Consistency Warning
11/11 2009
Today, most firms want to build a strong brand. Most firms also realize that a brand is a set of associations in the mind of the customer – and that this set develops over time while the customer accumulates experience from the brand. In other words, it is assumed, correctly, that a customer will encounter one particular brand many times and that each such encounter adds information to what the brand represents.
In the light of this, it is not surprising that many firms make serious attempts to manage the signals they send about the brand. And the most common strategy is to think about the signals in terms of a consistency-over-time paradigm: each new encounter with the brand should fit with what is already known from previous encounters. Thus, there should be no deviations in the signals and no main surprises. This way of thinking materializes in many different ways, but it can be seen perhaps most clearly with regard to the management of the logotype – which, in the typical case, is subject to strict policies stating that the same graphic representation should be used every time the customer may encounter it. Variation in shape and colours, for example, is not allowed. The same thinking can also be seen in many service firms’ brand building efforts, particularly in retail chains: the employees’ behaviour and appearance in encounters with customers are becoming increasingly standardized and carefully scripted. Smiles, eye contact, nods within 15 seconds, always wear a black top, never display tattoos – these are some examples from existing service policies. Such activities, then, ensure that the customer will be exposed to the same brand signals every time the brand is encountered.
Many firms, however, want also something else – loyal customers. And many firms are successful in their relationship marketing efforts, in the sense that many customers are indeed existing customers who are coming back. This may suggest that the consistency-over-time paradigm promotes brand loyalty. Well, it may be so – at least in the case of moderate brand loyalty.
Yet consider the case of the customer who is indeed coming back repeatedly and who is also encountering the brand in the same way each time. In the beginning, the customer will quickly feel familiar with this brand. But when the customer continues to come back, again and again, the brand will become very predictable if it always appears in a consistent way. And this is when problems can arise, particularly if the ambition is to build a strong brand (and now we are talking about a really strong brand).
The problem is this: really strong brands, which are characterized not only by customers who come back, but also by a strong emotional and attitudinal customer-brand relationship, are typically not predictable. In contrast, it seems as if unpredictability over time is a key characteristic of the really strong brand. Think about it in terms of, for example, football clubs, which have a well documented ability to develop strong commitment among fans: the clubs are typically not at all predictable in terms of the outcomes of games, the performance of specific players, the transfer of players during one season etc. Indeed, why would you want to follow your favourite team if you know exactly what would happen? Think about it also in terms of strong brands such as Apple, Google, and Harley-Davidson – it is not so easy to figure out their next moves in the marketplace. And think about entertainment products, such as novels and movies, in which the story is the core product: the really absorbing products in this category would hardly provide a predictable story. Think about it in terms of another really strong “brand”, namely God. Read the Bible and try to figure about why God is sometimes good and sometimes almost evil vis-à-vis various characters in the story – this is indeed a difficult task. Finally, particularly if you want to develop a strong personal relationship with customers, think about another person who you find very interesting and exciting – and with whom you want to interact repeatedly. Is this person highly predictable? Would he or she behave in a highly consistent way each time you meet? I bet the answer is no.
Magnus Söderlund
Professor in marketing, Stockholm School of Economics
Magnus.soderlund@hhs.se