Corporate Branding and the Activist Intent

How brands (not just logos) can be effective levers of change

By Kim Faulkner 28 Dec 2010

In a turbulent world that has known unprecedented change and upheaval over the last decade – from businesses that were too big to fail in 2008, going bust in 2009; to natural disasters which have wiped out millions, and changed our natural landscape and habitat forever – we wonder:

Why bother with brands? How are they relevant in a “boom and bust” world where change and the unexpected is… well, to be expected?

Isn’t a major culprit of what ails modern society, the over-commercialisation and indeed, over “branding” of our respected institutions, businesses and even modern-day heroes?

With a dollar value attached to everything in business – from tangible to intangible assets – have we lost the true value of our organisations, and the role of the business we’re in?

So what is the point of brands and branding against this backdrop of a new world order of uncertainty and change?

It is my belief that in this very uncertain world, there has never been a greater need for people to embrace this changed order and to continue to make a positive difference wherever they can. This isn’t to say “business is bad”, but it could definitely be a more positive force for good – economically, socially and emotionally.

Ian Morris in his recent book “Why The West Rules for Now” says about the patterns of history and what they reveal about the future: that “change is caused by lazy, greedy, frightened people looking for easier, more profitable and safer ways of doing things.”

This is where branding and the “activist intent” (activism being the willingness to be a catalyst and agitator of change) comes into the world of business and society.

If we believe that brands are effective levers of change, then we have to believe that they have the power to change it for the better – but only if properly managed and leveraged.

They can only do this effectively, if they have a clear sense of purpose and the brand is focused on what it does best.

This is because it is only then, that the brand is able to unlock creative and purposeful thinking within the organisation about how things can be done differently, made better, or how the marketplace can respond to its particular perspective.

To do this effectively, the principles that have shaped the teachings of numerous self improvement “gurus”, can also be applied to the brands in our businesses and institutions.

Just as Oprah’s mantra is “Live your best life”; the mantra of powerful brands should be “Cultivate your core”. What this means is encapsulated in just four things:

1. Focus:

Finding and pursuing the passion of your brand. It sounds strange but think about it: All the great brands in the world started with a single, focused and inspiring idea.

A “brand vision” if you will – but that brand vision is not about ambition or status, but about a higher order goal and guiding philosophy – something that the brand founders or new leaders seeking to invigorate the brand, believed in fundamentally. It was the “reason to exist” for the organisation or business. It was the organising principle that shaped the way they did things from innovation and development, to attitude and service.

A good example of this is when Gerard Kleisterlee was appointed President and CEO of Royal Philips Electronics (PHG ) in 2001, the company suffered total net losses of $3.9 billion in 2001 and $3 billion in 2002, and it had to cut some 55,000 employees to get itself back on track.

When he changed the mandate of the Philips brand from a “technology out” concept encapsulated in their tagline “Let’s Make Things Better”, to “Sense & Simplicity”, he was refocusing the organisation to adopt a technology approach that is predicated on consumer/societal needs, and developing it such that it made sense to the user and customer operator.

The insight they had about technology and its role in society was that life today is complicated enough, and that technology should not add to its complexity. He then committed Philips to developing technology that makes sense (sensible, understandable); is easy to use; is designed around people’s needs, as well as the way they live and work. Technology that works for you rather than the other way around.

He focused their innovation programmes around three pillars of the Philips business: starting with consumer insights; ease of use and how a product or technology would simplify and enhance our lives. Technological innovation would be based around these principles and be packaged in a way that made “sense” to the user, as well as to the working teams within Philips.

They were able to use this brand philosophy to galvanise diverse people within the organisation to act in an integrated way that made sense as a whole. In fact, this more than anything else, engendered collaborative product development across diverse business lines.

This was because the brand vision acted as an organising principle which brought what differentiated the company into focus, and helped people within it, better understand the changes needed to deliver on the brand vision of “sense and simplicity”.

2. Clarity

Making sense for the business is actually much more complicated than it appears. For a start, all organisations are made up of people with very different motivations, and career or personal histories. They come with a variety of opinions and perspectives, so how do they understand what is expected and prized within your particular organisation?

