Growing through Values - Brands that really stand for something - Jamie Oliver

Growing through Values - Ethical Branding

 

There is nothing fishy about these brand values

The ‘Jamie Oliver’ and ‘Body Shop’ brands demonstrate that clearly defined core values can be firmly placed at the centre of a healthy business. Strong values provide an ethical code of behaviour that influences staff, suppliers and customers. When employees share a brand’s core values they are more likely to feel content, empowered and fulfilled. Shared values can shape a behavioural framework that enables an organisation to realise its brands vision and achieve its true purpose. Values may originally derive from an organisation’s founders and evolve over time as a business flourishes. If you do not clarify and communicate these values, they may become diluted and compromise the qualities that made the organisation successful in the first place.

Jamie Oliver

The success of Jamie Oliver and his many enterprises may be traced to a confident sense of ‘Real Purpose’. The Kitchen Crusaders website and careers section clearly states ‘there’s a real purpose to working here compared to slaving away to make massive profits for some faceless corporation!’ And who would doubt that? Oliver’s Values are so authentic you can hear his voice loud and clear when you read them - http://www.jamieoliver.com/careers

• Keep it simple
• Give it your all
• Enjoy yourself
• Think fresh
• Spread the love
• Grow with us

This is a brand that undoubtedly benefits from a very visible and passionate brand Champion - and Oliver wears his heart on his sleeve. When the Chef visited North America back in 2010 for his ‘Food Revolution’ campaign he was reduced to tears at a US school, ‘They don’t understand me because they don’t know why I’m here.’ The caring chef was in the West Virginia town of Huntington to address the obesity epidemic that accounted for two out of every three people in the US being overweight. At the time Oliver placed a statement on his website: ‘I believe that every child in America has the right to fresh, nutritious school meals, and that every family deserves real, honest, wholesome food.’ To back up his manifesto he opened a walk-in advice centre called ‘Jamie’s Kitchen ’ on Huntington’s Third Avenue.

Jamie Oliver first came to the wider public’s attention in 1999 with his popular TV series ‘The Naked Chef’ and the accompanying book. His energy and enthusiasm seemed endless. In 2000 he started appearing in Sainsbury’s supermarket commercials and in 2002 he launched the Fifteen Foundation. The foundation gave 15 young people, from disadvantaged backgrounds, the opportunity of a career in the restaurant business. In 2005 he campaigned against the use of processed foods in school kitchens with the TV series ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’. With his focus firmly kept on caring for the nation’s

diet, he followed with ‘Jamie’s Ministry of Food’.  The success of ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ campaign improved not just the health of school children but their exam results, with a consequent rise of 4.5 per cent in English SAT’s results.

The Fifteen Foundation has been renamed as the Jamie Oliver Foundation. It was set up to train young people from deprived backgrounds to be chefs and many have persevered and found careers in this industry. The Fifteen London restaurant was followed by similar projects in Amsterdam, Cornwall and Melbourne.

His enthusiasm for life is contagious and he is always inspiring or helping people – whether it is a new recipe, YouTube channel or his successful food festival ‘Feastival’. He is extremely constructive, using his talent to help others, offering jobs to unemployed youths and helping to change people’s perceptions about food. He has the confidence and courage to make a change for the good of all. You can tell that he really wants to help people and he ranks in the ‘Giving List of Charitable Donors ’ published by The Sunday Times ‘ Rich List’. The Jamie Oliver brand is focused on caring and like the late Dame Anita Roddick, The Body Shop founder, Jamie Oliver is a passionate campaigner. He cares deeply about people and food and is often referred to in the media as ‘ The Kitchen Crusader ’.

Social responsibility

Brands are interconnected with their employees, suppliers and customers. They are a part of society and can affect both the environment and our physical health. Commerce has global implications and with that comes responsibility. Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are the two ‘ must have ’ policies for global businesses. But is CSR a charity bandwagon or really heart-felt?

Either way, a lot of good causes benefit t from these policies, but there is a difference between believing in a cause and just doing the right thing. A hollow CSR policy will come up for scrutiny but passionate heartfelt causes could be the focus that drives a brand. Dame Anita Roddick founded the ethical beauty brand ‘The Body Shop ’ and placed ‘ Against Animal Testing ’ on the political agenda. The brand was the first global cosmetics brand to be recognized under the Humane Cosmetics Standard for their ‘ Against Animal Testing ’ policy.

