Bold risks can contribute mightily to a brand’s essence.
When it comes to branding, Elon Musk is a true master. His companies make vehicles, some terrestrial and some extraterrestrial. Musk isn’t shy about pulling audacious stunts in order to give his brands exposure. One of his masterstrokes of branding was when his two vehicle brands intersected in, of all places, outerspace.
The SpaceX Heavy Falcon launch was amazing. I’m a big fan and admirer of audacious branding, and what was aboard the Heavy Falcon was marketing genius: One of Musk’s Tesla Roadsters, complete with a dummy driver aptly named “Starman” decked out in a space suit.
Affixed to the car’s dashboard was a sign that said “Don’t Panic.” The glovebox contained a copy of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” And blaring from the car’s radio was David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
Being bold is like a high-risk investment: The upside is huge
Audacity, by definition, is “the willingness to take bold risks.” In the world of branding, audacity is an integral but underused form of brand equity.
“Brand equity” is essentially the financial value to a brand. As many textbooks say, the four classic elements of brand equity are:
Together these elements create equity for a brand.
Nike has enormous financial and marketing equity because of its name, logo, and messaging. Brand awareness levels, perceived quality of the brand by users, loyalty to Nike, and various positive associations with the brand by consumers: it’s all contributed mightily to Nike’s huge competitive advantage in the marketplace. The investment made by Nike since the company’s founding has been astronomical, but so has the payoff.
The Tesla brand, the SpaceX brand, and even the brand of the entrepreneur himself, “Elon Musk,” have all been enhanced significantly since the SpaceXHeavy Falcon launch.
Brand awareness: a relationship with the media certainly helps
All the images of the outer-space Tesla roadster and massive press coverage gave the SpaceX and Tesla brands a lot of positive attention. Awareness levels have shot up, too.
Many of those who were previously unaware of the SpaceX program, Tesla, or even Elon Musk now know all three. Ask a 24–year-old from Ohio or Oklahoma about space travel. Do they even mention NASA? Probably not. But they’re likely to mention SpaceX. Marketing mission accomplished.
Building a strong relationship with the media, providing them with free resources, can help your brand. Furthermore, audacious, newsworthy actions should always be shared. Press releases are important. There are many online resources on how to write one properly. Writing and sending releases to the press regularly is job one. If your business has a special event, do what you can to publicize it – it’s a cheap and easy way to strengthen brand awareness.
For Elon Musk, a good, healthy dose of audacity went a long way (no pun intended) in getting not just one but two of his brands talked about. While practicing the brand fundamentals – consistent use of logo, colors, type and, of course, messaging – is important, doing the audacious from time to time can take your brand to the next level.
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