Advertising is key for any brand and as adverts are more and more commonplace, it is essential that brands find a strategy that will enable them to stand out in the crowd. Competition is rife and, in some cases, a brand can become a household name because of its strong advertising and branding techniques. Brand synonymy, the idea that a brand can be closely linked or associated with a lifestyle choice as opposed to a specific product, has become a popular way of grabbing the public’s attention if it is done well.

Brand values

Often a brand will align itself with a particular attitude or set of values that it carries forward. This idea of a “lifestyle brand” can resonate with the public much more than simply pushing a product, and this is channeled through clever advertising and marketing campaigns. The majority of the time you won’t even realize how brand synonymy has subtly entered into your daily routine; for example, do you ‘search’ for something on the web, or do you “Google” it?

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Successful campaigns

There are a select few big names in business that have succeeded in aligning themselves with a specific culture or group through intelligent advertising. For example, Red Bull has perfectly affiliated itself with extreme sports and being incredibly active. As they are pushing an energy drink, this is an ideal stance for the company to take. You only have to click on their website to see headings such as “Motorsport” and “Red Bull Unleashed”. This is not something that happens overnight but is a position brands can take early on in order to market themselves in a particular fashion.

Asics released a campaign to advertise their trainers, but concentrated on the aspect of being an expert in creating your own exciting and innovative path, while a series of MAG Singapore Airlines adverts were designed to create a concept of luxury and high class. The launch of the NFFC kit campaign for Kitbag tapped into the sense of community and loyalty rather than a direct focus on the players or selling football kits.

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Other advertising campaigns have targeted their audience perfectly and created a feeling and attitude around their product or brand. The Old Spice advert, ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’, was directed at women rather than men due to the idea that it is women who often buy hygiene products. The idea that anything is possible when you use Old Spice is driven through the actor Isaiah Mustafa going from a bathroom to a sailboat to riding a horse, while delivering a strong and confident monologue. Old Spice managed to align itself with not just a scent or a body wash but a whole concept of who your man could be if he used it.

Of course, there are potentially hundreds of other examples that have created such a strong brand awareness this way as companies catch on to the idea. Brand synonymy, done well through advertising, can promote the idea of experiencing life and bringing consumers closer to the brand, as if brands of today have a whole personality of their own.