Brand Champions

Inc. Stays True to Its Brand for 30 Years

One of the publications I look forward to reading every month is Inc. Magazine, The Handbook of the American Entrepreneur. I think it is must reading for any brand champion. There are very interesting case studies and nuggets that can be gained from business experts. For example, this month there is a great interview with business gurus Bo Burlingham and Jim Collins.

For those of you who know me or work with me, you know that I am all about mission and core values as key drivers of brand. You also know that I do not limit my view of a brand to the logo. With those thoughts in mind, I love what Inc. editor Jane Berentson says in regards to her magazine's 30th anniversary. "Inc. has changed over the years. Various departments have come and gone. The logo has changed from small to big and back to small. But this magazine's mission remains very much the same: to serve the entrepreneurial community with timely advice and information, to elucidate the joys and trials of running a growing company, to hold up examples of excellence in business, and to acknowledge the contributions of people who have the drive, intelligence, and moxie to start something on their own," says Berentson.

We often talk about recession-proof brands. I argue that those brands who know who they are and what they stand for, are recession-proof. In the case of Inc., case-closed. Does your brand stand for something? Do your brand champions rally around your brand because they too believe in what you stand for?

Cheers to a great brand from one of your champions!

Brand Champion of the Day- Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director, Garage

Tomorrow evening I will be teaching the second session of a personal branding class at the University of Denver. During class last week the students met as teams and discussed case studies in personal branding, including Hilary Clinton, Tiger Woods and Warren Buffett. Tomorrow night the students will be sharing a draft of their personal brand strategy. After wards we will spend some time talking about how to execute a brand strategy via social media. When I think of a personal brand, and best practices in utilizing social media to deliver the brand, one name comes to mind, Guy Kawasaki.

As you probably know, Guy is the managing director at Garage. He first came across my radar screen when I read his forward and his quotes in Garr Reynolds' insightful book, presentation zen. After that connection I did more research on Guy and discovered that he is a former Fellow at one of my favorite brands, Apple, Inc. Soon after I realized he is a blogger at blog.guykawasaki.com, and is recognized as one of the leading authorities on brand and social media. A few months ago I started seeing visitors to this blog from Alltop. Much to my surprise and joy, I realized that Guy is responsible for that site and had listed this blog on his all things web site, Alltop.com/all under the category of branding. For those of you who interested in Alltop, check out the new customization.

Like many of you, I requested Guy as a friend on Facebook, and again to my joy, he said yes. I now look forward to his daily news feeds on my Facebook page every day. In the recent past I began to tweet on twitter, and again, like many of you, I follow Guy on twitter. A few days ago I reached out to Guy and asked if he would share with us for this post what he thinks it means to be a brand champion. According to Guy Kawasaki, "A brand champion is someone who understands that a brand can only stand for one thing, defines one thing, and establishes it despite the internal pressure to be all things to all people and the external pressure to reach entropic doom."

Exactly! Guy, thanks for taking time to weigh in with your perspective on being a brand champion, and for demonstrating that with all you do. You have helped many of us gain a better understanding of brand, and how to deliver your brand promise through social media. I look forward to  discussing your work with the class tomorrow night. For all you do, Guy Kawasaki, you are the Brand Champion of the Day!

Are you following Guy?

Aligning Verbal and Visual Brand Identity

Tomorrow afternoon I will be facilitating the monthly gathering of brand insiders in Denver as we talk shop over coffee at the Brand Cafe. Our topic for the month of March is alignment of verbal and visual brand identity. Many in our group are from the creative world so it will be interesting to get their perspective on verbal identity. The rest of the group are comprised of strategist like me who are always defending the need for verbal identity too.

Of course every brand needs both a verbal and visual identity. But, in my view too little attention is given to verbal identity. I argue that the stories told over breakfast at the kitchen table, the discussions at places like Starbucks and the conversations at networking events total larger numbers than people who see a company's logo or brochure. Of course a visual identity is important too, but it can't be the only aspect.

As I mentioned here yesterday, I think social media affords us a great opportunity to more effectively tell our story online. How do you tell your story offine?

Brands and Social Media

Over the past six to twelve months I have noticed a great sea change in the number of people and organizations who ask about how to incorporate social media into their personal or company brand development efforts. Last week in a personal branding class that I was teaching we ended up spending more time than anticipated on the subject of social media. I anticipate we will revisit the topic in class again next week. With each new project, social media becomes increasingly a part of the brand development efforts with our clients.

Social media as the key communicator for delivering a brand message and the connector for brands and brand champions seems to be on everyone's radar screens today, and rightfully so. The ability to utilize Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-In, Meet Up and other social networking sites provides cost effective, real-time and link-ability that is unmatched using traditional marketing tools such as paid advertising on television, radio and print. If your personal brand and organizational brand have not gained entry into the social media world yet, they need to.

I am a big fan and have witnessed tremendous benefits in our ability to recruit and retain brand champions. The left-hand side of this page demonstrates how I feel, but do you think social media enhances or dilutes your brand?

Brand Champion of the Day- John F. Dolan, Vice President for Enrollment, La Salle University

On Mondays and Fridays I devote this space to an organization or someone who understands what it means to be a brand champion. Since the time I met him in November of 2000, I have not interacted with a person who knows more about the importance of brand champion recruitment and retention to an organization than John Dolan. John is currently the Vice President for Enrollment at La Salle University. During his time at La Salle and in his previous positions with other organizations, John has been a pioneer in non-profit and education brand development. 

