The circus was in town this past weekend. The Formula One Grand Prix circus that is – making its whistle stop here in Australia as it marches around the globe.
It reminded me of an event a few months back when someone from Australian Grand Prix was talking about their brand. But is Australian Formula One Grand Prix really a brand?
Formula One Grand Prix is a brand. World over people hear those words and into their minds pops images of low slung fast cars winding around a track at impossibly fast speeds.
But as the circus makes each stop, does each event really have its own brand? Does the Australian event have something authentic that is separate from Germany or UK or Japan?
I’m not so sure.
It’s pretty easy to supplant the word brand for marketing. Most certainly the Australian Formula One Grand Prix does have a marketing campaign that is its own, it is an event in its own right. But an event given a very rigid set of standards, practices and operations handed down from the world body. So what is the real brand?
There are lots of campaigns, products, services, ideas and events out there. Not many of them are brands. I think it would save lots of money, time and confusion if they stopped trying to be.
After all – what’s wrong with being a really killer event that thousands of people come to once a year and enjoy that is a great part of delivering the Formula One brand?
Why do people take a clever campaign, a cool product, a killer service and try and make it into a brand? Next time you use the word brand, have a think about whether that’s really what you are talking about.
Sometimes things are exactly what they appear to be and there is nothing wrong with that.
Michel Hogan is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognize who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
