Try it today: Ask these questions of a random sampling of 5 customers and employees.

• What do we do?

• Where are we trying to go?

• Why does it all matter?

You will learn a lot through this simple exercise.

Don’t settle until it’s understood throughout the organization and the real test is when you hear customers say it back to you.

He said one thing in passing in the article that I haven’t been able to shake ever since I read it.  Schultz was asked how things had gone so wrong and he replied…

Success is not sustainable if it is defined by how big you become or by growth for growth’s sake.  Success is very shallow if it doesn’t have emotional meaning.

The article goes on to talk about how Schultz’s main agenda since coming back as CEO was to inject meaning back into the brand for all employees.  He did this mostly through bringing employees together and teaching them about the brand again.

I love to watch a leader lead with his heart first, balance sheet second.

Here’s a link to the HBR article should you want to read more. http://ow.ly/2gJvs

While I was there, we discussed the recent rebrand of the Norwegian company, Statoil.

Statoil is an oil company with over 500 filling stations in Norway with more scattered all over Scandinavia.  Here is an image of one of their filling stations.

The company recently merged with Norsk Hydro and here is an image of the identity after its rebrand.

Though I don’t have the privilege of  knowing all of the internal reasons behind why the company did this, it begs the question: Who is this for? Consumers are very familiar and comfortable with the filling station identity, but the executives wanted to change it to better display the merger.

So again, who is this for?  The Executives or the Target Audience.

The answer is always the Target Audience. All too often rebrands are done at the pleasure of the leadership rather than a strategic decision with the customer in mind.  Not that a CEO should be ignored in the process, but most often the CEO is no where close to the Target Audience.

Tiny little opportunities that can be easily overlooked. Areas that you’re not currently leveraging to extend your brand’s value. Here are a few possible examples:

• The way you answer the phone
• What you wear to a client meeting
• A Receipt
• A Coffee Cup Sleeve
• A Handwritten Note
• An Estimate or Proposal
• The FAQ page on your website
• A voicemail greeting
• An Invoice
• Being on Time
• The back of your business card
• Beating a Deadline
• A Napkin
• A PowerPoint footer
• A call to a Customer just to say Thank You

Try to think of one small thing you can improve upon today. Most of these won’t cost you any money.

What did you think of?

I think it’s the same with companies.  All too often terms like “branding” are seen as something that’s separate from a business plan and how things are really run inside the organization. Unfortunately, that’s basing identity on what you think others would like you to be.  An organization’s identity should be directly tied to who it truly is at the core.

That’s one reason that TRUTH is one of our three core values.

A while back I blogged about how our team was reading Scott Belsky’s new book, Making Ideas Happen, and had begun adopting the Action Method.  Two months later, it continues to revolutionize my life.  If you are not very organized and see yourself more as an idea person, then I highly suggest that you first read the book and then quickly adopt the action method whether you use your own tools or theirs (I also highly suggest their tools).

Also, if you are near Atlanta, you’re in for a treat because Scott Belsky is going to be putting on a seminar Friday, August 6th in Atlanta at One Twelve Gallery put on by our friend Jeff Shinabarger and Plywood People.  Make sure you sign up! Hope to see you there.

Andy and his team at GasPedal are putting on a 1 day word of mouth learning event July 20th in NYC called Word of Mouth Supergenius.

Word of Mouth Supergenius is where you’ll learn to be a fantastic word of mouth marketer with 12 how-to classes, 12 real-world case studies, and 6 brilliant authors. You’ll learn practical, hands-on techniques to get started, launch your program, and earn amazing word of mouth.  You’ll ask questions, discover new ideas, and get answers from people who have been there, done that — and learn it all in just one day.

If you’re interested in attending, use the code WELOVEMATCHSTIC and you’ll receive 10% off.

Mike attended Brand Camp last month and wanted to share a little about his experience, so without further ado, here’s Mike…

For the uninitiated, Brand Camp is a two – day offsite immersion workshop digging into your brand, what makes it special, and what makes it different.

What makes it any different than reading Positioning or Zag? In theory, not much – the principles are the same ( in fact, they would both make for perfect homework for Brand Camp). The difference is that you actually DO the stuff. You leave with a brand brief. In your hands! And you do it all in 2 days with fantastic tutoring, mentoring, and perspective.

I think two things separate it from anything Ripple has done in the past:

1. Matchstic sends their founding partners to guide you through it. That’s pretty helpful since these guys do nothing but brand strategy all day. They are smart, passionate about brands, and committed to keeping things on track. They are great for brainstorming and advice of course, but also for a swift kick in the behind when needed.

2. There are four other companies doing it with you. That is pretty cool because everyone is working together. It really keeps the process from getting into ruts. The creative juices are always flowing, and there is always a “civilian” from one of the other companies to say “I don’t really get what your saying.” That is something you never really get when your working with just marketing people + your own people. Both can fall victim to the Curse of Knowledge, but there is no such curse when four other unrelated companies are in the room.

Also, you’re in the woods, getting to know other people with similar challenges, and eating grilled meats. Sitting around a conference table pales in comparison

The combination of marketing geniuses, regular folks and beer make the process a special one. It’s an experience I would highly recommend.

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To see more of Mike’s ventures, check out Ripple and EO.

It’s the same with building a brand.  You can put a lot of energy into defining and building the initial foundation of a brand.  But the day you stop thinking about it and sticking with the initial plan is the day you start to lose focus.  And we all know that a lack of commitment leads to a weakening brand.

Having the foundational assets of a brand (brand strategy, visual identity system) is just that: the foundation.  That isn’t when your work is done, rather it’s when you can really start building your brand.

So what questions should be asked should you find yourself in this situation?  Here are three questions to get you started…

1. Do the companies offer the same value to the customer?

Sadly, I’ve seen several companies acquire another company who offered a complimentary service instead of the same one, however they roll up the brand name into the larger company.  This can result in confusion on the side of the customers of the smaller company which means that company is immediately worth less than the day it was purchased. For the sake of this blog post, we’ll assume for now that they do offer the same value…

2. Which is the stronger brand?

Do you keep one of the brand names or One of the company brands is likely to be stronger and therefore is the leading candidate for being the new one.  Keep in mind that this has nothing to do with revenue or which company has more cash on hand.  Customers don’t care about how much money you make or how much cash you have, only which brand means more.

3. Is there a new vision for company?

If the answer to this is yes, then a completely new name should be considered.  If you are going to stand for something different than what the two companies stood for prior to the merger, then a completely new name could be in order for casting vision both internally and externally.

When mergers happen, there is a lot of legal work about how the two companies will legally exist on paper, but don’t make the mistake of applying all of the same rules to the brand.  That’s a totally different animal and it needs to be handled completely and with just as much intention.

*shout out to our new intern, Kelly Carnes, for the blog graphic*