acculturation

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Sharing the Brand Plan.

January 6, 2010 in Brand Planning | 0 Comments

sharing

When I worked on the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System business with Welch Nehlen Groome, system CEO Michael Dowling would meet every Monday morning with new employees and welcome them. The system employed about 30,000 people so Mr. Dowling had an opportunity to go really viral with his mission.

At face value the mission, embodied in the tagline “Setting New Standards in Healthcare,” didn’t sound like much.  Operationalized, it was a brand game-changer.

The brand planks supporting the strategy were unassailable and uniquely North Shore – creating tremendous wealth for the brand. Yet what was missing from the equation and where I didn’t do a good job as brand planner was getting senior management to acculturate the brand plan through the employee world. Had every Monday morning Mr. Dowling shared the brand strategy with his impressionable new employees, imagine how much stronger his brand would be today.

People think health systems are about saving money. Done correctly, they are about redistributing healthcare wealth (clinical and economic).  North Shore had a system for doing this.  It was, and is, its secret sauce.

All companies, big or small, need to share their unique brand strategies with employees. Otherwise, every employee at every company is driven by the same strategy: earn a paycheck.

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Brand Acculturation.

December 17, 2009 in Brand Planning | 0 Comments

I had to look up the word acculturation a couple of months back while writing a pitch email. In fact, at the time I wasn’t sure it was a word.  Acculturation is mission-critical to my business and the goal of every brand plan I write.  A good brand plan helps employees drink the Kool Aid — educating them as to the unique and meaningful points of difference. By acculturating a company with the brand’s promise and supports marketing in its many forms is simplified and made more effective.  Only when a company adopts a brand plan can it truly be extended to consumers. The acculturation of a brand plan organizes employee and consumer minds, removing clutter.

Most advertisers and marketers hate “clutter.” I love it.  The more clutter there is in a category the more likely it can be broken.  A brand strategy may sometimes sound familiar, maybe even undifferentiated, but if it’s the right one, it will be actionable and defensible and its messages, demonstrations, and deeds profound.

Newsday knows where people (on Long Island) live. The Daily News doesn’t. North Shore-LIJ Health System provides a systematized approach to improving healthcare. St. Francis Hospital doesn’t.  Isopure Plus uncovers the taste of pure protein. Milky Ensure doesn’t.

When a brand creates a culture around its points of advantage it becomes a brand. When it doesn’t it remains a product.  Peace!

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Brand Strategy From the Jump

September 1, 2009 in Marketing | 0 Comments

Today, more than ever, companies need tight brand strategies. Especially big companies. Most new employees at companies these days are asked to sit through a half day of orientation. They learn about healthcare coverage, HR policy, the phone system, company intranet, etc. These meetings are enough to make you want to quit. Really smart companies have the CEO stop in and share a little vision, but that rarely, rarely happens.

 

What every company needs to do during orientation is share the brand strategy. Explain the history of the company, discuss founders and founder philosophy, highlight key milestones which create context for product and service decisions. New employees need to understand the culture of the company. They need to be acculturated.

 

Most importantly, new employees need to understand the brand strategy and have it dimensionalized for them through examples and stories. Only then are they are equipped to go to their desks and make decisions on behalf of the company.  (Leave the telephone systems and HR procedures for day 2.) Peace!

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Brand Strategy From the Jump

September 1, 2009 in Marketing | 0 Comments

Today, more than ever, companies need tight brand strategies. Especially big companies. Most new employees at companies these days are asked to sit through a half day of orientation. They learn about healthcare coverage, HR policy, the phone system, company intranet, etc. These meetings are enough to make you want to quit. Really smart companies have the CEO stop in and share a little vision, but that rarely, rarely happens.

What every company needs to do during orientation is share the brand strategy. Explain the history of the company, discuss founders and founder philosophy, highlight key milestones which create context for product and service decisions. New employees need to understand the culture of the company. They need to be acculturated.

Most importantly, new employees need to understand the brand strategy and have it dimensionalized for them through examples and stories. Only then are they are equipped to go to their desks and make decisions on behalf of the company. (Leave the telephone systems and HR procedures for day 2.) Peace!

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