What Great Brands Do

What Great Brands Do Plot Summary

Introduction

In today's hypercompetitive marketplace, why do some brands consistently outperform others? The difference lies not in their marketing budgets or advertising strategies, but in their fundamental approach to brand building. Great brands are built from the inside out, operating with a distinct philosophy that transforms their brand into the driving force behind every business decision. This brand-as-business approach represents a paradigm shift from traditional marketing-focused branding. Rather than viewing their brand as merely an image or message to project externally, exceptional companies integrate their brand values into every aspect of their operations—from culture development to customer experience design to stakeholder relationships. By examining companies like IBM, Patagonia, Zappos, and others that have successfully employed this methodology, we discover seven distinct principles that separate merely good brands from truly great ones. These principles form a cohesive framework that enables organizations to cultivate authentic customer relationships, maintain consistent focus, and create sustainable value for all stakeholders while achieving superior financial performance.

Chapter 1: Great Brands Start Inside: Building Strong Brand Culture

Great brands recognize that successful brand building begins internally, not with external communications. This principle asserts that before you can effectively communicate your brand to the outside world, you must first cultivate a robust internal culture that aligns with and reinforces your brand values. The foundation of this approach is understanding that a brand isn't just a logo, tagline, or marketing campaign—it's the embodiment of your company's core values and purpose. When these values are deeply embedded in your organizational culture, employees naturally become brand ambassadors who authentically deliver on your brand promise in every customer interaction. We see this exemplified by companies like IBM, which under CEO Sam Palmisano's leadership, conducted a company-wide "ValuesJam" to redefine and reinvigorate its core values, ensuring alignment between the company's culture and its brand identity. This internal brand cultivation requires a three-pronged strategy: design, empowerment, and impact. Organizations must design their structures and business models to inherently deliver on brand values, empower employees with tools and resources to infuse the brand into daily decisions, and create such a positive impact on employees that they naturally support the brand mission. Practical implementation tools include Brand Toolboxes (comprehensive guides detailing brand values and execution principles) and Brand Engagement Sessions (interactive workshops that help employees internalize the brand). The impact of strong internal brand alignment extends far beyond employee satisfaction. Research shows that when employees understand and believe in the brand, they connect more effectively with customers, collaborate more meaningfully with colleagues, and find greater purpose in their work. This elevated engagement translates directly to superior customer experiences. As exemplified by retailers like Wegmans, whose employees receive extensive training before customer interaction, the investment in internal brand culture pays dividends through "telepathic levels of customer service" that competitors cannot easily replicate. The principle ultimately reveals that your brand must be a promise delivered, not merely expressed. By ensuring cultural alignment first, you create an organization where every touchpoint consistently reinforces your brand values—from product development to customer service to strategic partnerships. This inside-out approach ensures authenticity that resonates with today's discerning consumers, who increasingly rely on actual experiences rather than advertising messages when forming brand perceptions.

