A healthy strong brand has definitely has some other attributes than the best or the biggest. A healthy and a strong brand generates also more results than just bigger sales. A healthy strong brand sustain a product over time through consistency, excellent communication, providing value to its target customers. These and much more.
Here is a checklist of 23 brand health criterias as presented in Peter Cheverton’s excellent book Understanding Brands (Creating Success):
- is based on a proposition of genuine substance and value to the target customer
- communicates a clear and powerful brand definition
- communicates a clear ‘emotional charge’
- communicates an attractive and relevant personality
- wins, builds and retains customer loyalty
- is well known by the target customer
- is held in high esteem by the target customer
- communicates and evidences a unique match between the company’s capabilities and the customer’s needs
- is a source of competitive advantage
- is an investment of increasing value that others will want to own
- maintains its relevance over time by evolving in response to changing customer expectations and perceptions
- increases the profitability of the business is consistent with the business strategy
- makes sense within the business’s brand architecture
- provides a protective ‘halo’ for growth strategies
- provides a barrier to entry for new entrants or substitutes
- is uniquely positioned in the market and creates a relevant space in the customer’s mind
- communicates and demonstrates a clear sense of value
- interacts consistently with the customer on as many fronts and on as many occasions as possible
- cements the brand definition into the customer’s mind through interactions and positive associations
- is managed and supported consistently over time
- has values that can be applied consistently and successfully to all parts of the marketing
- mix and through all promotional media
- makes people want to get their hands on it