The Concept of Consistency

Posted by Rahna on April 10, 2008 under Branding | Be the First to Comment

Consistency is a pillar for anyone in the branding world. 

I was reading an account of the re-branding of Marlboro cigarettes from “back in the day” when it went from being a ladies brand to being depicted through images of rough cowboys.  The new campaign Had been running for a year and had not changed the brand’s standing s(#35 of all cigarettes)!  Yet the person in charge stayed the course and, of course, now the whole world knows about Marlboro Country. 

How consistent are you in your marketing efforts?  Consistency takes on several forms:

·         Consistency in message…Geico is not completely consistent in its message, as it has several campaigns running all at once (the gecko, the cavemen, “I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance”).  To counteract this, they spend more money than any other insurance company on advertising.  If you don’t have the money to outspend everyone else, be consistent in message.

·         Consistency across media-Would I recognize a similarity across on-line versus TV or newspaper?

·         Consistency in frequency-Don’t believe that your messageis nt getting through just because your phone doesn’t ring the day after you send out a direct mail campaign.  Remember what Marlboro did; stay the course.

·         Consistency in branding-Will the consumer always get what they expect from your brand?

Consistency is critical and hard to do. Be consistent.