But with the James Bond movie, it became an iconic brand worldwide.
Why associations build the brand
Now, you probably don’t sell a luxury sports car.
And you might not have the budget to make a product placement in today’s James Bond movies.
But there’s a good lesson in the story.
Branding is creating associations in people’s minds.
Aston Martin associated its car with cool, stylish James Bond.
And that association gave the brand recognition that no other luxury car had at the time.
But product placements are only one way to build associations.
Every detail of a brand creates associations in people’s minds:
Products/services: Associations that come from using a product or service (e.g. drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola or attending a workshop with an agency)
Hard brand attributes: Associations created with tangible attributes of a brand: logos, colors, taglines, jingles (e.g. BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” tagline, Google’s logo, Red Bull’s bull, Coca-Cola’s bottle design)
Soft brand attributes: Associations that come from a brand’s positioning, messaging, and values (e.g. Patagonia’s sustainability, Rolex becoming “A crown for every achievement”, Avis’ 2nd place positioning to prove they try harder)
News: Associations that come from any positive or negative news about the brand (e.g. Facebook’s privacy issues, Airbnb offering frontline healthcare workers free stays during COVID)
The Aston Martin brand in customers’ minds
So why does building strong associations matter?
It’s the same reason why branding matters.
You build an image in customers’ minds.
You create a loyal customer base.
And you gain pricing power.
But now the question comes.
How can you build the right associations in customers’ minds even without a big budget or selling a beautiful car?
Here are three ways:
1. Have an intentional message
The signals you send across different touchpoints shape customers’ perceptions.
And when those signals are not intentional or consistent, you risk creating a perception you don’t want in customers’ minds.
That inconsistency also creates mental tension for customers.
Like what?
One example.
A few years ago, Victoria’s Secret decided to include plus-sized models and underwear.
The brand that represented the ultimate (almost unachievable) beauty was now claiming to represent every woman.
Guess how that ended up?
People got confused.
Is this brand about ultimate beauty?
Or does it represent every woman?
Even though they had good intentions, it didn’t suit Victoria’s Secret.
Sales dropped.
And now they are trying to gain back their image.
But gaining back that image is not easy.
Another example is McDonald’s.
They added salads to their menu to offer healthy options.
But it turns out nobody goes to McDonald’s to eat salads.
Surprise, surprise.
So they had to drop it from their menus.
After all, there is a reason why you don’t see a Rolex ad in a football match.
Football is the most popular sport.
It’s for the masses.
Rolex is not.
So Rolex doesn’t want to build the wrong associations in people’s minds by sponsoring a football club or match.
That’s why they sponsor Wimbledon.
They have an intentional message.
And they keep everything consistent.
The moral of the story?
Have clarity about what you stand for.
So you can be intentional with the associations you want to build.
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