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whether materials are outdated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 Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.
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 Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.
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 Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.
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.
The past few weeks have witnessed the passing of two Sydney-based creative icons.
One Centre was a relatively recent addition to the Australian creative scene, distinguished by a strong desire to create and grow brands on a global scale and seemingly driven with great passion. Rapid growth, stellar ambitions and a craving to employ the cream of Australia’s available creative talent despite the continuing financial gloom, sounded an ominous warning to those who have experienced previous downturns. It is all too easy to criticise those businesses that have tried and not succeeded. One Centre however should be both a warning and an inspiration to all creative businesses of the difficulties that can befall the bold and the brave, but also what can be achieved with high ambition and vision underpinned by a talented team. The business is presently in administration and waiting for a cashed up suitor to run the ruler over the figures and the prospects. I wish them well.
The well known and well respected creative icon Billy Blue is closing its doors after what must be 30 years in business. When I first arrived in Sydney in 1980 from recession-torn England and willingly immersed myself in vibrant new surroundings, I noticed one day a beautifully designed free magazine called Billy Blue, the likes of which I had never seen before. Its wide acceptance, high recognition and ability to integrate fine words and inspired design, succeeded in establishing the name and spawned the Billy Blue empire, comprising creative business, design school and hotel school. What a great shame it has gone. An important chapter in Sydney creative culture has been consigned to the history pages. My regards to all therein who have pushed forward Australian design boundaries. Thank you for the inspiration.
A blight on this recession. May it end soon.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Saatchi & Saatchi get’s it right. Neil Shoebridge gains a few column inches but not a lot of credibility. In that hallowed journal the Australian Fin Review today it has been reported by the abovementioned scribbler that Rupert Murdoch, in a moment of weakness while reporting a 47% operating slump in his empire’s operating income, proclaimed that “the worst is over”. Yes, he was referring to the global financial calamity. Really, as if any self respecting business owner would take any heed of that, never mind global chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi Kevin Roberts as a restaurant critic. Kev goes on to say quite modestly, in a moment of creative and intellectual muscle flexing, that in his talks with chief executives in the US and the UK, 2010 will be another tough year. That must have been a real tricky one to figure out. I guess that’s headline news for many people. Darn it! And I thought I could go out and celebrate in January. Guess that’s another wasted year. Kev, how could you ruin it for so many people. Just when we’d built up some real confidence. You must be a real party pooper from way back. And then he gets on his soap box and astonishes us all with his concept of ‘winning ugly together (with clients)’. This boy just doesn’t give up. Fresh from his famed Lovemarks (really!) concept where brands have replaced women as the object of men’s desires (and vice versa), ‘winning ugly’ naturally requires companies to give up their relationships with all other ad agencies apart from good ol’ S&S and guess what? Yes you got it! They’re obliged to transfer all business to S&S. Just think what this guy could achieve selling Chryslers in up state Noo Joysey right now. With love marks on the dashboard and a ‘Let’s get ugly together’ sign on the back seat... who knows what may happen.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
In a competitive marketplace consumers need reassurance that the product they are about to purchase has high levels of quality and reliability. Sometimes the product brand needs a little extra support to ensure these demands are met. This little extra can come in the form of corporate endorsement where the strength of the corporate brand is leveraged to support and enhance the product brand. The two appear together, on the product, on packaging and in advertising. The corporate brand as a result is given more exposure than it normally would have.
What is the down side? What if the product bombs? The corporate brand may be tarnished for some time.
Virgin has used the corporate brand name across its entire product portfolio. The much publicised problems relating to its rail franchise could very well have tarnished the Virgin brand. The fact that it hasn’t is testament to the strength of the core brand.
Placing the corporate and product brands together allows the product brand to assume its own identity and positioning, but also source added strength from the corporate brand and its perceived qualities. This approach can help when a company wishes to introduce new products into a mature market, where it can be very difficult to gain penetration without the visual endorsement of a strong and credible corporate parental brand.
Cadbury does this very well with its many confectionery products – Cadbury’s Creme Egg, Cadbury’s Bournville, Cadbury’s Roses, Cadbury’s Caramello where each product name has assumed the role of product brand.
In the case of Heinz the corporate name endorses product descriptors as opposed to product brands eg Heinz Baked Beans, Heinz Tomato Ketchup, Heinz Cream of Mushroom Soup etc.
What should be the visual size relationship between the two brands? This varies from one company to another depending on your objectives. Sometimes the corporate brand has equal prominence to the product name where the corporate brand is used very much as an identifier. Sometimes the corporate brand assumes a small size where it is used primarily as an endorsement.
