Having started last week with the dictionary definition of a brand, this week’s offering comes from the realms of history (or at least the realms of history as re-told by a modern marketer).

Sir Michael Perry (when chairman of Unilever) gave a speech to the Advertising Association of Great Britain and covered amongst other things the evolution of one of the greats of early brand names – Sunlight Soap.

“When William Hesketh Lever first packaged up his Sunlight soap, he had a clear sense of what he was offering to Lancashire housewives. It was a reassuring guarantee of predictability and consistency. It wasn’t possible for the housewife to get the equivalent guarantee elsewhere.

Certainly not when she purchased a lump of soap which had been of a block of unknown origin and uncertain quality in a grocer’s store”.

The birth of a great brand and the birth of an enduring definition of a brand – a brand is a guarantee of quality and consistency.

And today brands are still a guarantee of quality but unfortunately that guarantee isn’t quite as valuable as it used to be.

That’s due to three main factors –

1. Retailers have become brands in their own right (and very good ones too) offering their guarantees of quality  
2. Quality is in the eye of the beholder (which is connected to the third point…)
3. I haven’t ever met a brand manger who does think he has a quality brand

While brands are still guarantees of quality it’s no longer enough to say quality – you have to say what type of quality you are guaranteeing.

Related posts

• What is a Brand? Part 4
• What is a Brand? Part 5
• What is a Brand? Part 6
• What is a Brand? Part 7
• I hate quality