Prior to undertaking a branding review, you need to gather all applications - tangible and intangible - which contribute to the success of the brand. These range from business cards to mainstream advertising to the way your receptionist is answering the phone to the way your salespeople are dressed to what your employees are saying on Twitter. The objective is to determine how applications are being used, guidelines adhered to, levels of quality and consistency and how these are impacting on the experience your audiences have of the brand and their perception of it.
Putting all of an organisation’s materials side-by-side in the one place can be a sobering experience for many. It inevitably identifies shortcomings such as...
quality issues
levels of inconsistency
relevance to the task
whether materials are outdated
omissions
relevance to the organisation’s short and long term business objectives
A visual audit however, can only achieve so much. The way in which the materials are used is important as this tends to identify whether they remain appropriate for their intended purpose since they were introduced or whether they need to be changed or even deleted. Do employee induction materials reflect the downturn-driven changes the company has made in the last 12 months? Are point-of-sale messages consistent with the organisation’s current advertising? Are machinery operating instructions consistent with workplace safety requirements? Does the organisation’s product packaging suitably reflect its stance on sustainability? Do the messages on motivational posters throughout the organisation truly reflect the culture of the organisation and its attitude to employees? Are customer communications saying the right things for the way in which the organisation wishes to conduct its business moving forward into 2010 and beyond? Is your marketing department disengaged by the events of 2009 and operating with blinkered vision that may just be detrimental to how the business and its products need to be perceived to capture new market opportunities?
Heywood Innovation’s audit reports probe significantly deeper than a simple check on whether the organisation’s logo and colours are correctly reproduced! Key components of the organisation’s brand are its employees and customers. We conduct online surveys and facilitated workshops with employees, key managers, executives and customers to gauge their real perceptions of the brand at this moment in time and collect their ideas. We get to know what employees’ thoughts are on the materials with which they work - whether they are helping them do their job or hindering them, and whether the employees have ideas for improvements or something totally new.
An audit conducted by an external resource like Heywood Innovation will guarantee an objective viewpoint based around questions, comments and recommendations that would challenge most internal resources.
How does your brand stack up with the organisation’s business plans and vision for the future?
Are the materials which represent the organisation’s brand appropriate to support the organisation’s business plans and vision for 2010? Have there been significant changes to the way in which the organisation operates since the upheavals of 2009 to warrant changes to the way the brand is expressed and ultimately perceived both internally and externally?
The answers to these questions can only be answered by a well considered and executed audit. Now would be an ideal time to consider this before the post-Christmas momentum takes hold...
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
One of the buzzwords that is increasingly used in the corporate world is ‘sustainability’. Over the last few years it has firmly entrenched itself in the vocabulary of branding. Yet I’m not entirely convinced everyone has a good grasp of what it means.
Application 1
In these ‘recovering’ times when there is still much doubt about our future business prospects, ‘sustainability’ is being used to describe an organisation’s potential to survive on a long term basis, suggesting that it will have to adopt beliefs, behaviours and practices consistent with being able to achieve this.
Application 2
‘Sustainability’ can allude to an organisation’s responsibility and commitment to helping save the planet and its people.This can refer to the influence it has on external communities with which it may or may not come into contact, and/or the influence it has on its own employees.
Application 3
‘Sustainability’ can also jump into the change arena and suggest ‘transformation’ and ‘innovation’ and ‘moving away from conventional thinking and practices’. It often refers to the way we live – the new options we have available as individuals to build sustainable communities, living and working harmoniously with the environment.
Not many people associate its relationship with an organisation’s brand. Not many see it as a core function of the business, relegating it to a compliance requirement associated with managing business risks and yet another box that needs to be ticked in the annual report each year. This is an increasingly regulated world where we are expected to cut emissions and move to low-carbon sources. It makes sense for an organisation to do this claim a stake in a sustainable future and add strength to its brand. For companies who are reliant on fossil fuels and water say, their sustainable actions may well determine the future viability of their business. With sustainability underpinning your brand, it may well provide a competitive edge over similar brands. Sustainability may not sell more product, but it can enhance brand credibility of the company behind the product and the potential to impress investors and attract them its way.
Because sustainability is now a consideration at most brand touchpoints, it has become one of the supporting pillars of the brand, alongside such essentials as culture and values. Audiences are increasingly aware of it as it gains more exposure in the media. This has prompted stakeholders, employees, suppliers, government and the press to ask questions on the subject relating to how an organisation manufactures and sells its products, what they’re made of, how it treats its employees, how it supports local communities and so on – questions directly relating to how it operates and whether it thinks beyond the factory gate about ‘the bigger picture’. At the end of the day, people want to know whether the organisation is a good citizen.
People are increasingly less forgiving of companies caught polluting, funding governments, covering up financial irregularities, paying outlandish bonuses and having poor attitudes to workplace relations. Organisations seen as ‘responsible’ and adopting acceptable behaviours are finding new favour in the investor community.
