This evening I received a distressed call from a former client. He sits on the Board of a well-known technology company, and today their new international brand was unveiled to the Board of Directors and investors. He, among others in the room, sat in astonishment as a team of high powered strategists, linguists, graphic designers and “creative engineers” shared visual boards depicting the heart – and art – of this company’s brand. The passion and energy was palpable. The graphics were stunning. The marketability of the brand was missing.
Sometimes, in our quest to create something that stands apart and looks like none other, we end up creating something that has no relevance, meaning or emotional connection to the market place.
Branding is about setting a promise – a very clear, bold and authentic promise – of an expectation of an experience. It is the essence of a company, or a person, that gives audiences the opportunity to trust and hold accountable to that expectation. As an individual, our brand is reflected in our reputation, earned over time and through behavior, that we leverage to (hopefully) attract opportunities. For a company, a brand speaks a specific tone and language to a targeted audience that is both elegant and broad, and compels us to believe that the company has a heart and will meet our needs for a unique relationship and experience.
Throughout my professional career, I am often recruited to bring simplicity and elegance to brands that have become complex and where meaning is cluttered. Often times, marketing initiatives, visionary leaders and acquiescent marketing teams stretch and pull the brand in so many directions that it hardly resembles the pure and simple promise set forth by the founding partners. Bringing a company back to those organic and basic values, promises and goals is an exhilarating and empowering process.
Similarly, as individuals we hear about all the things we’re good at, we listen to the feedback in performance critiques and we begin to believe our own reviews. Then, when someone like me comes along and inquires, “What makes you unique and valuable?” the answer is hard to articulate.
As we turn the page on the calendar in a couple of weeks, maybe we can all reflect back to our core values, the compass by which we are guided, and the basic code by which we operate and live. Branding is simple. Life is elegant. And, sometimes the hardest answer is the most simple one.
Happy holidays and best wishes for a wonderful new year!
Lida
ABOUT LIDA
As counsel and reputation management expert to international corporations, senior executives, CEOs and business leaders, Lida Citroën launched LIDA360, a reputation management firm, to devise corporate marketing strategies and personal branding processes that drive results. Her programs continuously and intuitively revolve — and evolve — around client business objectives while positioning companies and executives to outshine their competitors.
As an accomplished professional speaker on personal branding and reputation management, her programs, “Stand Out from the Crowd: Leveraging Your Personal Brand” and “Personal Branding & Reputation Management Online” generate rave reviews.
The author of the best-selling guide to reputation management, “Reputation 360: Creating power through personal branding,” (Palisades Publishing, 2011) Lida delivers speaking programs, consulting and coaching on:
– Reputation Management for Executives
– Reputation Management for Professionals
– Reputation Management for Non-Profits
– Personal Branding for Today’s Executives
– Personal Branding & Reputation Management with Social Media
For more information visit www.LIDA360.com or call 800.314.5060.
“All fluff and no stuff” is never a good way to go with a brand! As you mention, we get caught up in trying to be the latest and greatest, with every bell and whistle possible. Sometimes, simple and basic is definitely what gets the job done in the best possible way. A company or person can stand out by not being the fanciest!