A logo is not a brand

Yesterday I was walking downtown when I got struck with a familiar smell. The smell was the one of freshly baked bread mixed with Italian herbs and cheese. I didn’t have to see the store sign to know that I was near a Subway franchise.Subway gets their branding right. They know that we have five senses and that engaging all of them will make us go crazy for the product they sell.

They know that smelling that bread and Italian herbs will engage our saliva glands and that our brain will make our stomachs growl and our stomach will tell our legs to take us to the store. In marketing this is called salience. Subway’s message is very salient, literally.

The folks from Subway also know that for a campaign to be successful there has to be good repetition. Salience x Repetition = Good Campaign. Subway gets this right as well. In every single Subway location they have a bread oven. A company like Subway could certainly get a supplier to provide already baked bread to each store and it would probably be cheaper than making small batches of bread at a time. Their competitors do it, but not Subway. Subway is different. Subway has figured out how to differentiate themselves with something that is very attractive to their customers.

What can you do in your business to stand out, be recognized and loved? If you can figure that out and do it consistently, you’ve got your brand.