Brand Champions

Brand Champion of the Day- Daryn Kagan, Creator and Host, DarynKagan.com

Like many of you, I first learned of Daryn's work when she anchored news and sports for CNN. You probably viewed her great work from the CNN anchor chair on September 11, 2001. A while back, Daryn decided that she wanted to focus her attention on talking about good news. For that, Daryn Kagan creator and host of DarynKagan.com is the Brand Champion of the Day.

Daryn shares these thoughts with us, "Many people ask me how I have such a positive outlook after more than 20-years in the news business. Simply, I believe in the adage, Create What You Seek. I was seeking inspiration so I decided to create a home where these stories could live. In addition to creating and hosting DarynKagan.com, I want to let you know that I am working on my second documentary, and my first book What's Possible: 50 True Stories of Real People Who Dared to Dream They Could Make a Difference, comes out April 8, 2008. You can pre-order my book at amazon.com."

Daryn's brand is represented by her website, documentaries and book, but the real essence of her brand is making a difference. She clearly understands her mission, vision and values. In a sense she also helps others shape their identities. Now that is a brand champion!

I value what Daryn has to say, I know in my work, one of my primary motivations as a brand consultant is to help my clients make a difference, and help my client's clients make a difference. How are you making a difference for your organization?

Sugoi Brand Champions

I recently discovered Sugoi, the Canadian specialty apparel company. Sugoi apparel includes running, racing, swimming, triathlon, nordic and other wear. According to their website, the company's mission is to fuel personal best. Their brand champion program is geared toward supporting those athletes who choose to wear Sugoi and inspire others on a daily basis to do the same.

The main criteria for inclusion to the Sugoi brand champion program is not always the person who is the fastest in the competition, but the person who inspires others by chasing their own personal bests. Obviously, I like the title of the rewards and recognition program, brand champions. But, I am also intrigued by the idea of customers being the brand champions, and recruiting others to be brand champions.

Often times we focus so much on training and developing our employees to become brand champions, that we forget our biggest champions are our consumers. Ideally we want both internal and external brand champions. What does your brand champion program consist of? 

GOP Brand

Monday evening during my workout, I heard on CNN that outgoing Republican Congressman, Thomas Davis of Virginia, was quoted in the Washington Post as saying President Bush killed the GOP brand. I guess the Congressman thinks that because of the President's decisions on the economy, the war, immigration and other issues, that the President is no longer a brand champion for the Grand Old Party.

If you are curious about this, I encourage you to go the GOP website and look at the party platform. Then determine if you think President Bush aligns with the platform or not. Is the Congressman saying that the President no longer represents the mission, vision, values and goals of the  Grand Old Party?

For me the lines are increasingly blurred about what the Democratic and Republican parties stand for these days. What is their brand?

HP Engages Brand Champions

Last week I discovered an interesting program at Hewlett-Packard. In an attempt to reinvigorate its reputation, and create more value for its brand, HP has developed a campaign to invite retired HP employees to become brand champions. The organization realizes that retirees play an important role in shaping the identity of HP. What retirees say and how they influence others is important to HP.

Retirees obviously have a vested interest in the performance of the company, so HP is soliciting their help to rebuild a reputation that aligns with it products. This approach reminds me of the work that I do with colleges, universities and school districts. It is critical that we engage alumni in the brand development process. There is not a more enthusiastic constituent base than our alums, and our retirees should be too.

How do you involve your alumni or retirees in your brand development efforts?

Brand Champion of the Day- Pat Frantz Cercone, Director of Communications and Marketing, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

I am pleased to announce that the Brand Champion of the Day is Pat Frantz Cercone, Director of Communications and Marketing, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Several days ago, I was searching for videos about brand champions on YouTube, and I discovered several from Pat's institution. They were all centered on the brand promise for the university, and recognizing brand champions of the institution. Their tagline focuses on Going Beyond, and the videos highlight those who do. I was very impressed so I contacted Pat. Here is what she wants to share with us today about what it means to be a brand champion at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.

"Brand champions on our campus are those staff offices and faculty departments that best outwardly live our brand promise: The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford is a safe, friendly institution for students who want to earn a world-renowned degree in a personalized environment. For the past two years, we've recognized the members of one faculty department and one staff office at our annual Go Beyond Brand Party, which is an informal and fun, campus-wide event held in February on the anniversary of our brand launch three years ago. At the party, the brand champions are introduced and recognized by the president, who also presents them with a certificate and later takes them out to lunch. This year we also created the video that Rex saw on YouTube, which debuted at the party and details what makes these folks brand champions."

"Interestingly, the day after our brand party, a faculty member called me, asking why broadcast communications was chosen as a faculty brand champion this year and not one of the programs in his academic division. That told me that the designation of brand champion is becoming something that is coveted on our campus., which is very exciting. The concept of beyond, which is our institution's tagline, was created when we went through the brand development process four years ago. The consultants we worked with, after talking to various members of our campus community, were hearing a common thread in the stories being told--the idea of going beyond: At Pittsburgh Bradford, they were able to go beyond the classroom by participating in a great internship or research opportunity. At our institution, they went beyond place by studying abroad in places like Ireland, Costa Rica, France and England. Attending Pitt-Bradford transformed lives and enabled them to go beyond their expectations."

