Tuesday, January 24, 2012

How to Sink a Brand

The captain of the Costa Concordia has certainly tarnished his reputationhis brand.

He's also extremely weakened our perception of the brands he works for: Carnival Corp. and its Italian unit, Costa Crociere SpA. Even though it's very possible no other captain in the fleet will make this kind of mistake, it doesn't matter.

All the advertising, branding and marketing you do is at the mercy of your employees. Even if the people who work with you don't have the ability to completely sink your brand, they surely can put holes in its hull.

Captain Schettino didn't set out to damage either the ship or the image portrayed by the logos adorning it. Your employees want to do good, mainly because contributing to the company Brand (notice the BIG "B") in meaningful ways helps to build their own personal brands (with a little "b").

(Don't let the caps and lowercase fool you into thinking one's more crucial than the other; they're equal when it comes to gaining market share.)

Only when one brand puts itself above the other does the water start to seep in. Say, for example, the brand decides to flex some muscle by showing off for a retiring team member or cute eastern European woman, disregarding what's best for the Brand. Bad things can happen.

But let's not pick solely on the little "b". It works the other way, too.

The genesis of Brand is derived from executive vision, but ultimately becomes what employees make of it. All too often, Brand runs itself aground by, say, making claims to the marketplace that can't be delivered on, or treating employees like, well, employees and not the important "Brandtenders" they are.

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