Endorsement branding is increasingly used as a mechanism to integrate brand structure across country markets, providing a common element to unify product offerings. Sometimes different cultures, different consumer tastes and differing perception of the brands can dictate that the relationship must change from country to country.
A good example of this is leading coffee manufacturer Douwe Egbert with its ‘lady logo’ which appears on its coffee products worldwide. The size of the lady varies from country to country. The related positioning statement also changes so that in Spain the positioning emphasises coffee richness while in Holland, the association is with family values and comfort.
In conclusion, yes there can be considerable upside to corporate brand endorsement so long as you have confidence in the integrity of the product brand.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Brand valuation companies like Interbrand must be rubbing their hands with glee. All those brand valuations they did in 2007 and 2008 don’t exactly count for very much in 2009. They have to start all over again. All but the fortunate few companies will be shadows of their former selves. Many of these would have paid substantial sums to protect themselves with the brand valuation ‘comforter’, this calculation of brand value using complex and often incomprehensible methodologies lying somewhere between science, accountancy, higher mathematics and astrology. Was this also meant to be a reliable guide as to how the company would fare in future months and years? If so, I guess it didn’t work. The future is as unpredictable as ever, as anyone in the creative business will tell you. After 30+ years in the business my experience has been that you’re lucky to be able to predict two weeks ahead. I guess that’s what makes it exciting, and not the most stable of career paths.
I digress. Brands also are unpredictable. Take Pacific Brands here in Australia. An iconic suite of Australian brands that can trace their origins back to 1893, whose products were spruiked by the likes of Pat Rafter and billionaire Sarah Murdoch – Berlei, King Gee, Yakka to name a few. 1,850 jobs slashed, 200 brands being sold off, manufacturing being transferred overseas, share price at record low. I wonder what the brand value was in 2008 and what it is right now? Get my drift? Brands go out of fashion particularly when price is an issue. In the case of Pacific Brands, its demise has been centred for many years around its inability to manufacture at a price that could compete with overseas manufacturers.
You’d like to think share price comes into the valuation equation. Let’s take good old Royal Bank of Scotland. Back in 2007 shares were cruising around £6.30. At the beginning of this year they were dredging the bottom at 20p.
Controversy can contribute to a decline in brand value. The Satyam brand, yet to recover from the ‘cooking the books’ controversy, has recently been revalued at 87.8% less than its 2008 FY valuation. Brands such as these remain valuable assets but presently are damaged and don’t reflect their true value.
Brands have gotten onto companies’ balance sheets mainly through the efforts of accountants and some branding agencies. Complex formulae have been devised to demonstrate in a logical and rational way that brand value can stand up and be scrutinised along with all the other company assets. The brand is thereby given credibility in financial circles and also with shareholders, who now have something else to ponder over their tea and biscuit at the AGM.
Despite my critical stance, brand valuation does mean a great deal to those brands who maintain a high profile with the buying public eg airlines, fashion labels and alcoholic beverages. Here the brand is by far the most significant asset – as in the case of Pacific Brands, with outdated factories, machinery and manufacturing processes that have little value in the potential fire sale to come. But the brands can live on, providing they fall into safe hands who can revitalise and rebuild brand value.
