Where Can We Find More Profit?

Get schooled on the value of your brands

In a recent event, brand value was presented plainly to me.

Wirebound notebooks with the Notre Dame logo on the cover: $3.29
Exact same plain wirebound notebooks (generic): $0.99
Margin above the generic: $2.30

Seldom is it this easy to parcel out the value of the Notre Dame brand. The brand is delivering at least a 200% return on this small item (not accounting for comparable cost of goods sold, printing, etc). It should be noted, both the generic and branded notebooks were available in the Notre Dame bookstore.

If you were a recent student of this institution, you’d have the logo stamped on your resume, LinkedIn profile and perhaps even a leather folder you carry into an interview. Would the $70,000 annual ($280,000 total) tuition deliver a 200% return? Depending on your chosen profession, spread over your lifetime, my guess would be yes, it certainly would.

How does the price of a college ruled notebook relate to your world? Here are a few answers to consider as you enter into your next meeting.

When brand strategy is clearly defined for everyone, even your customers get it and buy into the culture. If you can’t get your internal teams on board, perhaps it's too complex or lacking in some basic human elements. We find, if a brand is clearly defined it gives everyone more confidence in how to communicate, behave and deliver on the brand promise.

A consistent brand doesn’t happen because you’ve clearly articulated a set of guidelines. It happens when you’ve designed an intuitive approach to brand. We find the best way to accomplish this is to humanize the strategy, taking it out of a rational grid and dropping it into the deep end of human emotions.

More sales isn’t a place to find margin — it’s more of the same margin. Refreshing your brand strategy, finding new audiences and adding to the perceived value of your offering is where new margin is found.

Where are you finding more margin?

If you have more questions about the Notre Dame experience, how great brands create margin or ways you can use these methods in your organization, reach out to AaronKeller@capsule.us.

Aaron Keller