What is a Brand Wheel?

We’re pretty big fans of brand strategy over here. So we’re especially excited about today’s 29×29 topic: What is a Brand Wheel?

When we build a brand identity for a client, we put a lot of focus on the strategic development of the brand.  A brand wheel is a method for defining your brand identity. It’s the foundation of your brand from the consumer’s perspective and it covers four main points:

1. What the product does for me.
   This is the “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) that is an important aspect of smart marketing. Here’s where you help your customer understand why your product or service is valuable for them.
2. How I would describe the product.
   When your customer is telling their friends about you, what are the key points you want them to be able to pass on? Simon Sinek’s famous TED Talk video, How Great Leaders Inspire Action covers one of our favorite themes: “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”. Sinek’s talk goes into great examples about why this was so important for Apple, The Wright Brothers, and others.
3. How the brand makes me look.
   In Seth Godin’s book, This is Marketing, Godin writes about the concept that “People like us do things like this”. This pillar of the brand wheel is highly emotional (same for #4!). Brands, you must understand your target audience’s emotional motivations for how they want to be perceived by others and align your brand with those target audience motivations.
4. How the brand makes me feel.
   We saved the best for last here – this one is most important. Think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The rule is, the higher you climb on the pyramid, the more meaningful, emotional, and essential you are for your customer. If your product or service is something that makes your customer feel that they’re reaching their full potential, that’s when the trumpets start sounding off in celebration!

Having these key factors defined for your brand ensures consistent messaging across various marketing channels.