Imagine for a moment your most vivid memory of a particular time in your life and how clear and real it seems today, even if many years have passed.  The power of these single thoughts is undeniable as they can move us in a variety of emotional ways.

Now, imagine if you could harness this power into a brand....the crystallization of all your brand's elements into a single thought, phrase or sentence. Imagine the recall ability. Well it can be done. Through the distillation of your brand's values, what it does - makes - stands for, you can develop a compelling and memorable Brand Essence.

The dictionary defines essence as 'the intrinsic or indispensable properties that serve to characterize or identify something; the most important ingredient; the crucial element.'

Brand Essence is not derived through a CI logo or design manual, but is the heart and soul of a brand - a brand's fundamental nature or quality of what the brand represents to all those who come into contact with it. It's the single thought that captures the spirit of the brand in the simplest, most single-minded terms. Said another way, it characterizes what a brand stands for in the minds of customers and stakeholders and embodies the brand's core competencies, advantages, culture and values.

The most powerful brand essences are rooted in a fundamental customer need. For example: Volvo = safety; Visa = everywhere.

Usually distilled into a word, phrase or simple statement of between one to six words, a brand's essence is the one constant across product categories and global brands. Try writing your brand's story in six words. Think it's difficult. As an example Earnest Hemmingway wrote a very thought provoking six word story, "For sale: Baby Shoes, never worn." Powerful imagination starters for sure!

Every Brand has a story, whether it is six or sixty words. However the best and most enduring brand essences are memorable, short, crisp and vivid in meaning. And above all they must be relevant and meaningful to the target audience.

Try first creating a unique and single minded proposition with its own special emotional territory based on fact. Essence can sometimes be prompted from the marketing team by asking them to think of the "ness" of the brand. What do you think of as "Nike-ness" or "Apple-ness" of your brand?

To guide you further, the key characteristics of Brand Essence are; they should resonate with all audiences, drive the value proposition, should be own able, provide timeless differentiation and should be compelling enough to motivate and inspire employees and stakeholders of the brand.

A point to note at this juncture; don't confuse a Brand Essence with a Brand Slogan, although sometimes they can be the same. The function of Brand Essence is to communicate, motivate and inspire continued commitment for those inside the organization while a slogan/tag line's function is to communicate with the external audience.

A few examples to illustrate the difference and connection: Nike's essence - "authentic athletic performance" - was translated to the following two slogans: "Just do it!" and "I can." Volvo's essence - "safety" - was translated into "Volvo. For Life." Visa's essence - "everywhere" translated to "It's everywhere you want to be." And finally Electrolux essence is "The thoughtful design innovator" leading to their brand slogan "Thinking of you".

Your distilled Brand Essence needs to be succinct and meaningful and have 100% recall amongst your entire organisation, because it will influence their brand behaviour at work and beyond. In defining Brand Essence recognise that it is not an advertising slogan, nor a description which will change with changing campaigns. Rather it's a long term positioning which is enduring and changes rarely.

As you craft your company's brand essence, remember these pearl's of wisdom inspired by Harry Beckwith's classic Selling the Invisible :
"Less is more; Stand for one distinctive thing that will give you a competitive advantage; To broaden your appeal, narrow your position; Say one positive thing and you will become associated with many;" and my favourite, "If you can't see the differences, look harder."

George Romanyk is CEO of local branding agency, inhouse and Regional Director Asia Pacific of ICOM, the leading independent global communication network. He can be reached at george@inhouse.co.th