"The business of business should not just be about money,

it should be about responsibility. It should be about public

good, not private greed."

Dame Anita Roddick, The Body Shop founder

Core Values are the foundations on which strong brands may be built. These values should be clear and relevant to each employee at every stage of their relationship with the organisation. The more work you put into defining what your organisation stands for and how you expect your staff to behave, the more your brand will grow in stature and performance.

Blog Author: Paul Hitchens

Find out more about how Values can help your brand culture. You are invited to join me for my new workshop designed to help you get to the the best from your brand:

http://www.verve.co.uk/book_events.htm

SUCCESSFUL BRAND MANAGEMENT IN A DAY
Book Tour - Brand Workshop

A special one day workshop presented by the author, Paul Hitchens. This fast paced workshop will follow the book with interactive exercises and real world examples. Each delegate will receive a complimentary copy of 'Successful Brand Management - In A Week'.

BOOK HERE 11TH December 2014 London

BOOK HERE 12TH December 2014 Manchester

One day workshop >> £395.00 + VAT

Telephone: +44 (0) 1932 352353
Website: http://www.verve.co.uk/book_events.htm
Email: info@verve.co.uk

Copyright © Verve Interactive Ltd 2014

Revolutionise your brand

The ability to manage your brand successfully is crucial to business success. This special one day workshop is presented by the branding author, Paul Hitchens. This fast paced workshop will follow the book, 'Successful Brand Management - In A Week', with interactive exercises and real world examples. Each delegate will receive a complimentary copy of this best selling book. 

BOOK HERE 11TH December 2014 London

BOOK HERE 12TH December 2014 Manchester

One day workshop >> £395.00 + VAT

Schedule:

08.30 - 09.00: Arrival and coffee
09.00 - 09.15: Introduction
09.15 - 09.45: Determine your brand focus
09.45 - 10.30: Define your brand strategy
10.30 - 10.45: Morning refreshments
10.45 - 11.15: Define your brand strategy
11.15 - 12.00: Express your brand identity
12.00 - 12.30: Evolve your brand culture
12.30 - 13.15: Working Lunch included
13.15 - 14.15: Evolve your brand culture
14.15 - 15.00: Build your employer brand
15.00 - 15.15: Afternoon refreshments
15.15 - 16.00: The importance of design
16.00 - 16.45: Sustaining the brand
16.45 - 17.00: Questions and Answers

Programme: The aim of this one day workshop is to provide you with a logical and structured approach to developing a compelling brand strategy. The programme examines the Key Brand Criteria necessary for building a coherent brand, explained with contemporary examples and useful exercises. Discover how your brand can create meaning that transcends the limitations of the product or service category and establish a rewarding emotional connection with your audience. Each delegate will receive a complementary copy of the new book and refreshments and a working lunch will be served.

Who Should Attend: This course is designed for you if you are interested in brands, have responsibility for branding or are considering creating a new brand. It is suitable for Brand Managers, Designers, Directors, Entrepreneurs and Ambitious Executives.

Workshop Presenter : With over 25 years experience in the Creative Industries, Paul Hitchens has worked in Advertising, Branding, Design and Marketing. Paul is a founding partner of Verve Brand Consultancy. He has helped hundreds of businesses to realise their brand's potential through Strategic Consultancy, Creative Services, Seminars and Training Workshops. A regular commentator for television, radio, national and trade press, Paul has appeared on BBC, ITV and Channel 5 News.

BOOK HERE 11TH December 2014 London

BOOK HERE 12TH December 2014 Manchester

One day workshop >> £395.00 + VAT

Telephone: +44 (0) 1932 352353
Website: http://www.verve.co.uk/book_events.htm
Email: info@verve.co.uk

Health, Wealth and Happiness

How employee engagement is certainly no fantasy but very much alive and real in some of the UK’s most thriving businesses.

 

Blog: Paul Hitchens is Author of ‘Create the Perfect Brand’ and ‘Successful Brand Management – in a week’ published by Hodder Education. He is the Course Director for ‘Brand Strategy & HR’ hosted by Symposium Training. 

