Emotional Branding - A Differentiation Tool

On the evening of 24th March 2011, a Marketing Symposium was held at the University of Westminster on the topic of Branding. Students and staff were lucky to have Paul Simons of Paul Simons Consulting and Crispin Reed, Managing Director of Brandhouse as the keynote speakers. Also in attendance was Darrel Kofkin, Chief Executive from Global Marketing Network (GMN).


The evening began with an opening from Anne Barker, event organiser and Senior Lecturer at Westminster University. She emphasised the importance of branding in the field of marketing. Her words were echoed by Mr. Kofkin of GMN, who mentioned that in this day and age, brand positioning is integral for success for any type of business. 

Panel - (L-R) Anne Barker, Crispin Reed, Paul Simons

First speaker of the evening, Paul Simons presented on brand differentiation. He gave three examples of industry best case practices that applied emotional branding techniques to position themselves in a competitive market. Nike faced a challenge with entering the global market. As an American brand that touted American sports (i.e. basketball), they quickly realised that in order to succeed in Europe, they would need to change its entrance strategy. With market research, Nike discovered an opportunity - that no other sports brand in the market 'owned' the emotion of sports as their unique selling point. It was the highest common factor within sports; the products and benefits were least important in their campaign. From then on, Nike's image has been re-focused and global success followed. 

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Paul Simons (Paul Simons Consulting) with WBS Alumni

Mr. Simons furthered enlightened the audience with success stories of Sony Playstation and Virgin Atlantic airlines. Sony used the fringes (i.e. clubs and nightspots) to boost their image through word of mouth and used the word 'Power' to describe Playstation in their campaigns. Virgin Atlantic embraced their identity, re-targeted their customers as the rock&roll businessman, and developed product superiority.  Mr. Simons left the audience with the following quote:


"Reasonable men attempt to adapt themselves to the world, unreasonable men attempt to adapt the world to themselves. Progress is in the hand of unreasonable men" - George Bernard Shaw.


Adding on to the theme of emotional branding was Crispin Reed. His speech was focused on Strategy and Creativity of branding. Mr. Reed described branding as a psychological experience where marketers can tap into simple human emotions when building a competitive advantage. He affirms that marketers must tell their brand story well in order to maximise consumers attention. Galaxy chocolate was the best case practice he used to illustrate how emotions drive decisions. If you look at Galaxy advertising now - you will notice that they are targeting women and their emotions around having chocolate. 

(L-R) Crispin Reed, Hayley Millard, Griselda Zhou, Darrel Kofkin (GMN)

Mr. Reed continued with examples from Waitrose and its increase of Danish pastry sales during the recession, Guiness and its national pride identity, and Nintendo Wii - an agent that helps reduce Parkinson's disease effects. 


The evening ended with an opportunity for students to ask questions to the panel. Following the Q&A session, students, staff, special guests and speakers mingled over tasty appetizers. Overall, it was a successful evening and much insight was gained on the mystery and application of emotions and branding. 

Students enjoying the hors d'oeuvres

Students Networking

Words: Griselda Zhou