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Once you have developed an inspiring brand promise, how do you get employees to take ownership and become genuinely excited about delivering it – particularly those who don’t see the link between their job and the customer experience? At the Toronto AMA roundtable on April 27, market leading panelists discussed key strategies and shared some innovative, proven ideas.
Panelists agreed on the importance of finding out-of- the-box ways to encourage staff to understand and live the brand. Seeking to avoid ‘marketing speak’ and scripts, for example, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) developed a program to give employees authentic understanding and a whole new level of learning opportunities. Strong proponents of the WIFM factor – What’s In it For Me? - their program has included Second City Improv training for all employees, and CEO-led hard hat construction tours for all staff.
Some means of demonstrating visible leader commitment is clearly vital for employee buy-in. At FedEx Canada, the CEO participated in ‘The Big Switcheroo’ - a TV program where he and a courier switched jobs for one week.
Senior management commitment to employee communication is also critical. At FedEx Canada, a senior management team visits all work groups across Canada every six months, walking the belt and talking the brand face-to-face with every employee. At the ROM, regular ‘Lunch ‘n Learn’ sessions with senior management similarly allow for “hard questions and honest answers”. Panelists stressed the value of creating 2-way dialogue venues such as these, versus ‘town hall’ speeches. Meeting one-on-one or in small groups also makes it easier to encourage front-line brand champions, which the panel deemed all-important. It is essential to get people at the grass-roots level who can champion the brand and want to live it.
The roundtable was developed and moderated by Patricia McQuillan, President of Brand Matters.
Marketing trends:
As organizations start developing internal programs to support the brand promise, focus is turning to sustainability. Patrician McQuillan put the question to recent AMA round table panelists: how do you continue to ensure on-brand behaviour?
Gary Burkett, Managing Director Human Resources, FedEx Canada – It comes down to three key criteria: 1) Recruitment: we recruit for ‘attitude’ to ensure we hire people who can deliver the brand. 2) Training: it’s essential to keep finding new ways to embed the brand promise. 3) Rewards: it’s important to have a way to reward the right behaviours. We have a real-time program that gives on-the-spot cash rewards.
Cheryl Blackman, Director Visitor Experience, Royal Ontario Museum – We have many arms and try to work hand-in-hand to find unique and exciting new ways to continue delivering the brand promise. People have a million and one things on their plate. It has to be: “Here’s the message.” Followed by, “Did I give you the message?” And, “Here’s the message again.” It’s the continual drip treatment – keep reinforcing the message in every possible way.
Valerie Taylor, Director Marketing and Sales, Royal Ontario Museum – Marketing risks being seen as the 'brand police'. The challenge is to instil brand ownership across departments and keep it alive. We have two committees to help bring different people together. We find unconventional ways to demonstrate the brand.
Brenda McWilliams, Managing Director Marketing, FedEx Canada – It’s critical to have continued employee feedback and create a 2-way mechanism to sustain and measure progress against the brand. We survey our employees to ensure they understand what the brand is about. There is also a management survey where elements of the brand are measured. Managers immediately follow-up through feedback sessions with their employees and develop specific action plans with the team.
Upcoming industry events
Brand Matters has been recognized as a “Leading Business” by the City of Toronto. Please click through to view our participation in the City of Toronto’s new Toronto Unlimited Campaign. Please click here for a copy of the ad.
AMA Toronto connects GTA Marketers at The Drake: A night to leverage networking for competitive advantage, Tuesday, June 27, 2006 5:00 - 9:00 pm, The Drake Hotel. Non-members welcome. Visit ama- toronto.com to register for this event.
This newsletter is published by Brand Matters, a uniquely innovative management consulting firm that specializes in brand assessment, repositioning and implementation. With Patricia McQuillan at the helm, the firm has delivered success-driven results for a variety of renowned organizations. This newsletter was sent to friends, clients and associates of Brand Matters. Marketing
trends: As business
success becomes increasingly reliant upon the effectiveness of an
organization’s external brand – not only through highly visible channels
but through every customer touchpoint – how can marketing departments
persuade senior management to stop thinking in terms of discretionary
marketing ‘spend’ and to instead recognize the value of long-term brand
investment? Brand Matters
has some answers that may help. Q – What
is long-term brand investment? PM – The application of investment fundamentals to the marketing function. For example, defining clear investment objectives, determining risk comfort and managing risk, tracking and measuring results as an ROI component, etc. Q – What
are the benefits? PM – As you become more selective about the target groups to be reached and the ways in which to reach them, ROI increases. The focus on measurement enables accurate assessment of the effectiveness of specific components, and subsequent refinement where necessary. You can also benchmark against competitive spend. Q – Are
we talking advertising? PM – It may be part of the strategy, but brand awareness development goes far beyond the old marketing model of throwing money at media. It’s about building future goodwill among key stakeholders – obviously customers, but also shareholders, employees, and business partners. This can involve PR, sponsorships, industry association involvement – anything from seemingly small initiatives such as a web site domain name to an online campaign. Q – What
are the first steps? PM – Before you do anything, you must have a validated market positioning. Think through what you’re saying and who you’re saying it to; where you are today, and where you want to be. Develop a simple, relevant positioning based on your core brand differentiators and gain internal stakeholder alignment. Upcoming industry events Canadian
Marketing Association - April 4 2006: 8th Annual Branding
Conference. Brand Matters will be co-moderating a Brand Metrics Panel at this conference, more details and registration information is available at, http://www.the- cma.org/events/brandconference.cfm American
Marketing Association - April 27, 2006: Internal Branding – Lessons from
Leading Brands - Marketing and Human Resources the Critical
Link. This break-through discussion panel, moderated by Brand Matters, will unlock the secrets to this synergy, http://toronto.marketingpower.com/content21127.ph p
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