Mastering Brand Identity: Uniting Promise, Values, and Principles

After learning about visual identity in my last post, I knew I had to talk about brand identity (and maybe this should’ve come first). Also known as the heart and soul of the brand, your brand identity consists of the brand promises, brand values, and brand principles.

There’s no brand without these three and to succeed, there needs to at least be a general understanding of what these three elements mean for your organization or business.

Introduction to Brand Identity

Remember, branding is the process of creating a distinct and recognizable identity for a product, service, or organization.

When you think of a brand, it’s easy to just think of the logo because that’s what is most recognizable.

While visual identity is important, your visual identity should pour out of your brand promise, your brand values, and your brand principles. It’s merely a symbol that represents your business and it should be symbolic of the core of your brand.

As I’ve written a few times, branding goes far beyond a logo or a color scheme. It’s what people perceive your brand to be and the reputation it carries.

It’s about your brand promise, brand values, and brand principles.

In today’s market, the brands that stand out have been successful in market differentiation, building trust and credibility, creating an emotional connection, preparing for the inevitable crisis, employee engagement, and extending their brand to different products and in new ways (brand extension).

Brands such as Disney, Nike, and Apple are great examples of companies that have mastered their brand identity.

Brand Promise

As mentioned in previous blog posts, the brand promise is a clear and concise statement that communicates the unique value and benefits a customer can expect to receive from a brand’s products and services.

One example is Nike’s brand promise, “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” They also clarify that “if you have a body, you’re an athlete.” This promise is simple and straightforward. It also embodies the brand’s core values with a focus on innovation, while inspiring consumers (athletes) of all types to take action and pursue their dreams and goals.

Nike is a great example because its brand promise resonates with a significant amount of people, from professional athletes to the older generation. People believe in it and see it in action. And Nike continues to deliver making it a market leader.

A brand promise is significant to your brand not only because it shapes customers' experience but because it sets the foundation for your brand.

If done right, a brand promise should:

Communicate Differentiation: In a competitive market, your brand needs to stand out and a brand promise clarifies what’s unique about your brand. For Nike, that is its cutting edge approach (innovation) and the way it uses athletes of all kinds to deliver inspiration through its marketing and storytelling.
Build Trust: If your brand is consistently delivering on what it promises, customers will trust it and will always support it.
Provide room for adaptability: While the core of your brand promise should remain the same, a solid brand promise allows your brand to evolve and adapt to the changing times.

Brand Values

Now as confident as you may be with your brand promise, you cannot escape the necessity of a brand value.

Brand values are the fundamental beliefs, principles, and ethical standards that a brand stands for.

These values tend to guide decision-making at a company and values shape the overall brand identity.

In 2020 when George Floyd was killed and protests sparked all across the United States. This was a time when people were standing against racial injustice, whether performative or not.

Ben & Jerry’s took a bold stand and released a statement titled “Silence is not an option.”

In this statement, Ben & Jerry’s unequivocally declared their support for the Black Lives Movement and condemned systemic racism and police violence. They outlined specific actions they were committed to taking and pledged to work on their internal practices and hire more people of color in their leadership position. They took it one step further and used its packaging as a platform for activism.

The stance that Ben & Jerry’s took highlighted their strong brand values. Their brand identity goes far beyond selling ice cream.

Ben & Jerry’s are pretty clear about their brand values, and their statement on this starts with, “We love making ice cream—but using our business to make the world a better place gives our work its meaning.” To make the world a better place through their business their core values include:

Human Rights & Dignity
Social and Economic Justice
Environmental Protect, Restoration and Regeneration

As you can see, it’s obvious that Ben & Jerry’s would unequivocally support BLM, it made sense for them because it aligned with their brand values.

You see, having great brand values doesn’t start and stop at a statement. It also involves your actions. Are you involved in community engagement? Are you being as ethical as possible? Have you contributed to social responsibility? Are your employees happy?

Answering these questions with your actions will cement your brand’s reason for existing and will guide your overall brand identity. Remember if your brand takes any action, it should always be aligned with its brand values.