Properly harnessed, brands can give that clarity of purpose and shape culture in a way that rallying speeches cannot:

a. They can help people understand attitudes and behaviours that are prized as well as those that are frowned upon, through a strong and distinctive set of brand values. Values that are comprehensible and actionable. So values such as a “sensible” as in the case of Philips, would be far more actionable and guide behavior than a value like “quality” – which is far more nebulous.

b. Values that are linked to the business and yet sufficiently personal so that employees feel connected to what they do – not as cogs in a machine, but as individuals with a corporate purpose. A good example of this is how brands like Apple have harnessed brand values such as “thought-provoking” to get employees to look beyond the obvious in developing and marketing products which change our lifestyle habits. In fact, the “provocative”, “stylish” and “creative” values of Apple have changed the personal devices category forever; making giants like Microsoft and Hewlett Packard re-examine how their technology, design, product development, and even innovation partnerships would need to evolve to meet the changing expectations and communications habits of users today.

c. Branding can also help those within and outside the organisation, understand the relationships between subsidiaries and associated companies through a clear brand architecture. Where once every new product or service had to be given a separate name and identity, today consumers and therefore companies seek to clarify the relationships between sub-brands and the parent brand. This happens too in mergers such as Sony Ericsson; innovation partnerships, where cobranding now strengthens and adds greater understanding to the value proposition offered by the collaboration.

Powerful brands if you like, give us clarity by helping us to edit our choices.

3. Credibility

Whoever said that brands and marketing are about creating “dreams and promises” has a lot to answer for with respect to the loss of integrity in the business world.

Enduring brands have always been, and will always be, grounded in real capability and expertise. For it is on this solid foundation that credibility and reputation are built. You have to deliver on those “promises and dreams” to ensure that customers return and recommend you again and again. Customer loyalty is at the heart of the true value of brands and loyalty is won when a promise is fulfilled consistently over time.

You cannot build a great brand without there being a great idea and people behind it.

Conversely, you cannot build an enduring organisation without a great brand behind it. One reinforces the other and adds to the longevity and relevance of the other.

4. Resonance

However, at the end of the day, whilst people reason with their minds, they choose with their hearts. Commanding preference and loyalty from employees, customers, and other stakeholders, is ultimately about having an emotional relationship with them that transcends all other competing “claims” on their attention and loyalty.

An interesting demonstration of this is the number of PC loyalists who switched to Apple Macs after using the Apple iPod. Statistics show that a year after the iPod was launched, 10% of PC users switched to iMacs after they purchased an iPod. With the success and increasing ubiquity of the iPhone (not to mention the iPad), the conversion rate for iMacs is increasing exponentially and starting to seriously shape the design and technology of PC’s!

So this is where the science of management and technology, has to converge with the art of branding and innovation: Creating emotional resonance is not an exact science.

It is one part inspiration, and one part “infectious enthusiasm" – which brings me back to “Finding and pursuing the passion of your brand” – because whatever that passion is, the technological innovation; customer service orientation, design and marketing needs to be fuelled by it.

Nike’s passion (and Phil Knight’s belief) that winning is an attitude, and that everyone can be a winner, if they just “play the game” is a good example –“Just Do It” as a slogan, brings that belief to life. Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO of GE, believes that “For GE, Imagination at Work is more than a slogan or tagline. For GE, it is a reason for being.” GE believes that imagination fuels the products they develop and services they offer, and that is what sets them apart from others.

A compelling brand vision that articulates the brand’s “reason for being”, and acts as its guiding philosophy therefore becomes the “passion” that fuels the brand, and acts as its organising principle.

Conclusion

An effective consultant is one that challenges, provokes and galvanises you to find the emotional connection between what the organisation does, and why it chooses to do it in that particular way.

Crafted and shaped into a concise and compelling brand vision, differentiated and actionable values, brands can catalyse change in a powerful and enduring way.

So when I think about brands and their potential contribution to society, business, and the world at large, I think that the role of brands is to be an activist for positive change – be it changing the way people think about a particular product category or industry; changing lifestyles and habits; or changing attitudes or prejudices towards issues.

I believe that properly harnessed, brands can influence change in a strategic and inspiring manner. However this transformation does not have to be threatening or intimidating, and it definitely does not have to be a pedantic, regimented process. It can be a journey that is both stimulating and enlightening.

True transformation takes place when people want it, and are deeply committed to making things happen; and that is the role of the real activist: The activist brings these ideas to the fore, crystallises these into comprehensible and actionable strategies, and helps to spread the message to those for whom it should matter.

Activiste is the name of our consulting practice. It is a combination of the words “activist” (a catalyst and lobbyist for change) and “artiste” (a creative performer). It symbolises our goal - to influence business and organisational change in a strategic, creative and inspiring way.

After 28 years in the industry, I’d like to think that this is something worth striving for with fellow conspirators and co-creators of enduring and endearing brands.