Brand Champions

Brand Metrics

One of the common questions that organizations ask me when undertaking a branding initiative is, "How are we going measure our brand?" There are a number of metrics that can be used across all organizations. As we have discussed before, it is important to partner with your Human Resources office, as they are often an organization's most passionate brand champions. They can be a great source for determining appropriate metrics for your organization. As brand champions you will be often asked the same question as above.

If we start with HR, you can incorporate your brand strategy into employee performance reviews. At the beginning of the performance cycle, on-brand behavior standards can be folded into performance goals, and at the end of the cycle, managers can utilize the brand strategy as a way of determining how their employees delivered your organization's brand promise. Other HR metrics can include employee turnover rates, hiring practices such as embedding brand language into job postings, job descriptions, interview questions, etc. to ensure you are attracting the right employees.

As one who spends much of my time working in the academic community, I help schools utilize built in measures like applicant yield rates, student retention rates, alumni lifetime giving rates and other return on investment metrics to help them determine the effectiveness of their school's brand strategy. One of the best resources on developing brand metrics to fit your organization is Profit Brand by Nick Wreden. I have added this book to my recommended reading list.

I welcome you to share your thoughts or questions about metrics that fit your organization.

Emotional Brand Experience at the Kennedy Center

Last evening I had one of the most emotional experiences of my life watching the "Kennedy Center Honors." Not at all what I expected. For years, when flipping through the channels, I always passed on the option to watch. This year when I saw the honorees faces pop onto the screen, I decided to stop and check it out. I said to myself, "I like most of those folks."

In the past, whenever I drove by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a cab or glimpsed at something on TV, I never made a connection. I guess I previously associated the Kennedy Center with US Presidents, Hollywood A-Listers and others that I had little in common with. Last night, made me realize what I was missing, and the emotional connection I made with all of the attendees and those being honored.

After watching the tributes to Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese and Brian Wilson, I now associate the Kennedy Center with class, creativity, dignity, professionalism, sense of humor and surprise. I did not expect to see Brian Wilson get the greatest applause, and provide me with the emotional experience I had. Wow, that is what we all want from our brands!

What emotion does your brand deliver?

LEGO for the Holidays

I know many children, and probably adults too, are receiving a coveted LEGO gift for the holidays. On this day of faith and celebration for many around the world, I thought it would be appropriate to take time out to and honor one of the world's leaders in developing brand champions. We all know and love LEGO. When you are considering how best to recruit brand champions for your organization, think LEGO.

Founded in 1932, this Danish company is a family run business. Today it is headed by the grandchild of the founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen. LEGO says its brand is more than its logo. It is the expectations that people have of the company- towards its products and services, and the accountability that the LEGO Group feels towards the world around it. The brand acts as a guarantee of quality and originality.

70 years after its founding, LEGO is still headquartered in Denmark, but now has branches around the world with products sold in more than 130 countries. And brand champions the world over. Do you have a LEGO story to share?

Brand Champions to Meet in North Carolina

I want to let everyone in the education world know that I will be delivering a pre-conference workshop at the national Community College Enrollment Management & Student Recruitment Symposium. The session will take place on February 11, 2008, 6:00-9:00 pm at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel in Durham, NC.

The workshop entitled, Becoming a Brand Champion on Your Campus, will cover topics including, why colleges and universities are embracing branding, best practices and case studies, the process for developing a sustainable brand, insights about becoming a brand champion. There will be an interactive activity that will allow participants to engage with each other in an "on-brand" experience. I hope to see you there.

You are welcome to email me in advance with any questions or thoughts you might have about the session.

Defining Brand Champion

I guess I should not assume that everyone understands what I mean by brand champion. Some of you are seasoned veterans and know your role as a brand champion, while others might not be sure what the terms mean. Recently I discovered a great description in a brand glossary on the website of Venture Republic, an Asian and European branding firm. They define a brand champion in the following way.

Brand champions are internal and external story tellers who spread the brand vision, brand values and cultivate the brand in an organisation. Every organisation needs committed and passionate brand champions. The more employees the organisation can turn into brand champions, the better will it be equipped to build and maintain strong brand equity. Singapore Airlines, L'Oreal, Harley-Davidson, Nike, Google and LEGO are well-known examples of companies which benefit tremendously from their employees being strong and dedicated brand champions.

