enAll right reserved © Sam Yari 2019-2023
All right reserved © Sam Yari
2019-2021
enAll right reserved © Sam Yari 2019-2023

What is brand promise? & How do you write a brand promise?

When building a brand, you’ll need to think about writing your brand promise. A brand promise is a short simple statement that describes the quality of the products, services and customer experience. For example McDonald’s promise is “I’m Lovin It”.

We've seen people ask lots of questions about brand promise, such as:

What is a brand promise examples?
How do you write a brand promise?
Why is a brand promise important?

We hope to answer all these questions and more in the article below, with some videos and photos to help you troubleshoot and learn how to take the best possible pictures!

As always, we’d love to hear your opinions on the article, if there’s anything else you’d like us to help with, and of course all of your amazing pictures! So make sure to get in touch.

What is brand promise?

Essentially, the brand promise is a short simple statement that tells people what they can expect from your brand, while providing a beacon for your marketing and guiding the direction of your customer experience. in other word, your brand promise tells the world your goal or your commitment to a goal.

A BP is a value or experience a company’s customers can expect to receive every single time they interact with that company.

Brand Promise vs Tagline

brand promise is different from brand tagline. The tagline is developed by a brand to get their audience to remember why they are different. It simply attempts to encapsulate the value of the difference in the most efficient and memorable collection of words possible. A BP is short but it is more than a tagline. It represents the experience the customer receives and therefore, is broader than the difference (or the value of that difference).

brand promise

The Literal Promise vs The Implied Promise

Most brands don’t ever articulate their BP and instead communicate the experience they are committed to delivering, through their their communication, whether through a piece of content, a social post or an advertisement.

This is one of the main causes for confusion around the BP. Though some have a promise and attempt to plant that as the seed in their audiences mind, others simply don’t have a promise other than through suggestion of their message.

What is brand promise? & How do you write a brand promise?

Not every brand has a literal BP and not every brand necessarily needs one. On other hand, Every brand has an implied promise to deliver on the experience of the difference they propose to offer. so, we can say all brands have BP.

Why Is A Brand Promise Important?

 

Regardless of whether your promise is literal or not, if your audience believes you have made a commitment to them to deliver on a certain experience, then you had better deliver on that BP. The more a company can deliver on that BP, the stronger the brand value in the mind of customers and employees.

Building brands is about building trust and only brands that consistently deliver, stay around long enough to build any kind of trust and loyalty.

  • If you fail to deliver on an implied BP = your reputation will be damaged.
  • If you fail to deliver on a literal BP = your brand may never recover.

Despite this, many brands fail to deliver on their BP for a variety of reasons. In particular, they fail to deliver on the customer experience – the interactions between the brand and the customers.

According to Gallup, only about 50 per cent of customers expect a brand to actually deliver on what it says it will. That shocking truth demonstrates why so many consumers don’t trust brands and in general marketing communications.

A BP tells your customer, either explicitly or implicitly, what they can expect from your product or service. It sets their expectations on the quality of your products or services.

Your BP to your customers is a critical part of your brand identity. In turn, this sets in a customers mind the value of your brand.

When the promise is broken your brand can lose its reputation, customers and hence market share. A Broken Promise Can Break A Brand.

The Advantage Of A Brand Promise

All strategic brands attempt to differentiate themselves from the competition through their differentiation strategy and position.

In defining this difference, the brand makes an indirect promise to deliver on that difference, whether they articulate one or not.

Brands that make bold promises around the difference they make, ruffle feathers in the market and draw attention.

A bold promise puts the reputation of the brand on the line, which suggests an air of confidence for the brand to deliver on that promise.

How To Create A Powerful Brand Promise

a BP has simple framework : What You Do for Whom. however, creating a BP is not easy. It’s actually quite difficult.

A Brand Promise Is:

  • Simple
  • Credible
  • Unique
  • Memorable
  • Inspiring

And it must achieve the following three goals:

  •  convey a compelling benefit
  • be authentic & credible
  • be kept, every time

If you decide your brand can confidently deliver on the difference it brings to the market, then a bold BP may solidify that position.

Remember, the promise is about delivering an experience around your difference and shouldn’t just look at the difference in a silo.

Once you’re clear on your difference and the experience you want your audience to receive, then quite simply, write as many bold promises around that difference as you possibly can.

Here are the characteristics of a compelling promise;

  • Experience, benefit & difference focussed
  • Authentic and believable
  • Deliverable and committed

Try to keep it short enough so it can be remembered. Align Your BP with Your Brand Experience. You don’t have to encompass every element of your brand experience, just what makes you stand out.

Once you have your promise, make it often.

What is brand promise example?

Below are a few examples of promises.

  • 1. Geico: “15 minutes or less can save you 15% or more on car insurance.”
  • 2. Coors Light: “The World’s Most Refreshing Beer”
  • 3. Coca-Cola: “To inspire moments of optimism and uplift.”
  • 4. BMW: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”
  • 5. Nike: “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
  • 6. Harley Davidson: “We are Harley Davidson.”
  • 7. Apple: “Think different.”
  • 8. H&M: “More fashion choices that are good for people, the planet and your wallet.”
  • 9. Starbucks: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.”
  • 10. Wegmans: “Consistent low prices.”
  • 11. Marriott: “Quiet luxury. Crafted experiences. Intuitive service.”
  • 12. Walmart: “Save money. Live better.”
  • FedEx — “Your package will get there overnight. Guaranteed.
  • McKinsey & Company — Hire the best minds in management consulting.
  • Lynda.com — High-quality training that’s affordable and convenient.
  • IDEO — Industrial design for companies that want to innovate.

Can you think of others?

Now, Can You Answer these Question:

What is Amazon’s brand promise?
What is the difference between brand promise and value proposition?
How do you identify a company’s brand promise?
What is the difference between branding and positioning?

NOTE : In this article “BP” Means “Brand Promise”.

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