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Brand ethos explained

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Ellen Macy
06 Jun 2019

What is brand ethos?
 

Example of brand ethos in action
Why does brand ethos matter?
Brand ethos creates brand advocacy
Brand ethos brings brands to life
How Anthem Branding incorporates brand ethos into our design process

Key Takeaways

Brand ethos: Definition: Brand ethos is what a brand stands for, encompassing its values, principles, and purpose. Importance: It brings authenticity and legitimacy, helping brands connect with audiences and stand out in a crowded market. Example: Apple’s ethos of making tools for the mind that advance humankind” is reflected in its sleek and modern branding. Impact: A clear ethos builds brand advocacy, loyalty, and trust, as people resonate with brands that live up to their values. Application: Brands translate their ethos into tangible products, like promotional items, to consistently convey their story and values. Anthem Branding approach: Anthem Branding starts projects by exploring and defining a brand’s ethos, positioning it against competitors, and ensuring all creative assets align with this ethos to attract like-minded consumers.

Brand ethos defined

You can define brand ethos by thinking about what you as a company and brand actually offer to people, why it matters, and why it’s different from others
Ellen Macy – Senior Brand Strategist | Anthem Branding 
  1. Brand awareness
  2. Credibility
  3. Reputation
  4. Customer satisfaction
  5. Brand loyalty
  6. Brand name
  7. Visual identity
  8. Positioning
  9. Messaging
  • Determine how your brand is unique from other brands in the marketplace
  • Define your ideal audience
  • Shape the character and personality of your brand

Simply put, brand ethos is what a brand stands for.

Knowing your brand ethos brings authenticity and legitimacy to your brand. The average person is exposed to thousands of branded advertisements each day. Having a clearly defined ethos is a powerful way to not only connect with your audience but to help them remember your brand.

Apple’s ethos, for example, is all about making tools for the mind that advance humankind.” The brand’s sleek, clean, and modern branding is a reflection of just that.

In addition to building legitimacy and establishing brand authenticity, people resonate and connect with brands that live up to who they say they are.

Being sure of who your brand is, what makes it different, and what it stands for will lead your company to form an audience base of people who deeply believe in your brand. These people will go out of their way to advocate for your brand.

Since brand ethos is made up of intangible company principles, brands translate their ethos in tangible ways through custom promotional products or private label apparel.

Promotional products are most effective when they carry out a brand’s ethos in a tangible way, representing the brand in the best light possible. The most successful products consistently relay the narrative of your brand story and come to represent the brand with unique nuances such as a brand’s colors or being useful based on the company’s industry — not just another thing that is thrown together without much guidance from those brand ethos.

Whether it’s in a piece of marketing material, displayed on the company’s website, or explained by employees, if the story is inconsistent, a brand can lose its trust from its audience and will void any credibility it has built.

You must be a pro at explaining what you stand for and making sure your behavior and associated strategies align with that image.

A strong, cohesive brand that is telling a genuine, passionate story reaps all sorts of benefits from a marketing perspective, including:

Marketers can use these tools in efforts to attract like-minded, mindful consumers who want to purchase products/​services from a high-value brand.

When clearly defined and consistently told, brand ethos guides a company’s creative assets, which are essential to:

We start off each project with a strategic exploration to discover and develop what a brand’s ethos is and how it should be used to position the company in its target market and against the competition.

To pinpoint that sweet spot of a brand’s ethos, we work with you to:

From there, our team of dedicated creative professionals builds deliverables that are naturally developed based on the strategic foundation that is put in place from your defined ethos.

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Ellen Macy