Primal branding for creating internal brand communities thinktopia®

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CREATING COMMUNITYINSIDE THE ORGANIZATION: THE SPIRIT GUIDE TOCREATING CORPORATE CULTURE

THINKTOPIA 2001-2013

ALL OVER THE WORLD, PEOPLE WORK 24/7/365, SACRIFICING THEIR SOCIAL LIFE, FAMILIES, EVEN THEIR HEALTH IN ORDER TO CREATE THE NEXT GREAT DESIGN, THE NEXT GREAT PIECE OF SOFTWARE, THE NEXT GREAT FILM, ETC. THEY DON’T DO THIS BECAUSE THEY HAVE A JOB, BUT BECAUSE THEY HAVE A PASSION. THEY ARE COMMITTED TO DOING MEANINGFUL WORK. COMPANIES ABLE TO CREATE A HIGHER ORDER MISSION AND REASON FOR BEING ARE ABLE TO ATTRACT TALENTED MEN AND WOMEN WHO BELIEVE IN WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND ARE INCREDIBLY COMMITTED TO THE ORGANIZATION.


MANY COMPANIES, FIRMS, AND CORPORATIONS FOCUS ON THEIR EXTERNAL CONSUMER. AS THEY SHOULD. BUT ENTERPRISE NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND THEY ALSO HAVE AN INTERNAL CUSTOMER: THEIR OWN CO-WORKERS, ASSOCIATES, AND EMPLOYEES. BECAUSE IF THESE INDIVIDUALS DON’T BELIEVE IN WHAT THEY ARE DOING, THEY CERTAINLY WON’T BE ABLE TO SELL ANYONE ON THE OUTSIDE.


THE FOLLOWING SLIDES SHOW HOW TO DESIGN A WORK COMMUNITY THAT IS ABLE TO TRANSFORM CULT TO CULTURE, BY CREATING A BELIEF SYSTEM AND CORPORATE MISSION WITH VALUES THAT ATTRACT OTHERS WHO SHARE THOSE BELIEFS.


HOW DO YOU CREATE A COMMUNITY THAT PEOPLE BELIEVE IN, ARE ATTRACTED TO, AND WANT TO BECOME A PART OF?


WHY DO PEOPLE DREAM OF WORKING FOR SOME COMPANIES, BUT NOT FOR OTHERS? Companies like GE, Google, Coca-Cola, Nike and dozens of other spirited firms are not simply functional operations. They are surrounded by cultures that provide vision, trust, empathy and relevance that resonate far outside their corporate campus. They attract people who share their beliefs by creating a belief system (and way of thinking) that motivates their own employees and inspires others.


IT’S NOT ENOUGH THAT CUSTOMERS ENJOY THE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES OUR COMPANY DELIVERS. IT’S ALSO IMPORTANT THAY WE ENJOY MAKING THE PRODUCTS OUR CUSTOMERS WANT. What it boils down to is meaning....


“When you ask people what’s important to them, and really ask it, you find out that most folks are looking for meaningful work--and meaning in their life, because they spend so damn much of their time at work.” Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stoneyfield Farms.


COMPANIES THAT PEOPLE BELIEVE IN, HAVE AN INHERENT BELIEF SYSTEM THAT HALOS EVERYTHING AROUND IT. These companies have created resonant, sought-after cultures where people love to work. Belief systems have the construct of the seven elements of the primal code. Those companies that have these seven assets become vibrant, resonant cultures. Those that do not, are not.


THE DESIRE TO BELONG IS AT THE CORE OF EVERY HUMAN BEING.


WE ALL WANT TO

BE A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER THAN OURSELVES.


COMMUNITIES ARE DRIVEN BY VIBRANT BELIEF SYSTEMS.

Primal Branding is listed as one of the Top 10 booksin marketing/branding.


BELIEF SYSTEMS HAVE SEVEN ELEMENTS THAT MAKE THEM “BELIEVABLE”:


In the beginning, there was someone with an idea that ripped apart the way things used to be. It was better, cheaper, faster, stronger, cleaner, more powerful. They made it in their garage, in the basement, they started in a hotel room. Even the largest companies in the world today, from Microsoft and IBM to Google, started as small businesses facing enormous odds. The creation story of these companies become the ur-legend as the company grows and is filled with hundreds, even thousands, of new employees who arrive each morning wondering why they are there.


