Conference Roundup: Winning the Battle of the Brand

An organization’s brand touches a person’s head, heart and spirit, says Tony Elischer, managing director of U.K.-based THINK Consulting Solutions.

“A brand is a relationship that creates and secures an emotional connection to a cause in a profound way that leads to a funding preference and volunteer loyalty,” Elischer said in his session, “Brandraising: Securing Share of Mind, Heart and Spirit,” at the 2008 Bridge Conference held last month in Washington, D.C.

“Do a brand right, and a donor will trust you. They will tolerate us asking for money,” he said.

Branding can make or break an organization. Marketers must own and drive an organization’s brand because it’s more than just a name and a logo.

Elischer said organizations have a better chance of “getting” branding if they use key thinking to inspire supporters and connect them to a cause, while driving loyalty and making sure it stands out from the pack.

“Brands are more important than ever,” Elischer said. “People now have a desire to transcend material satisfaction and experience emotional fulfillment.”

If you’re a nonbeliever, just take a gander at U.S. Social Security records. When it comes to naming newborns, Americans are increasingly turning to the world of best-selling brands. In 2000, for example, six Americans were named after footwear giant Timberland, 49 were named after camera company Canon, followed by 11 Bentleys, five Jaguars and a Xerox. Chanel also is very popular.

“People become very loyal to a brand,” Elischer said, adding that smart nonprofits will learn from their commercial counterparts.

“Take the best learning from commercial, but don’t take it wholesale,” Elischer said. “Commercial is now desperate for emotional connection. That is something nonprofits already do. [Corporations] are trying to steal, in essence, what we do now.”

Elischer said the keys to successfully building and strengthening a brand lay in recognition, consistency, emotion, values, capability, uniqueness and adaptability.

“A brand is like a prism,” he said. “It helps people see different [sides] of a brand.

“In good fundraising, stop recruiting donors — inspire people [instead],” he said. “A majority of causes are not for everybody. Focus on the key people who connect with your organization.”

It’s also important that young fundraisers are trained properly. Those new to fundraising often are a challenge because they feel uneasy about an ask. They think, “We’re begging for money,” Elischer said, suggesting new fundraising professionals need to be re-programmed regarding that. “You’re not asking for yourself. You’re giving someone the opportunity to connect with something.”

“You can’t touch and feel our products; we’re about changing things,” he added.

An organization needs a framework for increasing the impact of its brand and, to establish that, has to figure out the problem it’s trying to solve, the value of the work it’s doing, its personality, its attributes and benefits, and who its key people and stakeholders are.

From there, Elischer suggests creating a vision.

“Your brand denotes sets of values and ethos,” he said. “A brand is an experience more than a communications device.”