In a competitive landscape, Malaysian business owners must distinguish their brands from others in the market with brand essence.
The brand should evoke positive emotions from consumers to establish a positive lasting impression. Besides, a brand’s ability to authentically connect with its consumers will determine its success.
Brand essence acts as the soul of a brand, thus providing a foundation to ensure the brand appears consistent and authentic.
Moreover, it facilitates the formation of overall brand identity and aims to invoke a particular thought, feeling or emotion in consumers. In other words, your company’s essence helps create its image in the consumer’s mind.
Therefore, you should devote time and close attention to crafting your brand’s essence.
Importance of Brand Essence
1. Consistent Brand Messages
Your brand essence should reflect the nature of your brand to reinforce your brand image.
Building your brand’s vision, mission, and values is made significantly easier by establishing a brand essence. When crafting messages to represent your brand, consider how these messages embody the spirit of your brand.
A brand essence will create a consistent brand image of your company within the marketplace, promising your brand’s longevity.
It provides your branding effort with a compass, making sure every decision reinforces and not deviates from your brand essence.
2. Build Trust Among Consumers
A consumer’s trust in a brand can help drive the consumer to purchase a product or service from the brand.
After all, as a customer, you would want to get your money’s worth. A brand essence can help deliver humanistic elements of your brand that will build consumers’ trust.
How can you best showcase the humane elements of your brand?
Business owners should pay meticulous attention to words and phrases used in their branding efforts. Your brand should be authentic and sincere to resonate with your target audience.
Tips for Creating Your Brand Essence
Now that we have explored the importance of brand essence, here are some guidelines for creating one:
Choose the right words to express your brand’s nature
Many brands have adopted one or two words to reflect their essence.
However, a signature key phrase should ideally reflect the brand’s DNA and values. Brands should conduct extensive research to understand consumers’ perceptions of their brand image.
Authenticity matters
You want to create an image for your brand that is genuine and credible.
A sincere brand essence can help a company appeal to customers effectively. Your brand’s values should also be communicated creatively to distinguish it from others.
Sustainability
The essence should remain consistent over time instead of wavering according to the latest trends.
Create a brand essence that captures the soul of your brand immaculately, and stick with it long-term. A sustainable brand essence can help you keep your brand relevant despite the inevitable changes in trends.
3 Examples of Brand Essence Phrases
Here are some strong examples of how popular brands express their brand essence!
1. AirAsia – “Now Everyone Can Fly”
In 2001, Tony Fernandes acquired a debt-ridden AirAsia for one Malaysian Ringgit, intending to make air travel affordable for everyone.
In the sixteen years since its founding, the no-frills international airline now carries 56.6 million passengers to over 120 destinations. The company has since strived to make travel more affordable for the average man by providing low-cost flights.
With a drive to serve underserved people as its brand essence, Tony sought to connect this untapped market with the rest of Malaysia.
The rebranding strategy behind their brand essence was a success! As more aircraft began flying domestic routes in Malaysia, with seats that cost a fraction of their competitors, people flocked to buy AirAsia tickets.
2. MR.DIY – “Always Low Prices”
MR.DIY has been Malaysia’s largest home appliance retailer since its establishment in 2005.
The store offers a wide range of home improvement products, including carpentry tools and electrical goods, stationery, sports goods and car accessories. They even sell cosmetics, jewellery, decor, games and gifts.
The company strives to put customers first by offering a wide variety of products, good quality and value for money.
It operates an innovative business model and remains committed to offering the lowest prices in the market. The company understood that three words — Always Low Prices — were sufficient to summarise the exact nature of the brand.
All its prices and business models are to reflect this brand essence.
3. Dutch Lady – “Strong Me, Stronger Us”
Throughout the years, Dutch Lady has established itself as a staple brand in most Malaysian households.
Dutch Lady’s brand essence is typified by its slogan, “Strong Me, Stronger Us,” emphasising the company’s commitment to unifying Malaysians. This brand’s tagline reflects its philosophy that every individual has the potential to be strong, whether physically or emotionally.
Therefore, Dutch Lady continues to fulfil its purpose of nourishing Malaysians’ health and well-being by providing nutritious goodness in milk.
Besides, the company believes that when one individual is strong, they can inspire and empower others to become strong. The slogan represents the chain effect of strength, in that when you are strong, you can make your community stronger.
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