Differentiation
See also: brand differentiation
Differentiation is the strategic argument for why a brand is meaningfully different from its alternatives. In naming it supplies the angle a name has to express, and separates a name that merely sounds different from one that means something different.
In practice
Differentiation is decided before naming and expressed by it. If the strategy brief could describe any brand in the category, no name will rescue it, and the naming becomes decoration on an argument that was never made.
The idea is contested, and the dispute is useful. Researchers at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute report that most consumers do not see the brands they buy as significantly different from the competition, and they put the weight on distinctiveness instead, being easy to identify. Others, Mark Ritson among them, argue that brands need both.
For naming this means two separate jobs. Differentiation is a claim about meaning and is settled in the strategy. Distinctiveness is about being recognised and is delivered by the name and the assets around it. A name can do the second without the first: a coined word is easy to recognise and says nothing about why anyone should choose it. The usual failure is a team that takes an unusual-sounding candidate as proof of difference, when the brief never said what the difference is.
Where this sits in the process
The studio treats this as part of a single run rather than a separate service: the category is read, the creative direction is chosen from what the research found, candidates are generated in volume and then cut against criteria that were written down first. See how the studio works for what that produces, or the naming module for the stages themselves.
Related concepts
- Positioning: The strategic statement a name has to carry: what positioning is, and why naming without it produces decoration.
- Brand strategy: What a brand strategy has to settle before naming begins, and what happens to creative work when it has not.
- Distinctiveness: Distinctiveness is always relative to who is already standing there.
Further reading
- What is brand strategy? Why it starts with the name: Brand strategy is the decision about who a brand is for and how it differs. Why the name comes first, and how design, tonality and communication make it recognisable.
- Brand hierarchy: branded house or house of brands?: How to structure the brands in a company: branded house, house of brands, endorsed brands and sub-brands. Real examples, and what each model asks of a new name.
Frequently asked questions
What is differentiation in branding?
Differentiation is the reason a customer should choose one brand over another: a difference in what is offered, who it is for or what it stands for, that customers perceive and value. In naming it supplies the angle the name has to express.
What is the difference between differentiation and distinctiveness?
Differentiation is about meaning: a perceived and valued difference. Distinctiveness is about recognition: being identified easily and without confusion through names, colours and other assets. A brand can be easy to recognise and still offer no reason to choose it.
Can a brand name differentiate a business?
A name can express a difference, but it cannot create one. If the strategy has no real difference to express, an unusual name only sounds different. The argument has to be made first, in the positioning, and the name then carries it.
How do you differentiate a brand?
Start from a difference customers can check: what the product does, who it is built for, how it is delivered. State it in one sentence, test that no competitor could say the same, and only then judge names against it.
Sources
- [1]Differentiation vs. distinctiveness, i.e. stand out or be distinctive— Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science
- [2]Positioning (marketing)— Wikipedia