The Elfin Oak can be found in Kensington Gardens close to the venue for the Symposium Employee Engagement Summit. The Oak was carved in 1911 by the illustrator Ivor Innes and depicts the ‘Little People’ working together ascending the tree with Wookey and her three jars of Health, Wealth and Happiness. These three treasures are highly prized indicators of a thriving enterprise. Employee happiness and wellbeing are significant factors in the prosperity of a flourishing organisation.

My first three blogs prior to Symposium’s ‘Employee Engagement Summit 2014’ borrowed from the fantasy worlds of Disneyland, Legoland and Oz to examine the issue of employee engagement and its effect on the bottom line. The summit was held in Kensington, an area of London long associated with another fantasy, that of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. However, at the conference I witnessed many compelling case studies and first-hand accounts of how employee engagement is certainly no fantasy but very much alive and real in some of the UK’s most thriving businesses.

The event was chaired by Amy Armstrong, a research fellow at the Ashridge Business School. Before introducing a line-up of distinguished speakers, she began by setting the tone for the day with the eye-opening insight that, according to a recent Ashridge report, ‘CEO’s still struggle to define employee engagement.’ Whilst much of the morning was to focus on measurement and action to increase engagement, it is important to remember that there is still a lack of understanding undermining the employee engagement ‘cause’.
(For more info on the report click here).


Doug McIldowie, Group HR Director at engineering giant GKN, proclaimed their barometer for engagement to be the modern ‘Positive Climate Index Score’, whilst ValUENTiS CEO Nicholas J. Higgins reminded us that, in spite of the ongoing struggles with the concept, employee engagement surveys were actually pioneered in the 1930s by US retail giant Sears, before disclosing the findings of his latest report on employee engagement in organisations entitled 'The State of the Notion'.   


Then came some fascinating insights on initiative to improve levels of engagement. Beverley Rowney, Head of International Communications and Cultural Transformation at British Gas, explained how their engineers have been equipped with smart phone technology, including the ‘Yammer’ app, that allows them to stay in contact and share information, claiming that the freedom of choice and power of information at their fingertips has led to a significant increase in productivity and engagement. She asserted the importance of these front-line ambassadors by stating that ‘Our engineers are our brand’, meaning that initiatives to ensure their engagement were key to the success of British Gas.

Emma Sutton, Head of Credit and Fraud Risk Operations and Joanna Jepson, Culture and Engagement Workstream Lead, revealed the mettle behind the Explore Engagement Programme at their organization, MBNA, by claiming that their employee culture compass has been re-calibrated to ‘true north’. Inspirational keynotes by speakers including Sir Ranulph Fiennes have helped to build a psychological contract between employee and employer at MBNA, a contract on which their efforts to increase productivity have been based.

Lucy Wilson, the UK Leadership Development and Employee Engagement Lead at BAE Systems, recognised the power of storytelling for engagement. Her colleagues across departments were encouraged to share their story by video, which became a short film titled ‘Hall of fame’ celebrating the defence, security and aerospace brand.

Alexandra Buck former HR Manager at CISCO explained the peaks and troughs of the engagement curve and recommended Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’, before Mairi Probin, Internal Communications & Engagement Manager at Iceland Foods confirmed the relationship between HR and the bottom line by stating that ‘happy teams serve happy customers who want to come back’. Mairi referred to herself as ‘Head of Happiness’ and her colleagues would surely agree as the high street frozen food retailer was awarded the 2014 Sunday Times ‘Best Big Company to Work For’. The award is based purely on what colleagues think of their employers. Iceland has a stable career ladder with over seventy percent of vacancies filled by internal progression. Mairi underlined the importance of leadership and insisted that the fortunes of the brand have been closely linked to CEO Malcolm Walker, who let the cameras in from BBC2 to make a fly-on-the-wall documentary called ‘Iceland Foods:  Life in the freezer cabinet’.


Principal Research Fellow for the Institute for Employment Studies (IES), Dilys Robinson, concluded the day by reminding us that engagement is neither new or different and referred to the critical perspective of Professor Rob Briner at Bath School of Management. Engagement as a discipline is open to criticism: there are too many definitions as to what engagement actually is, measures are not reliable, evidence is poor and anecdotal, the benefits are often overstated or misrepresented. Dilys pointed to the future of engagement research and outlined key questions that need to be addressed over the next decade.

