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SOUND OFF
What is Brand
Alignment?
[April 08]
When we first started using the term brand alignment
nearly a decade ago, it was a term that barely raised a blip
on the radar of business or even of other brand practitioners – how
things have changed! A Google search of the term pulls up around
10,000 hits. So what is brand alignment and why should you
care about it?
Brand alignment is the practice of brining together
what you believe with what your actions show – across your
WHOLE organization. This is not just an exercise in consistent
communications. It is a deep philosophy of delivering your
promise and doing what you say you are going to do. It is not
just a consideration for your customers or market place. It
is something that can impact everything and everyone from the
mailroom to the office of the CEO.
So don't settle for some weak facsimile of the
idea that only asks you to consider the impact from a marketing
standpoint. This is a ideal that packs a punch and can transform
the way your organization things and acts. Are you ready to
take it on?
Brand is NOT
a Verb!
[June 07 ]
Once you get off the ranch and into an organization
your brand is not a verb, it is a noun, a tangible thing. It
should not be something you or anyone else "does."
Ok, so I know that isn't how the whole brand
thing started, and yes, maybe it was simpler when "branding" was
something that cowboys did to cows, but times change and so
has brand. But, our organizations aren't cows, and nor are
the people who work in them (despite the way they may act and
be treated on occasion). How is it possible that while our
thinking around what "brand" is has evolved, we still
talk about it in terms that evoke the aroma of singed hides
and campfires.
Are You a Brand
"Darwinist" or "Creationist"?
[June 07 ]
There are different schools of thought for religion, architecture, politics,
nearly everything you can think of has different streams that add
richness to the dialog (and debate). So why on earth don't we do the same with
brand? It has been the marketing way or the highway for so long that it sometimes
seems the
conversation is over - often before it even begins!
But we see it differently.
There are (at least) two distinct "Schools of Brand" emerging. There is the
"marketing as brand" school (creationists), who believe brand
is applied
from the outside in
and the organization just needs to get on board and learn what the marketplace
wants them to be. And then there is the "organization as brand" school (darwinists),
who believe that brand is the expression of the whole organization, it's beliefs
and actions, people and products, side-to-side and top-to-bottom, that it is
a living system that while founded in some indelible truths, evolves over time
and experience. This is the school of brand we support and believe in.
So
which are you - a creationist, a darwist or of a completely different school
of brand?
Do You Need
A Brand?
[ March 07 ]
Like the latest "it" girl in hollywood, brand has become over-hyped
by the many people who profit from "creating brands". Have you joined
the ranks of the many sceptics who justifiably ask why they need a brand? We
don't blame
you, because the fact is you can't "create" a brand and the reason
you can't create a brand is because you already have one! So it's
the wrong question to be asking. Your
organization
has beliefs
that
drive
it,
it
acts
in
myriad
of
ways
every
day - the combination of these things builds your brand - whether you need
one or want one or not. So the question to be asking is not whether or not
you need a brand, but rather – what are you doing with your brand?
SPECIAL RELEASE
[ September
2006 ]
We Need A New
Word For Brand!
As published on
the ChangeThis.com site
To unlock their brand's true potential,
today’s companies need to let go of slick superficiality
and embrace authenticity! This Brand Manifesto is a rallying
cry to all organizations to take back their brands!
Download
Article
LATEST ARTICLE
10 Ideas for
Building a Kick-Ass Brand!
As presented to the Churchill Club in Melbourne, Australia - brand is many things
to different people, but there are some basics if you want yours to stand out
and stand the test of time.
Read article
OTHER
ARTICLES
What Do Core
Values Have To Do With Brand? Everything!
At the core, your organization’s Brand is a reflection of the actions and
beliefs of the people who work there. Those actions and beliefs are shaped and
directed by the core values they hold. So before you start trying to give your
brand more sizzle, ask a question sure to generate some long-term results – “Do
our core values and our Brand align?”
Read article
Mind
the Gap
Does your brand risk falling in between reality and expectations? This
article briefly explores the dangers and how you can "mind the gap."
Read article
The Brand has
No Clothes
This is a modern brand fable. Much as the Emperor and people in Hans Christian
Andersen’s century old fable are fooled by two clever tailors, so are many
companies fooled into believing their brands show what isn’t there.
Read article
Everything
you Know About Brand is Wrong... Thank Goodness
The sad fact remains that most companies practice branding for the neighbors - focusing on the exterior look rather than what really matters - aligning everything possible about who they are with what they do and say. Are you guilty of viewing branding from a purely marketing driven perspective?
Read article
Key Principles
of Brand Alignment
It's about much more than marketing. Brand is perception and it is shaped by everything you do and say as a company.
Read article
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