The question, “What are we doing here?” is one people ask themselves each morning, at every meeting, at the end of every workday. Whether the mission is to provide a synchronous global supply chain like UPS, legendary customer service like Lexus, or an information resource like Google, the creed sums up the organizational vision, values, and reason for being. Employees who do not understand their purpose will never be motivated, efficient, or highly productive.


Company logos and figures are iconic. These colors, sounds, and shapes are quick concentrations of meaning that instantly identify who the company is and what it means. They are embraced by your advocates or despised by those who are not a part of your brand community.



Products are also icons. What you make is a critical design element in the corporate gestalt. When products from legendary designers like Philippe Starck, Michael Graves and Karim Rashid can be purchased at Target for $15, terrific design becomes ubiquitous.

Architecture has become a powerful icon. Whether your company headquarters has been designed by Rem Koolhaas or Renzo Piano today has tremendous meaning. Look at central London. New skyscrapers there defy the traditional 18th Century London urbanscape. Why? “People working in today’s downtown [London] tend to be highly paid specialists,” says Architectural Record. “An amenable office has become part of what attracts talent.” The location, size and status of the headquarters building, what the main lobby and reception look like are also to be considered. If you’re a retail organization, what your stores or restaurants look and feel like is also critically important.


The company leader—think Richard Branson, Stephen Spielberg, Bill Gates—is also an important icon.


If icons are the physical manifestations of the organization, company rituals are the organization in motion. Annual meetings, staff meetings, project reports, team checkpoints, factory recalls, trade shows, sales meetings, even interfacing with the receptionist become repeated interactions that are crucial cultural touchpoints and sum up who you are as an organization.


A sales call is a ritual. Are you promoting company stereotypes and reinforcing barriers to entry, or are you exciting and stimulating prospects?

IBM EXECUTIVE1980


Another word for ritual is process. “That’s how we do it here” and “that’s not how we do it here” are telling phrases that can set up the success or failure of the organization. What processes best deliver your mission to customers? Which processes prevent you from fulfilling your mission?


Rituals happen.Step into Best Buy headquarters at 10:30AM any week day and you will find the main lobby congested with Best Buy employees. These people are many leagues from their legitimate workstations. Why? The Caribou coffee shop located on the first floor is the morning watering hole. Staff endure a line often 10-deep to enjoy the rite. Cell phones vibrate. Interviews are held. Meetings--planned and unplanned--take place. Ritual helps build resonant buzzing communities.


“back rippers”- HALLIBURTON

Every organization has a lexicon that distinguishes it from competitors. Some words are ingrained in processes, technology and words that surround our product or services. Others become co-worker catchphrases that bond and unite us. Every new employee spends their first few weeks learning and understanding your terms of art, anecdotes and processes. They must adapt your lexicon into their vocabulary, or they never quite “fit in”.


While we try to identify people willing to work with us, there is great power in also knowing who we do not want to work with us--who we do not want as part of our community. We decide which persons are skilled, qualified and best fits for our culture. There is power in understanding who we do not want to become. Think Target vs. Kmart. Porsche vs. Fiat. Singapore Airlines vs. China Eastern.


Understanding who is the leader within your organization is critical for the people who work there. Not all heads of corporations are front page leaders like Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey or Steve Jobs. Nevertheless, employees need to know who is steering the boat. Not having clear-cut leadership—whether it is top leadership, or a department or team leader, can lead to confusion and loss of morale. Confused employees are not motivated employees.


Apple

Creation story: Former HP employees Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start building personal computers in a garage

Creed: Think different. No idiots allowed.

Icons: Apple logo, iPod, iPhone, iTunes, Steve Jobs, Apple store, Genius Bar, Steve Jobs.

Rituals: Apple “S”, iChat, downloading, searching via Safari, buying music on iTunes, loading pictures in iPhoto, etc. No ‘focus groups’. Intense iterative product design. Confabs with Steve.

Sacred words: “Apple”, “iPod”, “iPhone”, “iMac”, “iCal”, “iTunes”, “iPhoto”. “No dummies.”

Nonbelievers: PCs

Leader: Steve Jobs, Tim Cook


Google

Creation story: Founded in a dorm room by Sergey Brin and Larry Page

Creed: organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful. “Don’t be evil.”

Icons: Google logo, search page, changing logo, columnsof information

Rituals: replaced the library and the encyclopedia and information sources; searching, downloading, Googling

Sacred words: “Google it”, “Feeling lucky?”