This has lead to companies investigating ways to leverage their sustainability focus to gain exposure and build value into their brand. Sourcing coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, cars made from high proportions of recyclable materials, energy efficient appliances, proportions of revenue donated to AIDS research, local community initiatives, educating children in Third World countries – there are many opportunities to contribute.
The challenge for companies is to align sustainability initiatives with stakeholder expectations and ensure they are consistent with the overall business strategy. There is a risk however, that some customer segments will have little or no regard for the company’s interest in this area, while some will have high expectations.
Failing to address sustainable business practices can have dire consequences either directly or through supplier relationships. Nike’s image has been battered on several occasions with revelations concerning its supply arrangements with Third World ‘sweat shops’. An article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian from an Indonesian worker summed up her experience of Nike “... labourers faced with forced overtime, minimum-wage violations, illegally low training wages, and abusive employers in countries such as China, South Korea and Indonesia to which Nike has contracted its manufacturing.” This is the stuff that PR company dreams are made of.
Organisations must recognise that ‘sustainability’ needs to be a recognisable mindset, not a part time indulgence. There are many instances of ‘greenwashing’, jumping on the sustainability band wagon and using public relations activities to crank up false perceptions. It is surprisingly easy to identify these organisations.
An organisation’s attitude to sustainability therefore has a direct bearing on people’s perception of the organisation, its brand and the ultimate value of the brand.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
With a thankful sigh, the CEO signs the last letter of the day. It is 6.45pm on a cool winter night in the Sydney central business district. Dark rain clouds scud across the darkening sky. The rain batters the window and the muffled sounds of homeward bound traffic are heard in the street below. His secretary, standing close by, clutching her soft kid handbag against her stylish raincoat, takes it from his hand, folds it neatly and inserts it into the waiting envelope. Her tongue briefly caresses the gummed flap. She smoothes it down and a brief smile lightens her face... “Do have a pleasant weekend Mr Donnelly”. And with that she is gone into the night. A distant door slams shut. In the meagre light from the desk lamp a mysterious grin is seen to spread across CEO Theodore Donnelly’s face and transforms his usually friendly features. His body slumps forward in the chair and his hands grip the edge of the desk. He rises awkwardly from his black leather chair, his large frame casting a dark and sinister shadow across the far wall. Slowly and unsteadily he crosses the room to where his wall safe is concealed behind a framed print of a Chinese girl with a face glowing eerily in the low light. He leans awkwardly against the wall as his tortured eyes strain to see the combination numbers of the safe. The tumblers fall into place and the heavy door yields to his anxiously tugging hand. He reaches in. Something suddenly moves in the dark recesses of the safe. His hand is grabbed by something unknown. It feels as though it is being pulled from its socket. He wrenches his arm back and forth in one mighty effort and it is released. He grabs the battered envelope before him and slams the safe door shut.
Crossing the room, he sits once more at his desk. Pulling the desk lamp nearer, he opens the envelope and slides the large dusty book out of the envelope. There before him lay the object of his innermost desires. Ye Olde Booke of Branding Spells. The faded script on the front cover proclaims ‘He who masters these spells shall have control over the hearts and minds of all before him’. He lifts the heavy cover and turns it over. He briefly notices a small imprint on the inside cover ‘First published by K. Roberts, Lancaster, Auckland and New York 1504’ which causes him to wince. His eyes move to the first page. He slowly reads the words aloud. “Mind control. The dark art of visual and verbal persuasion. Mix together words and images to control people’s minds and instil a sense of wellbeing way beyond their financial means. Ingredients: a twist of mystery, two shakes of flippancy, an ounce of bullshit, a teaspoon of hubris, a scoop of overspending and two parts of overindulgence. Mix well and apply liberally. As this is a somewhat unstable set of ingredients, results cannot be guaranteed. Ensure you stand well back following application as after affects can be catastrophic”. He looked longingly at the book. “Thank you”.
Here at Heywood Innovation we do claim to produce magical results for our clients. These however tend to be the result of tried and tested methods honed over a 20 year period and applied with loving care. There are no potions in our cupboard that transform underperforming brands into sector leaders overnight. Our BrandGuidanceSystem however, when diligently applied, triumphs every time over the dark arts. You should try it.
Lizard’s tongue or eye of newt anyone? Good for uplifting brand libido so they tell me!
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
A strong brand is an essential contributor to a company’s success. Consequently my company Heywood Innovation encounters many companies who are eager to further their understanding of what branding is and what it can achieve for them. No two companies encounter exactly the same challenges and opportunities. This requires of a dedicated branding consultancy like Heywood Innovation an in-depth understanding of your business and what will influence the future success of your brand. The following are key influencers of a corporate brand’s success.
