What is Brand Mantra and how to develop one? (With Examples)

Brand mantra incorporates and shares the main idea behind the creation and channelization of a brand in the competitive frame of reference. Brand mantra has several names.

Some people say brand essence, and for others, it is called brand promise.

Your brand mantra will refine and simplify your brand positioning in its most essential form.

Brand Mantra Definition

Brand mantra is said to be a message that tends to capture the brand’s essence and improves the position of the brand in the market place.

This helps in driving new customers to the brand and helps in growing the business. With a powerful brand mantra, a business can easily stand out in the marketing place.

Brand mantras are more than slogans- as they are simple and impactful phrases or saying or statements used for motivating the intentions of target audiences. They are the DNA of the organization.

What is the Brand Mantra of a company?

Brand mantra is a message that talks about the company’s positioning in the competitive frame of reference like Nike use its Brand Mantra- Authentic Athletic Performance.

Here, you need to understand that a competitive frame of reference is a fancy way of describing the market or context in which you choose to position your business or brand. In the process, brand mantras are actually an instrument about self-transformation and how the company should express and grow on the beliefs that the company holds.

Let us now understand how top companies develop their brand mantras-

How to develop a Brand Mantra?

The brand mantra’s goal is to capture the positioning platform and give the people the best essence of the brand.

If you showcase your brand mantra, it will show how the company tends to work in all directions of the employees’ culture that work there. Some of the key steps that are followed by top brands while designing their brand mantras are-

1) Showcasing brand’s value consistently

The brand’s mantra should be consistent and very clear, and the true values of the brand should be seen. Every word that is written matters and affects people. Therefore, it is necessary to choose and omit very carefully.

The brand mantra should not be a very long paragraph, but it should be a concise message that shows your brand’s purpose.

The staff of your company should stick to this mantra and should guide the actions.

From the executives to the newly hired employee, this mantra has to be respected and practiced throughout all the operations that are taken place in the company.

Iconic brands have simple, short mantras, yet the entire world identifies with the message behind them. The brand mantra for BMW i.e. BMW ultimate driving machine”, and for Disney “fun, family entertainment” are some of the best examples of brand mantras.

2) Your brand mantras should be long lasting

If the brand optimizes its presence and reach, the voice of the brand also reaches out to the world. Therefore, the mantra can change according to the position of the brand in the market.

It is crucial to know that mantras do not change or come with the change in trends. Instead, these mantras are built upon values and beliefs that last for years.

The mantra should reflect the brand that you are putting out in the market and relevant today.

Nike’s tagline – “Just Do It” campaign features the ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, representing boldness, decisiveness, and doing what you want to.

With Nike celebrating the campaign’s 30th anniversary, this attracted several customers and helped them increase their business.

3) Revolutionize your brand by emphasizing points of difference

A good brand mantra can help the brand to stand out and makes it competition worthy.

It tends to invoke good conversations and motivate the employees, clients, and all the partners.

From consumer experiences to all the sales meets, the brand mantra would shine and help you distinguish the brand by optimizing the points of difference in a creative way of brand positioning.

Nike Authentic Athletic Performance or Disney Fun Family Entertainment is the powerful instances of adept use of brand mantras in revolutionizing a brand positioning by sharing key brand essence and emphasizing the points of difference with other market players.

Let us now have a look at some of the most popular examples of brand mantras-

Brand Mantra Examples

Here are a few really good examples of classic brand mantras –

1) Nike Authentic Athletic Performance

Nike uses three words as their brand mantra:

“Authentic Athletic Performance”

This brand mantra emphasizes maintaining the authenticity of the brand. This brand mantra should not be confused with the tagline of Nike. The tagline “Just Do It” is not the brand mantra.

Brand mantra shows why the brand is famous in the market, and Nike is famous for the athletic products.

2) Brand Mantra of Apple

The mantra of Apple is “Think different”. This emphasizes the creativity that the company puts into making its products.

Apple is a very famous brand, and it got its popularity due to design thinking. Apple’s hardware products are designed differently and cannot be matched with any of the other products.

The main reason for its success is that the brand can act on different market opportunities in the best way possible.

Apple follows its mantra on these key factors –

• Keeping the needs of the customers above their own
• Minimal product design that the customers can easily use
• Status symbol
• Focus and simplicity

3) Starbucks Brand Mantra

The brand mantra of Starbucks is –

To inspire and nurture the human spirit- one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.

In the words of former Starbucks President and CEO of Howard Schultz-

“Success is not sustainable if it is defined by how big you become. Large numbers that once captivated me – 40,000 stores – are not what matters. The only number that matters is ‘one’. One cup. One customer. One partner. One experience at a time”.

This is how the mantra of Starbucks has been created.

Starbucks has gained its success by making its customers feel relaxed through their coffees.

The experimental aspects of the brand have been very useful for the brand as it works for them, and the customers enjoy it. They have also tried different things that are out of the box, and this gives them the right success.

They follow a strategy called the global expansion strategy. The main objective of this strategy is to recreate the experience every time they enter a new country. This results in a similar experience for all the customers, regardless of what city or country it is.

Starbucks has been a brand that is highly popular and is known by many. It might be criticized by some due to its overly expensive coffees or food products that it sells, but since the brand offers a high quality of the product and ensures the maximum customer satisfaction, the prices pay off. The customers are happy, and the brand is said to be the most famous among all the coffee houses.

Here is a video by Marketing91 on Brand Mantra.

Wrapping Up!

Branding, brand positioning, and brand mantras have been some of the greatest elements for the success of different brands around the world.

The companies have invested a lot in designing their standardized looks, logos, and mantras to be one of the most recognized logos around the world.

So be it BMW Ultimate Driving Machine or Nike Authentic Athletic Performance, these brand mantras are crucial in turning a brand into a great brand.

What are your best brand mantras? Share with us in the comment section below.