The IES defines Employee Engagement as:

• belief in the organisation
• desire to work to make things better
• understanding of business context and ‘bigger picture’
• respectful of, and helpful to, colleagues
• willingness to ‘go the extra mile’
• keeping up‐to‐date with developments in the field.

Dilys brought the conference to a close by asking the delegates if engagement was a fad that’s getting tired? We all answered with a resounding ‘No!’, but we must now ensure that decision makers in organizations agree. The case studies and evidence suggests that employee engagement significantly improves an organisations ability to share health, wealth and happiness and grow productivity and profit too.

Thank you

Paul Hitchens

Brand Consultant

http://www.verve.co.uk

Paul presents the following one-day courses with Symposium Training -

Brand Strategy and Human Resources – Building the Employer Brand
21 May 2014 – London
2 July 2014 – Birmingham
Your brand needs you! The power of employer branding.

http://www.symposium-training.co.uk/brand-strategy-and-human-resources/#more-1682

Wicked Values

The yellow brick road to employee engagement

Blog: Paul Hitchens is Author of ‘Create the Perfect Brand’ and ‘Successful Brand Management – In a Week’ published by Hodder Education. He is the Course Director for ‘Brand Strategy & HR’ hosted by Symposium Training.

The Wizard of Oz is an evergreen favourite and the stage show 'Wicked' is set to run and run. At the heart of L. Frank Baum's fantasy are some very down-to-earth values. I recently watched the London West End production with my family and was struck by its underlying foundation of core values and the parallels with employee engagement, corporate culture and motivation. 

Employee Engagement is the spirit of the Employer Brand. Engaged employees that love their role and understand the part they play in fulfilling the organisations vision are the lifeblood of a healthy culture. Conscientious, engaged employees bring brands to life and deliver the best brand experiences.

The period of time in which the first Oz books were published coincides with the boom in the ‘American Dream’. A belief in the ‘Land of Opportunity’ motivated many people to leave the old world of Europe behind and pursue prosperity and personal improvement. From 1900 L. Frank Baum published 14 books on the Land of Oz and I am sure we are all familiar with the Technicolor 1939 MGM version. The themes and values of Baum’s work would have struck a chord with anyone considering starting a business and building a brand. 

Values that resonate with entrepreneurs:

·      COURAGE to realise your dreams.

·      LOVE and passion in your work and the products of your labours

·      WISDOM to sustain the success and grow a long-term business.

Themes that apply to building strong motivated teams and esprit de corps:

·      TEAM WORK Solve problems by working together.

·      CONFIDENCE Follow your gut instincts.

·      HONESTY Be true to yourself and don’t hide behind a façade

·      MORALITY Don’t give up on your principles,

·      TRUST Believe in good and good things will happen.

·      THE BRAND There’s no place like home.

Back in the real world

Values can often become a list of clichés that are poorly defined and generic. Annual Reports, Corporate Brochures and Induction Packs are bolstered with pages dedicated to corporate values. But how were these values arrived at originally and are they still relevant today? 

For example: Trust is a commonly held value that should be implicit in every brand. What exactly does ‘trust’ mean and how is it defined inside and outside of the organisation? Can employees trust senior management to keep their word? Can the customer trust in the product or service?

In order to succeed and have relevance, values require the complete endorsement of the boardroom supported by clear evidence that the management team is practicing what it preaches. These values will need to be interpreted and understood at an individual level so that employees can integrate them into their job description.

If you are part of an established organisation with a legacy of values, it could be time to re-evaluate their effectiveness. Choose a ‘Values Focus Group’ from across the organisation including; Senior Management, Marketing, Human Resources and Line Managers. Ask the group if these existing values are capable of delivering a unique customer experience or a generic one? If the legacy values are of the generic ‘me to’ variety they will add nothing to the personality of the brand. Too many values can be as ineffective as no values at all. If your employees have trouble recalling your values, it is better to keep them short and succinct and limited to a core number of five. 

Considerations for choosing Brand Values:

·      Are the values sincere and memorable?

·      Do these values help to differentiate the brand?

·      Are the values relevant to the brand experience?

·      Can employees realistically live up to these values? 

·      Do the values provoke measurable behaviours that will enhance or transform the brands performance? 

