Firebrand

I promised that I would talk about brand dissonance in “The Brand Cycle”, well why not do it right away.

Brand dissonance is simply when there is a difference between the brand’s perceived promises or personality, and their actions. It is important because it creates extreme discomfort and distrust in customers. It is the easiest way to loose customers.

Cognitive dissonance is when the mind has two conflicting thoughts in it’s conscious in the same time. For example, my car looks orange here, but I know that it is yellow. At the very least, this is a very uncomfortable feeling because your mind uses cycles and cycles of cognitive power into resolving the difference. The mind will either make a logical bridge between the two concepts (eg. must be the lights in the parking lot), throw out one of the concepts (eg. I know my car is green) or rethink their impression (maybe my car is slightly orange.)

The cognitive dissonance that is closest related to brand dissonance is when a person does something out of character. You subconsciously make mental models of people in the end so you can predict or at least not be surprised by their actions. When someone does or says something out of character, than your mind races to resolve the dispute. For example: “Jim is the most progressive and open guy I know, but he mentioned the other day that he is staunchly against gay marriage.” Your mind will resolve that by either by throwing out that one act, making new assumptions of Jim or rethinking your impression of his personality.

Customers’ brains treat brands in exactly the same way. If a company does or says something that is out of character for the brand, than they will make new assumptions of the company or rethink their impression of a company. A good example is when a multi-national oil company runs an add about cleaning up the wetland. The perceived brand personality of most oil companies would be described as cold, heartless and hurting the environment. By advertising their environmental outreach they are trying to have customers rethink their impression of them. But the dissonance between environmental outreach and big polluter is too much for most customers, and they will either dismiss the advertisement as superficial or make a new assumption of the company (“These guys trow some money to a charity and think they are saints!”) Not the desired result. They would be better advised to do their environmental outreach closer to home, like advertising their 68% decrease in spills in the last 5 years. This would do more to nudge their brand perception in the right direction.

The other side of the coin is when an otherwise positively percieved company does something negative that is out of character. For example, Motrin tried to promote their painkiller to new moms. The TV spot they ran compared being a mom and whereing you baby with a sling was a fashion statement. Well mom’s out there who know that becoming a mother and how they hold their babies have nothing to do with fashion. This is brand dissonance because Motrin is a brand usually in touch with women, but this ad got it so wrong. Customers are going either dismiss the add (“I don’t get it”), make new assumptions of Motrin (“whose running this company now?”) or rethink their perception of Motrin (“they really are out of touch.”) There will be customers out their that react each way, but it will be how the majority react that will determine the extent of the damage.

Brand dissonance is something to avoid, but a the brand personality should be so ingrained into the company that the company can’t possibly act out of character. Where companies get into trouble is when they work with outside agencies that convince them of actions and communications that are outside their brand. But sometimes some dissonance is unavoidable as the company changes or want to shift their brand perception. In this case it is important to nudge and not push. If a leap is too much than customers will dismiss the changes or make new  negative assumptions about the brand.

Hold your companies actions and communications to the yard stick of your brand personality. Does it fit? If not, rethink it. Otherwise your customers will suffer brand dissonance.