Innovate with your brand purpose in mind

Lately, I've been going back and forth with the idea of sticking to your brand and not deviating, versus innovating and seeking any and all opportunities. I don't believe either point of view is the way to go. If the organization is too focused on not deviating from its brand, it may miss out on opportunities that could help satisfy its brand purpose. And if the organization is too busy chasing any and all opportunities with no framework, the organization won't make meaning, as it will be too distracted by the next 'cool' thing. Rather, it's a combination of the two that you want to achieve.

Use the brand purpose as the guiding beacon, but always remember growth is an iterative process, which requires the organization to try many things - only keeping the initiatives that are successful AND uphold the organization's core ideology. In Built to Last, it mentioned that Jack Welch believed in setting only a few clear, overarching goals. Then on an ad hoc basis, his people were free to seize any opportunities they saw furthered those goals. In the book, Jim Collins refers to this as planful opportunism. I love this term as it describes the middle ground perfectly - achieving innovative opportunities while driving towards the brand purpose!!

In essence, the brand purpose is why the organization is in business (to make meaning), and, based on that purpose, the organization sets grand audacious goals, which ensures everyone in the organization is striving towards the brand purpose! But the details in how to accomplish those goals are determined along the way. If the path to accomplish these goals were mapped out, it would inevitably change due to market variations, new opportunities, etc. setting the employees up for a complete let down. Additionally, they would miss out on exciting possibilities  because the organization would be so focused on the details that it would forget about the grand audacious goal.

3M has done an amazing job at maintaining its brand purpose while continually innovating new and exciting products. 3M's brand purpose is to Solve Problems. It satisfies its purpose through innovation - focused innovation. 3M has two criteria when selecting and assessing new innovations it plans to invest in:

1. the innovation has to be new to the market
2. it needs to solve a real human problem that presently exists

If the idea meets these criteria, employees are free to experiment, and 3M makes that possible with various programs, awards, etc. which encourages innovation. Like Google, 3M has the '15% Rule' to allow employees to explore their interests & curiosity. It was with this '15% Rule' where Spence Silver was able to accidentally invent the special adhesive for the Post-it, when all the literature at the time said it was not possible! If it was not for 3M's dedication to solving problems and having the infrastructure to allow employees the freedom to innovate, the wildly successful Post-it would not have come about, nor would have Scotch Tape and various other 3M products!

So, it's important to have both a brand purpose and a desire for innovation - just ensure they support each other!

Brand Alignment

You know your brand is doing well when you have perfect brand alignment. What do I mean by brand alignment? I mean the organization's brand aligns with the perceptions held by consumers about the organization.  Brand alignment ensures that people accurately know and understand the organization's brand purpose, which sets appropriate consumer expectations.

To begin achieving brand alignment, the brand must be communicated internally in order for it to be accurately executed externally. Every member of the organization must understand the brand purpose and know how they are trying to achieve that purpose everyday. According to a Harvard Business Review, "95% of employees on average don't know or understand their company's strategy". The organization needs to foster a culture where everyone rallies around a central cause - the brand purpose - so they can live it everyday! Doing this ensures that everyone in the organization believes in the brand and accurately represents it to the external world through messaging and actions!

By having internal brand alignment, every member of the organization is living the brand by creating products, services & experiences that emulate the brand purpose. These products, services & experiences become the external communication of the brand. So, if these accurately represent the brand, the customer's interaction with the organization will begin to create brand perceptions that are aligned with the organization's personality & purpose!

If the brand experience is memorable and positive for the user, they will not only be more likely to buy that brand again, as I mentioned in my last blog post, but they will begin to share their brand experience with friends and family, which perpetuates consistent brand perceptions. So, in essence, to achieve brand alignment it starts with the organization living the brand followed by employees crafting experiences, which create the brand consumers know. These experiences result in a positive impact on consumers so they will continue to preach the brand's purpose to other consumers!

I think Wally Olins says it best in his book Wally Olins: The Brand Handbook:

Thorough brand management means consistent, coherent behavior everywhere and with all corporate contact ... this means working out & then putting into practice behavior patters that genuinely conform to the claims you make.

One organization that, I feel, has created amazing brand alignment is Cirque du Soleil!! Its purpose is to invoke the imagination, provoke the senses and evoke the emotions of people around the world. It aims to accomplish its purpose through high-quality artistic entertainment experiences. If you have ever had the pleasure of seeing a Cirque du Soleil performance, you would believe in its purpose as much as the performers themselves! They are truly inspiring people around the world by continually presenting about 19 shows simultaneously around the world pushing the physical and artistic limits every time! Additionally, the organization doesn't believe in market research, as it would stifle the creativity and innovation they truly believe in. I mean, how would marketing research help create awe and inspiration if you had to test which color people best respond to! 

I think the best way to show how Cirque du Soleil's inspiring performances and additional actions have created brand alignment, is to see what people's perceptions of the brand are! If you ever want to see the perceptions of any given brand, check out www.brandtags.net. Below are the words and/or phrases that come to peoples' minds when they think of Cirque du Soleil. One observation I noticed, relative to other brands listed on the site, was that people mostly associated the brand to emotions, rather than just a product, which corresponds accurately to the brand, as it's goal is to evoke emotions!! I look forward to seeing my next Cirque du Soleil performance to become inspired once agian!

Digital Reasons to Believe

A couple months ago I gave a presentation to one of my clients on branding. We were specifically looking at brands people care about - brands people are loyal towards, and how digital initiatives can help foster that loyalty. Needless to say, I was thrilled to be giving this presentation, and the preparation for it gave me the inspiration to start my blog! 