It may take several days to arrive at your new values system, but they will have a long lasting and positive effect, so it is worth every effort to get it right. The publication of the new values will directly influence decisions for hiring employees, measuring their performance and awarding rewards.

Appoint Values Ambassadors from all levels of the organisation to disseminate the values across the workforce. Ensure that every employee is within reach of these Values Ambassadors, from Senior Management to temporary staff. Values are best shared and practiced ‘face to face’, you cannot expect them to thrive if they are buried away in a document.

Thank you

Paul Hitchens 

http://www.verve.co.uk

I help people and companies to build strong brands inside and outside their organisation. I often ask delegates at my workshops to describe their favourite brands and I expect them to reveal the stand out qualities and the stories they associate with those cherished products and services. This is because strong brands have meaning and stand for something that’s relevant to us. 

Paul presents the following one-day courses with Symposium Training -

Brand Strategy and Human Resources – Building the Employer Brand

21 May 2014 – London
2 July 2014 – Birmingham

Your brand needs you! The power of employer branding.

http://www.symposium-training.co.uk/brand-strategy-and-human-resources/#more-1682

Copyright © Verve Interactive Ltd 2014

Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you’re part of a team!

The lessons Lego can teach us about Employee Engagement.

Blog: Paul Hitchens is Author of ‘Create the Perfect Brand’ and ‘Successful Brand Management – in a week’ published by Hodder Education. He is the Course Director for ‘Brand Strategy & HR’ hosted by Symposium Training.

Lego is one of the world’s most enduringly popular brands despite repeated reference to its pain inducing qualities when stepped on while barefoot at 4 o’clock in the morning. I recently had the good fortune to take my son and a group of his friends to see the new Lego Movie.  I now have the films theme song ‘Everything is awesome!!!’ by Tegan and Sara stuck on repeat play in my subconscious. It’s a high-energy celebration of the power of working together for a common goal and it struck me that this could be an anthem for Employee Engagement. The Lego Movie is a self-fulfilling prophecy following the life of Emmet, an ordinary LEGO mini-figure with no exceptional qualities, who stumbles upon an object that propels him into the role of the "special" one as foretold by prophecy. Emmet reveals that sometimes guidelines and a framework for behavior can pay dividends and that every employee has the potential to be a Brand Ambassador. All work and no play had made Emmet a dull boy, but given an opportunity to shine he demonstrates the Lego ethos to ‘Play well’.

Employee engagement is the balance between emotional attachment to the organisation and individual job satisfaction. There is a frequently told story that John F Kennedy allegedly made an unannounced visit to the Cape Canaveral Space Centre during the Apollo Space Program. He approached three men in overalls and asked each in turn what they were doing. The first replied that he was ‘earning a living’, the second replied that he ‘cleaned away all the rubbish’ and the third replied with a smile that he was ‘helping to put a man on the moon’.  The third man displays some of the attributes of the Lego Movie’s character Emmet, he is an engaged employee, someone who feels a direct link between the job they do and the achievement of the organisation.

Satisfaction (I love my Job) + Contribution (I help my business achieve its goals) = Engagement

The reasons for a lack of engagement include poor leadership, weak communication and a lack of understanding about the brand. The combination of long working hours, frozen pay scales, lunch breaks at desks and the intrusive access of digital communication can create a resentful workforce. Health, prospects and a sincere interest in the welfare of the employee are critical. People are engaged when they like their work, they understand its value and they enjoy working with their colleagues.

Effective employee engagement enables employees to realise their full potential at work. To enable this they must feel respected, included, listened to and valued by their colleagues and Line Managers. Engaged employees find a sense of belonging in their organisation and are inspired to put their best efforts into making it a success. High levels of employee engagement are linked with increased operational efficiency and reduced loss from theft and errors.

The benefits of Employee Engagement:

•  A shared feeling of pride and inclusiveness.
• Employee contentment with career and future prospects.
• Proactive positive helpful attitude.
• Improved health and wellbeing.
• Lower absence rates.
• Employees live the brand values.

We cannot all expect to work in Legoland, but we can work towards building an Employer Brand culture where you can work and play well.

