Most business owners who have some understanding of branding already know this. But here is another reason you are not fully in control of your brand: it is also the product of your environment. You are part of a brand ecosystem.

Don’t believe me? Think about Japan. Are you old enough to remember when “Made in Japan” was not a good thing? And yes, I mean long before the Toyota fiasco. How about now? Japanese exports are perceived as premium products.

Wine, electronics, cars, clothing, the list goes on. How . . . → Read More: The Canadian Brand Ecosystem]]> Share/Bookmark

You don’t own your brand. Your customers do.

Most business owners who have some understanding of branding already know this. But here is another reason you are not fully in control of your brand: it is also the product of your environment. You are part of a brand ecosystem.

Don’t believe me? Think about Japan. Are you old enough to remember when “Made in Japan” was not a good thing? And yes, I mean long before the Toyota fiasco. How about now? Japanese exports are perceived as premium products.

Wine, electronics, cars, clothing, the list goes on. How many product brands get a huge boost by simply leveraging their country of origin? German engineering: that has a resonance even before you say BMW or Mercedes.

I’m Canadian. What does the Canadian brand add to my brand? How does where I live shape people’s perceptions of my brand before they have even met me?

A recent article by Canadian Business does a good job of spelling this out. As a Canadian business, here are some of the values you can add to your brand simply because of your postal code (yes, the one with letters in it!):

• Our banking system is remarkable. Who’d have thought Canadian banks would ever be sexy? But it’s true. When you do business internationally now, the relative strength of the Canadian banking system is something others remark on. That creates an opportunity for a Canadian brand to continue the conversation by underscoring the prudence and conservatism that gives typical Canadian businesses a lower risk profile. Typically we are not loud, we just get the job done.
• Reliable yes, dull no. The Vancouver/Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics demonstrated that not only can we put on a heck of a show, but we can score resoundingly when competition is at its fiercest. This tough-to-duplicate demonstration of understated but brilliant performance was a huge boost to the Canadian brand. In an International Brand Index, Canada went from 12th in 2006, to number 1 in 2010. The message for Canadian businesses to their partners? Don’t mistake reserve for passivity: we can be fiercely competitive. Canadians just let results speak for themselves.
• We are gracious hosts. The Olympics set the stage, but the cheque got signed when China granted Canada Approved Destination status. The combination of natural beauty, multiculturalism, and a live-and-let-live attitude (the same one that attracts Hollywood stars to our major cities because we don’t hound them to death) is irresistible. The message for business? We understand the value of relationships and of going the extra mile to understand our suppliers, customers, and even our competitors. We just get it.
• RIM, Cirque de Soleil, Four Seasons Hotels, McCain Foods. What do all of these brands have in common? Outside of Canada they are not generally known to be Canadian brands. While this may be a challenge from some perspectives, from others it carries an interesting message: we show up, we don’t bring baggage, we get the job done. The colonialist, nationalist, or imperialist baggage that some European, Asian, or American businesses sometimes have to distance themselves from, we are largely free of. The Canadian business message is one many brands covet: we solve problems and fulfill needs successfully because that is the only thing we are here to do. We have honed our product and service delivery chops in a multicultural environment and next to a competitive giant. We listen, we understand, and we get to work.

The biggest strengths that Canadian brands bring to the table are best described in another article: Stages of Cross Cultural Awareness from the Culture and Language Learning blog. In the article, the highest stage of cross-cultural awareness is described as being “aware of our own cultural filters and begin[ing] to adapt our perceptions and behaviors. Through repeated exposure to or education about other cultures, we develop a deeper understanding of a culture’s unique traits, values and norms. People in this stage can shift communication style and behaviors to effectively and appropriately interact with diverse cultures.” Or as Jeannette Hanna, branding expert, and co–author of Ikonica: A Field Guide to Canada’s Brandscape, says “That ability to ‘when in Rome, act like a Roman’ — that chameleon quality — is a huge advantage.”

Those abilities, to get the job done, to be quietly but fiercely competitive, and the ability to deeply understand our partners and customers to the point where we can shift and change with cultural expectations and norms, make Canadians the ultimate world business partners.

Want to improve your communication with employees, partners, and customers? Do you have an international workforce? I help organizations improve communication through coaching, seminars, and workshops. Contact me here.

Great brands can also be evocative.

The word evocative comes from the Latin evocare, which means to call out. Calling out not in the sense of calling out loud, but in the sense of calling out to. Something that is evocative calls out to you.

A great brand should evoke an emotional . . . → Read More: The Evocative Brand]]> Share/Bookmark

Listening to Steve Reich’s composition Music for 18 Musicians the other day, I was struck by its power to consistently evoke a certain mood for me and how I sometimes seek those moods out. Most of us have pieces of music that consistently evoke an emotional response.

