Key Moments
Strike Up The Brand: How to Design for Branding
Google TalksKey Moments
Websites can either build or destroy brand loyalty through user experience, and while traditional advertising aims for disruption, it often fails to strengthen brand perception.
Key Insights
Harley Davidson is cited as an incredible brand that gets people to do extreme things, including tattooing the brand logo onto their bodies.
Affinity branding relies on the direct association of brand elements (like logos) with products, transferring value and perception.
Dispositional branding occurs when a brand name or element spontaneously comes to mind in a specific context, often influenced by recency.
Experience branding, where users have positive interactions, is a significantly more effective tool for building brands than indirect messaging or traditional advertising.
A study comparing Ford's website experience to Edmunds.com showed that users' perception of the Ford brand actually increased when they used Edmunds, despite a more difficult path to information on Ford's own site.
Netflix tracks user sign-ups and referrals, considering them key performance indicators, as 85% of new subscribers join due to a friend's recommendation, highlighting the power of word-of-mouth driven by experience.
The disconnect between brand promise and user experience: Cisco.com example
The presentation begins by highlighting a critical disconnect that can occur between a company's strong brand reputation and the actual user experience on its website, using Cisco.com as a prime example. Cisco boasts a strong brand, particularly among its satisfied customers. However, attempting to purchase merchandise like a t-shirt from their site immediately requires a username and password, leading to a complex, multi-step registration process. This process involves multiple confirmations, email verification, and navigating back through the site, creating significant friction. The core question posed is whether this kind of frustrating experience strengthens or weakens the user's bond with the Cisco brand, suggesting that the digital experience can directly undermine brand equity.
Brand elements versus the brand itself
Jared Spool clarifies that brands are not simply logos or "brand elements." Logos, like the Nike swoosh (which cost $35) or the FedEx logo (which cost over $2.5 million to redesign, partly for fuel savings), are representations. Even recognizable symbols can be ambiguous or associated with different entities globally. A brand, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is about having a reputation and a loyal following, requiring an act of impressing indelibly. Branding, from the individual's perspective, is a conditioning process using symbols and phrases to evoke emotional responses, engagement, and ultimately, a seeking out of the brand. This is a repeated process, akin to Pavlovian conditioning. Harley Davidson is presented as an exceptional example of a brand that elicits such strong loyalty that people tattoo its logo on their bodies.
Investment in branding: Affinity and dispositional approaches
From a corporate standpoint, branding is viewed as an investment, akin to depositing money in a bank, with the expectation of returns through sales and future income. This investment can be made through two primary methods: affinity branding and dispositional branding. Affinity branding focuses on the relationship between a brand element (e.g., a logo) and a product or service. For instance, a Sony label on a computer immediately transfers perceptions of quality, price, and reliability associated with Sony. Conversely, replacing it with a Walmart label changes those perceptions. This transfer of value builds credibility, as seen with FDIC and Equal Housing Lender logos on banks. However, the effectiveness of affinity branding can falter if the brand element isn't clearly associated with the product, as was the case with the Pets.com puppet, which was recognized but not linked to the specific store. Affinity branding aims to connect the brand element directly to the item or service in the user's mind.
Dispositional branding: When brands come to mind
Dispositional branding, in contrast, is what happens when a brand spontaneously comes to mind without immediate visual cues, such as when deciding to rent a car or choose a package delivery service. This relies on the brand's prominence in the user's memory. Spool conducted an experiment asking attendees to name a restaurant, car brand, package delivery service, and news source. While matches for restaurants were rare, package delivery services (FedEx, UPS) and car brands showed more agreement. The experiment highlighted that despite fewer car brands existing than overnight delivery services, package delivery had more matches, partly due to consistent marketing (recency effect) and the brand name being explicitly mentioned. Dispositional branding is highly context-driven; the choice of restaurant, for example, would differ if it were for a business client versus a casual birthday celebration with close friends or a stressed family outing with young children. The brand that 'pops' into your head is dependent on the situational context.
The power of experience over brand elements
A significant finding, first observed in 1998, is that user experience often trumps brand elements. In a comparative study between Edmunds.com and Ford's own website, users tasked with finding specific information about a Ford Ranger (like seating capacity) had a vastly different experience. On Edmunds, users navigated efficiently to find the information, and importantly, their perception of the Ford brand actually *increased* by using a third-party site. Conversely, navigating Ford's website involved numerous clicks, confusing links, and ultimately, a failure to find the requested information within the 'features' section, despite multiple encounters with Ford branding. This frustrating experience significantly worsened users' perception of the Ford brand. This demonstrates that even repeated exposure to brand elements on a company's own site can be detrimental if the underlying experience is poor. Netflix and Craigslist are cited as examples where user experience and community engagement drive brand loyalty, often independent of sophisticated visual design or explicit brand messaging.
Measuring brand strength and the impact of customer journeys
User Interface Engineering has developed an instrument to measure brand strength before, during, and after user sessions. A study involving shopping for electronics across 11 different sites revealed significant shifts in brand perception. Amazon, initially high, dropped after a frustrating shopping experience. Dell and Hewlett-Packard saw dramatic drops. Walmart's score increased, but only because its initial expectations were so low. Crucially, follow-up contact two weeks later, after order fulfillment, showed further drops for many sites, with Crutchfield consistently performing well. This emphasizes that brand perception is influenced not just by the immediate website interaction but by the entire customer journey, including post-purchase fulfillment.
