7 WAYS TO BUILD A BRAND LIKE JAMES BOND, PLUS BE FIRST, FILL REAL NEEDS, TARGET, DISTRIBUTE, POSITION, AND DON'T FORGET SOCIAL AND MOBILE

James Bond might be British, but his brand strategies are universal. Here are 007 tips to ensure your brand is shaken, not stirred.

With a bang, the 23rd James Bond film will open in U.S. theaters on November 9, and no doubt it will be a blockbuster like all the films from this franchise. The media buzz has already begun, and actor Daniel Craig will attempt to once again put his edgy stamp on the iconic character. But the Bond "brand" is much bigger than any one actor. It is built on a solid and winning formula that has worked for more than 50 years. It's totally scalable, always on trend, and continually innovative. A close look at James Bond as a brand reveals seven universal lessons that are applicable to any company in search of brand stardom:

1. The Story - Every great brand must have a great story, and Bond's is bulletproof. You don't have to tell it like Ian Fleming, but you need a story that builds a loyal following and makes people come back for more. A compelling story helps create the emotional attachment to a brand, and the right balance of the familiar and the new is at the heart of all great storytelling. From the opening action sequence, you know what to expect from Bond, and he delivers, always with an added element of surprise.
2. The Style - Successful brands recognize that looking good is part of doing business in a design-conscious world. Purchasing decisions are driven by both utility and aesthetics, whether it's a watch or a running shoe. Customers wear the "style badge" as a way of saying "I have good taste." Every one on the six James Bond actors used style as one of his weapons. From the impeccable tuxedo and the perfect martini to exotic locations and luxury hotels, being "uber cool" is an integral part of the Bond brand. If good design is not part of your company strategy, don't expect your products to perform like Bond.
3. The Team - Bond has more than M.I.6. as backup; he also has a bevy of brands always willing and ready for the golden touch of 007. Aston Martin, Sony, Playboy, British Airways, Smirnoff, Omega and, in Skyfall, Heineken. In the case of BMW, a Bond film was used to launch a new Model Z sports car. It's rumored that this next film will have more product placement than any previous one. This may make some purists cringe, but it's a win/win arrangement that helps cover the enormous cost of these films. It's a 1+1=3 approach to branding that allows like strategic partners to add value to a collective brand experience for customers.
4. The Sex - Sex is not your typical corporate brand pillar, but for the Bond brand, it is key. With no apologies, the Bond brand is built for men. It knows its loyal male following well and has made the "Bond girl" a cultural icon second only to James himself. From the moment a bikini clad Ursula Andress stepped out of the surf in Dr. No in 1962, sex has become an integral part of the Bond brand "toolkit." This might not be essential if you're selling smartphones, soft drinks, or vacuum cleaners, but knowing what drives consumers to your brand is. Even the irrepressible Ms. Moneypenny knows what James really wants.
5. The Technology - Behind every Bond there is a "Q," the techno wizard that equips James with the coolest "toys" for him to decimate his foe. A machine-gun-fitted Aston Martin for Sean Connery and the new palm sensor pistol for Daniel Craig are just some of the gadgets that Bond, with his fetish for technology, gets to take for a spin. Additionally, the opening film titles have always been technically innovative, including designer Robert Brownjohn's famous projected type on a shimmering body for Goldfinger in 1964. In the recent Quantum of Solace, fantastical use of touch screen communications was pervasive in the film. Embracing high tech is a no brainer for fueling any forward-moving brand in business today. If you don't, you do so at your peril.
6. The Media - Every Bond episode is much more of a cultural event than just a film, and the cross-media opportunities seem boundless. The title song? Great artists have always stepped forward to set the films' mood, including Shirley Bassey, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Alicia Keys and, now, Adele for Skyfall. In publishing, Playboy will surely have a feature. There will be a game for Xbox. MoMA has already launched its 50th anniversary of Bond film series. And, who could forget the Bond and Queen Elizabeth's "skyfall" at the opening of the 2012 Olympics? Timing is everything, and a seize-the-moment strategy to maximize brand exposure may be the open shot you need.
7. The Logo -  It's a classic.  The clever 007 number fused with a silhouette of a pistol designed by Joseph Caroff in 1962 has proven staying power. It appeared in the first Bond film, Dr. No, and has been used in every film since. In an age when logos can be pulled off of clip art files on the Internet, the Bond logo is a testament to designing it right the first time for it to last. Couple this with the film's twangy guitar theme and you have the best in sonic branding too. Well-designed logos become iconic when the brand they represent delivers outstanding quality consistently over a sustained period of time. For over a half century, the 007 logo has done just that.

