No brand for you.

By 2012 the Australian government will require that cigarette packets will have no identifying branding whatsoever. The packaging will be generic along the lines of grocery items that used to roll off the shelf in black and white wrapping. Cigarettes will become totally commoditised in that you won’t be able to distinguish one packet from another.

Marlboro according to Interbrand is worth $21 billion worldwide. A price value that is measured on how well the brand will ensure future sales. It’s about the promise a brand makes, so that your clients see you as the only solution and because of that, you are able to charge a premium. This begs the question of how they will tackle the issue and still stand out from the crowd no matter how generic they may look. They have a lot to protect.

So ask yourself the same question on a personal level. How would I stand out if I could no longer be reconised by my business brand or worse still my own personal brand? I get a vision of a science fiction future where everyone is 175cm with the same facial features and no distinguishing marks.

Think about airlines with no branding. How could you tell one from the other? Why would you choose one over the other if you get the same product from everyone? What are you loyal to? Is it an idea, a style, a service, a relationship, a lifestyle? How would you influence people and change their minds to use you and your services? A commoditised airline product would certainly put pressure on for better service, stronger relationships and anything else they could come up with to get you onboard that silver canister. Not a bad thing when you think about it.

If you can’t use the visual what else is left to you? Branding expert Martin Lindstrom puts forward a powerful argument that you could get by without the visual when he states, “83% of all communication appeals to our sense of sight, leaving only 17% to our other four senses. These statistics seem to make little sense when we consider the fact that 75% of our emotions are stimulated by smell. The fact is by including 3 senses in your branding approach; you can double the effect of your brand.”

So I’m off to the perfumery to find my scent, then to a voice coach to work on my timbre and finally to the cooking school to hone my skills because if you can smell me, hear me and like the taste of my cooking I’ve just doubled my brand effect. I was thinking about rolling around in spices but I’m not sure that’s what he meant about taste either.

I’m kidding of course but you have to ask yourself the questions, when was the last time, you thought about your brand, what it stands for, how you are perceived and what you can do to change it?

If all the visual stimulants were taken away tomorrow, how would I recognise you or your business?