Jennifer's post also quotes a reader called Patrick who emailed her thus:
I start to believe that no one really knows what works – when it comes to sales, or more specifically, branding. The world out there is just too complex to really figure out how those millions of people internally and externally will respond to which ever message you put out there.Sounds like a fellow traveller to me. I've had very similar thoughts for a while now, and I believe the world of branding is far too full of the noises of false certainties.
My premise is quite radical: nothing works by design – everything emerges out of chaotic, self adaptive patterns / processes. I am living with this hypothesis for a while. I am trying to understand what the implications for marketing and management need to be if we have to admit that we don’t know the answers.
The story of branding is often told by narcissists
They say that history is written by the winners. Well, the story of branding seems dominated by those who claim to be winners, making it even more questionable. Since success has many parents and failure is an orphan, and since marketing has always attracted more than its share of narcissists, you can see the problem. What I see is human beings collaborating together in less than ideal circumstances and not according to the grand designs of the experts.I usually quote the Gallup surveys showing how few people feel engaged with their work. When I look at the grandiose or cringe-making things they are being asked to engage with, I think their reaction is postively healthy. Someone told me that a well-known chocolate company spent a modest fortune with consultants to decide their mission was "To make the little things people love". (That spluttering noise is me choking on my Dairy Milk). Can you seriously expect someone toiling on the chocolate production line to engage with that? On top of which, I can't help thinking that the high-ups who strike this pose are also trailing the corridors of the City explaining that of course what they're really all about is making large amounts of what the analysts love... I wonder if the two are being skilfully reconciled?
Getting away from scriptwriting
Is this to say that brand managers and business leaders don't influence brands? No, that's not what I'm saying. Clearly their interventions have major impacts; but very often not ones they intend. I think what I'm moving towards is the idea that brands are shorthand for ideas people hold. Those ideas are shifting and can't be rigidly defined. If branding tries too hard to instruct us what our ideas should be, it becomes obnoxious and deserves to fail.
In Improv theatre, success comes from a goodwilled exchange of dramatic "offers" between players. The story emerges moment by moment. When one actor tries too hard to drive the narrative, they'll be accused of "scriptwriting". That's the sort of thing too many brands and brand consultants try to do. They try too hard to make things follow some ideal of their own, and don't allow the stakeholders to create the brand by themselves, for themselves, moment by moment. When Barclays Bank batters me with the idea that they are "Fluent in Finance" they are scriptwriting. But the result is that I reject their script and make my own meaning about their brand. And it's not a positive one.
Let's not go all Punch and Judy
I'm hoping not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Of course we want organisations to maintain standards, to do things consistently; we don't always want to be surprised. I'd just like them to ground their thinking in reality and not false ideals; to practise greater modesty; and to interrupt me less often with their own bright ideas.
Permalink
Email me
Facebook/Johnnie Moore
Linkedin/Johnnie Moore
Twitter/johnniemoore
Last.fm/johnniemoore
Del.icio.us/johnniemoore
Technorati/johnniemoore
MyBlogLog/JohnnieM
Blog/Johnnie Moore
Comments (4)
Interesting how you use the word "goodwill" to describe improv theater.
Of course, goodwill is what fuels the blogosphere as well. Not to mention rock-star companies.
I see ourselves moving out of a "utitiliarian" or "merit" or "cool-factor" era of companies and into a "goodwill" era.
So I ask the client: "Tell me about the goodwill you're generating. Let's have a conversation about it."
If the clinet doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about, it's usually a sign that his brand is in big trouble.
May 15, 2004 13:04 Permalink for comment
I think too many times the higher-ups try to pick something that they fits their global vision, when the reality is that their business is built upon regional successes. The problem with the one big brand is that it often ignores the regional nuances that make things work in that particular region.
After going through four re-brands and three mergers with a financial goliath, I cannot tell how many times I've heard client's say, "As long as they don't change the way we do business together, we'll be fine." It's something that I think the big global brand vision often overlooks.
May 16, 2004 02:42 Permalink for comment
Rob, that's a good example of the danger of thinking that organisations need to have an explicit vision. That may work in some circumstances; however what may also work is a less explicit model, one which allows for more difference at regional level. This feels like a more organic approach, working with what is there instead of fixating on an ideal.
May 16, 2004 09:59 Permalink for comment
Nice post Johnnie, good comments too.
The average American worker lists challenge and responsibility as their top two job desires.
Robert Half International, 2000
The average American manager lists lack of initiative and inattention as their top two workplace problems.
IIAP - International Association of
Administration Professionals, ‘98
Hmmm, as-built, companies are schizo. The "remedy" is to moan a bit, wait until the the disconnect becomes unbearable and prominent on the P&L. Then, we shop around for external answers. And we end up with Hawaiian Shirts.
Huh?
Sure. You're browsing the mall, maybe gonna buy something. And you spot a Hawaiian Shirt. Hmmm, you think, "I liked Magnum PI. He looked GOOD in those. Maybe that's what I need, a little pizazz, a little Magnum."
So you buy two. Good thing. They can keep each other company till they rot off the hangers in your closet. They'll probably have company too, maybe next to the kilts you bought after seeing Braveheart.
We all moan about the lack of meaning in our lives and our work, then shop around for external answers, at a remove from ourselves, our psyches and what matters. (Present company excepted, natch )
The sucky part for the naysayer is every once in a while a Branson or Roddick or Kelleher comes along and screws with their absolutist defeatism, sloth and cowardice.
Boo Hawaiian Shirts, Boo naysayers. Yay meaning!
May 17, 2004 14:55 Permalink for comment