Every strong brand has two layers of meaning. The core and the strapline.
The core is internal. It defines what the brand stands for and why it exists. The strapline is external. It’s how that belief is expressed publicly in a few memorable words.
We may never know what the core is for big brands. It’s their secret DNA, the part you don’t see but can always feel.
We all know their straplines, Just do it and Think different. But we may never know their cores. For Nike, it could be pushing athletic boundaries for Apple, enriching lives with technology. These are the ideas that sit beneath everything they do, shaping decisions, inspiring culture and guiding behaviour. The straplines simply make those beliefs visible to the world.
Most organisations don’t have the budgets of Apple or Nike which makes the strapline so synonymous with the brand, but the principle is the same. A brand core is what you want to be famous for. The strapline is how you share it.
When Energy UK was formed from three industry bodies, the challenge was clarity. They needed one voice the industry could trust. The solution came from those same two layers of meaning. The brand core became The trusted voice. The strapline, The voice of the energy industry. Both are still in use more than a decade later.
The brand core is the heartbeat. The strapline is how that heartbeat is heard. Most businesses don’t need a slogan. They need a belief that can be spoken in many ways.
Read the full Energy UK case study here
