Branding a sweet spot for law firms, research finds
14 September 2012 | By Margaret Taylor
Related Articles
That Friday feeling
14 September 2012
Credit Crunchie
7 September
UK200 2011
12 October 2011
UK200 2011 Contents
The UK200 2011
Legal Practice Course
1 February 2013
According to research into branding which has compared favourite chocolates with well-known law firms, Berwin Leighton Paisner was compared by a focus panel to Hotel Chocolat because of its high quality, creative image.
Brand valuation consultancy Intangible Business carried out the light-hearted comparison, suggesting a law firm’s brand can have as much influence on a client’s decision to pick them as confectionary in a shop. It asked a focus group of business executives, law graduates and students to compare law firm brands to chocolate brands – with some interesting results.
Eversheds landed the KitKat moniker due to “new packaging for a product that’s definitely smaller than it used to be”.
Harbottle & Lewis is similar to Ritter Sport because it is “perfectly shaped, top quality and handily packaged for sport”, while Olswang was Minstrels for being “experts in entertainment”.
Slaughter and May was compared to a Crunchie bar as “they crunch through things and they’re bigger than they look”. In contrast, Ince & Co is a Mars Fun Size bar because it is “not too demanding but big enough to have fun”.
CMS Cameron McKenna is Toblerone because it has “global recognition, universal appeal, premium positioning but accessibly priced”.
Clintons is a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk because it “gets involved with great music” and Farrer & Co was likened to Bendicks Bittermints: “Classical, refined and civilised with port”.
DAC Beachcroft is a Lion bar for being “strong, brave and dependable”. Baker & McKenzie’s Hershey’s comparison was on the basis of being “an American favourite”.
BLP’s Hotel Chocolat comparison was made on the basis of the firm being “top of the range, twist on the traditional, creative and all about the visual”.
Brecher was down as Rococo Chocolates for being “exclusive, independent, quite quirky and self-owned” and Holman Fenwick & Willan was Green & Black’s due to its “consistently top quality across a variety of flavours”.
Stuart Whitwell, joint managing director at Intangible Business, said: “In order to survive in this increasingly competitive sector, it is time law firms started to look at their brands more like Nestle and Cadbury’s do – as a carefully managed, valuable asset.
“This research was illuminating– many of those we asked could easily name a handful of chocolate bars and who they were aimed at but struggled when applying this to private practice brands – even those students we questioned who were hoping to become lawyers.”
Keith Lucas, brand valuation consultant at Intangible Business and owner of LUCAS Brand Consultancy, added:“While partners at law firms are often more than proficient at cultivating their own personal reputations, a firm’s brand can often fall by the wayside – left to evolve organically rather than cultivated internally.
“An individual partner’s profile should always be channelled into the firm’s brand, otherwise it can walk out the door with that partner.”
Judith Prime, managing director of business development at CMS Cameron McKenna said: “We rather liked this and it is a good reflection of us as a firm. We are rooted in Europe and made up of distinctive pieces which all share the same form in terms of client values, service and quality.”
Readers' comments (18)
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 11:42 am
I could debate the t*ts off this one, but on what evidence have they got to suggest that Kit Kat has got smaller? If I was Kit Kat I'd be one the phone to Quinn Emmanuel, a firm whcih in my opinion would probably be a chocolate flavoured laxative.
Also, how on god's earth is a crunchie bigger than it looks?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 12:00 pm
The Lion Bar has got smaller, I am sure of that - bit like Slaughter & May, which, I think could be the Lion Bar of the top 100.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 12:03 pm
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 11:42 am
FFS, have some joy in your life. It is a bit fun. If you were a chocolate bar, you would be a Penguin - that is, bloody awful!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
jon | 14-Sep-2012 12:15 pm
Slaughter and May; ferrero roche. You've got to have system, haven't you?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Richard Perkoff | 14-Sep-2012 12:32 pm
At last - law firms with soft, chewy centres. TGFI!
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Mr Kipling | 14-Sep-2012 12:34 pm
If Dickinson Dees were a chocolate bar, which one would it be? I only ask as this may be a key factor in their ongoing merger talks with Bond Pearce, which I understand is a bag of Cadbury's Animal Crackers.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 12:40 pm
BTW - does the reporrt identify which firm is Cadbuury's Whole Nut?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Christopher Kat | 14-Sep-2012 12:42 pm
There must be tens of firms in the City relieved not to have been likened to Cadbury's products -- formerly much-loved British names, but taken over a faceless US giant that made lots of promises about not laying off half the staff before duly laying off half the staff.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 12:45 pm
Which of the American firms is Hersheys ... ie. I am sure they love them over the pond, but we find them tasteless and insufferable?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 1:30 pm
The bar would be stale old toffies. Tough to get around, dependable, some sweet, some tough, some a bit crusty.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 1:44 pm
There's a pun in here somewhere about the Bar, chocolate bars etc, but i just cant bring myself to do it. Perhaps someone will.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 1:57 pm
The biggest joke here is the brand agency's misguided belief that this is going to make law firms take brand value more seriously. Thanks for setting us all back ten years, guys.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 2:12 pm
No Smarties among these law firms then ...
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 2:16 pm
Im glad that they said this was light hearted, branding is important but ive never read such utter rubbish. Do these people get paid for producing this?
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 2:20 pm
Dickie Dees would be a Freddo
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 3:27 pm
I guess Halliwells would have been a Flake.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Anonymous | 14-Sep-2012 6:44 pm
all firms are the same, law students base their opinions entirely on the niceness of the leaflets given out at law fairs and swanky websites. seriously, we do.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment
Jami | 20-Sep-2012 12:54 pm
what, nobody wants to be a Lindt or a Guy Odin? Just shows that lawyers lead a cloistered existence.
Unsuitable or offensive? Report this comment