Activating the ‘Brand’

Pritam Saha and Joydeep PaulIndian Institute of Management Bangalore7/31/13

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Individualism has been the nurtured child ofpresent-day culture. This is definitelybeneficial for the economy, as researchliterature has shown thatcountries with a greaterindividualist culture haveenjoyed higher long-run growththan those with a collectivistculture1. But the sheer variety ofpreferences of the ‘enlightened’individual has created a majorchallenge for present-day businesses. Nomore are superior products or servicesenough to retain the loyalty of customers.This has caused firms to rethink theirmarketing and branding exercise, with thetrend showing a shift from a fragmentedproduct/service-centric model to anintegrated customer experience-centricmodel. The objective of the same is toprovide a seamless experience of valuerealization from the brand irrespective of theinterface through which the customerinteracts with the brand elements.

1 Individualism, innovation, and long-run growth byYuriy Gorodnichenko and Gerard Rolanda.

This realization has led Consulting firmAccenture to develop a Seamless RetailServices Offering for clients.

Brand Management tilldate has been the prerogative ofthe marketing department andadvertising agencies. But thenew order of things requirecompanies to add a newdimension to their customer

relationship. In order to retain theircustomers, brands must create emotionalengagement in their relationships. This inturn leads to a higher degree of inertia in caseof brand switching. This can only happenwhen what the brand promises through its’promotional activity tallies with the actualbenefits derived from the usage of the brand– that is Brands must be made to put more ofwhat they promise into action.

Trust is the essence of the company-customerrelationship and hence the onus on the same.

But this does not mean Brands are passiveat present, rather they are already working forus:

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By simplifying everyday decision-making. E.g. Those who preferSensodyne do not have to worryabout the countless other choicesemanating every day in the toothpastesegment.

By reducing the risks involved indecision-making, especially in high-impact and high-investmentsituations. E.g. Companies decidingto implement an ERP system knowthat SAP is a safe option.

Generating emotional benefit. E.g.Coke’s innovative “Share a Coke”campaign.

Garnering a sense of community.E.g. Apple Fans have a strong senseof belonging.

The internet has also ushered in new vistas for brand communication as well as brandinnovation. The onus has been upon creating a holistic digital experience both in-store andonline. According to IBM’s Winning Over the Empowered Consumer: Why Trust Mattersreport, over 25% of the people surveyed (in their global study of over 28,000 consumers) saidthey are willing to use three or more technologies in the shopping process. The same trend ishighlighted by the following Forrester Research Forecast.

This creates new opportunity for brands todesign seamless experiences as isexemplified in case of adiVerse by Adidas2:

2 Adventures in Retail: Brand Perfect Report 2012 byKatrina Dodd

When it comes to demonstrating thebreadth of its product range, Adidas brokenew ground when it launched the adiVerseVirtual Footwear Wall. The in-store digital

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experience is designed to showcase over8,000 styles of shoes, and uses a grid of LCDtouchscreens with the addition of facialrecognition technology to detect whether theuser is a man or a woman. Users swipe, pinchand pull to browse through the trainers, all ofwhich are rendered in 3D. The most popularshoes are backed up by an impressive arrayof content, with videos, productspecifications and even social media buzzpulled in for the customer to pore over. This

is partly about being able to deliver a sense ofan offering that’s much wider than it wouldbe practical to keep in stock in all storelocations. A range of sample shoes can bekept in-store for customers to get an accuratesense of fit, and if they want to buy shoes, anassistant walks them through that processusing an iPad. What it delivers in spades,though, is the Wow Factor, a reallyimpressive visual impact that’s backed up bya well-thought-out package of layeredcontent and the ability to purchase right thereand then.

Brand ActivationSince Brands are service promises to

clients, therefore if the underlying valuedelivery fails, then the brand loses its’ trustand fails. Hence all functions within a firm

must get involved in the brand managementprocess. This makes internal brand awarenessfor employees an imperative, as in its’absence employees are not aware of the brandvalue proposition they must align theiractivities with. This can be implemented byaligning the brand value proposition with thecompany belief and boundary systems whichare part of the four levers of organizationalcontrol, as proposed in Control in an Age ofEmpowerment by Robert Simmons. Thisphenomenon where the company looksinward and realigns itself to comply with its’external brand identity is known as BrandActivation.

The concept of Brand Activationencompasses the four Brand cornerstones:

Product and Services Identity Employees and Organization Communication

The objective here is not to usecompetencies in the first three cornerstonesfor use in the communications to enhanceBrand Identity. The actual goal is to use

Communication

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Brand Identity to shape, nurture, change andredefine the three inner cornerstones to betteraugment Brand Identity. Hence focus is oncreating a completely seamless connectbetween projected Brand Identity and actualinternal reality. The finer the alignment thehigher the competitive advantage obtained.Thus, companies must look inside to innovatethrough introspection in terms of their brandsand not only outwards.3

Case Study4

The way an organization functions internally,determines the value-add to its customers toa large extent. If the organization i.e. its’employees believe in what needs to be doneand how that needs to be done, theorganization will be able to meet its promiseto its customers and will emerge as a strongbrand. Let us take the case of UPS.

It is the largest package distributioncompany in the world, and a global leader insupply chain, logistics and informationservices. UPS’s USP lies in the fact that itenables businesses deliver a high level ofservice to their customers. UPS believes inproviding a customer experience, not just to

3 Brand activation by Paul Morel, Peter Preisler andAnders Nyström4 http://www.ups.managehr.com/

its own customers but even to the secondlevel customers. UPS enables e-businesses tointegrate shipping and tracking functionalitywith the help of UPS Ready providers, whichessentially enables the business to outsourcethe logistics functionality to externalvendors, and not have to worry about thedeliveries reaching their proper destinationsin proper time. UPS offers an alternative ofUPS developer’s kit for businesses whohave an IT base. By using UPS, businessescan offer their customers various deliveryoptions, of different cost and be assured thatthe product will reach in the specified time.

In order to meet its values ofexcellence and integrity, UPS operatesthrough an extensive set of rules andregulations. The drivers of UPS trucks, whoare the face of its business customers to theirconsumers go through a strict trainingprocess which emphasizes on safety andprofessionalism. Drivers are taught 340 steps

to deliver a package which containinstructions on very minor step asloading/unloading, fastening seat belts,carrying keys, conducting inspection of thevehicles before every shift and the like. They

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follow a strict dress code, with details onproper grooming of hair and facial hair, novisible tattoos, no unbuttoned shirts. Thisbuilds trust in the customers that theirproducts are being delivered by highlyprofessional individuals and thus generatesrepeat businesses. Even in the office space,away from the field the employees are askedto start fresh each day, keep their desks clean,and memos on various rules are circulated bythe hundreds. In spite of all these restrictions,the UPS employees are satisfied within thecompany and retention rate is very high. Thisis due to the rewarding mechanism in UPSwhich maintains a sense of equality andfairness among employees. Managers are notdistinguished from their reportees, and manymanagers started off as a delivery truck driverand rose in ranks by continuouslycontributing to the UPS values of providinghigh customer experience.5

UPS’s tagline ‘We love logistics’ ismanifested in its day to day activities aseveryone within the organization believes init and works accordingly to deliver the bestcustomer experience and goes one level up bydoing the same for the second level customer,thus building on the brand image. UPS is atrue example of an organization which hassuccessfully implemented the strategy ofbrand activation.

5 Understanding the Theory and Design ofOrganizations, Tenth Edition by Richard L. Daft