A Brand’s True Foundation.

I love brands. Always have. I love how they look, how they introduce themselves into new spaces and how they can connect and stay in touch, even if they can be a bit clumsy or heavy handed in the way they do it (as a friend once said so well, “if those boots keep following me around the internet, I’m just going have to buy them at some point!”)

But I really love how they can act when they get it right. I loved the way Southwest, for example, turned the expectations of inflight experience on its head, even if you weren’t necessarily in the mood to hear a flight attendant sing or wish a stranger 16 rows ahead of you happy birthday.

I love the way OpenTable sent me an email before Mother’s Day this year acknowledging that it might not be a joyous day for everyone, and would I care to opt out of further Mother’s Day communications. It wasn’t just the gesture, but the way they deployed a transactional tool to actually build a relationship based on a little empathy and warmth.

And, of course, I love the way Patagonia made ultimate good on putting their money where their brand was by essentially giving away the company in order to best fight climate change. Wow.

Those of us who’ve spent time managing brands and developing brand strategies are fond of using a 3-partition brand pyramid to illustrate how to best bring our brand’s strengths to market, highlighted by “table-stakes” attributes in the bottom tier (what you need to have to be in the game), “nice-to-haves” in the middle tier (those attributes which begin setting you apart but aren’t totally unique) and “spike attributes” at the top (those unique, benefit-driven and customer-centric attributes which set you apart). The idea is that the layers build upon one another so that a brand can be sure that in the end, it’s not just telling the story of who it is, but why who it is actually matters to its customers and to the world.

The problem with this traditional model is that neglects the most important part: The people that come up the elevator (or go down to the kitchen table, as it were) each day to breathe life into the brand, its messaging, design, customer service, voice, consciousness, connection and actions. A brand most certainly isn’t the sole domain of the marketing and communications team and if the many people powering the brand aren’t humming along at the intersection of their own strengths and their own sense of purpose, then how can we expect the brand to?

Too esoteric? Consider an employee, somewhat and quietly resentful of an organization’s decision to have folks in the office more than that person feels is useful and productive. Why did I just drive an hour in traffic to have no one around me except Bill from accounting (with no disrespect to all Bills and accountants)? Will they be as focused as they can be that day in responding to customers?

What about a comms director, deeply talented but long since stimulated by the attraction of new projects that just never seemed to get approved or funded. Finally, what about the team leader, deeply dedicated to the mission but perhaps not yet ready to listen intently to the needs of their people, either because they’re too concerned about what their boss wants or because they’re still grappling with the transition of going from contributor to manager. Have we provided the coaching or mentorship required to give this person the best chance for success and fulfillment?

The bottom line is if we don’t look after the development and fulfillment of our own people, our brands and our overall presence in the marketplace cannot grow. Think about this far more expansively than just the team needing to be on board when a new brand rolls out.

A brand’s place is not only to inspire, but also to engage in the market, day in and day out. It’s so much more than the logo atop the building.

Our people are the true foundation of the brand, well before we begin listing brand attributes on a white board or go into rounds of positioning research and focus groups.

Are we doing all we can to ensure their focus and utilization of their greatest strengths? Are they feeling like they are working with a true sense of purpose?

Let’s start there…there’s plenty of room on the pyramid!