Distinctive Brand Assets

Non-name brand elements — colours, characters, sounds, shapes — that trigger the brand in memory, scored on fame and uniqueness.

Jenni Romaniuk (2018), on Sharp's How Brands Grow (2010)

What it does

The colours, sounds, characters and shapes that tag the brand, scored on a grid of fame (how many recognise it) and uniqueness (how many attribute it only to you). Because it is measured, it can be managed.

When it breaks

A new brand has no assets to score — investment first, measurement much later. And changing an asset resets everything accumulated in it.

Case

Mastercard dropped its wordmark on 7 January 2019 and let the interlocking circles stand alone — the direct test of whether an asset carries fame and uniqueness by itself. The decision rested on research showing over 80% of consumers recognised the symbol without the name.

Mastercard — dropping its name from the mark ↗

Diagram — not yet drawn

The fame × uniqueness grid with a real asset set plotted, and arrows showing the only two useful moves: build fame, or stop using it.

In the wild

Unvetted · not part of the tier assessment

What has been written about this tool in the last twelve months. Machine-retrieved and unchecked — everything above this line was checked.

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