What Is A Sticky Brand And How Can You Become One?

We all know a sticky brand that comes to mind when on the topic of really strong branding. A brand that can perhaps be recognised simply by its colour, a simple shape or even an area of blank space, like the FedEx logo's arrow. These are all great examples of 'sticky brands' identities and logos that stick in your head, long after you've seen them. Studies have found that companies with branding like this see higher conversion rates (turning visitors to customers) as well as increased repeat business. So, if these brands are so successful, how can you create your own...

Well, it's fairly simple actually, save up a few million pounds and pay for the services of a marketing company... We're pretty sure that's how Nike did it, as well as McDonald's and various other sticky brands. However, odds are that you don't have that kind of money to spend, and at least at this time, it'll be pretty hard to justify the expense. In that case, you'll need to get creative. Most people don't know how to create a guaranteed sticky brand - one that is going to creep into the public's mind and stay there, we'd hazard a guess that even marketing companies don't know for sure how to create the next sticky brand! Sure, they know what works and they have the creative 'energy' to create jaw-dropping designs, and every so often, after focus groups and hundreds of hours of development, a sticky brand is born, but not without at least 10 scrapped unsticky brands...

So what factors create a sticky brand? there are a few factors that we can see as a pattern in sticky brands both current and of the past. They tend to use only one or two simple colours to create their brand. Coca Cola uses just red and white, McDonald's uses red and yellow & Nike uses a range of different primary colours, but only one at a time. They also seem to use simple shapes to create their brand, Marlboro hasn't been allowed to advertise for years due to advertising laws regarding tobacco products, however, most people still recall the deep red triangular shape on their cigarette packets and their sponsored F1 cars.