Straight Talk on Branding III

This week I want to share my third installment, and maybe a fourth on developing a brand building organization. My last installment is here.

There are four organizational support factors that are critical to brand strategy success. They are:

•CEO leadership and support
•A distinctive corporate culture that serves as a platform for the brand promise
•The ability to obtain support from a broad spectrum of employees
•The alignment of brand messages across functions

For many, developing a brand building organization requires dramatic change. Here are some of the most common problems that organizations encounter when trying to implement new brand management programs:

•Senior management is not focused on the brand
•Senior management has a short attention span and fails to provide the support and resources necessary for the branding to occur
•Some senior leaders do not seem to buy into the brand management concept at all
•The organization is highly fragmented and resistant to change
•The organization is internally focused
•Difficulties in shifting people’s focus from their functional “silos” to cross-functional ownership of the brand
•The organization’s culture does not reinforce the brand
•The organization’s operations and systems do not support the brand
•The brand message is just one of many among a myriad of corporate messages

To create the change required to establish a brand building organization I firmly believe all of the following questions must be addressed:

•Is the corporate mission and vision congruent with the brand essence and promise?
•Is the business planning process linked to the brand planning process?
•Do the corporate culture, values and behavior support the brand essence, promise and personality?
•Are you recruiting the kinds of people who can deliver against the brand promise?
•Are you using internal communications vehicles to communicate brand positioning, strategies and priorities?
•Are you using training and development to increase understanding of brand positioning, strategies and priorities?
•Do performance objectives (especially common objectives) include brand objectives?
•Do you provide feedback on performance appraisals on how well individuals and groups are delivering against the brand promise?
•Do you reward and recognize people who have furthered important brand goals?
•Do you compensate people for achieving brand objectives?
•Do your products and services deliver against the brand promise?
•Do your operations, systems and logistics support delivery of the brand promise?

Brand marketing won’t work (at least to its fullest potential) if it is confined to an advertising agency, public affairs department, or even a brand management function.  This is especially true if the brand in question is the corporate brand.  The CEO must be the ultimate brand manager, and everyone throughout the organization must be a brand champion (which implies they all know the brand essence, promise and personality).  Indeed, the company should be organized to optimally deliver the brand promise, and the corporate culture must support the brand’s promise and personality. 

How can consumers know what your brand stands for if people in your own organization don’t?  Does the person answering your 1-800 number know what the brand stands for?  How about the in-store sales associate?  The copywriter for your brand catalog?  The person developing your brand promotion?  How about the people who design the brand’s products?

Comments

[Pepita Bos]

Adding to that I think many branding professionals lack in depth understanding of how culture works and what the relation to brands and branding is. I wrote a post on it on: http://sparkers.typepad.com/thinkingsparks/2007/02/putting_the_bra.html

[Derrick Daye]

Agreed Pepita. Thanks for your comment and linking article.

Derrick