Have you ever dreamed about having your name next to a star as part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame? What would it be like to have your name up in lights and draw attention to to your brand? I think we all want our brand to be easily recognizable by others like McDonald’s or Nike.

Wouldn’t it be great if there were a formula that one could follow to create “star power” for a brand? It would mean that a business owner would be able to build brand recognition that would help them attract new customers and retain current customers.

To help you identify ways that you can brand your business as you plan on creating “star power” appeal, I’ve included a starter list below of things you can do.

• Positioning yourself as a leader in your industry.
• Share business tips that would help others grow their business.
• Create an attractive packaging for your brand which includes appealing colors, graphics and USP.
• Be open to challenges to change as your grow your brand. Adapt to the need to change as your brand grows.
• Monitor your success factor as you grow your brand. Online reputation is an important factor in growing your brand.

Beginning with this list is a great way to get started as you build “star power” into your brand. I’ve included a video below that shares additional details to help you build your brand awareness and recognition.

Business branding is important to business owners if they want to grow the circle of influence for their business. Brand awareness is the process of making sure that consumers of your services or products knows about your business and what you provide.

In developing your brand awareness strategy, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. Below is a starter list to help you develop it:

• Determine your vision: as a business owner, you must first try truly understand your business direction and goals. You would do this by defining your brand positioning or the nuts-and-bolts plan which is the foundation of your brand strategy.
• Make it memorable: your brand should include graphics and wording that helps to keep your business brand in the mind of your consumer. For instance, when you hear “Just Do It” you know this refers to Nike. Or you see the following image and you know it refers to a soft drink. Even if the name of the company wasn’t on the graphic, it could easily be recognized.
  
• Define branding tools: determine what tools you will use to brand your business. You can use graphics, audio, video, website, newsletter and many many more. Create a living list that you can work from to develop your brand awareness.
• Incorporate feedback. poll your current customers and business associates to receive feedback from them about your current brand.

So how are you building your brand awareness? Please feel free to share your ideas and results regarding your brand awareness.

What happen when a company relies heavily on public culture as its stock and trade? What happens when a company appropriates folk tales and tradition then copyrights and claims as private property? There’s nothing easier than cashing in on a tried, trued and beloved story, but what happens when you cross the line into stealing the people’s own culture?

David Bollier’s Brand Name Bullies, published in 2005 by Wiley, shows how Disney had built an empire by poaching and repurposing public domain material.

Bollier calls it the “substitution effect” - where public domain material is available to all, including companies, but then private companies expropriate folk culture and claim exclusive ownership. Then, any derivative creations must obtain permissions from those private companies, like Disney.

A famous case of defending copyrights happened when a Florida daycare center put Disney characters on its walls without authorization. When you capitalize on the brand awareness of already established folk traditions, why not also allow that newly positioned branding to be spoon fed to young consumers on the walls they stare at every single day? And yet Disney fought.

Disney’s “open plunder” of popular folktales includes:
Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Robin Hood, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty

American folk legends:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Pocahontas, Song of the South, Davy Crockett

Classic children’s literature:
The Jungle Book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, The Wind in the Willows, The Three Musketeers, Pinocchio

Stories whose rights Disney has paid for:
Peter Pan, Bambi, Winnie-the-Pooh

“[Disney] has appropriated dozens of folk stories and literary classics, scrubbed them up with the perky Disney touch, and then claimed the entire franchise as its own,” claims Bollier. It’s not necessarily about Disney using public domain material, since it is entitled to do so. It’s about having the market power to substitute its proprietary version of the story for the folk version, wiping the memory of the original clean of the public’ mind and branding every unique story as a Disney story.

Yet the Disney brand is stronger than ever and these precious stories are fondly held in the public’s mind. How do other companies capitalize on awareness of certain products, slap their own branding on it, and reap the benefits?

images: flickr: Tony the Misfit and jonathan mcintosh.

Burger King is not only putting their brand in your hands, but also on your t-shirts!

We’ve talked about Mozilla’s Firefox’s Spread Firefox initiative and the concept of allowing users - to a certain extent - to take matters into their own hands creatively in order to let them interact more heavily with your brand.

At BurgerKingStudio.com, customers can choose from several designs to create their own version of a Burger King t-shirt. The studio claims to be “part art gallery, part think-tank with a dash of Mad Scientist’s experiments thrown in for good measure.”

Given that it’s Harvey’s that lets you customize your burger right in front of you, I’m a bit shocked that Burger King is the one reaching out to its customers this way. Franca Schulte at The Daily Tee said, “Burger King gets it’s customers. We want things the way we like it! Well now, you have a chance to have it your own way. Be unique and style a t-shirt the way you want it. Other wise known as “Have it your way Tees.” How brilliant is that?”

I guess fast food goers are diggin it!

So just how much creative control do we have over the trademarked king?

Customers can choose between 4 different t-shirts and a unisex tank top. They select 6 graphics from a set of 23 and position them anywhere on the shirt. They also choose the size and colour of the graphics. This is my creation (not exactly a work of art):

I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in the range of possibilities here. Though there are also other designs to choose from in the shoppe, I was really expecting more freedom of manipulating the brand identity. I guess this is a lesson in boundaries when handing out your branding into the hands of your customers.

One thing is for certain: Burger King has truly repositioned itself for that young, hip crowd with disposible income falling out of their back pockets. No more boring king crowns, this new Burger King is worthy of being sported on your t-shirt and even seen in public!

What do you think? How willing would you be to allow customers the power of playing around with your brand image?

As you probably know, Brandcurve is part of the b5media blogging network.  This week, b5media got a huge PR bump with the announcement that b5media has been announced as a 2008 Canadian New Media Awards “Most Promising Company of the Year” finalist. Read more

Gfk Roper conducted a study of consumers late last year to learn what influenced people the most when it comes to making purchase decisions.  The study showed that advertising, marketing and pricing are not the biggest factors that influence consumers’ buying choices.  Instead, prior experience with a brand is at the top of the list.   Here is how the top four factors shook out:

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