The Ultimate Case Study In Brand Identity Vs Brand Image – Tiger Woods
I’ve been waiting to post on Tiger Woods and his branding problems until the dust settled a bit. It’s been interesting to see who is sticking with him and who is not.
I’ve been saying that brand identity is the most critical asset a company or person can have for almost 20 years. Most people still really don’t know what brand identity means, no it’s not a pretty logo. So this Tiger Woods epic is a great way to understand what brand identity really means.
Tiger Woods had a brand identity of a winner in every aspect of his life. The best golfer, family man, husband, father etc. He worked tirelessly to bring this identity forward to make him into the most powerful athlete I’ve ever seen.
A month or so ago if you asked anyone what they thought of Tiger Woods you would have got the same answer over and over again. A champion of life. That’s what we call brand image. When your brand identity aligns with your brand image you’ve achieved brand success.
This was Tiger’s brand identity before the drama:
This is Tiger’s new brand image:
You’ll notice they no longer align.
Tag Heuer, the Swiss watchmaker, has dropped its sponsorship of Tiger Woods following the golfer’s admission of marital infidelity. Tag Heuer joins a growing list of companies to part ways with the top ranked golfer.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) have dropped Woods from their sponsorship roster and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) said its Gillette unit would no longer run ads featuring Woods.
For the moment, Nike (NYSE: NKE) appears to be sticking by Woods.
Now you should have a good idea of what brand identity really is. It’s the heart and soul of who you are as a company or a person. It permeates everything you do. Faking it leads to disaster.
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December 21st, 2009 at 10:18 pm
This is so true. Often when we consult to a company they dont see pass the logo design and color systems. However, the brand is far more than pretty graphics. People’s experience with the brand and it’s public image holds so much value. Well delivered.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
[...] The Ultimate Case Study In Brand Identity Vs Brand Image – Tiger Woods [...]
January 17th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Maybe Nike likes that Tiger lives it’s slogan, “just Do It”.
As we all say when one discovers that a business is more spin than reality. The brand has to suffer.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Might be that I’m too dense, but I don’t see how you are distinguishing between “brand identity” and “brand image.”
Does “brand identity” equal “brand personality” and “brand image” equals the visual expression of that personality?
Some graphic designers consider “brand identity” to be the systematic visual expressions of the “brand,” encompassing logo, color palette, font, imagery such as photo or illustration styles and maybe even non-visual expressions such as verbal, audio and olfactory elements.
No wonder clients are confused. Maybe the profession needs to revisit the language of brand, branding and communications.
February 9th, 2010 at 7:17 am
http://blonde-design.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-tiger-will-play-himself-out-of.html
Absolutely, spot on. I’m personally looklking forward to seeing how he climbs out of this one. If ever there was a living example of what it means to have a brand, and how to build it, destroy it and rebuild it, then brand Tiger is the perfect case study.
Please have a look at my blog on Tiger above and let me know your thoughts.
@Jim – I think the days of seperating brand identity/personality/image are coming to an end and fast.
The attention span of todays audience is getting shorter everyday, so having a logo or a campaign they can identify with is no longer as important as how they ‘feel’ to the audience. Values and style are now far more important than how they look as there are now so many different ways to engage with a brand.
In a way, the audience has become more fickle that when a brand lets them down they have so many options on finding a replacement that their misdemeanors are quickly forgotten. As fast as an audience can be lost is as fast as they can be won again.