A few days ago a Swedish friend of mine was telling me about ‘The Red Thread’. She told me that in Sweden it is believed that if a person has a hold of the red thread in their life it means they live with a stream of good luck. A Red Thread, she explained, is also used to describe when a story is being told but seems to have lost the plot – as if the thread is missing.
It got me thinking that every business is looking for its red thread, and that every business once the thread is found, wants to hold on to it for as long as possible.
The Red Thread is your brand value
Brand value is when people pay more for a product because of its perceived benefits – the intangible reasons for the purchase.
The basis of branding is that if you create an emotional connection to a business, product or service and you manage that relationship you will have a high brand value. A business with a high brand value is worth more than a competitor that competes solely on market price.
Even Interbrand (a US leader in brand management) has used the Red Thread to represent brand value. Interbrand says the Red Thread runs through what is creating and managing your value – holding it together.
The Red Thread connects you to the source, like a bloodline to the very essence of your business.
Your value is found in the key elements that make up the brand foundation. It is here, woven between the intangible and the tangible, at the core, that the value brews.
These three elements are found in your brand foundation:
+ your vision, purpose & creed – what you stand for
+ your differentiation – positioning power
+ a clear definition of who you serve.
Sometimes in business it can can seem easy to lose the thread. To know what your brand stands for will lead to success. Just remember, the thread is always there. It’s up to you to find it, to trust in it and continue to follow it…
Red Thread
The most famous story of the Red Thread in the West is the Greek myth of Ariadne, who gave her lover Theseus a ball of red thread to lead him out of the maze where he slays the Minotaur.
In the East it is known as the line of Fate. For others it is the bloodline. Red is for passion, love and life.