Great brands can also be evocative.

The word evocative comes from the Latin evocare, which means to call out. Calling out not in the sense of calling out loud, but in the sense of calling out to. Something that is evocative calls out to you.

A great brand should evoke an emotional response. Even in the most traditional marketing terms ‘a call to action’ that works is a key component of any promotional tactic. Great brands evoke action or at least the desire to act (affordability is often an issue here!) When I think about truly great brands they don’t have that clunky mechanical feel of driving me towards some purchase decision. They evoke an emotion. Like music you love heard faintly, they make you want to ‘turn it up’.

Personally evocative brands for me include the author and chef Anthony Bourdain, New York City, Audi, Baccarat crystal, Amarone wines, Omega watches, Apple, Lee Valley, Campagnolo… All of these brands call out some emotional response from me because I associate them with a positive memory, experience, or ideal.

Brands that evoke a response in us are not necessarily ‘best in class’, and in some cases not even particularly unique. But like music we love (like the haunting, melancholy, beautifully designed Music for 18 Musicians for me), they evoke an emotional response that we seek to experience.

Here is a short list of what defines an evocative brand for me:

• Time. Unfortunately there is no substitute for this one. Many of the brands that resonate most deeply have been around since our childhoods. The music analogy works here too. Watch the crowd at a big wedding reception. Nothing gets them to their feet like a tune from their collective childhoods. Forget the newest song that is getting millions of downloads on Itunes. Give us the old stuff.
• Premium placement. It’s pretty hard to evoke an emotional response to discount sales or ‘roll-backs’. Brands that sustain a premium placement evoke emotions of desire, nostalgia, comfort, and confidence. We believe we will feel better and even be better by associating with these brands. I am not saying this is a good thing. I agree with much of Naomi Klein’s critique of this in No Logo. But the power of these emotions is undeniable.
• Relentless consistency. There is no such thing as ‘sometimes evocative’. You either have it or you don’t. No one cares if you once had it. Relentless consistency is part of the DNA of an evocative brand. Automobile manufacturing is a sector where this is often tested. Read the stories of Audi or Toyota to see how tough the battle to ‘come back’ can be.
• Timelessness. This is a function of style & design. It describes that sweet spot that lies somewhere beyond fashionable, is never trendy, but also never dowdy, dated, or common. Whoever is piloting the brand cannot be tone-deaf. The brand has to change subtly with time but never lose its essence (consider what Chanel has done over the years). When you fail to do that you risk having to fight for your life the way brands like Burberry or Waterford Wedgewood are.

Here are six lessons any business can learn from those evocative brands:

1. Start it right. Set yourself up as the premium service or product provider in your market from the outset. If you have to use a penetration pricing strategy to get set up and put food on the table, get out of it as quickly as possible.
2. Aim higher. Set service and quality expectations consistent with the best in your market, and then exceed those expectations.
3. Pace yourself. Set modest but steady growth expectations. Every day will be a challenge as you try to deliver great service to your existing customers while also working to grow your business. Reasonable growth expectations will make that challenge easier.
4. Filter by price. You can pace yourself (#3) by limiting time spent on new business development, or by limiting the number of customers. One great way to do the latter is to simply charge more. This will focus growth on the segment that is consistent with your premium model. Done right it will also increase your profit margins and enable you to better take care of those premium customers (that premium pricing positive feedback loop is another article…)
5. Please the few. Just like music or food, what attracts one person to a brand will not attract another. While a few evocative brands are remarkably broad in their appeal, most focus on a very specific customer. Dr. Martens and Manolo Blahnik are both evocative shoe brands, but they are very different.
6. Build a team. Sustainable brilliance in business is almost impossible to do alone. Evocative brands are created when everyone involved plays to their strengths, doing only what they are remarkable at. You cannot lead, manage, operate, market, and deliver, all at premium levels, all by yourself. Remarkable brands are built by remarkable teams of all-stars.

I work with professionals, business owners, and key managers to build remarkable brands. To find out how I can help you align all the areas of your business to achieve that goal, contact me at clemens@clemensrettich.com

If your business disappeared tomorrow, would anybody miss you?

No one wants to close their doors. But let’s imagine the unthinkable: how would your customers respond if you had to close up shop?

I can think of two scenarios…

Scenario one: you disappear and no one notices… That would be a disaster, but what would it tell you? Maybe it tells you that whatever needs your service or product fulfilled, those needs could be fulfilled by someone else. What you had to offer in the end was just a commodity, and all commodities are replaceable.