Last week the red team had the honour and pleasure of Chairing a Pacific Conference to share ‘Branding Best Practices’. Our presentations highlighted that central to successful brands is the emotional connection or ‘love’ people have with the brand.

1. Hello and a very warm welcome!
Why Branding Best Practices?

2. Why did we all get out of bed this
morning?

3. I believe, it’s because –
we all love brands
we all love building brands,
we’d all love to do it better!

4. There’s a lot of love here 
So, let’s feel & share
the ‘brand love’

5. Central to successful brands is
the emotional connection /
‘the love’ people have
with the brand.
(the electro chemical party trick that happens in instantly)

6. The most successful brands
provide us answers to why we
should buy them, before we’ve
even thought about it.

7. These are the brands you grab
if the house is on fire.

8. Sadly, most brands in Vietnam fail because they
fail to create this emotional relationship
with their customers.

9. Traditionally, Vietnamese
businesses have limited
themselves to building
businesses (not brands).

10. The focus has been on short-term gain around
products that offer functional attributes and
features at ‘better’ prices.

11. Meanwhile, living standards of local people have
increased along with expectations of what life
(and their brands!) should offer them.

12. People now
shout out :

13. At red, we believe THE most
important ingredient for a
powerful brand is it’s ‘impact’
on customer’s emotions.

14. Emotional connection is THE ingredient that
makes your brand unique, in a way that
connects with the emotions of your customers.

15. A brand without emotional differentiation / connection,
is destined to compete on what customers already expect
– (the functional nuts and bolts of the product)

16. Ultimately this is a ‘race to the
bottom’ – there’s no lasting value –
we compete on lower price

17. So, why is emotional
connection / differentiation in
brands so important to
Vietnamese customers now?

18. Because, just like you and me, customers are emotional,
customers have a personality.

19. We all now need more than just
food and shelter, we all spend a
great deal of our lives in an
emotional crucible.

20. We search for new ways to educate, give meaning,
expression and satisfaction to our ever-changing
needs and desires for…

21. …the answer to ‘why?’ …
For acceptance, love and
happiness. (Look up ‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’).

22. So how do brands tap into
this?

23. Strong brands, just like strong people,
have strong personalities too.

24. People, consciously or
sub-consciously, are highly
adept at understanding other
people around them.

25. The brands we choose to eat, drink, wear, play, live and engage
with actually help us to define us to ourselves, to our friends,
colleagues and loved ones.

26. The same way we choose friends and
loved ones, we choose brands with strong
personalities to express ourselves emotionally.

27. We all essentially choose brands
to express ‘our personalities’.

28. So, what is brand emotional
connection?
Let’s take a closer look at some
examples in Vietnam… Why do
we choose them?

29. Apple – we love to think we’re cool & different
(I’m presenting this on an Apple Mac,)

30. Honda – we love the
pleasure of freedom
(remember how good it felt to
break free of your parent’s
neighborhood?)

31. Nike – we love inspiration and empowerment

32. Heineken – we love the refreshment
it brings to our friendships

33. Louis Vuitton – we love the self-esteem and confidence

34. NOKIA – we love how it brings us together…

35. NOKIA – …or makes us look rich & cool

36. All these qualities are the
emotional intangibles that we
all ‘feeeeeel’ at the final
moment of purchase.

37. It’s these loving feeeeelings
that really drive our decision-
making process to buy.

38. All of the strongest brands that
have ‘these feelings’ are
unique and almost impossible
to copy.

39. Think of your brand as a real person that your customers can
identify with and are drawn towards.

40. Give your brand attributes beyond the physical, a voice, a soul, a
reason for being - a unique and identifiable personality with
emotional connection that your customers can grow to love 

41. It’s no longer just about ‘what’
or ‘how’ your brand does what it
does

42. It’s about creating a
brand personality with
‘emotional connection’,

43. Communicating why your brand
exists and why anyone should
care, buy it & love it!

44. So now!...
It’s time to feel & share
your ‘brand love’

45. ICE <> BREAKER
Which brands do
you love & why?
What can we learn
from these brands
to help our own
brand building?

46. Thank you, and I look forward to feeling the ‘brand love’

47. Written by, Chris Elkin
Managing Director, red brand builders
A UK Chartered Marketer and based in S.E. Asia for
11 years, Chris has helped to build many famous
brands throughout the U.K., U.S. and S.E Asia.
Based initially in London and New York, and then
Singapore from 2000 to 2005, Chris has held a
number of big agency regional roles, with in-market
experience ranging from Japan and Hong Kong to
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia across brands
including Tiger Beer, Levi Strauss, Citibank, Credit
Suisse, Malaysia Airlines, Volkswagen and L’Oreal.
Chris came to Vietnam in 2005 managing the largest
FMCG account in Vietnam. Since meeting Marc
Gough in 2007, as Managing Director of red, his
active clients include a broad range of clientele in
the Real Estate, Retail, FMCG, Education, Financial
Services and Healthcare categories, including
partnerships with Unilever, VinaCapital, VinaMilk,
Dulux, Royal Bank of Scotland, Liberty Insurance,
Apollo English and British University Vietnam.
Connect with Chris at
http://vn.linkedin.com/in/chriselkin