Thank you

Paul Hitchens 

http://www.verve.co.uk

I help people and companies to build strong brands inside and outside their organisation. I often ask delegates at my workshops to describe their favourite brands and I expect them to reveal the stand out qualities and the stories they associate with those cherished products and services. This is because strong brands have meaning and stand for something that’s relevant to us. 

Paul presents the following one-day courses with Symposium Training -

Brand Strategy and Human Resources – Building the Employer Brand

21 May 2014 – London
2 July 2014 – Birmingham

Your brand needs you! The power of employer branding.

http://www.symposium-training.co.uk/brand-strategy-and-human-resources/#more-1682

Copyright © Verve Interactive Ltd 2014

Hearts and Minds Branding

 

A brand is not a logo

Paul Hitchens is Author of ‘Create the Perfect Brand’ and ‘Successful Brand Management – In a Week’ published by Hodder Education. He is co-founder of Verve Brand Consultancy Tel: +44 (0) 1932 352353 and presents the CIM Branding Masterclass - https://www.cim.co.uk/Training/CourseDetails.aspx?course=0069. 

‘A brand is not a logo’ has become something of a mantra in the years that I have been working with clients helping them to build stronger brands.

Your logo is not your brand; it’s just the tip of the iceberg, a signpost pointing to a deeper experience.
Your brand is the heart and soul of the organization.
Your brand is multi-dimensional and exists in the past, present and future.
Your brand has a reputation, provides an experience and raises expectations.
Your brand audience includes your customers, suppliers, partners and most importantly you and your colleagues.

A successful brand means that everyone shares the same idea of the brand and both customers and employees become brand ambassadors. Great brands sell themselves, creating emotional bonds and rewards that surpass rationality. We are all willing to pay more for something we cannot get anywhere else.

At the close of March I presented the CIM Practical Insights Webinar on Brand Identity. The presentation attracted 1,444 registrants; many of who chose to listen to the event live. I posed ten brand identity questions to the audience to gauge how CIM members are using their brand to build value in their organisation. These are the results:

1, Do you see branding as critical to the success of your business?

·      89% Yes

·      11% Maybe

The majority of respondents indicated that branding was firmly on the agenda.
Since 2008 and the credit crunch, a lack of values and an unhealthy culture has been blamed for the absence of many household brands that failed to survive the economic downturn. A clear brand strategy, shared across the organization is an effective way to guide employee behaviour steered by strongly defined values.
 

2, Does your branding communicate the scale and scope of your business?

·      39% Yes

·      36% Maybe

·      25% No

The results from this question suggest that 61% of respondents are not making the most of their brands equity. A brand Identity has the potential to communicate an organisations business strategy clearly. From Branded, Endorsed and House of Brands models of architecture, each system has the potential to create equity and offer leveraging possibilities. Customers are more likely to buy new products and services from brands they trust and admire. 

3, Does your branding have a narrative?

·      47% Yes

·      36% Maybe

·      17% No

We all like a good story and news travels faster when it’s worth repeating. In the age of Social media, brands would be wise not to try controlling the narrative and would be better advised to assist. Foundation stories, innovation stories and customer stories can provide a compelling dialogue that builds firm foundations of authenticity and empathy for the brand. The power of storytelling is often overlooked and yet every brand fits an archetype. 

4, What type of naming strategy do you use?

·      33% Descriptive

·      28% Family

·      11% Invented

·      11% Abbreviated

·      11% Symbolic

·      6% Geographic

Inspiration for a brand name may come from many sources. Toys-R-Us, General Motors and PC World are all examples of Descriptive brand names. The majority of respondents to this survey indicate that they have chosen this strategy, which makes it very clear which market they operate in. The negative side to this approach is that it can restrict the perceived scope of the organization and it lacks personality. There are pros and cons to each approach and it is worth considering these before settling on a choice. Please refer to my new book written with Julia Hitchens, ‘Successful Brand Management – In a Week’ published by Hodder Education, for more insights. 

5, Does your logo have any symbolic meaning?

·      64% Yes

·      32% No

·      4% Maybe

The logo is not the brand but it does have an important role to play. When a potential Customer or Employee knows little or nothing about the brand, they will be looking for clues about its authenticity, personality and culture through the quality of its branded communication. The logo is the big signpost guiding the audience to the brand experience and confirming that they are in the right place. A logo with meaning forms part of the narrative and helps to tell the story behind the brand. It has the potential to become a valuable asset. 