Advertising versus branding: A critical distinction
Spool distinguishes sharply between advertising and branding. While many perceive advertising as a strategy for brand improvement, it's often a separate activity focused on disruption. The Million Dollar Homepage example shows how early advertisers benefited from high click-through rates due to novelty and media coverage, but later advertisers received virtually no traffic as the site became saturated. Ads on sites like Salon.com or Polycom.com can be disruptive and irrelevant to the user's primary goal, potentially causing negative branding. Contextual ads, appearing alongside relevant articles (e.g., ads for "blair.com" next to an article about Tony Blair, or "Creative Zen" ads next to an Apple/iPod article), can create unintended and potentially negative associations for the advertised brand. This suggests that advertising, by its disruptive nature, is often not a tool for strengthening a brand and can even inadvertently harm it by creating negative conditioning.
Mentioned in This Episode
●Products
●Software & Apps
●Companies
●Organizations
●Books
●Drugs & Medications
●People Referenced
Branding Design Principles
Practical takeaways from this episode
Do This
Avoid This
Brand Strength Changes in Electronics Shopping Study
Data extracted from this episode
| Company | Brand Strength Change (During Session) | Brand Strength Change (After Fulfillment - 2 Weeks) |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Down | Down Further |
| Circuit City | Down | Dropped Hugely |
| Dell | Dropped Tremendously | N/A |
| Hewlett Packard | Dropped Tremendously | N/A |
| Target | Same | Dropped Hugely |
| Walmart | Up | Did Not Do So Well |
| Crutchfield | Up | Went Up Yet Again |
| Barnes & Noble | Up | N/A |
| CDW | Same | Regained its Thing |
| JNR Electronics | Same | Stood Still |
Common Questions
A logo is a brand element, a visual representation of the brand. The brand itself is the reputation and loyal following that the company has built over time.
Topics
Mentioned in this video
Jared Spool's company, well-known in usability circles.
A dictionary source from which a definition of branding was used.
Logo used by banks to transfer credibility and affinity.
Used as an example in affinity branding; a computer with a Sony label evokes perceptions of quality and price.
Covered the Million Dollar Homepage campaign.
Experienced a significant drop in brand strength during an electronics shopping study, also dropping further after order fulfillment.
Consistently scored high in an electronics shopping study, with brand strength increasing both during and after the session.
Uses the FedEx logo on its site to signify overnight delivery.
Mentioned as a brand of car chosen by participants in a comparative experiment.
Brand perception remained neutral after an electronics shopping study and recovered after order fulfillment.
Mentioned in an article from the International Herald Tribune about suing competitors, leading to contextual ads for Creative Zen.
Cited as an example of an incredible brand that inspires extreme loyalty, such as customers getting tattoos.
Mentioned in relation to a definition of branding that implies marking with disapproval, humorously stating their attempt didn't work.
A car rental company mentioned in the context of dispositional branding and airport choices.
Its logo is highlighted for its hidden arrow and the strategic decision to change the name from Federal Express for cost savings on paint.
Used in an example where a floating ad blocked the user from reading an article on The New York Times site.
Perceived as a competitor by users on the Samsonite outlet site, due to Samsonite's acquisition of the brand not being clear.
A package delivery service mentioned in a comparative experiment, showing strong brand recall.
Brand perception remained neutral throughout an electronics shopping study and order fulfillment.
Mentioned in the context of customer loyalty and its brand being associated with extreme devotion, like Harley-Davidson.
Mentioned as a site with high brand engagement, suggesting experience is key.
Mentioned for its recognizable Swoosh logo, which was purchased for $35.
Showed a tremendous drop in brand strength during an electronics shopping study.
Brand strength increased during an electronics shopping study for CD and video game purchases.
Their homepage is described as an advertising center where internal teams fight for space, often irrelevant to users' original intent.
An early website version for their outlet store confused users by selling American Tourister products and unclear navigation.
A car rental company mentioned in the context of dispositional branding and airport choices.
Showed a significant drop in brand strength during an electronics shopping study and also after order fulfillment.
A car rental company mentioned in the context of dispositional branding and airport choices.
Used as a prime example of experience branding, tracking sign-ups based on friend recommendations and existing users' efforts to refer others.
An example of a failed dot-com era company where a recognizable puppet mascot did not translate to brand recognition for the store itself.
Mentioned as a brand of car chosen by participants in a comparative experiment.
The homepage of Cisco, used as an example of a strong brand with a problematic user experience for purchasing merchandise.
Used as an example in affinity branding; a computer with a Walmart label changes perception to be less technical and lower quality.
Experienced a tremendous drop in brand strength during an electronics shopping study.
The restaurant mentioned as being chosen by multiple people in a comparative experiment, indicating a strong, shared brand preference.
Mentioned as a brand of car chosen by participants in a comparative experiment.
Ranked poorly in a study on shopping for electronics due to frustrating user experiences, leading to a drop in brand strength.
A website where a student sold ads by the pixel, illustrating how early advertisers received high traffic but later ones received none.
Cited as a physical product whose design contributes to its brand identity.
Used as an example where users must watch an ad before accessing the site's content.
A website where a definition of branding was found, noted as a Microsoft property.
Cited as a site with high brand engagement despite not being visually designed, emphasizing the importance of user experience.
A dating site that makes revenue through ads, illustrating how advertising can distract users from their primary goal.
Covered the Million Dollar Homepage campaign and was used as an example of disruptive advertising.
An article from this publication discussing Apple suing competitors was used to show how contextual ads (for Creative Zen) can appear in negative contexts.
Covered the Million Dollar Homepage campaign.
Suggested humorously as a better spokesperson for Vioxx than Dorothy Hamill.
Mentioned as a former spokesperson for Vioxx.
A well-known figure in usability who runs User Interface Engineering and discusses the relationship between brand and usability.
Mentioned in the context of contextual advertising on the Z Frank Show, leading to an irrelevant ad for a clothing site.
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