Evolutions in a brand quintessentially emerges out of people or a person. Its trajectory is closely tied to all things human - beliefs, values, personality, purpose, vision, mission, culture. Thus, the task of brand building emanates and reports back into ideas which are eventually personal in nature. Institutionalizing this personality as a brand which could outlive a person - over time and across variations - is the ultimate challenge of curating a brand culture, with a brand architecture and a brand philosophy. Understanding this is central to the success of a brand development exercise. And as you would expect, this exercise is complex and time taking, because of this very factor.
Coming down to the other human factor under the brand development radar is customers. Until bots can consume and pay for things businesses produce, as a business leader you are stuck with People. People are the prized possession, the promised land, which can grow profit and equity infinitely.
Complexity is therefore the call to answer for any business leader, because we the people are not binary. We are stimulated by our conditioning and emotions. It is this quality which makes our job interesting, compelling and challenging. Being at this job, we learn that the objective task-at-hand begins at the subjective view on the task-at-hand - of the people. Thus, strategy is in alignment. Growth or decline in business matches people at the helm without exception. And that, “progress” to be made is personal to begin with.
Aptly observed by the author of The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier in the following quotes:
“A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a corporate identity system. It’s a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. Because it depends on others for its existence, it must become a guarantee of trustworthy behavior. Good branding makes business integral to society and creates opportunity for everyone, from the chief executive to the most distant customer.”
“1) Who are you? 2) What do you do? 3) Why does it matter?”
From Camouflage to Clarity:
Mentoring a business begins at studying cognition - at a leadership level; at a cultural level - to be able to drive clarity and collaboration at scale. I have observed that people tend to read situations cursorily, especially when the situation is complex in nature and mainly when they are a the leadership level. It is natural and optimal. Patterning is human, and it helps make complex intelligible. That’s also where the real opportunity at a breakthrough lies, if and only if we could give it time and look deeper outside our ego. If we don’t, patterning can become a trap.
Are you familiar with Typoglycemia? Think of it as an example of what goes on when our intelligence comes across a complex situation, jumbled up in symptoms, seemingly familiar but definitely unique. This is what I observe in most cases where ‘business-as-usual’ begs for alternate view and an elevated ‘clarity’ to actually make progress. However, cognition of the type mentioned above tackles the awkwardness of a leadership moment. It is normal.
Here, it takes absolute trust between the mentor and the leader, to enable breakthroughs by facing this cognitive trap to crossover from camouflage to clarity. Throughout my career I have had the privilege of working on a handful of businesses which needed such a breakthrough.
When I look back I notice what made outcomes differ, although I pretty much followed a similar approach in all the cases. For instance, in the case of Allcargo Logistics, pinning down the brand personality down to ‘ingenuity’ took me almost a month of closed door conversations with the Founder and the key people at the helm. “Ingenuity in Motion”, which I had penned down as the core belief after this intense exercise, remains its calling and conviction for over 12 years now, and still counting, is the real reward of a branding exercise for a professional. Over the years the business has grown to accumulate awards for all verticals of its business, in addition to awards for culture and leadership. That’s alignment over clarity. As a professional, it is humbling for me to witness the invaluable leaps great leadership weaves into a simple branding exercise.
Positioning is your place in a changing world.
Chunks of time takes a whole new meaning when we discuss positioning strategy. There is more vision and purpose in it than artfulness.
To answer what is a "vision", I am reminded of the story of Walt Disney’s most ambitious project, Walt Disney World, which he didn’t live to see.
On its opening day, a reporter said to Roy Disney, “This must be a bittersweet day for you. It's really sad that Walt never got to see Disney World.” Roy responded, “If Walt didn't see it. we wouldn't be standing in it.”
“I never know when Walt’s imagination is going to take off into the wild blue yonder, and everything will explode,” Disney’s wife told an interviewer for a McCall’s magazine article titled “I Live With a Genius.”
“Walt Disney was never a rich man by Hollywood standards, largely because, he explained, he valued perfection more than profits. “I don’t make movies to make money,” he is often credited with saying, “I make money so I can make more movies.” The company was in financial disarray when he died on December 15, 1966, but enterprises he had planned before his death assured the company’s future.” (Excerpt from Britannica Money)
The reason I put vision and purpose at the altar of positioning, than an artful stroke of words or wherewithal, is because, positioning is meant to be effective over a chunk of time. Positioning coming off vision and purpose shines brighter and digs its heels deeper with more competition clawing at it.
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Or, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
What did Alan Kay, Abraham Lincoln, Peter Drucker had in common besides the above quote? Each of them successfully anchored transformation at scale by daring ‘firsts’ to the table. Each brought into existence that which didn’t exist (formally) - Alan Kay brought GUI. Abraham Lincoln’s executive order in 1863 paved the way for abolition of slavery. Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, coined the term “knowledge worker”.
People can’t even remember a second name in a similar vein. And positioning in its essence is to be “one-of-a-kind”. For any reason if the brand couldn’t qualify as “one-of-its-kind”, it is better off counting steps to exit, starting immediately.
You can’t have a positioning worth a breath without a vision. It is an essential quality as a brand, as a leader and as a business.
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