Pat, you have done a tremendous job and I love what you are doing to recognize and reward your brand champions. It has been a pleasure to feature you as today's Brand Champion of the Day.

What do you think of Pitt-Bradford's strategy, and this video?

Transparent Brand

We do not often associate transparency with organizations that partner with governments, but that is not always the case. Take for example, Raytheon, the technology leader specializing in defense and homeland security in some 80 countries around the world.

In plain view on the company's website is the organization's vision, strategy, goals and values. For example, the organization's vision is "To be the most admired defense and aerospace systems supplier through world-class people and technology." Their values include, " people, integrity, commitment and excellence." Raytheon also lists the reasons why we should believe in their values.

Wow, this looks like a brand positioning platform, I would create for my clients! We should all be so transparent. There is also an interesting video on the website about what it means to be associated with Raytheon. I commend them!

What are some other examples of companies that provide complete transparency of mission, vision, values and goals?

Construction Services Company Builds Brand

I recently discovered the brand champion program for VJS Construction Services in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. According to their website, "We deliver an exceptional building experience by creating trusting partnerships with our customers, providing them with dedicated personal attention, quality workmanship, and innovative construction services." The delivery of the promise is predicated on the brand voice that includes seven key descriptors that communicate the values and culture of the organization.

Town hall meetings take place to discuss how to bring their values and culture to life, how to reinforce the brand promise and communicate the firm's vision, strategic direction and expectations for customer service. All employee meetings celebrate and honor VJS employees how are living the VJS brand.

This is a great example of how to engage employees in the brand development process, and to recognize them for demonstrating on-brand behavior. As we see, more and more organizations are understanding the value of internal branding.

What are some examples that you would like to share of brand recognition programs?

Brand Champion of the Day- John Hershberger

John Hershberger works in brand management for a major international children's entertainment brand, and is today's Brand Champion of the Day. I met John several weeks ago in the blogosphere. John is one the world's leading brand management professionals, and so we are fortunate that he agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to share some thoughts with us on the importance of being a brand champion.

John says, "Brand management is a lot more than aligning a message in ad campaigns and products. It's about a way of thinking- tapping into the consumer's awareness and building recognition. In my line of work particularly (children's entertainment), I feel that a company needs to look to the existing fans in order to grow a brand. You must look at what draws a fan to this brand. What is the intrinsic appeal? Working with an understanding on that basic level allows companies to branch out and champion their brand in a way that those close to it will relate and respond to."

"I feel that in order to be truly successful it's crucial to look at your product from the consumer's point of view to really understand its appeal. Being exposed to our young fans during my early years with my company helped me build an understanding of the brand's fan base that has truly helped in my decision-making on a corporate level."

John, thank you so much for joining in our brand champion conversation today, and for reminding us of the importance of understanding our brand from our customer's perspective.

What do you think about John's insights? Please share your comments by clicking on the comments link below, and recommending who you think should be the next Brand Champion of the Day.

Tony Hawk Brand

Did you read about Tony Hawk in the Monday edition of USA Today? Edward Iwata wrote an in-depth feature on the Tony Hawk brand. Sometimes, it is difficult to think in terms of an individual being a brand. But, if anyone has built an identity that people associate with a person's name, it is Tony.

For those of you new to the Hawk brand, Tony was one of the pioneers for skateboarding, and has been instrumental in bringing the sport mainstream. In fact, he and others, are responsible for bringing the X Games to prominence.  While tony seems to be an unassuming sort, his business is not. there are Tony Hawk video games, skateboard equipment. clothing and corporate sponsorships.

As Tony's sister, and day-to-day business manager says, "All of this is his vision, his passion." As I discuss with my clients, the key to branding, is successfully bringing mission, vision, values and goals to life, as well as having a passion for what you do. Whether we are skateboarders or not, we can learn a great deal from a brand champion like Tony Hawk.

Who are some other athletes that you think understand how to live their brand?

Brand Champion U Launched

After repeated requests from account executives, communications, human resources, marketing, public relations and other professionals, my organization, the BrandED consultants group, officially launched Brand Champion U. We will now be offering more classes, seminars, curriculum development and other programs beyond our presentations at conferences. These sessions provide training and development of brand champions, as well as programs on how to jump start or reinvigorate branding initiatives, and other customized programs like personal branding. We call it branding school for professional development.

As you know, brand development is still relatively new to many market categories, so most professionals have not had any training on what it means to be a brand champion, or how to lead a branding initiative. Brand Champion U is designed to fill that void. If you want to find out more check out our website. You have seen this logo on the blog attached to the Brand Champion of the Day, and it will continue to be there. It will also be the visual identity for Brand Champion U programs.