But back to the topic at hand - creating brand loyalty through digital initiatives. As with all things brand related, everything starts from the core - the brand purpose - what do we stand for and why does it matter to our employees, customers, etc. However, to make this purpose a reality, there needs to be actions substantiating the purpose. These consistent actions begin to foster trust and belief in the brand, becoming reasons to believe. Additionally, these actions must not be, solely, a one way dialogue, rather they need to be an engaging and memorable experience. Benjamin Franklin once said: 

Tell me and I'll forget

Show me and I might remember

Involve me and I'll understand

By involving customers in a brand experience, they will better understand the brand's purpose and begin to feel more attached to it themselves.  In 2000, Gallup performed a study that indicated if the brand experience stood out from all the competition, customers were 10-20 times more likely to choose the same brand for their next purchase (Brands & Branding, Pg 97). In fact, Harley Davidson has found that the members of its Harley Owners Group (HOG) tend to spend 30% more that other Harley owners. This indicates that if customers are engaged with a unique brand experience, they become more loyal to that brand. 

These days, we see an increase in importance in the digital medium because of it's ability to engage the customer in the brand purpose, rather than just tell them about it. And a lot of brands, today, are creating not just reasons to believe, but digital reasons to believe. A couple examples I looked at in my presentation were IKEA, Starbucks, Nike, Apple & Google. For the purpose of this post, I will talk about IKEA & Nike.

IKEA's brand purpose is Democratic Design. Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA's founder, believed that everyone should be able to have a home they love, and what was best for the customer was inevitably best for IKEA. While maintaining their purpose for democracy, it was imperative that IKEA provided its customers with as much information as possible, so they could make educated buying decisions. In keeping with this philosophy, IKEA has done an amazing job translating their successful store format and catalogue onto a digital platform - its website. IKEA has also created new tools for customers that allows them to make an even more educated buying decision - such as the  3-D Room Planners, that enable customers to know, exactly, how everything is going to look in their home before they buy a single product. However, I do think IKEA could be doing even more to foster a dialogue with its customers, possibly enabling a voting system, customer reviews etc. These would only further IKEA's brand purpose creating more digital reasons to believe.

Another example I referred to was Nike. Nike has been a big believer in the digital space, and it has paid off. Their brand value has been on the increase because of its use of digital initiatives. Nike's brand purpose is Authentic Athletic Performance. One of Nike's co-founders, Bill Bowerman, believed that if you had a body you were an athlete - meaning that anyone could be an athlete. Nike is in the business of making athletes! 

Over the years, Nike has imbedded itself in sports culture, so much so that the two - Sports & Nike - go hand in hand. With the brilliant launch of Nike+, Nike was not becoming a part of running culture - they created a NEW running culture. They took an extremely individual sport and made it a community. Today,Nike+ is the world's largest running club! It is giving anyone the ability and encouragement to be the best runner they want to be - Nike is creating athletes! In addition to Nike+,  Nike has developed a digital personal trainer tool. This tool can be a desktop widget or iPhone application, but it is designed to help people reach their desired athletic performance from anywhere they are - giving them the motivation and guidance needed to achieve their goals. Everything Nike does is done with its brand purpose in mind. And it's this dedication to the brand purpose that has people so devoted to their Nike shoes, that they feel they won't perform as well without them. 

So, by involving and engaging customers through unique digital experiences, the brand is creating more reasons to believe in the brand purpose fostering greater levels of brand loyalty.

Coffee & Salads Don't Mix

In my last post, I used Starbucks as an example of a brand that has lost its focus and is suffering from it. I also mentioned that they are in the midst of a turnaround as they begin to focus on reinvigorating the in-store experience once again! The one thing I forgot to mention, that, I believe, Starbucks needs to refocus on, is the menu. And this became more prevalent, in my eyes, after reading an AdAge article earlier this week.

Starbucks was never just about the coffee itself, but, rather, the total coffee experience. The insight that was at the heart of Starbucks brand expression was to "Deliver experiences that make life better in some small way".  And in this turnaround, Starbucks is trying to do just that, making their menu selections healthier! They have now removed high-fructose corn syrup from its baked goods. These are all good moves to enhancing the total coffee experience and making its customers' lives better in a small way. However, this is, maybe, where they should have stopped, but they didn't.

In addition to the healthier baked goods, Starbucks will also be launching 2 salads! Salads?! Personally, coffee and salads don't mix. This does not enhance or even work with the total coffee experience - this is way off brand in my mind. Sure a few salads may sell, but I'm thinking when you're experiencing a 77% fall in earnings in the last quarter, you may not want to be increasing your operating expenses for a product that probably won't sell enough to cover its costs.

In this situation, I would be focusing on why people want to pay $4.00 for a cup of Starbucks. Instead of bringing in new and awkward menu items that further confuse the experience, I would be focusing solely on the coffee experience. The salads are not core to the strategy, rather it's just a gimmick to try and win short-term sales.  But these short-term gimmicks will leave customers unsure of what Starbucks is truly good at affecting its brand in the long-term. Additionally, the Baristas will need to have more product knowledge, which only distracts from their expertise in making that perfect customized cup of coffee that completes the Starbucks experience.

Thank goodness Starbucks has a core group of loyal customers and a set of key profitable locations to help the brand stay above water for the time being. I really hope Starbucks begins to focus on the coffee experience, that it was founded on, and cuts away all the irrelevant noise that is currently detracting from the experience.