I wrote the title to this post as if there is some unseen battle being waged by your brand pitted against the “internal forces” that are out to undermine it on a daily basis. Yep, that’s exactly how I meant it. Jack Trout writes in a Forbes article this afternoon;
Building a brand is often easier than keeping it from being destroyed by internal forces.
… referring to financial decisions, market space considerations and any number of other very high level internal business processes that will chip away at the value of your core brand. Being unaware of these forces (and not taking appropriate measures) is a sure-fire path to brand death.
But what about the little things? What about those pesky details in business that don’t reeeaally seem like they’re brand related? Those can sometimes be more important than the decisions made from 30,000 feet! Let me give you an example;
This afternoon, I was speaking with the CEO of a new client who is just finishing up a rebranding process and is diving into their first major creative piece (their web site). Simultaneously, out of necessity, we were asked to design their new business cards right away. Their new brand is going to be tapping into the “Sage” archetype and, as such, their messaging will be all about; knowledge, expertise, information, wisdom, etc.
With their new cards, several employees asked why we didn’t design the cards with photos like their old ones. Our explanation was that personalized design elements, like photos, generally evoke emotions such as “unpretentious, easy to approach, easy to work with” (the Neighbor/Everyman archetype) or “warm and fuzzy, nurturing, high touch customer service” (the Caregiver archetype).
Although putting a photo on a business card doesn’t dramatically steer the company’s new brand strategy away from their chosen “Sage” idea, it does indicate that there may be a more fundamental problem … the employees don’t quite yet “get it”. For this client, we have not yet performed a company wide training program on what the new strategy is … but we will. But almost certainly, after we have this training, there will be certain employees who still don’t “get it” and will do (and say) things that are “off brand.” When this happens, it’s up to the true believers … the brand evangelists … to step in and set the wayward employee straight.
Do you know who your brand evangelists are in YOUR company? Are there employees in your company that will, by their words and actions, poison the brand well?
As part of your brand management process (yes, a process), you need to seek these folks out and reward those that are in tune with your corporate brand and adjust the thinking of those that aren’t singing from the same songsheet.
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Two great master wordsmiths toy with each other…
It seems like I’m biased and have been picking on Coca Cola these days. Not true. Diet Coke is personally my favorite brand of soda. HOWEVER, if I’m going to compare two brand strategies I have to give the nod to my former fave … Pepsi.