Nonbelievers: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Baidu

Leader(s): Sergey Brin and Larry Page


UPS

Creation story: Started by a 15-year old boy as a Seattle bike messenger company in 1907. Their first innovation was to deliver department store goods to customers. Today at $42 billion, UPS is the world’s largest global logistics company.

Creed: Enabling commerce around the globe. What can brown do for you?

Icons: the color brown, brown trucks, guys in brown shorts, website, UPS stores, UPS forms

Rituals: each morning UPS employees have a status meeting; driver are trained to put their keys on their pinkie finger, walk a certain number of steps, etc. filling out the UPS form, shipping, daily UPS visit

Sacred words: “What can brown do for you?”, “brown”, “UPS it”

Nonbelievers: FedEx, U.S. Postal Service

Leader: CEO Scott Davis


Becoming mission-driven.

The seven pieces of “primal code” give leaders the ability to manage the intangibles of their organization: the ways people feel, act, think and motivate themselves to success. Workers, staff, colleagues find themselves creating meaning around the work they do, which drives committment and passion to new levels. Their work is no longer perceived as a meaningless task, but resounds as something that is relevant, meaningful, and filled with purpose. It is no longer just a job. It’s a mission.


From “Who cares?” to “I care!”.

Leaders now have a “system”: a working tool that systematically helps them create a community (call them employees, staff, co-workers) filled with individuals committed to the ideals, mission and opportunities of the organization. Nowhere else feels quite so right for them. Because employees thrive, customers thrive, and the company thrives. This is what Whole Foods CEO John Mackey calls the “virtuous cycle”. Happiness begets happiness.


OUTCOMES.• IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

• WORK BETTER WITH CUSTOMERS AND VENDORS

• EXHIBIT LESS WORK-RELATED STRESS

• MORE EFFICIENT, MISSION-DRIVEN ORGANIZATION

• EMPLOYEES MORE MOTIVATED TO ENGAGE IN ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS

• IMPROVED TALENT RECRUITING

• INCREASED EMPLOYEE MORALE

• MORE POSITIVE INTERACTIONS WITH CO-WORKERS

• BETTER RETENTION

• MORE EFFICIENT, MISSION-DRIVEN ORGANIZATION


THINKTOPIA, INC. © 20112

$165,000,000.Hello! PATRICK HANLON is recognized as one leading branding practitioners in the world. He is ceo and founder of THINKTOPIA®, a global strategic brand innovation practice that caters to Fortune 100 clients including American Express, Halliburton, Levis, Johnson & Johnson, Conoco Phillips, PayPal, Kraft, Google, the United Nations, and others. His book Primal Branding: Create Zealots For Your Brand, Your Company And Your Future is in several languages and listed as one of the Top 10 books in marketing and branding. Primal Branding is a primer on looking at brands as belief systems—and in 2006 anticipated creating social communities around brands, whether products and services, personality brands, political or civic movements, or actual civic communities.

Hanlon has been a keynote or guest speaker at IDEO, New York University, American Marketing Association, American Advertising Federation, Syracuse University, Urban Land Institute, and others. He has been a featured speaker in emerging geographies around the world including China, India, South America, as well as Europe. Hanlon has been featured, quoted, or interviewed in Fast Company, Businessweek, Entrepreneur, Inc., Advertising Age, National Public Radio, as well as frequent overseas publications. Hanlon has also been on the advisory board of the American Marketing Association, and on the Super Council of the Advertising Research Foundation.

Hanlon is also an online contributor for Forbes magazine.

@hanlonpatrickwww.thinktopia.comGoogle keywords: “thinktopia”, “primal branding”, “patrick hanlon”

Does this really work?

Back in 2005, I spoke to a group of entrepreneurs and other executives. When I told them how the seven pieces of “primal code” could help create culture inside organizations, one leader in the group immediately went back to his office and started filling in the blanks. Within a month, he had outlined his creation story, creed, icons, rituals, sacred words, nonbelievers and identified himself as leader. At the time, he had a $3 million software firm. Within the next three years, he turned it into a $12 million company, based in large part on the culture he created. Then he sold the company, but kept his stock. Nine months later, the merged enterprise sold to a major corporation (who claimed they could not replicate what he had built) for $165,000,000. Go forth and prosper.


THINKTOPIA® HAS BEEN QUOTED, FEATURED AND OTHERWISE INCLUDED IN MEDIA AROUND THE WORLD.


THINKTOPIA, INC. © 2011

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THANKSFOR READING!


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