoption curve.
- Be an Artist, be yourself, and instill the courage to accomplish your Vision.
There may be Visionary brands, but no one company exists as The Visionary Brand; while some have most, none have all.
INTRODUCTION
Oakley had a problem.
Over the previous decades, it had established itself as a titan in the world of eyewear thanks to its tenacious, take-no-prisoners culture. It was everything a brand aspires to be: it pushed the boundaries of the industry, setting the pace and letting its competitors try to play catch-up, all supported by a dedicated community of brand ambassadors who were only too happy to be part of the aspirational, active Oakley lifestyle.
But there was just one problem: their community went wild for their culture and design, but there were several related product categories that were going untapped. While Oakley eyewear was a study in breakthrough products that drove the market, the apparel, footwear and accessories (AFA) product line extensions were not part of the brandâs portfolio. The company was sure they could take on other action sports brands and build a successful business THE VISIONARY BRAND
where one did not exist today. Quiksilver and Billabong, among other action sports brands, were taking the lionâs share of those markets. Oakley said, âWe can do that, too!â
A plan was put in place, and the categories were launched. The product teams were given the go-ahead to launch a whole new line of Oakley-branded AFA products. The eyewear division would keep doing what they were doing so well, and the AFA teams would get the resources needed to build the brand bigger than ever. In short order, Oakley was ready to begin a new chapter in their dominance of these new market opportunities.
And thatâs when Oakleyâs little problem became a much bigger problemâone that would alienate some of their core community and drive the entire brand culture in a different direction. Both category authenticity and channel distribution would quickly become problems whereas they hadnât been before. Oakley began to lose its cultural direction, as well as those loyal brand ambassadors who stuck with the brand through its evolution over the decades. They had loved and embraced the brand for what it was, not what it was becoming.
In the end, Oakley was more fortunate than most brands that go down a similar roadâtrying to be something they are not. After making the decision to dedicate themselves to creating what was right for the brand and aligning with their brand identity, they were able to regain their customersâ trust and brand equity, and were finally able to climb their way back to the top of their core product categories. THE VISIONARY BRAND
Most brands donât get a second chance like thatâOakley was only able to manage it because the visionaries steering the brand had the courage to reflect on what had happened so they could learn from what did not work and get back to what did workdoing what is right for the brand and their loyal customers.
Even global, iconic brands can end up losing sight of their cultural bloodlines if they are not committed to the foundational pillars on which their brands were built. No matter how solid the product, marketing, and salesâno matter how powerful your formula for successâwithout a singular guiding vision at the helm determining what is right for the brand, what will drive it forward into the next generation?
In other words, Oakley learned early on what it takes to be a truly visionary brand as opposed to one that loses its way.
BECOMING VISIONARY
Over my nearly three decades in businessâfrom founding my own company to successfully selling it to being involved in executivelevel roles with some of the worldâs most iconic brandsâI have come across brands that have visionary qualities. But ultimately, none have had all that is required to achieve authentic visionary brand status. Somewhere in the brand, something is almost always missing. Even brands like Under Armour and Oakleyâones that build themselves up to the top of their industryâcan lose sight of their future when they abandon the principles that made them great in the first place. Ultimately, no matter how strong a brand THE VISIONARY BRAND
may be in a dozen different capacities, all things considered, it is an incredibly difficult task to achieve and sustain a visionary brand.
When asked about what makes a brand visionary, most people will come up with three or four common traits associated with a brand:
Product Marketing Culture Innovation
These are good starting points, but each on its own does not make for a visionary brand, nor do all four put together. To achieve visionary status, you must not only have these core qualities, but all must be built in as an integral part of your brandâs foundation. That foundation needs to be structurally upheld by foundational pillars that support your vision in every aspect of the brandâs actionsâboth internally and with the world at large.
Throughout my years, I have always been curious as to what makes a genuinely visionary brand. There are qualities like the four mentioned above, but in reality, it takes the vertical integration of many different pieces to make a brand run on all cylinders effectively. You may have a Lamborghini that looks fast, but if you are only running on six cylinders, you are missing out on its full potential. And so it goes with brands; some are six cylinders, some eight . . . but I have yet to see one that runs on all twelve over the long haul. THE VISIONARY BRAND
Thatâs not to say becoming a visionary brand is impossiblehowever, it is a continual struggle to establish and live up to the pillars your brand was founded on. Above all else, being visionary involves touching, impacting, and energizing all aspects of your companyâall the bloodlines that flow through the veins of a living, breathing organ called a brand.