Brand Principles

Brand principles by definition are specific and actionable guidelines that a brand follows to maintain consistency, authenticity, and coherence in all aspects of its organization.

They are the foundation of the house essentially. Whatever document or communication you create, you should always refer to your brand principles. These

principles provide a framework for how a brand should act, communicate, and present itself to its audience. Brand principles also serve as a tool to translate a brand’s values and promises, it is the lens through which they are expressed. This is why I define these three specific areas as the heart and soul of your brand. Without each other, your brand is incomplete. Each one plays a part in ensuring that your brand experience is consistent.

However, brand principles can get a little tricky. This is because most people consider brand values and brand principles to be the same thing. They are not.

While brand values are the fundamental belief of a brand, brand principles are specific guidelines that define how a brand should behave and present itself to the public.

If your brand takes any action, it should be aligned with the brand principles.

The role of brand principles in maintaining consistency and authenticity

It’s important to understand the role of brand principles and how it helps your brand maintain consistency and authenticity. It does this in several ways but for the sake of brevity, I will only mention three.

Crisis Management and Reputation Protection: Crises are inevitable. One of the best ways to come out on top during a crisis is to use your brand principles to guide you. When you have brand values in place, you can refer to them to make decisions that are in agreement with your core values. Your principles will help you stay consistent in the way you communicate in a crisis.
Maintaining Authenticity: When brands do exactly what they say they will, they reinforce the brand’s core identity and values. But we know how you talk about who you are and what you’re going to do matters as well. To say your brand’s core values are about human rights and dignity, while releasing marketing or communication assets that objectify or make fun of certain types of people will be perceived as a lack of authenticity. Brands that appear to be exactly what they’ve communicated will connect with their audience beyond a surface level.
Consistency: I often see social media messages that don’t maintain a brand’s principles. This is a mistake made often and this indicates that internally the brand principles have been forgotten or maybe they didn’t exist at all. Brand principles tell you how the brand should be represented at every touchpoint. Whether a customer is interacting with you via email, social media, or a website the brand experience should remain the same. Although it can seem robotic, doing this ensures that every customer has the experience you want them to have consistently when they interact with your brand.

Building a Strong Brand Foundation

Ensuring your brand has a strong brand identity is a little like building a communications strategy for the first time. If you missed that article, check it out here.

You must:

Conduct brand research: Understand your target audience’s needs and pain points.
Clarify your purpose and mission: Answer the question, What is the motivation behind your brand? What positive impact do I wish to make?
Identify Core Values: Which core values are the root of your brand’s identity and culture?
Involve your team: Get input from stakeholders, employees, and management on adjectives that describe your brand.
Assess your current brand identity: Are there any gaps or inconsistencies with your current brand values, promises, and principles? Identify which areas need a refresh.
Test your messaging: Use focus groups to measure the success of effectively communicating your brand messaging and values.
Get on the same page internally: Ensure that all employees understand the difference between brand promises, values, and principles. They should also know it. You can even test them on it.
Measure: Always measure the impact of your brand’s identity. Data should be your best friend.

Conclusion

Remember:

The brand promise is a commitment to the unique value and benefits your customers can expect from your brand.

Brand values are what you believe in and stand for. Also, the fundamental principles that guide your brand's actions, decisions, and culture.

Brand principles are how you maintain consistency and authenticity. These are specific guidelines and rules that ensure your brand's outside– its behavior, communication, and identity align with your values and promise.

If your brand identity needs a little work, schedule a call with me.

It’s never too late to invest in building a compelling brand identity. Your brand isn’t what you say it is after all. It’s what the customer perceives it to be. If they’re not in alignment then you are well overdue for a refresh.

Joey Gaskins is a public affairs professional with a formidable record of designing and executing innovative strategies, campaigns, and tactics—turning around negative perceptions, reaffirming trust, amplifying and influencing policies, and achieving unprecedented results. Follow him onLinkedin.