Level 5 Blog

It was a different world into which journalist Joe McGinniss released his revolutionary 1969 tome, “The Selling of the President,” a book that first introduced the world to the idea that a politician could be hawked like a Pontiac. Fast forward a couple dozen light years and find a revised scene in which anything but seems impossible.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Brands, lest you missed the memo, are about so much more than breakfast cereal and iPads. And the same all-encompassing imperatives govern the branding of a political leader (and his or her party) as they do the more tangible consumer goods with which they’re generally linked. That means, in these waning days of the Ontario provincial election, that your Hudaks, Horvaths and McGuintys need to take pains to present a integrated “product” that represents something to voters based on an understanding of the emotional and functional attributes associated with them.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             So, yes, you’re a Liberal (or a Conservative or an NDP), but what do you really stand for because, let’s face it, these ancient monikers are increasingly losing their lustre as each party borrows policies from the other. What’s the one expression of your particular “Brand DNA” that most comprehensively expresses what you’re all about, and which voters can use to measure their own affinity for your convictions? If you took away the party name, what would you represent? In 2008, Obama was hope (hope, indeed!). Closer to home, Pierre Trudeau (love him or hate him) endures as the man who may have been the last Canadian politician who stood for something greater than his party.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               It’s a challenge, this, to be sure. Indeed, simply identifying that singular idea that represents your brand just might be the hardest task out there, for politicos and corporate types alike. No one likes to limit themselves, after all. But voters only have room in their minds for you to be one thing, and the process of making that choice is the business of strategy. And if you ain’t got that strategy thing nailed down with a clear understanding of what you stand for, well, you may as well abandon your gambit for public tenure altogether.

When it comes to our perspective on brand, it feels like we’ve been a lone voice in the wilderness for an awfully long time. But our ranks are swelling, it seems, as evidenced by such soaring cantations as this, recently posted by Australian tech blogger, Michel Hogan.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Here, with words that could have been lifted from our own songsheet, Hogan croons on the concept of brand  encompassing so much more than simply the marketing efforts that so often herald its existence. Marketing is only, she intones, a “subset” of brand. As are HR, finance, technology, operations and so on. “Like strategy,” she says, “brand sits horizontally across the business. Not vertically within it.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Got it. (Already had it, in fact, but delighted to know word’s catching on).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Got, too, her invocation that, “to truly unlock the value of brand it should be thought of as something that informs every aspect of the business.” Absolutely. Your brand is no less than your business system, and anyone thinking differently does so at his or her peril.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            But the follow-up detail that needs to be more broadly appreciated is that the stripped-down, laid-bare, end-game function of “brand” is to fill your pockets with cash. Your luminous record of good works and altruistic intentions notwithstanding, there’s no shame in coming clean on the actual reason you continue to bang on the brand drum every day: to make money. “Profit,” as it turns out, is not the dirty word some folks would have you believe. And the inextricably affiliated “brand,” while we’re at it, could benefit from some redefining of its own to capture this idea.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Making money is precisely and unapologetically why brand needs to incorporate every last department and action of an organization. Commit the words of this tune to heart, and you’ll soon have a fatter wallet to sing about as well.

In a strategy predicated on the conviction that no one knows a club better than its members, a growing number of companies are hiring college students to represent their brands on campus. As described in a New York Times article , the strategy saw some 10,000 American post-secondary students bounce back to school this month inside the sponsorship of corporate entities looking to secure a bigger piece of the $36-billion college-spending budget.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            But if a company extends its brand’s management to points beyond its immediate jurisdiction through the enlistment of brand-ambassador outsiders, how does it control the message?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              It’s a poser more often raised in the digital world, where social networks consistently challenge the increasingly quaint notion that corporate brand owners  enjoy full control of their brand. And unless Facebook goes face down, it’s an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon, so the question becomes: how can you ensure that the core essence of your brand (i.e., your brand DNA) is communicated properly when others have control?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The answer lies in establishing a brand strategy that is understood by, and implicit in, every part of the organization. By aligning the organizational elements that are within its control around the brand—from client relations to advertising to the retail store experience—organizations can create a multitude of touchpoints that confirm and reiterate the key brand messages. Any off-strategy messages put out by uncontrollable elements will remain unsupported, isolated and in stark contrast to all the other controlled, in-alignment-with-brand-strategy touchpoints, mitigating the risk of elements outside the organization’s authority blurring the message .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               So go ahead and release your brand to the wilds of university spokes-students and social networks—it’s unavoidable, anyway. But do yourself a favour and ensure your organization is living your brand; otherwise it won’t be the only thing over which you’ll lose control. Your career might be next.

Kisan Baburao Hazare, more popularly known as Anna Hazare, is an Indian social activist who made his displeasure with the state of corruption in his home government known, recently, with a couple of whoop-ass hunger strikes (the latest of which he “suspended” at the end of August when the feds conceded to at least some of his demands).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              He is also an unexpected illustration of how important emotions are to your brand.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                According to digital brand management firm Pinstorm, “Brand Anna”—and the movement to instate the Jan Lokpal Bill, a proposed anti-corruption law—is among the country’s most influential brands. As measured by related activity on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Brand Anna’s tenth-spot berth on the “India Influencer list” positions its online authority above that of even such established entities as Vodafone and MTV India.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              By all accounts, Anna Hazare is just a regular chap, a flower-peddling son of a humble pharmacist from Mumbai. But the movement he undertook roused powerful feelings in his countrymen, and it did so by creating a strong link between his personal brand (i.e., what he stands for, his values) and the emotions of the people.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Indeed, blogged one local wag on the phenomenon, “the protests became less about the cause or even the man than how it/he made them feel: powerful, righteous, and visible. As all good branding gurus know, it’s not about the product but how the brand makes you feel.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Hazare example reminds us that an organization’s brand needn’t be complex to be effective—but it does need an emotional underpinning that speaks to its market for maximum impact. A brand with its core values and emotional attributes in tight alignment will enjoy a following that could turn into a movement.

Businesspeople are a curious lot, forever questioning the world and looking to learn from the responses. But the questions they ask aren’t always easy. And the answers they receive aren’t always the ones they’re seeking. Take this chestnut, for one, about the all-important subject of brand: Why?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Why is brand so important? they want to know. And why should I spend my time and money building and maintaining it?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          From this deceptively straightforward inquiry spring many different answers. Those in advertising and PR will talk about the need to increase awareness, improve net promoter scores, drive loyalty and boost recall. At LEVEL5, we talk about brand as a means to help unite an organization’s entire business system—from HR to operations to sales and marketing—around that corporate promise it’s made to the market that guides its every decision and action.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              All of these answers are right (with our perspective, natch, being the most right)—but also wrong.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The real reason brand is important is simple, powerful and often lost in translation: because it drives growth, profitability and business value. Let’s hear that again: A strong brand drives growth, profitability and business value.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                In fact, even growth and business value are still one micro-step away from a brand’s real purpose: to make money. If that’s too blunt for you, then go ahead and say “improve profitability,” or “drive business value.” Whatever. At the end of the day, it all comes down to generating the green and if you’re brand isn’t doing that, you need to do something about it. (And how you go about measuring your brand to see if it is adding value, and managing your brand so it is adding value, are both tasks with which LEVEL5 can help you.)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               So we’ve cut through the abounding confusion that characterizes the business community’s attention to the subject with the easiest answer there is to “Why brand?” That the inaccurate translation (or lack thereof) can often be confusing and complex is a further reality. But that doesn’t change the answer.