As the leader of a brand, youâre essentially acting as an orchestra conductor: youâre not just leading individuals with different talents in their independent tasks, but synthesizing their talents and efforts toward the singular goal of collectively making music as a unit. Depending on your actions and your vision, the result can be either harmonious or disastrous.
At the end of the day, it is your responsibility to ensure each player in the orchestra is correctly prepared, synchronized, and in harmony with one another. How you lead the ensemble can be translated to a brandâs eventual success. Where there is a common goal, along with preparation and coordination, beautiful things happen at all levels. Although challenging, having a shared visionled from the top down and anchored in guiding and values-driven principlesâensures everyone involved will be committed to achieving success.
Or to employ another metaphor: I often refer to those visionaries who have been able to achieve this brand status as âfive-star generals.â They are few in number, and each has successfully led their teams into battles and achieved many victories. Obviously, leading a brand is not the same as going to war, but this gives you some idea of the kind of difficulties you will encounter as you THE VISIONARY BRAND
move through the different stages of brand development. You will face choices that test your foundational, visionary principles, ones that will affect the future of your brand. As a result of your choices, your brand will continue to grow and develop . . . or it will deteriorate before the eyes of your team and your supporters.
Understanding the growth of a brand is a trait not easily discovered, which is why so few true visionaries exist. I have found that brands that have sustained growthânot just revenue, but also brand equityâtend to have this trait in common. Brands that have nurtured the soul of their company are the ones that provide value in the eyes of the consumer. This value may be realized through the products a brand sells, and likewise through the brandâs culture or the aspirational lifestyle they market to their community. Each delivers a different loyalty curve or experience to that brand advocate.
The key to building a lasting brand truly is loyalty. We live in a world where loyalty is considered one of the inherent values of every company; betray that trust to your stakeholders or your customers and you lose their loyalty. Betray your foundational visionary principles of the brand and you lose loyalty. Remember, selling a brand means selling a lifestyle you can touch and feel, and when trust is damaged, it is challenging to repair.
But where does this loyalty come from? Ultimately, loyalty is traced back to the visionaryâthe one who sets the foundational pillars and principles of the brand and what the brand stands for across all areas of its existenceâbe it product, messaging, or culture. Each of these three areas carries the torch of the brand THE VISIONARY BRAND
Many believe that there is a formula that has set certain iconic brands above the rest. Brands like Nike, Adidas, and Apple have used a combination of culture, innovation, product, and marketing to give them a competitive edge. In The Visionary Brand: The Success Formula Behind the Worldâs Most Visionary Brands, Bryan Smeltzer attempts to outline the independent elements that an individual can use to successfully execute this foundational strategy.
The author strongly believes that all companies can become a visionary brand if they follow the steps outlined in the book. The strategies outlined by Bryan Smeltzer are simple and any company that is serious about success should have no problem following along. I agree with the author that these strategies are doable by small or large companies.
I love the realistic strategies that are provided in The Visionary Brand: The Success Formula Behind the Worldâs Most Visionary Brands. It is not just a one size fits all strategy either. The author is quick to point out that for this to work, there will be a lot of hard work. If you are willing to do the legwork, then whatâs between the pages of this book might be worth your while. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking this first step.
With nearly three decades of experience in business, Bryan Smeltzer is qualified to provide the information in this book. The author founded and successfully sold his own company, so this is someone that I have no problems listening to. If that is not enough for you, the author has been involved over the years in executive roles with many iconic brands.
Are you looking to take your brand to the next level, then might I suggest that you grab a copy of this book? Even if you believe that your brand is where you want it to be, there is nothing wrong with seeing what Bryan Smeltzer has to say. Perhaps you know of a friend whose company has been struggling; this could be a great gift for that friend. Â The Visionary Brand: The Success Formula Behind the Worldâs Most Visionary Brands is less than 200 pages so it is quite an easy read. You can finish this off in a weekend and return to work on Monday with the information you need to take your brand to the next level.