At the end of the day real brand value is simply calculated as the amount the market will reasonably pay for the brand. There are plenty of examples of companies who have been sold for an amount far in excess of their accepted valuation, either because the purchaser could see new and better ways to leverage the asset or because they made a monumental cock-up.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Yes, it’s getting really ugly out there. We all thought in our ignorance that this was just a passing phase, that a modest readjustment down on windy Wall Street was all it needed to fix a bit of greed and arrogance. Maybe just a six month thing, then we’d be back cruising the car show rooms, flocking to the open houses and living the social life fantastic. We got suckered in big time. This is for real. Real hurt. Reality do without. The beer ran out and the pub’s gone. Some people haven’t had to 'do without' before in their lives. I tell you there’s nothing like deprivation to bring out the best and worst in people. Truth is there’s no money left. This is change we can really believe in, like the man said. Bankers are copping the flack at the G20 meeting in London. Not a good time to wear a suit in the city. Empty bottle on the bowler time. A good time though for the anarchists to come out of hiding and flex their intellectual muscles with a brick or two. I digress. Who’d want to be in retail? Even retail king Gerry Harvey is crying over his unsold LCD screens and TomToms. The simple formula is: consumers don’t spend, so companies don’t spend. And if you’re in the service industry that sucks. Companies aren’t spending because they have no cash. It’s a consumers paradise if you have a bit of that fondly remembered stuff called cash lying around. Retailers will bite your arm off. Blood on the pavements. I never thought I’d see the day when shop windows would display loud signage proclaiming sales discounts of more than 50%... but they’re out there. Just like the mens fashion outlets, our trousers really are down. All this deprivation has heralded the Age of Big Emotional engagement. Brands have to work hard big time. They really do have to get inside your head and press those emotion buttons like never before. Big attraction and big differentiation are the big requirements for the New Brands. Forget the soppy Lovemarks and posturing in new age restaurants in Heysham. This is Brand Reality time over a pint of Boddingtons in Blackpool. Cut the crap time for products. Truth rules. No more romantic nonsense courtesy of big budgets and head-in-the-clouds admen. Good honest products for a good honest price accompanied by good honest 'emotions penetrating' sales patter. Yes, consumers still want the fancy stuff on which to spend their recession shrivelled funds. But they don’t want a multi million dollar ad campaign assaulting their senses, desperately persuading them to buy it. Now you can really choose what you want in your own time. It’s time to reconsider our approach. Yes, it’s time to beat the competition if there is any left, with innovative and cost-effective ideas to get inside consumers’ heads. It’s also a good time to get inside their heads anyway to find out what they’re thinking right now. Recessions can do strange things to consumer buying habits. What was good last year is now all stirred and shaken. It’s time to think differently. Tap into their present desires. Do they want more or less? Or more for less? Knowledge is king. The sobering thought is... get it wrong now and you won’t have a business left. Get it right and you’ll be laughing like never before. Recessions have a habit of spawning new brand heroes.
(with apologies to Kevin Roberts – he’s not a bad chap really for a north country man, just fell in with the wrong crowd)
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
These are extraordinary times we are going through and a total contrast to the free spending, confident and carefree times we were enjoying only a year ago. Following are some chilling statistics regarding the state of the world’s auto brands mixed with a bit of crystal ball gazing.
I predicted in this blog before Christmas 2008 that Chrysler would become a big casualty and it looks increasingly as though my prediction will come true. The company lacks the ability to secure sufficient finance to guarantee a future beyond the first few months of 2009 and has few new models with which to secure an ‘exciting’ rating and win back buyer interest and respect for the brand. GM on the other hand may just be saved by its radical restructuring of recent months into four core brands, its more adventurous new model line up and last minute dash for credibility in the hybrid stakes.
So which other car brands are in strife? Hummer is up for sale. Daimler has a (worthless) 20% stake in Chrysler and is struggling to make money as a result of model succession issues and having no small engines. Smart is down to one model and is losing sales to the Fiat 500 and Toyota’s newly released iQ city car. GM’s German brand Opel may be forced to consider an alliance with BMW and Daimler. Aston Martin’s sales down 28% and Land Rover sales down 30% in 2008. Will BMW be forced to collaborate with its arch enemy Daimler or will it look to Italy? In Australia the gas guzzling Holden Monaro is no more. Lancia’s much vaunted UK launch has been cancelled. Luxury brand Maybach is to be killed off in 2012. The hi-performance Dodge Viper sports car brand is up for sale and unwanted. Honda’s much publicised $200m annual budget Formula 1 team is no more. And Tesla, one of the electric technology saviours, is delaying a much needed new model as it struggles to find $400m in new funding.
But wait, haven’t we been here before? Memories come flooding back from 2005 when MG Rover in the UK went to the wall crippled by funding issues, serious mismanagement, unwanted cars and terminal clashes with unions, which tarnished forever the once illustrious BMC and Leyland brands. To add insult to injury MG, that most loved of British sports car brands, is now in Chinese hands, owned by Nanjing Automobile for which the media is not predicting much success.
And what happened to all those other UK car brands that disappeared over the years? – AC, Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, Austin Healey, Berkeley, Bond, Daimler, Gilbern, Hillman, Humber, Jensen, Jowett, Morris, Reliant, Riley, Singer, Sunbeam, TVR, Wolseley and many more...
So what does all this mean? For the car industry brands it heralds a potentially lengthy period of brand rationalisation:
> Model brands will disappear eg Viper (Dodge), Solstice (Pontiac), Monaro (Holden), Fairlane (Ford Australia)
> Manufacturer brand mergers and acquisitions eg Tata take over of Land Rover and Jaguar, Nanjing Automobile acquisition of MG, Porsche take over of VW, BMW-Daimler merger?, Chrysler-GM merger?
