Brand You World

I’ve just returned from speaking at a convention in Las Vegas and once again found that I learned at least as much and possibly more than I taught.  In particular I was fascinated by Scott Bedbury’s presentation – “who?” you might ask – Scott Bedbury: you might not know his name but for certain you know his work. Scott was responsible for developing “Just Do It” for Nike before he went on to help Howard Schultz turn Starbucks into an international brand – Tom Peters describes Scott as “perhaps the greatest brand maven of our time”; there can be few people who have such an impressive marketing CV.

On the plane home I read Scott’s book, “A New Brand World” and one paragraph shouted at me to pay particular attention:

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off strategy.  It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is defined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads that somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not surprisingly, sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of your best employee – the shining star in the company who can do no wrong – as well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made. It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are subjected to when placed on hold. For every grand and finely worded public statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by derisory comments overheard in the hallway or in a chat room on the internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for fleeting feelings. They become psychological concepts held in the minds of the public, where they may stay forever. As such you can’t entirely control a brand. At best you only guide and influence it.”

I’ve made the point before that your brand, or reputation as I prefer to call it, is the sum of the experiences people have rather than any one product, service or marketing communication.  For example I still love Apple thanks to years of continuous product development and brilliant communications however my experience at their store in Las Vegas was seriously underwhelming not least when I discovered that I’d been given the wrong size case for the new ipod I’d purchased and had to make a one hour return trip plus wait in line for 15 minutes because the shop assistant wasn’t empowered to simply take one packet off the wall and exchange it for the one I was returning.  But imagine how I would feel about Apple if that was my first interaction with the brand?

This caused me to think about how companies’ reputations are more often than not created by individuals as opposed to the body corporate and I’m not referring to the CEO or Marketing Director but to the person in the front line who is the first point of contact for the customer. And perhaps this is why; as companies grow they become less and less personal as a consequence of grinding individuals into one formulaic personality.  I recall Stephen Covey describing how he preferred a fruit salad approach to a marmalade one and feel that the only way an organisation can flourish is to champion the spirit of the individual whilst uniting them all behind a common, compelling purpose.  But how can you achieve this?  The answer I feel is to carry out a two part interview process – part one just concerning yourself with an individual – no CV, no discussion about work experience or qualifications; just a ten to fifteen minute chat about likes and dislikes, hopes and fears, life experiences and ambitions.  Prior to this first interview candidates should be told that no discussion about work or career etc will be tolerated – it really is a “getting to know each other” first meeting.  I’m convinced that this will help you to create a much more appropriate short list than the traditional skills/experience match in all but the most technical roles.

We live in a world of brands, as Scott Bedbury calls it “a new brand world” and what I feel is a “Brand You World” – where every YOU makes the difference.

Peter Knight is the founder of Phoenix, a privately owned marketing agency, and author of HEMP – The Highly Effective Marketing Plan. Email Peter at pk@peter-knight.co.uk