I think this definition captures the true meaning of what it takes to be a brand champion, and I agree with the companies they highlight. I would add that brand champions are responsible for getting buy-in from other employees for the organization's brand strategy, they help employees and others be aware of, understand, embrace and defend the brand strategy. For those who know me, you know, I have to add Starbucks as another example.

What companies do you think represent a best practice in developing brand champions?

Thinking Big About Brands

I just finished reading Big Think Strategy by Bernd Schmitt, professor of international business at Columbia University. The book provides insights into how companies, and I would add brand champions, are successful because of thinking big, not small.

Schmitt believes that the key to thinking big is have guts, be passionate and have perseverance. I agree. In fact when I think back to my experience in leading the brand development efforts at the University of Denver, for the brand champions there, it took guts, passion and perseverance for us to be successful.

If you truly believe in what you are doing and the direction that your organization should take in its brand development, then you should persevere and have the guts to make it happen!

Launching Your New Brand

Is launching a new identity a time for celebration or just another day at the office? Too often, it is the latter. I think often times organizations are so focused on making sure that the important phases like research, positioning, internal branding and execution are covered, or conversely, organizations want branding to be a quick fix, like change the logo or do the ad buy, that they fail to include a launch in their plans!

I find that too little time and resources are devoted to determining how an organization's new identity is going to be launched. During the planning stages organizations should include this important step as part of the dialog and we need to ask ourselves if a hard launch or a soft launch is most appropriate for our organization?

Whichever approach seems to fit your organization's culture, there needs to be an official announcement, event, celebration or whatever. Without it, your employees will be left wondering about the degree of seriousness their organization has for the brand, and the degree of importance the organization has in them. From my experience, hard launches with an official announcement work best and help ensure buy-in and sustainability. Plus, after all of your hard work, you deserve to celebrate!

What have you found to be the strengths and weaknesses of launching a new brand?

MLB Brand Takes a Hit

No matter what side of the plate you are on concerning steroid usage, there is no denying that Major League Baseball's reputation took a hit this week with the Mitchell Report. The question is will the findings of the report have a lasting effect on the image of our Great American Pastime? Could your identity withstand a crisis like the one Major League Baseball faces?

Many organizations devote the appropriate resources towards building sustainable brands so that they can withstand crises situations. Unfortunately, most organizations think that their identities are fool-proof, or that they will never face a situation that will do long-term damage to their reputation. Think Exxon Valdez, Katrina and Homeland Security, and other natural or man-made disasters.

Organizations that develop brands with sustainability in mind are those that can overcome the position that Major League Baseball is now in. Is your brand positioned for the long haul, or has the identity building process focused on today rather than tomorrow?

Who Determines Your Identity?

That is a great question, one that I am often asked. Much of the branding literature and many experts say that the market determines your identity. I believe it is a combination of factors that determines your identity. First of all, the mission, vision, values and goals of your organization should play the most significant role in determining your identity, especially your core values. If they currently do not, then you should seriously think about modifying those or developing a strategy like branding that brings to life your mission, vision, values and goals, especially for your internal audiences.

Secondly, the opinions of your constituents play a role. What your employees, customers, donors and others think about you does matter. Ideally, you should strive to have the opinions of your internal and external audiences align with one another, and also align with the mission, vision, values and gaols of your organization. If they do not, then you will need to develop a brand strategy to link them.

Yes, the market plays a role, but if you leave it up to your competitors or others like ranking systems to determine your identity then you run the risk of identity theft. Who determines your identity?

Nation Branding

Today I read with keen interest plans of an international brand for higher education in Canada. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the Canadian government is in the process of developing a national marketing strategy to recruit more students from abroad. At a recent conference, preliminary details presented indicate that Canada will position itself as an alternative destination to the United States and Britain, and promises that Canadian education will help students change the world. 

Interfacing with educators and others around the world leads me to believe that Canada can be successful in this venture. Those outside of the US seem to have a much better sense of who they are as a country, and I think because of this understanding of their country's identity, higher education in those countries have a keen grasp of branding. Connecting an education sub-brand to a county's overarching brand could be an effective approach to nation building and recruiting students.

I say bravo Canada!