ENGAGE YOUR PEOPLE They’ll love you for it
Branding begins on the inside. If the people on the inside don’t understand and respect your brand, how do you expect the people on the outside to? Employees, managers and executives all play a part in the creation of your brand. They must be consulted right from the start. Make them aware of the company’s vision and how the brand must be developed around it. Explain to them the role they play in its development and its success. Excite them, engage them and inspire them to live the brand. Without their support and involvement the brand will undoubtedly fail.
> involve your people from start to finish
> keep them informed
> get them to live the brand
> appoint brand champions
CREATE POWERFUL AND PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATIONS ... that are consistent with the brand
Your investment in a new brand will be compromised if you do not tell people about it – what it means, the vision that it represents, what its values are and the promise that it makes to its employees and customers. Crafting a ‘look & feel’ that is distinctive and brings life to the brand. Create language that enhances and distinguishes all forms of communications – corporate, marketing, internal and investor. Consistency of branded communications is critical right from the start, to ensure that key messages create the same impression and tell the same story, regardless of the media employed.
> create a distinctive and recognisable visual style
> develop brand language and a written style
> ensure communications styles adapt to various audiences
> introduce and maintain consistency
STRONG EXPRESSION Create a positive impression
First impressions are important. To create a positive first impression a brand must look good and be differentiated from other brands. Strength is built from consistency. All applications must be consistent in the way they present the brand – from business cards to brochures to your website. Applications however are not all visual. If you own a health spa network for example, you want customers to be greeted by a distinctive fragrance, one they will savour and one they will remember regardless of location. Remember that people are influenced by what they see, what they read, what they hear, what they smell and what they touch.
> first impressions count
> consistency is important
> consider more than just what people see and read
MEASURE RESULTS Determine your brand’s performance
A new brand’s performance must be regularly monitored and assessed against predetermined performance criteria. Once the new brand has been launched, it needs ongoing attention, direction and refinement. You need to ensure it is performing and that you are receiving a return on your investment. Without measurement there is no accountability, and without accountability, brands, products, processes and people cannot be improved. What aspects of the brand do you need to measure? ... understanding and appreciation by your employees, how and to what extent it is influencing your audiences, influence on sales performance... and much more.
> accountability is an important factor
> brands need constant refinement
> without measurement it is unlikely that your brand will improve
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
A strong brand is an essential contributor to a company’s success. Consequently my company Heywood Innovation encounters many companies who are eager to further their understanding of what branding is and what it can achieve for them. No two companies encounter exactly the same challenges and opportunities. This requires of a dedicated branding consultancy like Heywood Innovation an in-depth understanding of your business and what will influence the future success of your brand. The following are key influencers of a corporate brand’s success.
DISCOVERY Discover the real you
The first stage in any branding project is to understand what your present brand is, what it is capable of becoming and what it can achieve. To source this information we engage your team with our facilitated TeamPlan process that we employ to enormous effect to focus group thinking, ‘cut through the clutter’, develop ideas and enable the team to take ownership of the brand’s direction.
> provides accurate information on your present situation
> helps gain insight to what can be achieved
> ensures the branding team head in the right direction
FUTURE VISION What you hope to become and to achieve
Essential to the success of your brand is a powerful vision for the future. Without this there are no clear objectives for the brand to work towards and no identifiable goals to achieve. We work with company leaders to create, manage and implement long term vision for their brands. Jointly we develop an achievable vision and bring it to life by visualising it and creating innovative ways of communicating it to your audiences.
> understand how you see the future of your company and its industry
> identify opportunities and threats that might impair the vision
> discover your organisation’s core assets and competencies
> make it a powerful and passionate story that permeates your organisation
WHAT’S YOUR NAME? The most important brand element
A name is the one element in branding that you hope never to change. It must reflect your company’s personality and its core brand values. In a world inundated with names, yours must be differentiated from competitors and truly memorable. The opening up of global markets means that your company name and those of your products and services must transcend cultural and linguistic barriers. It must also be registerable as a trademark to protect your rights.
> make your name distinctive and different
> ensure it is easily pronounced and understood by your key audiences
> ensure it has no negative connotations in other cultures and languages
> register it to protect your intellectual property rights
KEY BRAND DRIVER The heart of your brand
Deep within your brand lies a quality, a belief, a differentiator that is central to its success. The one thing that drives your business forward, that your competitors cannot match. Why is it essential to identify your brand’s driver? To be successful a brand needs to be differentiated from all others and hold a perception in the minds of its audiences that it is the only one that can satisfy their needs. Ideally their perception should be based on one clear and endearing aspect of your brand that stands head and shoulders above those of all competitors.