6, Do you have a brand mascot?

·      91% No

·      9% Yes

In a nation like the United Kingdom famous for its love of animals and pet ownership, it’s no wonder that brands with mascots find passionate and loyal customers. Brands as diverse as PG Tips (Tea), Compare the Market (Insurance Comparison) and EDF (Energy) use Monkeys, Meerkats and endearing orange blobs to add emotion and personality to their communication. It’s nothing new and Michelin’s Bibendum is now a Centenarian. A mascot will cost less than a celebrity endorsement and can be better behaved, so perhaps its time to consider employing a character in your marketing mix?

7, What colour is your brand?

·      32% Blue

·      15% Red

·      15% Green

·      12% Purple

·      10% Orange

·      6% Pink

·      5% Yellow

·      4% Black/White

·      1% Gold/Silver

·      0% Brown

In this survey, respondents expressed an overwhelming preference for blue. Blue is conservative, professional and can convey trust but it may also be criticised as corporate camouflage in a tidal wave of blue. Colour is a valuable and powerful brand asset and its choice can be both symbolic and personal. Colour can express feelings, emotions, political allegiance, social status and personal taste, so consider colours that complement your values and help support the brand idea. Choosing a different colour from your competitors can pay dividends in market differentiation, but be careful of fashionable colours that may appear dated over time. Colours can have varying interpretations in different cultures and it is wise to check if you intend to market overseas.

8, What style of typeface do you use?

·      64% Sans Serif

·      24% Serif

·      6% Display

·      6% Script

Typography is the art of the letterform and its discipline covers type

design and type layout or composition. A corporate typeface becomes the

handwriting of the brand and its style can convey both personality and tone. Since Guttenberg and the invention of moveable type there has been an exponential growth in the choice of typefaces and styles available to designers. The survey revealed a trend towards Sans Serif typefaces. These clean and elegant typefaces are often described as contemporary but can trace their print origins to the 19^th century. Akzidenz-Grotesk was first released in 1896 and has since influenced Helvetica, Frutiger and Univers amongst many.

9, Do you have a designated team or colleague responsible for protecting the brand?

·      61% Yes

·      31% No

·      8% Maybe

It is very important to appoint an individual or a team with the responsibility to manage and protect the brand and its expression in every dimension; both online and offline. They will require the backing of top management and have the power to remove and replace materials and communications that do not exemplify best practice. It is important to monitor the consistent communication of the brand or risk projecting the message that your standards are low and by inference the quality of your products and services. A set of comprehensive guidelines and digital templates are essential and prove invaluable when working with external agencies.

10, Have you ever undertaken a brand audit?

·      53% No

·      47% Yes

Undertake a health check of your brand. Touchpoints are the chain of interactions that collectively form the customer experience. Analyse how you communicate internally and externally and how your colleagues and external audiences perceive you. Review every communication from external marketing to internal communications for continuity. Check for consistency in branding; logo, type, colour, tone of voice and look and feel. Score each communication according to its ability to fulfill the brand according to the Key Brand Criteria; Purpose, Vision, Values, Mission Statement, Proposition, Positioning, Personality and Audience.

Further resources and reading:

1, Book: ‘Successful Brand Management - In a Week’. Authors: Paul Hitchens & Julia Hitchens. Publisher: Hodder Education.

A Teach Yourself guidebook that quickly teaches you the insider secrets you need to know in order to successfully manage your brand. The motivational structure of the book provides seven straightforward chapters explaining the key points; ‘Determine your brand focus’, ‘Define your brand strategy’, ‘Express your brand identity’, ‘Evolve your brand culture’, ‘Build your employer brand’, ‘The importance of design’ and’ Sustaining the brand’.

2, Book: ‘Create the Perfect Brand – Teach Yourself’. Authors: Paul Hitchens & Julia Hitchens. Publisher: Hodder Education.

This book will help you to maximise your brand, even in a downturn. All aspects of branding are covered including brand creation and protection. Fascinating case studies of famous brands, including the disaster stories, nail the advice in the real world. Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience.

 

Thank you

Paul Hitchens
Brand Consultant and Course Director

http://www.verve.co.uk

 Copyright © Verve Interactive Ltd 2014