Brand essence

Definition

The supposed core soul of a brand distilled into a pithy sentence that goes on expensive consultant presentations and is immediately forgotten.

Example Usage

Our brand essence is 'Inspiring Human Potential Through Innovation'—it's meaningless, expensive, and we're committed to it.

Origin

Marketing theory developed in the 1990s by brand consultancies

Fun Fact

Most brand essences are interchangeable; you could probably swap Nike's with Adidas's and 90% of people wouldn't notice

Source: Brand strategy and positioning

Related Terms

Beginner

convert

A prospect or lead who has been successfully transformed from a skeptic into a paying customer—or in marketing metrics, that beautiful moment when a prospect's value finally justifies the ad spend that chased them.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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lead magnet

A free resource or incentive offered to prospects in exchange for their contact information, typically email addresses. It's bribery, but the business development team prefers to call it 'value exchange.'

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cost per thousand

The cost to deliver 1,000 ad impressions, abbreviated as CPM where 'M' is the Roman numeral for 1,000 because marketing loves needlessly confusing acronyms. It's the pricing model that treats eyeballs as commodities.

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Intermediate

astroturfing

Creating fake grassroots marketing campaigns or reviews that appear organic but are actually manufactured by the company or paid operatives. The synthetic grass of the marketing world.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Intermediate

Conquest marketing

Aggressively targeting your competitor's customers to steal them away—basically poaching with marketing dollars and a smile.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

Beginner

insert

That promotional card, coupon, or leaflet strategically stuffed into magazines, packages, or direct mail that inevitably falls out and clutters your coffee table. In marketing and publishing, inserts are additional materials slipped into existing products to advertise, inform, or annoy. They're the reason you can never read a Sunday newspaper without creating a paper avalanche.

📣 Marketing / Advertising

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