Question: how do you build a strong brand?
Answer: a) by creating great advertising and communication; b) by designing appealing product that generates an emotional connectivity; c) by developing an inspirational idea that is passionately executed by everything staff say and do. If you answered a) or b) you’re in good company, but the best answer is c) because it contains the potential for a) and b) within it.  While marketing communication can generate excitement and expectation (and provide post purchase reassurance), it is the experience of going into a store, shopping online, buying and wearing an item of clothing or even complaining about a product that really determine loyalty to a brand. It is employees who build relationships with customers and define the brand’s image. Yet, too often branding is seen as something ephemeral and the exclusive responsibility of the marketing department.  What I want to suggest here is that branding is a living, breathing process that is defined by an organisation’s culture and delivered by all its members.  When the idea of what the brand stands for is clear, credible and inspiring for staff you find a brand that is well liked by customers. If you doubt this just stop for a moment and think of strong brands and how you form your impression of them. Advertising or design may play a role, but it is the totality of interactions – the ‘moments of truth’ – that really determine the strength of a brand.

The challenge of this inside-out way of thinking is doing it.  Many companies have statements about their brand vision and values that are designed to steer decision making about the brand, yet in practice a brand statement is often wallpaper – nicely decorative, but easy to ignore once you get used to it.  More important than well framed brand statements are truly engaged people who believe in the cause of the brand. For example, the sportswear company Patagonia argues that it is the strength of their culture that has built the brand.  It is the culture that attracts individuals who buy into the environmentalism, integrity and quality it embodies and it is those same individuals who answer the phone, create new fabrics, design clothes, and work in stores making day-to-day decisions with those values in mind.  The values resonate because they are authentic and inspiring both inside the company and also with customers who are an integral part of the Patagonia ‘tribe’. Similarly at Ralph Lauren, the brand is built by the worlds that Lauren creates through his personal vision of Americanness, which is delivered by the design of the product, store interiors, windows, merchandising and sales staff. While Lauren’s vision unifies the whole, there is an adaptability to each environment – a residential feel to each store that connects it to its locale, such that the store and staff in Aspen, Colorado reflects its environment and needs of customers, while Tokyo integrates with a Japanese sensibility.  The approach supports the brand focus on accessibility.  Charles Fagan, Executive Vice-President of Global Retail Brand Development argues that it is the strong human-centric culture at Ralph Lauren that appeals to people, ‘we hire passionate, genuine people who have an affection for and connection to the brand.’  As with Patagonia there is a belief that if you recruit the right people you should trust them to do the right thing.  There is no manual that can guide people’s behaviour.  Rather it is about building an inspirational brand and demonstrating a willingness to nurture people’s talents.

If this process sounds simple, it isn’t.  It requires a whole-hearted engagement on the part of managers to live the brand, consistently.  That will require making difficult decisions and sometimes sacrificing short-term gains for the benefit of the long term value of the brand.  When so many organisations are under pressure to keep delivering immediate results, the temptation is to compromise.  It’s easier to go and make a new advertising campaign or to tell staff to be more ‘creative’ or ‘quality-focused’ or whatever the values are, than to have the courage, patience and trust that is needed to build internal commitment to a brand. Yet I would argue that this is the real route to success because it creates fulfilment for employees and value for customers and secures future cash flows.