Brand Core · Brand Perception · Module
The identity–image gap
The distance between what the organisation intended and what arrived — and which of the two is wrong, because both answers occur.
The idea
How it works
The gap is measured by comparing what the organisation says it stands for with what came back unprompted. It is uncomfortable and it is the most valuable output in this object.
Two very different diagnoses look identical in the data. Either the message did not reach people, or it reached them and was not believed. The first is a communication problem; the second is a behaviour problem, and treating one as the other wastes years.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Compare unprompted image against stated identity
Word for word where possible. Paraphrasing on either side hides the gap.
- 02
Ask whether it was heard or disbelieved
People who recall the claim and reject it are a different group from people who never encountered it.
- 03
Consider that the identity may be wrong
Sometimes the market is right and the organisation is describing something it stopped being.
- 04
Rank gaps by consequence
Not every misperception matters. The ones affecting purchase or hiring do.
One level in
The components of the identity–image gap
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
The diagnosis
Whether the message was unheard, heard and disbelieved, or accurate and unwelcome.
Learn
Consider that the identity may be the wrong half. Sometimes the market is describing what the organisation actually became.
The other modules in brand perception
Measuring perception
How what people think is actually established — with the method’s limits recorded alongside the result, because every method here has serious ones.
LearnSegment differences
How perception varies between customers, non-customers, employees and candidates — and which of those differences matters for what the organisation is trying to do.
LearnShifting perception
What it takes to change a belief that is wrong or outdated: how long, on what evidence, and why saying it differently is rarely enough.
Learn