Chapter 2: Avoid Selling Products: Create Emotional Connections

The second principle fundamentally challenges the conventional wisdom that brands should primarily promote product features and benefits. Instead, great brands understand that consumers make purchase decisions based not on rational assessment of product attributes, but on emotional connections and identity affirmation. At its core, this principle recognizes that humans are emotional creatures whose purchasing behaviors are driven by how products make them feel or what identity they help express. Nike exemplifies this understanding through its iconic "Just Do It" campaign, which never focused on shoe technology but rather on the emotional experience of athletic achievement and personal transformation. This approach resonated so deeply that consumers reported the slogan inspiring major life changes, with some even getting "Just Do It" tattoos—the ultimate expression of brand connection. The emotional connection strategy operates through several mechanisms. First, brands identify the deeper emotional needs underlying functional benefits—as Pampers discovered when research revealed mothers cared less about diaper dryness itself and more about how dryness contributed to their babies' healthy development and sleep quality. This insight led Pampers to reposition from a technical "dryness" message to one centered on supporting child development. Second, brands employ specialized research techniques borrowed from anthropology and ethnography to uncover unspoken emotional drivers. Methods like in-home visits, shop-alongs, and empathic research reveal how products fulfill emotional needs that consumers themselves may not consciously articulate. The value of emotional brand building extends beyond immediate sales to creating long-term customer relationships. Amazon exemplifies this approach by prioritizing customer experience over short-term profit, allowing negative product reviews and selling devices like the Kindle Fire at minimal margins to establish deeper customer connections. When customers feel emotionally connected to a brand, they demonstrate greater loyalty, become brand evangelists, and even defend the brand during public relations challenges. Perhaps most importantly, emotionally-connected brands gain tremendous flexibility to expand beyond their original product categories. By defining themselves through values and emotional benefits rather than specific products, brands like Google can extend into new markets without diluting their identity. This requires brands to continually examine the fundamental question "What business are we really in?"—understanding that their true value lies not in what they sell but in how they make customers feel.

Chapter 3: Ignore Trends: Advance Cultural Movements

Great brands differentiate themselves by refusing to follow industry trends, instead opting to challenge conventions and advance broader cultural movements. This counterintuitive approach creates distinct competitive advantages that fickle trend-following cannot achieve. Following trends represents the path of least resistance—it seems safer to emulate what's already working for others than to forge an original path. However, trend-following typically relegates brands to what might be called the "-er positioning" problem: presenting themselves as small-er, fast-er, cheap-er, or simply bett-er than competitors. This comparative positioning subordinates a brand to its reference point, creating a perpetual cycle of reaction rather than leadership. Furthermore, trends emerge and fade with increasing speed, making trend-dependent brands vulnerable to rapid market shifts. Instead, great brands deliberately challenge industry conventions. Chipotle Mexican Grill exemplifies this approach by defying fast-food industry norms since its founding. While competitors focused on price-cutting, menu expansion, and operational efficiency, Chipotle invested in higher-quality ingredients, higher employee wages, and distinctive restaurant environments. By prioritizing food quality and sustainability, Chipotle established a unique position that competitors now struggle to emulate. Similarly, luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. maintained price integrity during economic downturns when competitors resorted to heavy discounting, preserving its brand equity for long-term advantage. Beyond merely challenging trends, truly great brands anticipate and advance cultural movements—deeper societal shifts that represent fundamental changes in values and behaviors. Starbucks recognized the emerging phenomenon of social isolation and responded by creating "third places" for community gathering beyond home and work. Now, as digital connectivity transforms social interaction, Starbucks continues evolving by creating digital third places that maintain its cultural relevance. Identifying emerging cultural movements requires systematic observation through practices like media scanning, social listening, and trend forecasting. The Brand Diagnostic tool provides a structured approach to analyze customers, context, and company capabilities, helping organizations distinguish between transient trends and meaningful movements. The objective is pattern recognition across seemingly disparate developments to identify underlying value shifts that signal new opportunities. The most powerful manifestation of this principle occurs when brands connect their internal culture with broader cultural movements, creating resonance both inside and outside the organization. Zumba Fitness exemplifies this alignment, developing a culture around "Freeing, Electrifying Joy" that resonates with instructors, participants, and the broader fitness community, fueling extraordinary growth without traditional marketing expenditures.

