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Differentiating your brand may prove quite a challenge. When we work with our clients on determining their differentiating idea we put them through our proprietary Appreciative Discovery®. As part of the Appreciative Discovery, the following differentiating filter was developed. It is a three-part filter, a proof, for validating the positioning or differentiating idea. Only ideas that score 100 percent pass. We call it the 3-Cs test...

Remember the 1997 movie called In and Out? It starred Kevin Kline as Howard Brackett, a Midwestern high school teacher who questioned his sexual identity after being pronounced gay on national TV by an Academy Award-winning former student. If this weren't a movie title, it might be a commentary on Progressive Insurance. Like the character in the film confused of his sexual identity, they seem confused of their brand identity. The company simply can't seem to identify if it is in or out of the buy direct space. As a result, it may be more out than in as a top brand, having recently dropped to number four behind Geico.

The brand is the most important asset that a company has. Half of Coke's total value is attributable to its brand, over $70 billion. Disney's brand contributes 68 percent to its overall value. McDonald's brand contributes an astounding 71 percent! A brand is not just the logo or name for a product or service. Brands that are built to express the differentiating idea, inherent to a specific business model and its resulting product, will create value beyond what the product was originally designed to deliver...