The Brand Management Checklist

Increasingly, the brand is becoming the key source of differentiation that guides a customer’s purchase choice.  The brand is also the focal point around which an organization defines how it will uniquely deliver value to that customer in a profitable manner. The brand embodies the “heart and soul” of an organization. In effect, its promise is delivered through its products, services, and consumer communication, creating the total customer relationship and experience. If the brand is well-conceived and consistently delivered through all business processes and customer contacts, the organization will grow and prosper.

Are you a part of a brand building organization? The following checklist will help you assess your organization’s readiness to build brands.

•Do the CEO and other corporate officers embrace the brand as a key corporate asset that must be built and leveraged?

•Is your CEO’s primary perspective that of brand marketing (versus finance, operations or something else)?

•Has your CEO “internalized” your brand’s essence? Does he or she “live” your brand’s promise?  Does he or she personally reinforce the brand’s intended personality?

•Does your CEO have a long-term vision for the brand?

•Does the CFO understand that the brand is an important corporate asset?

•Have you calculated the dollar value of your brand as a financial asset? Are all corporate officers aware of this value?

•Do people in your organization know the difference between brand management and product management?

•Does a brand management process drive product decisions (rather than a product management process driving brand decisions)?

•Are there brand “evangelists” in your organization?

•Are there brand champions in senior management?

•Have you identified potential allies outside of the brand management function who understand what you are trying to accomplish with the brand?  Have you developed a plan to further indoctrinate them and to use them as brand advocates? Have you actively engaged them as brand advocates?

•Is there a formal process for managing your brands?

•Is there a person or group responsible for strategic oversight of your brands?

•Does this include oversight of individual sub-brands?

•Do your senior managers own brand strategy (rather than a specific department or an ad agency)?

•Do you manage your brands as a portfolio, versus allowing (or even encouraging) autonomy in the management of individual brands and sub-brands?

•Are differentiating features reserved for the brands whose promises they best reinforce? Are you confident that there is no pressure to copy one brand’s best competitive features for the organization’s other brands and sub-brands?

•In recruiting for jobs in your organization, do you screen people for congruence between their beliefs, values and personality and your brand’s essence, promise and personality?

•Do you have a comprehensive internal brand education and communication program?

•Do you have a published glossary of brand terms to ensure everyone in your organization is using the same nomenclature and the same definitions?

•Can all employees accurately and consistently articulate your brand’s essence and promise?

•Do you test employees for their knowledge of the brand essence and promise?  Do you regularly ask them what they are doing to deliver against the promise?

•Are your suppliers and other business partners well-versed in your brand’s essence and promise?

•Do you have a method in place to indoctrinate new employees on your brand’s essence and promise?

•Do you tell stories to “drive home” your brand’s promise and its importance to your company’s future?

•Do your brand’s essence and promise serve as rallying cries for your employees?  Have you used the brand essence to galvanize and focus the activities of your organization’s employees?  Are your brand’s essence and promise stated simply enough so that they are easy to remember?

•Do you have a brand plan?

•Do your senior managers and corporate officers understand that designing your corporate brand (essence, promise, personality, etc.) is inextricably linked with crafting your corporate mission and vision?

•Is brand planning integrated as a key element of your business planning process?

•Does the brand promise drive all business decisions within your organization?

•Is “impact on brand equity” an important criterion in the following decision making processes: capital investment, budget allocation, business development/acquisition and cost reduction?

•Is there a process by which all marketing elements are integrated to deliver against the brand promise and key brand priorities?

•Are there formal processes that enable you to manage the brand across organizational boundaries?

•Do you constantly benchmark your brand practices against other companies to ensure you are incorporating best practices into your approach to brand management?

•Are you personally a student of brand management practices?  Do you try to learn from the successes and failures of other brands?

•Do your organization’s common measures include key brand measures?

•Are your compensation systems and career advancement policies tied to advancing the brand promise and achieving key brand goals?

•Do you offer special recognition and rewards for people who successfully further brand goals?

•Are you redesigning your business processes and systems, networks of relationships, and customer service functions to better align with and support your brand’s promise of differentiated consumer benefits?

•Does your organization structure support delivery of the brand promise?

•Does the corporate culture reinforce the brand promise and personality?

•Is there a spirit of open communication and cooperation between the brand management function and the rest of the organization (versus conflicting agendas, frequent misunderstandings, mistrust and a lack of cooperation)?

•Is your organization as focused on long-term brand building as it is on short-term sales promotion (in contrast to short-term performance goals largely superceding long-term brand building efforts)?

•Are your employees brand zealots?

How many of these questions could you answer Yes?

The Blake Project Can Help: Please email us for more about our purpose, mission, vision and values and brand culture workshops.

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

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