Chapter 4: Don't Chase Customers: Focus on Brand Integrity

Exceptional brands resist the temptation to pursue every potential customer, instead focusing on attracting those who naturally align with their distinct brand values. This principle challenges the conventional wisdom that broader appeal inevitably leads to greater success. At its foundation, this approach recognizes that attempting to please everyone inevitably dilutes a brand's distinctiveness and appeal. Activewear retailer Lululemon exemplifies this philosophy through policies that might seem unfriendly to some consumers but reinforce its premium positioning—including strict return policies, higher pricing, and a deliberate scarcity model. Rather than chasing the broadest possible market, Lululemon attracts customers who share its values and appreciate its distinctive offering. The principle operates through what brand strategist Adam Morgan calls a "lighthouse identity"—a strong, clearly defined brand personality that attracts compatible customers without actively pursuing them. Like a lighthouse, these brands project their identity with such intensity that they become visible even to those not actively looking for them. The Rolling Stones exemplify this approach, maintaining a consistent brand identity as "The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band" for decades while attracting passionate, loyal followers who feel deeply connected to the band's rebellious persona. This selective approach yields several advantages. By focusing resources on ideal customers, brands can develop tailored products and experiences that precisely meet their needs. American Express demonstrates this strategy by limiting its customer base and developing specialized benefits for high-spending individuals and small businesses. This focus allows the company to invest in superior service and tailored benefits that would be impossible to deliver profitably to a broader audience. Implementing this principle requires sophisticated customer segmentation beyond traditional demographics. Needs-based segmentation identifies how different customer attitudes combine with usage occasions to create distinct purchasing motivations. For example, a clothing retailer might discover that "fashion-forward" customers have different needs when buying jeans for work versus evenings out. This understanding enables precise targeting of products, communications, and experiences to the most valuable customer segments. The culmination of this principle is developing a comprehensive brand platform with a clear competitive positioning that articulates who your ideal customers are, what business you're in, and how you create distinctive value. The structured formula "For X, we are the A who does B, because C" provides a framework for articulating this positioning and ensuring everyone in the organization understands exactly which customers the brand exists to serve—and which ones it doesn't. By embracing selective appeal rather than universal attraction, great brands build stronger connections with the customers who matter most.

Chapter 5: Sweat the Small Stuff: Perfect Customer Experience

Great brands recognize that seemingly minor details create powerful impressions that cumulatively define the customer experience. While many companies focus exclusively on major marketing initiatives, exceptional brands meticulously craft every touchpoint to express their values and create memorable connections. This principle begins with thoughtful design attention. Companies like P&G demonstrate this through exhaustive packaging development that considers not just visual appeal but also how packaging functions in customers' lives. Apple's legendary design ethos extends beyond product functionality to encompass the entire customer journey—from the simplicity of the devices themselves to the theatrical unboxing experience. These companies understand that design communicates brand values without words, creating immediate emotional impact. Beyond physical design, great brands identify and perfect countless brand expression opportunities that others overlook. REI's stores feature climbing walls and walk-in freezers for testing equipment, along with architectural elements that reinforce the brand's outdoor adventure ethos. Even seemingly insignificant touchpoints like Caribou Coffee's inspirational messages on reloadable cards or a restaurant's restroom cleanliness communicate powerful brand impressions. These details matter because customers now form opinions based increasingly on direct experiences rather than advertising claims. To systematically manage these touchpoints, exceptional brands employ tools like the Brand Touchpoint Wheel—a visual mapping of every customer interaction with the organization. This comprehensive audit identifies which touchpoints most significantly impact customer perceptions and prioritizes improvement efforts. Crucially, this process often reveals organizational silos that create inconsistent experiences, as when Sony discovered its recruitment materials failed to reflect the company's brand promise. Perhaps the most challenging aspect of this principle is creating seamless experiences across multiple channels. Customers expect consistency whether they're visiting a physical location, using a website, or calling customer service—yet most organizations operate these functions independently. The Customer Experience Architecture provides a structured framework for designing optimal experiences for different customer segments across various channels while maintaining brand coherence throughout the journey. The ultimate expression of this principle occurs when attention to detail permeates the entire business operation. Singapore Airlines exemplifies this approach through its legendary service standards—investing in extensive training for "Singapore Girl" flight attendants, meticulously maintaining aircraft appearance, and optimizing every aspect of the customer journey. This operational discipline enables Singapore Airlines to achieve what strategy experts once deemed impossible: leadership in both premium service and operational efficiency. By making every detail matter, great brands transform ordinary transactions into extraordinary experiences that customers remember and value.