...and some may go to that big car yard in the sky eg Maybach, Chrysler?, MG?
What does this mean for branding consultants? Probably a lot of work to reinvent/reposition car manufacturers, power up the electric/hydrogen/fuel cell revolution; create new super economy city car sub-brands; define the newly expanding hybrid sector; put new spin on economy motoring, green credentials and the new ‘post combustion engine’ lifestyle era, and rush out and buy an expensive carbon fibre road racing bicycle.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Once you’ve created your brand, you must tell people about it – what it means, what’s different about it, the vision that it represents, its values and the promise it makes to its customers and employees. You will need to:
> craft compelling marketing messages that influence and satisfy audiences
> create a ‘look & feel’ that is distinctive and memorable
> develop a brand language
> create advertising that achieves deep emotional connections
> customise communications to your key audiences
> ensure all communications are consistent and recognisable
When it comes to branding consultants – you get what you pay for
Execution
Having put so much hard work into planning the brand and its fundamental components, it makes a lot of sense that your investment in the brand is protected by consistent and accurate application. Your brand consultant should produce brand guidelines that help users to understand the new brand and templates to ensure intelligent and consistent application. Rolling out the brand can include many applications such as stationery, website, presentations, signs, marketing collateral, advertising. This process needs to be planned and managed, particularly from a budget perspective, as it is only too easy to be caught out by the production costs for printing, web development and media placement.
Employee engagement
Employees are the life blood of your business. Choose them well and treat them well. Above all else ensure they fully understand the brand – what it is, what it means, what it stands for, the promise it makes, its values, vision, what you hope for it to achieve and the role your employees play in its success. If they are in customer facing roles, it is critical that they are able to embrace the brand and communicate its benefits clearly, succinctly and with real enthusiasm.
Brands need constant management and refinement
Monitor performance
The launch of your new brand is only the beginning. Regularly monitor and assess its performance against the criteria established at the start of the brand building project. Also measure it against the performance of recognised high performing competitor brands. Measurement must be internal as well as external – find out how engaged your employees are with the brand and how well they are communicating its benefits to customers. Remember that when it comes to employees, regular communication is a must if you want to inspire them and retain them.
I firmly believe a new breed of innovative brands will start to appear in 2009, inspired by fast moving, innovative and committed entrepreneurs with smart ideas to leverage opportunities in changing markets and with new visions for the future. Established brands will suffer as they try to adapt firstly to the challenging conditions afflicting the markets and then again as they manoeuvre to respond to recovering markets. My crystal ball says change will happen in Q3 2009. I guess that gives you 6 months to make your move.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore
Plan from start to finish
Make sure right from the start that you are clear on the scope of the brand building project. Work with the branding consultant to plan the stages and establish the likely budget you will require to build the brand, market it, communicate it and manage it. This can vary significantly depending on the type and size of the business, and its objectives, products, services and locations. Work out a realistic and achievable schedule and determine performance criteria by which you will measure success once the brand is established and working for you. Ensure you are very clear on the values and vision that underpin your brand
Discover who you want to be and how to get there
Working with the branding consultant you will be challenged with some fundamental questions relating to the objectives you have for the brand. Basically they need to discover the real you and determine whether your future plans are sound and achievable. Questions such as “What activities will the new business engage in now and in the foreseeable future?” “Have you researched the market to determine whether there is a need for your products and services?” “How different is your offer to those of your competitors?” “What perceptions do you believe customers will have of the business?” “What values and vision will drive the business?” “Do you have a name for the business – one that is distinctive and won’t infringe a competitor’s trade mark?”
Create your vision for the future
Without a bulletproof vision for the future, one that is achievable and sustainable, you will falter all the way to insolvency. All the great companies have a powerful, unique and passionate vision that permeates their entire organisation. Without one there are no clear objectives for the brand to work towards and no identifiable goals to achieve. It only achieves success when it is embraced by all employees and becomes inextricably linked to the brand.
The name is the most important element of the new brand
Everyone with whom you interact will refer to you by name. It is the one element you hope never to change. It must appeal to target audiences and be relevant to the nature of your business. The name you choose for a new fashion house for example, will be very different to that you would choose for a new accountancy firm. Remember that new names are very difficult to register, either as a company or as a URL for your website – there aren’t that many words left in the English language! Consider whether you will need to extend the name in the future. Can the name be extended to accommodate a complementary line of business? Can it be registered in another country in which you may want to operate?
