These words, spoken by Roy Disney at a recent meeting of Disney executives, should send chills down the spine of all of us who work in strategic branding.
Here’s the heir to the most potent story-telling empire in the world dismissing a craft that is all about story-telling. And one look at our balance sheets over the last year shows that Roy isn’t the only corporate chieftain who thinks all this talk about branding is, well, a little goofy.
And no wonder. Rarely, if ever, has our business clearly articulated just what branding is, how it’s done, and why anyone should do it.
Well, here goes - and good place to start may be with what branding is not: Branding is not advertising, logo design, corporate identity, or any of the many marketing disciplines with which it is closely associated. (Though, the confusion is an understandable, given branding’s critical role in the success of these activities.)
Strip away the buzzwords and self-serving talk of proprietary processes and strategic branding is simply and powerfully this: story-telling. Corporate story telling. Industrial poetry.
Strategic branding identifies and articulates a company’s core promise. The promise it holds out to itself, customers, investors, employees, and business partners - any and all stakeholders. Said another way, branding helps a company figure out who it is, what it’s all about, and what role its character (read, brand) plays in that larger drama called the marketplace.
To be of value this story - commonly called a brand promise or positioning - must have a compelling answer for the following questions:
- What does the company stand for?
- How is it distinctive?
- Why should anyone care?
Creating a positioning that answers these questions demands a penetrating examination from both the outside in and the inside out. A thoughtful, thorough, and thoroughly honest examination of a firm’s people, history, goals, achievements and failures, as well as the marketplace and the competition. (Added benefit: this exploration is sure to produce an internal dialogue nearly as valuable as the final strategic product.)
Creating a distinctive, enduring brand positioning also requires intellectual rigor, business smarts, creativity, communications skills, and, on numerous occasions, yelling and screaming (out of client earshot, of course.)
The end result is the key, but by no means the only deliverable of any branding assignment, the positioning statement. Part mythos, part manifesto, and part marching orders a good positioning statement is chock-full of strategic insight, intellectual heft, and dynamic story telling.
And why shouldn’t it be, it’s the story of your company - a vital combination of documentary and inspiring narrative. And, when fully leveraged, this brand positioning is nothing less than a guide for everything a company does and says and how it does and says them.
For example, while you’d imagine that the content and direction of marketing communications is driven by the story and tone of voice in a brand positioning, consider branding’s role in something as seemingly far-a-field as recruitment strategies.
Your positioning is your company’s story - OK, what kind of people do you want playing a role in that tale? What sorts of persons will move that story successfully forward? Your positioning naturally creates parameters for recruiting, retaining, and promoting those individuals.
A brand positioning is also crucial to a wide range of overarching business strategies. The kind of company, what one believes, and the promises made lay the framework for mergers, acquisitions and new business initiatives.
And that’s just the beginning. If it seems like a lot to expect from a story, from just words on paper, remember this: These words are the idea that animates your company. The permission for those inside and outside to believe.
And you don’t have to be Roy Disney to know that, more than anything; children of all ages want something to believe in.
Strategic branding can make your company that something.
by: SAUL DENNIS
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