John says, “Student satisfaction, employee engagement and alumni loyalty are the strategic levers for an effective university brand initiative. This past year we established a new internal branding approach which is designed to address the ways in which our faculty, staff and students, alumni, trustees and friends live the mission of our founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle. Our internal and external constituents are our brand champions. By providing them with an opportunity to help shape and manage our brand, La Salle University is positioning our institution for sustainability.”

John thanks for taking time to share with us some of your thoughts about what it means to be a brand champion.For his contributions to branding, John Dolan from La Salle University in Philadelphia is the Brand Champion of the Day! What do you think it means to be a brand champion for your organization?

Iditarod or Celebrity Apprentice: Which Brand is More Authentic?

That question crossed my mind last Sunday evening as I was switching back and forth on my remote to catch both competitions. The Iditarod on Versus captures the grueling sled dog race across the frozen landscape of Alaska as mushers wind their way across the great north to the finish line in Nome. The  Celebrity Apprentice pits athletes, entertainers and other famous people against each other in business challenges as they whine their way not to be fired.

Because the Celebrity Apprentice is on NBC, has The Donald as host and is filled with glam stars, obviously it is much more popular than the Iditarod with its lesser known stars, and appears on the lesser known cable channel Versus. I work with organizations and people to help them understand and embrace their core values, and then develop a platform to create an emotional connection with their audience. Watching the Iditarod brand creates the emotion that every brand wants to achieve. The connection that the mushers have with their dogs and their understanding of their core values is amazing. In terms of athletes, give me Lance Mackey! It doesn't get anymore authentic.

Which brand do you think is more authentic?

Got a Personal Branding Problem? Maybe Jim Lehrer is the Answer

Last night I had the pleasure of teaching a personal branding class at the University of Denver. The session was comprised of a very diverse group of individuals. Some are at a point in their life when they are thinking about starting a new business, others have done so and are looking to enhance their business and all are there because they have challenges with how to enhance their professional identity.

A few hours before the class, I read an enlightening article in the USA Today about PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer. I have been a champion of his brand for years so I thought I should read the story and find out if I could learn anything new about him. Little did I know that Mr. Lehrer is also an accomplished author. He recently had his 19th novel published. Towards the end of the story, Lehrer says, "At the time of my 10th book, I thought, 'I am now a writer.' But no, I'm still the TV guy."

I think Lehrer's situation is common for all of us. If we are involved with multiple disciplines, and most of us are, how best do we position ourselves? I look forward to next week's class session when we discuss the student's personal brand strategies and how to execute those via methods such as blogs!

Colleges and Universities Need to Stay True to Their Brand

I see that the lead story in the March 13 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education is 13 Reasons Colleges Are in This Mess. Like all other industries, institutions of higher education are facing challenges in these tough economic times. The Chronicle story highlights some of the reasons why. Number nine, "Failed to Find a Niche," on their list caught my eye.

Like many businesses, in the past few years some colleges and universities have gotten away from their mission and core values. For many college and university stakeholders, mission and core values are simply words on a piece of paper and have very little relevance until their school is up for re-accreditation or the institution is in the middle of a capital campaign.

The global financial crisis provides every business, colleges and universities included, to go through a self-evaluation process and realize who they are and what they stand for. Now may be the most important time in the history of all businesses to connect or reconnect with their mission and core values, and realize that their brand is not their logo or tagline. Their brand is their name and what their name stands for. When we know that, it is much easier to remain true to our brand, and so will our brand champions.

Brand Champion of the Day- Joel Comm, Author of Twitter Power

Today I want to recognize Joel Comm as the Brand Champion of the Day. Joel is the author of twitter power, How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time. The book is fantastic and really helps one understand the value of Twitter as a business marketing resource. Like others, my introduction to social networking began with the development of a blog. In my case, this one.

After realizing the value of blogs, I next posted my profile on Linked-In, followed by Facebook. Seeing the value of those sites, I added a page on Facebook for my business. Like I felt before joining those sites, I was skeptical about Twitter as a business strategy. At our most recent meeting of the Brand Cafe one of our insiders convinced me to Tweet. I fully trust her and decided to do so.

My next move was to purchase Joel's book and read what an expert on the subject had to say. I won't go into the details because I think you should read first-hand what Joel recommends. I am not sure there is a more significant champion of a brand than Joel Comm is for Twitter. For his efforts in convincing us to Tweet, Joel Comm is the Brand Champion of the Day!

Creative Community Meets in Denver to Talk Brand Sustainability

Yesterday one of my colleagues at BrandED, Martin Mendelsberg and I had the privilege of presenting at the 2009 Create Denver Expo. Our session, entitled Developing a Recession-Proof Brand Strategy was attended by individual and organizational creative professionals. Most were those who had just started their own business or who are thinking about doing so.

I started the session by discussing the importance of mission, core values and verbal identity as it relates to brand strategy. Martin then went through the process of creating a visual identity. Too often businesses start with naming the company and creating a logo, without any connection to the purpose and principles of the business. We hope that those in attendance will understand how critical it is to establish a mission and core values before taking the next steps in developing a brand.

There are no short cuts or quick fixes, especially in tough economic times. Those brands that are sustainable are the ones that stand for something. Next week I will be presenting a workshop on personal branding at the University of Denver. The next session of the Brand Cafe on March 30 is all about aligning verbal and visual identities.

What do you think the key is for a brand to be sustainable? How can companies be successful in recruiting and retaining brand champions?