Us consultants often talk at Board level about ‘pledges’ and things senior managers can commit to which make a difference to a business culture. Sometimes these are things that can seem obvious or non-transformational, but just havn’t been approached regularly or visibly. When the CMO of an FMCG business with a brand essence all about ‘sociable grazing’ started inviting his department to spend the last 2 hours of Friday afternoons doing just that, he noticed that amongst staff their competitor brands were getting preferential devouring. Turned out his team didn’t associate their own brand with those occasions. Cue the most extensive consumer research program the company had undertaken to date. One new brand pledge led to a re-positioning and re-focus on the customer.
So, at the start of a new year, it’s important that brands and those of us who work for and alongside them state some ambitions and expectations of ourselves and of the brands we interact with.
Here are my brand pledges for 2018. Five are things I want to live up to and five are things I would love to see on behalf of brands and sectors I choose to (or have to) connect with:
This year I shall…
Mostly be implementing a new business strategy involving targeting, thoughtful insight and direct conversation, as opposed to downloading generic content on to social media in the misguided hope that my next job might be lurking on Twitter waiting for me to drop by. (I’ll just finish this blog then start on that)
Consistently ignore ‘Likes’ as a metric for anything
Politely decline calls from anyone with ‘Content’ in their job title
Not be “reaching out” or thanking anyone else for doing so
Champion and bleat on about the need for Strategy with a capital S. May this be the year of Brands that Think.
And in the spirit of hope…..
May British Airways regain a sense of responsibility to their customers and re-build a cabin experience that stands for something other than cost-cutting
May the UK continue to see creativity and innovation by the bucket-load. Specifically in jams (there must be more to preserves than pip-free) and Christmas crackers (decades of nail clippers and identical paper hats – come on people)
May a newly created independent brand step up and lead in the beleaguered adult social care sector, where there’s no overview and nowhere to turn for clear, consistent, informed advice on a bewildering range of issues
May venture cap see the potential in a premium burger bar chain called The Squeezy Bap™, located in small high-income towns where pubs have a stronghold on mostly average patties, invisible between the doorstop properties of a strong and stable brioche
May the voice of positioning be heard through the brand-wagon of ‘purpose’.
Controversial that last one?
Bet 2018 will be too. I hope so.
