Brand Integration: easy to say and hard to do. But key to commercial success in advertising and sponsorship

I am constantly reminded that if you want to create communication that people remember is for your brand then you need to make sure that it is fully integrated into the story of the communication.

So much so that you cannot tell the story of the ad (for example) without having the product or service integral to the communication.

This is one of the easiest and most basic mistakes that we all make. As consumers we know that we have seen ads, especially on TV, that we talk about but never sure what brand and product it is actually advertising. We have all done the "did you see the ad where the x did z etc". Often they are ads that we have really LIKED, but as we cannot remember what they are for, then not very good.

I was reading recently a book by Martin Lindstrom called "buy.ology" and in it he also talks about how key this is as we look at new communication forms. Some examples that struck me where:

American Idol sponsorship.
This show is the biggest TV show in the USA and has 3 sponsors who invest a lot of money to do that.

One of them, Coke, has found that awareness that they sponsor the show is huge and has driven some brand image positively. As part of their deal, they intertwined the brand into the fabric of the show. So the space the contestants are interviewed in has the coke brand code colour and the judges have a red glass with coke brand on it and they often sip while giving feedback. Cingular also does well as to be able to vote by text message you have to be a Cingular user and so that is part of the story of the show, voting by text is for Cingular users only. Ford just runs some ads and competitions, and awareness is almost nil. By integrating the Coke brand through the show even though subtly in relative terms it became part of the story of the show.

James Bond Movies.
Other than Austin Martin cars that have been used forever, almost no-one remembers the zillions of products placed in the films as the producers got over the top and lined up products and products in the films. But as they were just slotted in gratuitously and added little to the story and the plot, again they had little impact and few recalled them.

One brand that I was thinking of that was waved into the story and key to the plot was "Central Perk" coffee shop in Friends. I know that if you asked people what the coffee shop in the series was everyone could tell you. But it does not exist as a real brand of course.

The key is you need to add to and be part of the story in communication to be remembered and for good branding. It sounds really simple but ends up being harder to do than we expect as we get carried away by the momentum of a creative idea.

Do you have examples where brands do this well? Email me at gary@bembridge.co.uk if you do, or leave a comment on the blog