The winning brand formula offered by the James Bond model works brilliantly for this Hollywood franchise. What about for your company? Any of these seven lessons will give you more than enough ammunition to conquer your competition and build an outstanding brand.

COMMENTARY:   James Bond is certainly a brand that we can all connect with whether or not we are Bond fans.  When you think of spy heroes, Bond is everyone's first choice.  Building a successful brand like James bond involves all of the above and the following:  

• First To Market -  Being first in the marketplace with a new product or service cannot be over-emphasized.  As human beings we are bombarded with hundreds of marketing messages every single day -- television commercials, magazine ads, direct mail pieces, billboards and now online display ads.  The human brain was simply not designed to cope with this volume of media overload, and as a result the brain can only retain 1, 2 or 3 of the most popular brands.  
• No Real Consumer Need or Problem Being Solved - Many new products are prematurely launched into the marketplace because the inventor or entrepreneur overstated or overexaggerated the consumer need or problem being solved, and created a new product or service for a market that simply did not exist.   Very often the launch of the new product or service was conducted without sufficient or no test marketing.
• Right Customers, Right Time and Right Place - Being first to market is important for the reasons previously, but it is very important to target your product to the right customer, launch at the right time, and through the right place.  Should you target your product to consumers or businesses?  What is the best time of year to launch your new product or service into the marketplace?  What distribution channels should you be using to efficiently and effectively reach your target market?  Is the economic, political, sociological and regulatory situation right for successfully launching your new prouct or service?   Are the technologies necessary for success in place to create demand for the new product or service?  All of these questions need to be analyzed and studied very carefully, and the right strategies put in place to successfully launch a new product or service in today's highly competitive marketplace.     
• Positioning - In their book, "Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind," Jack Trout and Al Ries describe how positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target customers.  In marketing, positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand or organization. The main goal of positioning is for the brand to occupy one of the 1, 2 or 3 slots in the mind of each consumer. This is why some brands are always first in the mind of the consumer -- Coke in soft drinks, Tide in washing detergents, Hertz in car rentals, iPhone in smartphones, iPad in tablets, iPod in mobile music players and the list goes on and on. This did not happen by meer accident.  It is very important that your positioning statement be consistently communicated across the organization, the brand and product so that there is no fuzziness, confusion or miscommunication.  Steve Job was was successful in repositioning Apple from a manufacturer of only desktop personal computers to one of the world's leading consumer electronics companies.   Shortly after Trout and Ries published their book, Madison Avenue ad executives began to develop positioning statements for their clients and positioning has become a key aspect of marketing comunications.        
• Social Networking - The advent of social networks has completely changed the way brand marketers market their products and services.  Social networks has for the first time allowed brands to connect and engage with their brand fans and followers like never before.  Social networks provides brands with a very cost-effective platform to communicate, educate, inform, enlighten and market to their global customers no matter where they are.  Brands are able in almost real-time to obtain immediate feedback about a new product or service.  A well executed social media plan can result in the creation of word-of-mouth through the power of viral marketing, and this in turn creates earned media, or free media for the brand.  So instead of paying for online ads, a brands customers communicate the brands message to their sphere of social friends, and this doesn't cost the brand anything.  As a result, brands are able to provide better customer service, make improvements or correct problems with their products or services, reduce marketing costs, and improve the overall customer experience whether online or in the retail chain. 
• Go Mobile - Brands must have a well thoughout mobile plan and mobile strategies in place.  The explosion in mobile devices, from smartphones to tablets to apps, has changed the dynamics of marketing forever.   More and more consumers are accessing their social networks, comparing product and service features and prices, conducting internet searches and seeking content of every form (music, video, TV, books and magazines) and playing games through a mobile device.  Any brand that does not address the needs of the mobile consumer or mobile lifestyle, does so at its own peril.

I think that if you stop and carefully analyze the success of the James Bond brand, you will find that Bond fufilled all or most of the above elements for launching a new product or service.   

Courtesy of an article dated November 5, 2012 appearing in Fast Company