As advertisers and brand consultants, we’re always finding ways to explain what it is we do. After all, the guy in the seat next to you on your 5 hour flight has a right to know, right?
The advertising part is easy. Everyone understands what advertising is. Your dad and sister-in-law also think it’s easy and anyone can do it, even though they don’t believe it works on them. But that’s a whole other article.
The hard part is explaining what a brand is and why it’s important. Most people believe a brand is a name, a logo or maybe a tagline.
Nike. The swoosh. Just Do It. I get it!
BMW. The Ultimate Driving Machine. And that blue and white whatever-it-is logo!
‘No!’, we as brand people say. ‘A brand is so much more than that!’
And that’s where it gets complicated.
If advertising and branding is your profession, you know the psychology that goes into all the things that make up a brand: Positioning, messaging, tone of voice, colors, imagery, style, attitude, etc.
However, we often miss one of the most important aspects of a brand—the company itself. By that I mean the company culture, structure, its employees and leadership. What makes a company tick?
They say the most important thing you can do as a company owner is hire the right people. So why do we so easily forget this part of the business in our brand development?
A NEW APPROACH TO BRANDING
How do you get to the place where the brand reflects the company values, vision and culture? Do most executives really know what the culture is? What do they want it to be? Does it need to be changed?
What if we started to coach companies not just in developing their brand, but in developing their organizational culture? After all, a brand is so much more honest, credible and effective if it actually represents the company’s values. Otherwise we’re just kinda faking it by trying to make people believe the company is something it really isn’t.
In order to do so competently, advertising and brand agencies need to add Organizational Development and Transformation (ODT) to their expertise.
Carter MacNamara defines Organizational Development as a body of knowledge and practice that enhances organizational performance and individual development, viewing the organization as a complex system of systems that exist within a larger system, each of which has its own attributes and degrees of alignment. OD interventions in these systems are inclusive methodologies and approaches to strategic planning, organization design, leadership development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity, and work/life balance.
Agencies should have this capability to analyze their clients’ values, how their employees interact with each other and their executives, how decisions are being made, how the culture is passed down. With that knowledge, they can suggest changes in the organization and develop a brand that is weaved into the fiber of the company, representing all aspects of its core values.
At Bernd Ahle Advertising, we have added this capability and it has allowed us to really dig deep into our clients’ company culture and do a better job at addressing their needs.
FEW COMPANIES HAVE DONE THIS RIGHT.
I have had the good fortune of working for Nextel before they merged with Sprint in 2005 to form the third largest telecom company in the US. As many who experienced working for Nextel at that time will agree, it was a great example of the brand reflecting the company and employee values as well as its product attributes and benefits—and the company living the brand.
Nextel had close to 20,000 employees at the time of the merger with Sprint, however, it was run like a startup. They hired smart people and gave them the freedom to do their jobs. Things would get done without endless meetings. People would make decisions on the go on their Direct Connect walkie-talkie phones. The famous Direct Connect chirp was heard constantly throughout the office, and it felt like with every chirp another important decision had been made and a task completed.
Nextel. Done.|
Wow! Talk about the perfect tagline! One word. Nothing else needed. Followed by a vertical bar that visually represented finality and accomplishment.
Why did this work so well?
For one thing, the company’s focus was on business customers and the product was all about getting things done. Mobile phones were becoming ubiquitous but the walkie-talkie functionality was all about making an instant connection and productivity. No ringing, no voice mail, no return calls. Chirp, connect, done.
All of Nextel’s marketing was consistent with their brand. Everything—headlines, copywriting, imagery—had a sense of urgency and was focused on getting things done. Now.
Plus, this was the corporate culture and Nextel employees lived this idea—with a bit of an attitude no less. We were all doers. “I Do, Therefore I Am” was the headline that launched the new brand, brilliantly developed by TBWA/Chiat/Day New York.
It was about action.
Done.
Corporate culture and brand need to go hand in hand. Not every company has a unique founder or leader who infuses the organization with his or her core values and personality. But every company has a culture, and that culture can be explored, nurtured or modified and given a voice and it should come to life in the brand. By adding Organizational Development and Transformation to their breadth of expertise, advertising and brand agencies have a much stronger set of tools for analyzing their clients’ needs and developing an honest brand and effective advertising for them. Which, in return, makes them much more valuable to their clients.
