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[ DECEMBER 2007]
Brand is NOT a verb.
Adapted from the SmartCompany.com
Creative Leadership blog post.
By Michel Hogan
Once you get off the farm and into an organisation
your brand is NOT a verb, it is a noun, a tangible thing. It
should not be something you or anyone else "does. Now
don’t get me wrong I love brands, I love pulling them
apart, understanding what makes them tick and how to make them
stronger. It’s my passion.
I know the whole brand thing started in a different
way, and yes, maybe it was simpler when "branding" was
something that people did to cows, but times change and so
has brand. Our organizations aren't cows, and nor are the people
who work in them (despite the way they may act and be treated
on occasion). How is it possible that while our thinking around
what "brand" is has evolved, we still talk about
it in terms that evoke the aroma of singed hides and campfires.
Brand is the combination of what you believe
and what your actions show. Understand what those are, how
they have shaped your organization, what they mean to your
employees and your customers, and you will begin to uncover
and understand your brand. The result of what you find IS your
Brand (with a capital B), in all its messy, complicated, hard-to-define
and harder to put value on it, glory.
Your brand is who you are, you don’t choose
who you are based on what other people think or tell you (well
your shouldn’t) With apologies to math geeks everywhere,
if you’re a math geek you’re a math geek – you
can dress like a football player all you like, but all you
will be is a math geek in football clothing.
Marketers and creative types take note. The Brand
of your clients is not an opportunity to head for the wide
open pastures of your imaginations. And business leaders, next
time someone tells you that it's time for “branding” (or
even more painfully “rebranding”), head for the
nearest door as fast as you can!
That is not to say that you shouldn’t work
to build the strongest brand you can. Just that the way many
approach it is all almost guaranteed to be reminiscent of the
feeling the cows with those singed hides have. So if you are
contemplating your brand, here are three things to look at
and consider:
- What does your organisation stand for, what
do you believe, and why, then make that the foundation of
your Brand. It doesn’t matter if you call if vision,
mission, promise, purpose or cause – what does matter
is that it drives your organisation and if it does that,
then it should be part of your Brand (if it doesn’t
them maybe Brand is not your only problem).
- Do you think about your brand when you are
making decisions. I don’t mean decisions like what
should our next ad say, I do mean decisions like: what should
our new product be; who should we hire; should we offshore
our manufacturing and/or customer service; should we use
automated voice systems instead of real people to answer
the phone. And on and on. If your brand doesn’t show
up in these decisions then it isn’t Brand.
- Does your Brand inform the everyday actions
of your organisation. This is really where the Brand rubber
meets the road. If you aren’t doing it then it’s
just for show. For example, if the quality of your products
is a defining part of your Brand, do you give a 100% unconditional
money back guarantee? Do you have quality assurance processes
in place to minimize defect rates? Do you work to source
the most durable components so they will last longer? All
these actions are part of your Brand. It’s not true
if you don’t walk the talk.
I have yet to see a long-time successful brand
that needed someone else to tell them what it was. Instead,
try thinking about your Brand in more concrete terms. If you
do, the result will be both sustainableover the long-term,
and sustaining for everyone who works for and with your organisation.
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