Chapter 6: Commit and Stay Committed: Maintain Brand Focus

Great brands demonstrate uncommon discipline in maintaining focus on their core values and identity, even when faced with tempting opportunities for short-term growth. This principle separates brands that endure from those that expand rapidly but ultimately lose their distinctive appeal. At its foundation, this approach requires organizations to identify what Jim Collins calls their "core ideology"—the fundamental purpose and values that define the brand's reason for being. For restaurant chain Shake Shack, this means rejecting seemingly attractive opportunities like food trucks and catering services when they might compromise the distinctive in-store experience that defines the brand. Similarly, investment company Vanguard has maintained unwavering commitment to its founding philosophy of serving small investors with low-cost funds, a discipline that helped it avoid disastrous investments during financial bubbles. The challenge of maintaining focus intensifies as organizations grow and face pressure to expand. Krispy Kreme's rapid expansion beyond its core offering of fresh, hot doughnuts into gas stations and grocery stores ultimately diluted its brand experience and led to declining performance. Growth often tempts companies to accept small compromises in quality, hiring standards, or operational consistency that cumulatively erode the brand experience. Each individual decision seems minor, but together they fundamentally change what customers experience. Various approaches to business focus—whether technology-focused, sales-focused, distribution-focused, marketing-focused, or customer-focused—ultimately prove inadequate because they fail to define what the company fundamentally stands for. The only sustainable focus is brand focus, where the brand's values and attributes guide every aspect of the business. When all stakeholders share this understanding, they can make aligned decisions that preserve brand integrity through changing market conditions. Several practical tools help organizations sharpen this focus. Brand documentaries capture and communicate the essence of the brand through real examples of employees and customers experiencing it. Brand obituaries—imagining what would be said about the brand if it ceased to exist—reveal its true significance and legacy. The BARATA framework evaluates brand differentiation across six dimensions: Benefit, Attribute, Role, Attitude, Territory, and Awareness. Brand archetypes identify the fundamental character and purpose the brand plays in customers' lives, from "The Hero" to "The Sage" to "The Caregiver." Perhaps most importantly, commitment often requires sacrifice—deliberately foregoing opportunities that don't align with the brand's core purpose. Southwest Airlines exemplifies this approach by maintaining a simplified business model that excludes standard industry practices like assigned seating and multiple aircraft types. Similarly, Johnson & Johnson demonstrated unwavering commitment to its credo of putting customers first when it recalled all Tylenol products during the 1982 tampering crisis despite enormous short-term costs. These sacrifices preserve long-term brand integrity and trust, ultimately creating greater value than opportunistic growth strategies.

