And The Brand Plays On

The Munich disaster of 1958, in which many of the brightest of the Busby babes perished, has been everywhere in the news this past week. Most poignant of all has been the reminiscing of the survivors, including the legendary Bobby Charlton, who described how he had lost not only team-mates but close friends in the crash.

Away from the personal tragedies that littered the runway, for many of us (including this life-long Liverpool fan) it was the spirit of what survived the crash that has much greater significance and makes it something that we remember fifty years afterwards. For out of the wreckage of 1958 came the club that would become the first English team to win Europe's top football prize some ten years later. (As a Liverpool fan, I have particularly fond boyhood memories of the local shopkeeper who had to replace his flag proclaiming 'Manchester United: The Only English Team To Win The European Cup' with another when my own team won their first of a series of European Cups in 1977).

Despite the loss of some of their finest talent, Manchester United rebuilt to create another golden generation, which included some of the greatest players in their history. Mind you, it's not an accident that those triumphs were achieved under the hand of Matt Busby, who recovered from his own injuries in the crash to rekindle the flame a decade later.

I often wonder how many other brands would survive the loss of their brightest talent. I have a theory that the managers of the great brands could be lost in one fell swoop and be replaced in the short term with some bright customers who would continue to steer the brand safely through the months that followed. Now, naturally enough, this situation couldn't continue indefinitely but for some time afterwards the customers would be able to make decisions about behaviour and communication that would continue to be true to the brand.

A loyal customer can tell immediately when a piece of advertising works or falls flat. The brand-manager meanwhile often has other things in mind that can cloud judgement. The spirit of the great brands is as indomitable as that of the manager who hauled himself from the wreckage of Munich to light the candle that would guide another generation. It's no accident that Matt Busby attracted to the club players who would understand the manner in which they were called upon not only to win but also to thrillingly entertain.

This clarity of purpose is missing in too many brand-managers and it's up to the brand-owner first to make sure that the spirit of the brand is both understood and honoured by those entrusted with its well-being and success.

The Curse Of Knowledge

I heard an interview recently with one of the authors of the book Made To Stick, written by Dan & Chip Heath. This book is causing quite a stir in business circles in the US and one of the brothers (I can't remember which - bet they hate that!) talked of something called the Curse of Knowledge, which I thought very important.

The Curse of Knowledge afflicts us when we know a lot about something and struggle to put ourselves in the shoes of a listener who may not know as much (or care as much) as we do about it. This strikes me as especially important for brand-owners who often assume that our customers are as familiar as we are with what we have to sell to them. The Heath brother (Chip or Dan, you take your pick) suggested that ideas that stick in the marketplace are those that relay to customers no more and no less than they need to make a choice and don't assume their expertise.

This makes sense. We can't expect our customer to be a specialist. We're all of us familiar with the over-enthusiastic or seriously-intense salesman who tries to browbeat the cusotmer into making a purchase. Sometimes, that salesman is us! If we were to look a little more closely, I think we'd see that we can be afflicted with the Curse of Knowledge which dooms us to the failure of telling a lot but saying very little that's relevant to our customer.

What's your area of specialist knowledge and how do you curse your business relationships with it?

Look Daddy, I'm A Real Brand

Making lists can be a useful thing to do in many instances, but not when it comes to building a brand.

If we made a list of the moving parts, the ankle wouldn't support the weight of the human body and the bumblebee would be earthbound. If we simply made a list, one company would be much like any other and the customer would simply choose the fastest, the cheapest, the newest or the most convenient.

So how do you move beyond making lists to building a business that’s much more than the sum of its moving parts?

That’s where the brand comes in.

The brand breathes life into the tangle of drawstrings and carved wood of the business so that it can step into a lively exchange with the customer. This animation is what makes the difference between one business and another.

The magical exchange that makes for a great business always takes place in this space between the buyer and the seller. When the brand is brought to life, the customer is encouraged to step towards the vendor and dance together towards a profitable conclusion.

Too many businesses are content to simply make and publish a list of their accomplishments and are surprised when a rival cuts in and dances off with their customer.

Successful brands on the other hand know that they must move beyond the list of moving parts and breathe deeply into the business so that the exchange with the customer takes on a life of its own.

Memories Of A Goldfish

Those of you who are familiar with us at Islandbridge will know how we encourage our clients to tell stories in their work. Of course, we're usually quick to say that we don't expect them to take a 'Once Upon A Time' approach to it as this is unlikely to work in a lot of cases. But at the same time, we do suggest that they see themselves as storytellers, with a compelling tale to tell to their own customers.

So I'm naturally delighted to see and hear that Goldfish credit cards have invited a number of heavy-hitters from different walks of life to tell a story of their own relationship with their Goldfish. Even the way in which we're greeted on the Story Site is very refreshing: 'Welcome. We want to tell you a story. Just click to choose.' And we can then read or listen to stories from authors as diverse as Ranulph Fiennes, Rik Mayall, Anthony Horowitz and Meera Syal. And the stories are really great stuff. And gorgeously animated.

Goldfish have woven this novel approach effortlessly into their own marketing pitch. Elsewhere, in About Goldfish, they tell us: 'Since being launched in 1996, we've been building relationships between cardholders and their Goldfish. We've always believed in talking to people in a straightforward way and in making it as easy as possible to go anywhere and do anything with a Goldfish. Perhaps that's one of the reasons why Goldfish became the fastest growing credit card in the market. It may also be why so many people have chosen to stay with us for so long'.

Now, I make no apologies for parroting the spiel of a big brand like this when it's designed and delivered with such charm. I don't carry a Goldfish credit card but I'd certainly be more open to it after enjoying their stories. Well done, Goldfish.

Great Irish Brands

Just before the end of the year, the Irish Independent published a magazine supplement on Great Irish Brands. Naturally, I was intrigued. The paper itself is one of the great Irish brands and had duly included itself in the list (I did say great rather than modest!) but, not unsurprisingly, they'd left another out: their competitor The Irish Times.

This wasn't the only great brand that was excluded. Whilst I know 'greatest-this and top-that' lists always give rise to some controversy, I was disappointed to see that their lineup was very hit and miss. For the record the list is: Avonmore, Bord Na Mona, Brown Thomas, Denny, Douglas Newman Good, Guaranteed Irish, Guinness, Homestead, Irish Independent, Jameson, Kerrygold, Lyons Tea, National Lottery, O'Briens Wines, Paddy Power, Paddy Whiskey, Powers Whiskey, Quinn Group, RDS, RTE, Tayto.

Missing in action are brands such as Bulmers, Baileys, O'Brien's Sandwich Bars, Club Orange, Abbey Theatre whilst a number of the brands included suggested that this was more of a ploy to keep advertisers or cronies happy than it was a true celebration of Irish brands.

How did Quinn Group make it in there? Can the RDS truly claim to be a great brand? The Dublin Horse Show maybe. But the venue itself hardly commands either great customer affection or loyalty (it's simply there). Finally, it's the inclusion of three whiskey brands and the exclusion of Baileys that really has this brand-builder quivering with indignation. Again, Jameson is the only one that demands to be included in such a shortlist.

Where are Louis Copeland, Elvery's, Eason's and the other great mainstays of Irish retail? Perhaps they don't advertise?

I could go on but I'd much rather throw it open to you: which do you think are the great Irish brands? Let's keep it at 22 like the Independent did (although we're not limited by page numbers as they are). Working from the shortlist of 22, which brands would you turf out and which would you include in their place?