Defining the brand
This is the process of determining the essence of your brand – identifying those characteristics that make it unique, attractive and able to generate positive perceptions in your customers that it is the only one that can satisfy their needs. These include personality, values, differentiators and more. To be successful, a new brand must be differentiated from all others and be easily recognised. The objective is to build a high level of brand awareness by creating an emotional attachment with customers and positioning in their minds that drives incontestable loyalty and sales success.
Creating a powerful ‘look & feel’
Your new brand must look unique and distinctive. Key elements of the brand must be created – logo, positioning statement, colours, imagery and brand language for later application into product packaging, marketing, communications and branded environments. First impressions are important but so is consistent application of the brand. Having a ‘look & feel’ for marketing material that bears little resemblance to the ‘look & feel’ of your website will get you nowhere. Audiences are increasingly looking for interactive experiences underpinned by compelling messages that bring them closer – physically and emotionally.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant, founder of Heywood Innovation in Australia, United Kingdom and India, and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Sitting here writing this in balmy 30 degree sunshine and blue skies overlooking the most beautiful harbour in the world, I seem momentarily a million miles away from the economic trauma impacting on businesses all around the globe. Connecting to the internet on my laptop, the BBC News website however brings reality into play with graphic depictions of terrorist strikes in Mumbai, Woolworths in the UK looking for a bailout; and GM, Chrysler and Ford in dire straits in the US. We are being assaulted by endless bad news on the business and political scene.
It seems that countless television news articles, media sites and business blogs are only too keen to update us on the bad news. Distinguished captains of industry, business analysts and academics at leading universities are revelling in the opportunity to lecture us on how recessions happen and the financial, psychological, historical, political, scientific and geographical implications, and the impact it is having on the price of petrol we put in our tank… that this is the recession we had to have, driven by greed and flawed governance of global financial systems. Get it right on the inside first before you unleash it on the outside
The reaction from many companies affected by the downturn is to go on the defensive and either batten down the hatches and hide below decks until the storm passes, or slash and burn marketing budgets, delay business building initiatives and identify the poor performers in the workforce who are most expendable.
The last thing you would expect someone to be attempting in these trying conditions is to kick start a new business venture and crank up the brand building process. Yet for the more astute entrepreneurs this is probably the most opportunistic time in the last twenty or more years to be planning and building a new business. Why do I say this?
> You are likely to have fewer competitors now than you would have had this time last year.
> Established competitors need to reposition their brands and educate customers in line with the new market conditions
> Businesses are averse to change – those that can adapt to change are the new leaders of tomorrow
> It is a lot easier to catch the attention of customers in a market experiencing low levels of marketing activity
> History tells us that downturns breed innovation, and innovation breeds success
> The present market conditions are changing consumer loyalties – they are re-considering their choices, opening up the opportunity for new brands to steal market share
> Consumers will become more demanding and want more value and reward from the brands they associate with
> Brands with the strongest proposition will be the new winners
Make sure it is uniquely different from those of your competitors
Yes people are cautious, but the world doesn’t stop even for a recession. After the initial slashing and burning of marketing budgets, companies will begin to realise that to maintain their hard won position in the marketplace, they will have to start marketing with strong conviction.
Entrepreneurs will be naturally cautious to start up a new business, particularly in the first half of 2009. Market analysts are suggesting that consumers deprived of their natural spending habits will start to feel the retail itch and the need to satisfy their cravings for new products and new experiences, spurred on by the potential for some of the biggest January/February sales in history.
So how do you go about establishing a new brand and priming it for success in these trying times? You must focus much more on getting the basics right. After more than 20 years in the branding business, I have come to recognise the essential considerations that ensure a brand gives of its best. Here’s a sobering thought – if you don’t get all of these right, there is every chance you will never gain maximum benefit from your brand, which in this economic climate may just make the difference between success and early failure. Here are several of the more important ones:
Invest in advice from an experienced branding consultant Select an experienced branding consultant Always work with, and gain advice from, people who are specialists in their field. At this critical juncture, don’t rely on ‘gut feel’. Establishing and building an effective brand is critical to your future success. Select carefully, as there are plenty of ‘creatives’ disguised as branding experts who will be only too keen to take your money and design for you a new logo, brochure and some stationery – which won’t get you very far. An experienced branding consultant goes much further by helping you to define your business, differentiate it, market it and prepare you for success. Ensure they are attuned to the changing market conditions.
Part two of this blog post to follow shortly…
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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