Chapter 7: Never 'Give Back': Create Shared Value

Great brands reject the notion that businesses must "give back" to society, instead designing their operations to create value for all stakeholders simultaneously. This principle transforms corporate social responsibility from an obligation separate from business activities into an integrated approach that benefits communities, customers, employees, and shareholders alike. The traditional "giving back" mindset implies that business success necessarily takes something from society that must be returned through charitable donations or volunteer programs. This approach often manifests as disconnected initiatives that fail to leverage the company's core capabilities or advance its strategic objectives. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million donation to Newark schools exemplifies this problem—while generous, it had no meaningful connection to Facebook's business or capabilities. By contrast, great brands adopt what Harvard professor Michael Porter calls "creating shared value" (CSV)—designing business operations to address social needs while simultaneously advancing competitive positioning. AT&T's Aspire program illustrates this approach by investing in education initiatives that directly engage employees and apply the company's technological capabilities to address high school dropout rates—a social challenge directly relevant to developing the skilled workforce AT&T needs for future success. The Level 5 Relevance framework provides a structured approach for developing initiatives that create increasingly meaningful shared value. This progression begins with industry relevance (addressing issues common to the sector) and advances through community relevance, target relevance, brand positioning relevance, and ultimately values relevance—where initiatives speak to fundamental principles that help society prosper. Fast-casual restaurant chain Firehouse Subs exemplifies this progression through its Public Safety Foundation, which aligns perfectly with the brand's firefighting heritage while addressing real community needs. Implementing this principle requires examining your business model to identify opportunities where social and business value intersect. Outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia demonstrates this through its "Footprint Chronicles," which transparently documents environmental impacts throughout its supply chain—simultaneously reducing environmental harm, improving operational efficiency, and building customer trust. Similarly, IKEA's commitment to affordable, well-designed furniture drives innovations in materials, manufacturing, and packaging that reduce environmental impact while lowering costs. The most advanced expression of this principle comes from companies founded with shared value as their core purpose. LYFE Kitchen was established not just to serve healthy fast food but to transform the entire agricultural system supporting it. Similarly, Ben & Jerry's has maintained its commitment to social mission despite being acquired by Unilever, demonstrating how purpose can persist through ownership changes. This integrated approach yields measurable business benefits beyond reputational enhancement. Firehouse Subs found that franchisees most engaged with its foundation generated significantly higher sales than less engaged locations. Research from Harvard Business School confirms that companies with strong social performance enjoy greater access to capital and more favorable analyst recommendations. By creating value that all stakeholders can share, great brands build sustainable competitive advantage while contributing meaningfully to society.

Summary

The seven principles outlined above collectively form a comprehensive framework that transforms how organizations build and leverage their brands. Rather than treating branding as a marketing function focused on external communications, this approach positions the brand as the central organizing principle for the entire business—what might be called the "eighth principle" of brand as business. When fully implemented, these principles create a virtuous cycle where strong internal culture drives emotional customer connections, which in turn support the brand's ability to lead cultural movements rather than follow trends. The ultimate insight revealed across these principles is that truly great brands operate with complete alignment between what they believe, what they practice, what they offer, and what they say. This integration eliminates the gap between brand promise and delivery that plagues so many organizations. By building from the inside out, focusing on emotional connections rather than product features, challenging conventions, attracting rather than chasing customers, perfecting every detail, maintaining unwavering focus, and creating shared value, organizations transform their brands from marketing assets into powerful business drivers that deliver sustainable competitive advantage in an increasingly complex marketplace.

About Author

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Denise Lee Yohn

Blending a fresh perspective, twenty-five years of experience working with world-class brands including Sony, Frito-Lay, and Burger King, and a talent for inspiring audiences, Denise Lee Yohn is a leading authority on building and positioning exceptional brands. Denise initially cultivated her brand-building approaches through several high-level positions in advertising and client-side marketing. She served as lead strategist at advertising agencies for Burger King and Land Rover and as the marketing leader and analyst for Jack in the Box restaurants and Spiegel catalogs. Denise went on to head Sony Electronic Inc.’s first ever brand office, where she was the vice president/general manager of brand and strategy and garnered major corporate awards.An influential writer, Denise penned the book What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest (Jossey-Bass) and the new book Extraordinary Experiences: What Great Retail and Restaurant Brands Do. She enjoys challenging readers to think differently about brand-building. She contributes the monthly column Brand New Perspectives to QSR Magazine and has published work in numerous outlets, including Harvard Business Review, Advertising Age, and OPEN Forum. In 2008 she launched her blog, brand as business bites™, which the Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) named as one of the top 20 marketing blogs. With her expertise and personal approach, Denise delivers an array of inspirational workshops, presentations, and keynote addresses to business leaders in all industries. When she’s not writing or speaking, she serves as the brand director for TEDx San Diego and sits on the board of directors for a branch of the YMCA. Outside of her professional roles, Denise counts hiking Mount Kilimanjaro, dancing with a professional ballet company, and flying a helicopter as some of her greatest life experiences.

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