Why are brand stories and brand messages so important? Simply because they are the representation of all your business’ messages and images … all representing opportunities to draw customers into your brand’s world. They represent your ability to influence how people see you, feel about you, and talk to others about you. The words and images you use, then, should reflect who you are, what makes you distinctive, and the brand values you want to represent to all your stakeholder communities. This is a blog what the Lego brand can teach you from its brand values.
Check out our thoughts on creative marketing.
The front line of any brand in the marketplace is not the advertising, packaging, or product design. It is the interaction that the customer experiences that determine the brand’s reputation to a large degree.
It is human and emotion, and at that critical time when a customer engages with one of your employees or someone in your channel or even one of your products, your brand will either be enhanced or diminished.
I am a big fan of the Lego Company and its products. The LEGO brand is more than simply a familiar logo. It is the expectations that people have of the company towards its products and services, and the accountability that the LEGO Group feels towards the world around it.
The LEGO Brand values, as they define them for their customers:
Imagination
Curiosity asks, “Why?” and imagines explanations or possibilities (if… then). Playfulness asks what if? and imagines how the ordinary becomes extraordinary, fantasy or fiction. Dreaming it is a first step towards doing it.
Free play is how children develop their imagination – the foundation for creativity
Related post: Remarkable Branding Design: Spanish Bank Example
Creativity
Creativity is the ability to come up with ideas and things that are new, surprising and valuable. Systematic creativity is a particular form of creativity that combines logic and reasoning with playfulness and imagination.
Fun
Fun is the happiness we experience when we are fully engaged in something that requires mastery (hard fun) when our abilities are in balance with the challenge at hand and we are making progress towards a goal. Fun is both in the process and in the completion.
Fun is being active together, the thrill of an adventure, the joyful enthusiasm of children and the delight in surprising both yourself and others in what you can do or create.
Learning
Learning is about opportunities to experiment, improvise and discover – expanding our thinking and doing, helping Lego see and appreciate multiple perspectives.
Caring
Caring is about the desire to make a positive difference in the lives of children, for our partners, colleagues and the world we find ourselves in, and considering their perspective in everything we do.
Going the extra mile for other people, not because we have to – but because it feels right and because we care.
Caring is about humility – not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less.
Quality
For us quality means the challenge of continuous improvement to be the best toy, the best for children and their development and the best for our community and partners.
Lego certainly creates a great brand image, don’t they?