> one clear and endearing aspect of your brand
> helps differentiate your brand
> helps build a positive perception of your brand in your audiences’ minds
IT'S A LONG TERM PLAN An investment with interest
Corporate branding doesn’t happen overnight. It’s unlikely that you will gain the total benefits of a new brand within 12 months. Look at it as a minimum three year programme to establish the brand, ensure it addresses the objectives of your future vision, nurture it, gain feedback, refine it and monitor its performance. Brands grow and must respond to ongoing external and internal forces. Adjustment and refinement are a necessity. Put in place guidelines to ensure that the agreed direction is followed and the brand is consistently applied.
> results don’t happen overnight
> determine performance criteria
> monitor and test
> be prepared to adjust and refine
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Being in the branding business is full of risks. The biggest one at the moment is getting paid. And that’s after you’ve been to hell and back trying to win the job in the first place. Seriously, some people in this business take big risks with their clients’ reputations and livelihoods by prescribing ‘solutions’ founded on ‘gut feel’, the direction of the wind, the day of the month, the alcohol content in their bloodstream and sometimes the patterns of tea leaves in the bottom of their cup. Sometimes it just makes you cringe when you witness a client happy to cut corners, rely on an expert’s opinion, go for the cheapest option and neither they nor the brand ‘expert’ have a clue what’s really inside the heads of their customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and the people who clean the offices. And sometimes the Board neither. There’s a fatal streak in many clients spawned from a level of confidence that ‘we know what we’re doing’, ‘we’ve been there before and it came out alright’ and ‘the tea leaves never lie’. A perverse need to take risks and enjoy the thrills, usually at the expense of someone else’s money, job, reputation or company.
The more intelligent companies realise that you need to get inside the heads of your various communities, the people who really matter – on the inside and on the outside – who are the life blood that keeps the business rolling. What are they thinking right now? And here’s where deep psychoanalysis will reveal your inner fears. Do they like me? Do they fear me? Do they think I don’t know my job? Will they laugh when I open my mouth to speak? Do they think I’m a dangerous risk taker at the reins of the business who never researches before making a decision that may impact on the wellbeing and future of the business? No, it’s not you we want to know about, it’s them. We’ll deal with you and your innermost fears later. It’s about the customers who love your brand. Those who hate it. Those employees who would go to the ends of the earth to work for you and dedicate their life to you. Those who are disengaged by the risky world around them. Those with little faith in the future. Those who think your vision pierces their very soul. Those who don’t work for you but wish they could. Those who speak volumes about you at every opportunity. Those who give you home baked cookies for your birthday. What do they think right now? Are they for you or against you, or simply don’t care? You have to find out. What a wealth of insight and knowledge lies so near at hand. A mass of ideas that could form the blueprint for brand transformation and success. And how many get to do this? Not many. In the words of motivational speaker and philosopher Jim Rohn... “Some do, some don’t”. It’s up to you whether you enjoy the risky stuff. Throw the dice and hope for the best. Be the big shot. On the other hand it makes a lot more sense to commission an online survey – of your customers, employees, shareholders and suppliers. They only cost a few thousand dollars. Look upon it as an insurance policy for the future. How much is your brand worth by comparison? Better find out. Start here. Right now. And tell that ‘expert’ to get lost. You’ve got more intelligent things to do.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Service brands require the services (!) of employer branding more than product brands. After all, service brands are people centric. They rely on people to be always giving of their best – customers who interact with employees see that person as being truly representative of the brand. If that person is offering less than great service, let’s say they’re having a bad hair day, their favourite team just lost or their car just broke down, then there is a likelihood that they will not be truly living and expressing the brand. And it only takes one bad service experience to lose that customer for life.
Customers can therefore have very different experiences with a service brand. If the performance isn’t consistent or fails to live up to the customer’s expectations of what great service should be, the prospects for customer satisfaction and future sales through word of mouth are at risk.
Service-based organisations need to do a more thorough job when it comes to communicating with and engaging their employees. Brand managers in particular are beginning to change their traditional belief system that ‘the customer is always king’ to one where ‘if we don’t value our employees and keep them engaged and motivated, we’ll never have customers in the first place’. Get it right on the inside first before you tackle the outside.
Sadly bad service is all around us. Websites that don’t work. Telephone sales people that annoy. Transport without a timetable. Restaurants that don’t care. Banks that treat you like a number which is never number one. The financial downturn however is teaching companies the hard way that a service company has to offer exceptional service. Many of those that offered only average service are no longer with us.
Change has made companies realise that ‘our staff are essential to the success of our brand and our ability to attract and retain happy and loyal customers’. Conversely ‘a successful brand is essential to our ability to atttract and retain happy and loyal employees’.
Company profits going backwards are stimulating more internal reviews to make staff realise what exceptional service really is and how to achieve it. Companies must ensure that their employees understand what their brand stands for, what its competitive benefits are and how to articulate them to customers, and deliver a compelling proposition of what the brand can mean to that customer.
Remember. Every employee action and everything they say reflects on the brand.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
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