« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 27, 2006
Confessions of Abuse: My name is…
Earlier this week, I spent an hour presenting findings from an employee and customer brand research engagement – and our recommendations for core values, vision and a brand promise – to about 50 officers of a fast-growing community bank here in California.
While the content, and our recommendations were sound, I couldn’t help feeling like I could have done a better job presenting the information. I walked away thinking “This year I will definitely make time for Toastmasters...”
Then I received an email that woke me up, and put a bright light on the dark heart of my problem. I was sent an excerpt from “Death by PowerPoint,” a blog by Jesper Johansson.
My name is Michael Hinshaw, and I’m a PowerPoint abuser. This was both enlightening and sobering. Being a professional communicator with over 20 years of experience, of course I didn’t commit all “10 Signs of PowerPoint Abuse.” But even the three I did commit were enough to suck the life out of what should have been an inspiring, thought-provoking presentation. Ironic, actually, that a presentation on brand – which is all about clarity of focus and communication – should suffer as this one did.
Though the President and CEO of the bank kindly emailed me with this note: “Michael, believe it or not, even at the third sitting, I still was able to get something new from your presentation. The thing I am most interested in now is for the rest of my team to have as much excitement about what we are doing as I am.” I still felt I’d let him down.
When I consider the basic principles of communication that I drive home to clients, students and employees (Focus. One Key Thought. Clarity. etc.), I want to hang my head in shame.
There is good news, though. Now that I see the error of my ways, I’m newly committed to “walk my talk” in every aspect of our business. After all, if I don’t feel inspired myself, how am I supposed to help inspire the hundreds of employees who will be responsible for delivering on this brand to thousands of customers?
This illustrates a critical foundation for any brand. No matter how believable, relevant and defensible the brand platform may be, without inspired delivery at every single stage, it will ring false. It’s been three days… and I know I’ll stay clean from here on out. There’s simply too much riding on the outcome…
Comments (0) | Posted by MCorp. at 9:57 AM | Permalink
January 15, 2006
What's in a Name? You'd be Surprised. Some Companies Just Don't Want You to Know...
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist". Verbal, The Usual Suspects
In public relations, there is a little-know segment of practitioners whose jobs are essentially to keep their clients names (and deeds) out of the light of public scrutiny. These men and women are almost never quoted or noted, yet they are powerful enough to pull feats worthy of David Copperfield by causing major negative events to literally disappear in plain sight.
And every so often in the branding world, a similar feat occurs. What do you do when your brand goal is to be invisible, or you need to remove traces or connections of a brand to negative events?
Take for instance MCI, the formerly known as WorldCom.
After the demise of Bernie Ebbers and his band of merry men, the new management wisely dusted off the MCI brand and left the WorldCom moniker to sink back into the swamp from which it came. This move was sound; the MCI brand was better known and more respected than WorldCom. It was lucky that they had a world-class brand to retreat to - undoubtedly (and thankfully for MCI) - many consumers have never made the connection between MCI and WorldCom.
An even more impressive feat: Altria Group, formerly known as Philip Morris.
This company's innocuous logo and unassuming name tells you nothing about who they are or what they do. There's a reason for this: the once-respected Philip Morris brand (the biggest member of the Big Tobacco club) needed to duck under cover. Under a constant barrage of media scrutiny and legal attacks. Unlike their competitor Lorillard Corp. which lives safely under the cloak of Loews Corp. where no one notices it (witness the recent death of Robert Tisch and the fact that the word tobacco never appeared in any of his obituaries), Philip Morris spent years building its brand around cigarettes and beer ("the companies of your pleasures").
Reinventing its brand as a brand representing "nothing" was a Seinfeld-esque, bold stroke of genius. As Altria, the company is now able to fully express its altruistic side, because non-profit organizations that had previously distanced themselves from Philip Morris were only too happy to accept grants from Altria. And best of all, the Philip Morris name wasn't gone entirely; it could be trotted out to take the blame for all corporate sins and then retired to the closet (much like Viacom's CBS blaming sister division MTV for the Janet Jackson fiasco).
An unfortunate (though extremely impressive) example of marketing smarts trumping morals, as the biggest name in tobacco literally disappeared in a puff of smoke.
A special thank you to Bob Ponce who co-authored the majority of this post. You can contact Bob Ponce at rponce@5business.com
Comments (0) | Posted by MCorp. at 8:27 PM | Permalink
January 3, 2006
Developing a Culture of Brand Performance Accountability
Just as with financial performance, measurement is critical to improvement for brand initiatives. Creating a culture of measurement-driven brand assessments will help executives better understand how to derive the greatest return from their investments.
Moving past the fundamental first step of understanding that brands do, in fact, have inherent value, a measurement-driven brand management culture can positively maximize the brand’s effect on tangible business results in critical areas including customer experience, retention, loyalty, profitability and value.
Moving into these areas in an incremental manner (“slowly but surely”) will begin to provide marketers with the baseline data to pursue key management support as well. Simple steps based on increasing your understanding of your customers, and their interactions with your brand, can be implemented through ongoing research.
For instance, the ability to quantify gaps in organizational alignment behind your brand, or discontinuity in the customer experience (including metrics such as loyalty, drivers of satisfaction, service levels, etc.) by segment, region or product, can – and do – have profound impact at the executive level.
Metrics such as these can have a significant effect on your brand investments, as you better understand perceptions and attitudes, and how these vary by segment… with a particular focus on your most profitable customers…
Comments (0) | Posted by MCorp. at 8:31 PM | Permalink