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| LOVING YOUR BRAND |
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| By Monica C. Smith |
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There is a rock group called The Fray and they have a popular song called "Over My Head." In the song, they sing about loving a girl so much that it's effortless - "She's on my mind; she's on my mind." I think when you love a Brand so much "She's on your mind; she's on your mind," you're thinking about where this Brand can take the customer—solutions, challenges, competition, product, margin, scalability, value to the customer—every detail that goes into defining and making the Brand a reality. |
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| Recently, I was asked to participate in an Executive Forum with Curt Barry. (A great couple of days. Highly recommended www.curtbarry.com for those CEO's who can attend next year). I asked the question, "How many of you love your Brand?" and I heard a gasp. That may have been because people wondered what sort of weirdo talks about love in business or maybe because they had never thought about their Brands that way before. In today's business world I am pretty confident there are few people talking about "love" as much as I do in professional forums. It is a stretch for even my team to rally and embrace the concept, but I firmly believe that for great Brands it must be a defining factor. |
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| In the past nine years, we have touched scores of companies at their very core—where they live and die—reaching, moving, grabbing customers. I have learned that loving your brand makes you want to get up in the morning and face the day, whether it is a good time or not. It means that you care deeply about those who touch your brand—employees, customers, vendors and suppliers. That level of commitment can be hard because some of those people cost your brand money and some of those people disappoint you. But a Brand is bigger than people, mistakes or a timeframe. The Brand resonates at top of a customer's mind; it's a product that they love or rely on; it is a place where people love to work; and it survives individual human error. You know a Brand that is working when you hear someone say, "I love my Iphone," or, "I love the Mac customer service," or, "Nothing beats the GeekSquad," or, "the Frontgate catalog gives me so many ideas." |
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| Great Brands can survive bad hires or attacks from competitors. They have a resiliency that recovers, heals and moves forward doing good or providing a great value. But the love of the Brand must come from the top. If the company leadership does not communicate and share its passion for the Brand, others who touch the Brand will not be moved by it, and the Brand loses its power. |
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| A Brand stumbles and can ultimately fail when the key people who navigate the business model are not in love with it, when the CEO is not the right fit, does not understand the culture, the customer experience or the channel. Products and services not supported by an infrastructure of commitment and energy lose their way, become undifferentiated. |
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| Maybe as an industry we have fallen out of love. Unfortunately shifting ownership and management, financial pressures and the proliferation of products and channels (new technologies have eliminated many barriers to entry for selling direct to consumer) have resulted in Brands that are off course. The lack of commitment and passion has made our industry 4th quarter dependent, not relevant in other buying cycles or occasions. We became enamored with the surge of business that comes from the big gift occasion but forgot our purpose throughout the year. We focus on our message and the message is not tied to the Brand. More often the message is promotional. Companies work so hard squeezing pennies for nine months of the year and then bet the ranch on the last three. With the February reporting of lackluster results for the Holiday season, the VP, CMO and CEO shuffle begins, and the rat race starts all over again. |
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| So how do we fall in love all over again, engage at a different level with our Brands, with our employees, with our vendors, with our suppliers and with our Association? |
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| I think you may have to stop talking to yourselves and use outside organizations to help give you fresh perspective. Now that might sound self-serving, but think about it. If you have trouble in your marriage and you want it to be better you seek counseling. If you have lost your way with yourself, you seek a help from a higher power or from a counselor. If you are unhappy with your body, your hire a fitness instructor. So if you want your brand to be GREAT, invest in outside resources to guide you through the process of defining the Brand through the business model, its value proposition, its competitive differentiators, the metrics that tell the story—the target customers and the merchandise and price points that are the starting point. |
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| Outside resources can offer passion and energy and a commitment to make your Brand better. But the dedication to infuse the Brand with that love must come from the top of the organization. Demand a different level of think, conversation and outcome. Stop worrying and start innovating. Challenge the business model at every level with a renewed energy and endless vision. Demand that the pace be picked up, shake everyone at their core with a profound burst of energy and desire for change. |
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| No magic wand is going to get the industry or your Brand back on track; it will take heavy lifting and a plan of action, but gather your heroes and your friends. Walk away from those who say it can't be different. Use the numbers and logic to check your intuition. And then wrap your arms around the model and love it like you have never loved it before. If you are going to be in "over your head," you might as well love every single second of it. |
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| I say this with confidence because I am in love. |
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