Patience With Branding Brings Rewards

By Wizard Associate, Sonya Winterbotham

It’s a year off 40.  Yep it’s been 39 years since we first heard a tune that’s drifted into our ears, under our skins and onto our ring tones… that damn Victoria Bitter Jingle.

Some people call it annoying; some people call it an Aussie anthem… I call it a pretty solid branding effort.

Below is a VB ad from 1974.

But how many others stick it out that long?  Even half as long?  Even a 10th as long?

How seriously do you take branding?  Brand language doesn’t become iconic overnight, it takes much longer… still the number of businesses who want to constantly change style, change language, change slogan, change everything black to white blows my mind.  These are businesses spending hundreds of thousands on getting a message out there, only to pull over, drop off the message, do a sharp U turn and start again with a new one at the same pace as the last one.  And this sudden U turn can quite often come from a shift in upper management.  So beware of the ego.

Here is a VB ad from a couple of years back

The world’s strongest brands do not live through a state of constant change, they progress, they evolve yes, but they maintain the foundations of solid branding.  It could be as simple as three words – “happy little vegemite”. (The link will open a new window where you can hear the original jingle)

NOTE: The billionth jar of Vegemite was produced in October 2008

The now ubiquitous “Happy little vegemite” first hit our ears in 1954 and we haven’t seen the back of it yet… You can bet every manager through vegemite head office has said at some point “I’m so sick of hearing it” but would you ditch it because you’ve heard it over and over and over again?  All the more reason to hold onto it.  I’m not saying don’t change a thing, I’m saying don’t change everything.

Rather than let boredom get the better of you… think about how you can evolve and involve language so that it becomes intrinsic to your brand.  VB’s daggy jingle from the 60’s has been revamped over the years – its fame has been talked about in VB ads, it’s been hummed and it’s played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.  Meanwhile Vegemite has turned those three unforgettable words into the name of a children’s award program.

So… Do you really think you should wipe the branding board clean and start again from scratch?  Or do you have patience to stick it out until you too take ownership of something truly iconic.

Some things… are worth the wait.