The traditional assumption that brand is the territory of an ad agency is fast falling by the wayside as companies realize that communications executives have the tools
necessary to build trusted brands in the 21st century.
With that growing role for the PR pro comes an expanding definition of branding. Recent crises in corporate trust have led companies to examine what brand is all about and how
they should move forward with their branding efforts.
"The classic definition of brand has a one-way feel," says Eric Blinderman, SVP and partner with Fleishman-Hillard. "It's creating cachet around a product or service that's
delivered to the consumer. But PR increasingly has a seat at the table because probably more than any other discipline, we understand the two-way dialogue with the consumer and
how that affects message development."
Blinderman says PR pros excel at positioning rather than classic branding - they understand the audience's needs and can define how the brand meets those needs as a foundation
to traditional branding activities.
Hobart Corp., a food service industry supplier, for example, recognized that its customers were looking for information rather than a sales pitch. Along with its PR agency, the
company identified issues like labor problems, how to control energy costs, and other topics that keep food service operators awake. The PR team created a publication called Sage
which includes expertise from inside Hobart Corp. and from other sources packaged into a single information source. "It's based on the simple premise of providing seasoned advice
for industry pros," says Dean Landeche, VP of brand marketing. "PR content was what drove this. It was our ability to extract good stories from our customers and good leadership
perspective." Landeche says PR efforts like Sage and other initiatives have extended the Hobart brand so well that the company has backed away from other branding activities. "It
allows you to really take a look at how much you need to invest in other marketing communication areas."
Internalizing Brand
There's a role for the PR team whether communications execs have been at the brand strategy table from the beginning or are just beginning to be invited. Many organizations
still consider brand the property of other silos within the company, i.e. the marketing department. However, working with those departments to ensure a consistent brand message is
key, says Mark Curran, managing director of the global marketing practice at Ogilvy PR. "It's really important to understand the brand and internalize it. All the people engaged
in the marketing picture need to have done that whether PR has created the brand or is searching to amplify it."
Once all promotional departments are on the same page about brand, it becomes easier to externalize it, says Gary Thompson, EVP and GM in the San Francisco office of Schwartz
Communications. One of Thompson's clients, Borland Software, for example, includes integrity as one of its three core values. It was second nature for communicators at Borland to
go above and beyond in communicating more financial information than they needed to recently "because integrity is at the heart of their values," Thompson says. "As you weave
those brand values into every news release and product launch and remind people and create frequency, people start to associate them with the corporation on a regular basis."
PR also shines in its ability to bring brand to internal audiences - thus enhancing the way your company's brand is displayed with external stakeholders. Because employee
relations often already resides under the communications umbrella, PR execs frequently have a sixth sense about how to get employees to embrace brand. "Your audience [for your
brand] is not just the consumer. If you take a look at the sales force, for example, their needs and the value they place on their job is different than the perspective of a
marketing person. If you can communicate the value of brand and generate excitement and generate understanding of why it's important to have an integrated message," your branding
efforts will be much more successful, says Alissa Blate, EVP and director of consumer marketing with MWW Group. Nordstrom does a particularly good job at this, according to
Thompson. "At each staff meeting, they ask, 'How are we gaining customers for life?'" Those stories, which evoke what Nordstrom's high-quality, high-service brand is all about,
have become the source of a book and are consistently woven into Nordstrom employee culture. "The best of the stories rise to the top of the organization, they're put in executive
speeches and bylines and are used inside and outside the organization," Thompson says, keeping the Nordstrom brand alive for all its key audiences.
(Contacts: Blinderman, 212/453-2000; Landeche, 937/332-2496; Blate, 201/507-9500; Curran, ; Thompson, 415/512-0770)
Driving Brand
The Reputation Institute has identified six key drivers of corporate reputation and brand:
- Trust
- Quality of products and services
- Workplace environment
- Social responsibility
- Vision and leadership
- Financials
Enhance stakeholders' impression of these drivers, and you'll not only improve your brand, but you'll be more likely to be cited in the annual study conducted by the Institute
and The Wall Street Journal ranking corporate reputation. (http://www.reputationinstitute.com)