Your employees are your brand

Values Statements posted on wall

In February, Forrester Research released a study about the future of advertising. Edward Boches, Chief Creative Officer at Mullen, blogged about the report. According to Forrester, consumers trust consumers more than they trust brands, and 50 percent say that brands don’t live up to their promises. (The future of advertising agencies)

A recent panel discussion on ethics at the University of Richmond, titled The Values-Based Firm, underscored the implications of the Forrester findings. “Companies need to make their values more than just a placard pasted in the break room,” stated panelist Joseph Kunkel, Senior VP of Marketing for CarMax. ”At CarMax, our integrity we bring to selling cars is instrumental. That core value can’t change.”

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What NASCAR Could Learn from a Demolition Derby

Demolition Derby

On a beautiful Friday night in Richmond, a NASCAR race drew a crowd so paltry, the stands looked like a Detroit suburb. One entire side was completely empty; the other housed just a scattering of fans. Conversely, a mud-tracked crash fest with junkers trying to destroy each other drew probably 10,000 people in Hillsboro, Ohio at the Highland County Fair – on a Wednesday night.

I saw both events, one on TV, the other in person. The crowd in Ohio was connected to the action. The spectators in Richmond seemed like leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. What can we learn from this?

Authenticity matters.

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Fail Forward

FAILURE

I keep hearing people say “don’t be afraid to fail.”  That sounds like a nice way to live.  I’ve always wanted to take more risks in life.  In fact, I have a list of things I want to do before I die – one of them is to fail loudly.  To really take the plunge and go down screaming in a way that people notice.  Wouldn’t that be great fun?

We all like to laugh at fools, but can we be serious about allowing for failure in business?  Most of us talk a good game about wanting to see people taking risks and learning from mistakes, but how many of us are truly willing to forgive for their failures? Do we allow for some failures (e.g. harmless) and not others (e.g. catastrophic)?

Take the BP oil spill for example… No way it isn’t a tragic story on many levels. But how many of us are willing to forgive them?  They failed.  The CEO failed. Our government failed.  We all failed.  Will BP forever be marked with the brush of failure or be applauded for boldly trying?  Does this failure taint all their other successes in renewable energy and technology ?

Sure, we’d all rather this didn’t happen – but look how much we’ve learned from their failure.

Without failure, we wouldn’t know success.

Taking it to the Next Level

Every morning my alarm goes off and (after three 5-min snoozes) I stumble out of bed, throw on my workout clothes (a combination of shorts, left on the floor from the previous morning, and any top-like thing I can find), and head out the door.  More often than not my body rebels and I struggle, but sometimes it excels with every movement, every breath, every mile, every lunge, every crunch.  But no matter what kind of morning it is, I get home satisfied, sweaty, and accomplished.  I may not be a professional athlete but, at that moment, I sure as hell feel like I could be.

Under Armour Women’s facebook page launched last Wednesday and already has over 2700 fans.  It introduces their new women’s line with a campaign called, “Protect This House I Will.”  Lindsay Vonn is just one of the women featured (sign into facebook and check her out here http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=148294495193152&saved). The new line is geared toward high school and college athletes, and the young woman who still works out regularly.  But their line is more than a pretty sports bra or a pair of shorts — it’s about making us, the dedicated female athletes better — in the way we look, perform, feel.  The facebook page also links to an app called, “Our House,” letting women sign up their team (or as an individual) and share photos, stories, work out tips, and even create their own team pledge — allowing women to bond together where they are already most active — online social sites.

When I watch Lindsay Vonn’s video, I see a workout that is kick-ass.  I’m not even looking at her clothes.  But she must be wearing some that help her reach that next level.  So what attracts some people to this campaign?  Is it the idea that they can kick ass?  Or that they can look good doing it?  Because early in the morning, with my day-old shorts waiting for me on the floor, am I thinking about being pretty?  Or am I  thinking that getting pretty is kicking my ass?

The Brand Named Earl

symbol for Category 4 hurricane

Hurricane Earl is brushing the East Coast as I write this. The Weather Channel is fixated on the Category 4 storm. All of the news networks are talking about it. The Web buzzes, texts are exchanged, videos play, blog posts (like this) are written and smartphone apps are following its path.

After thousands of years, humans have no way to predict what will actually happen with a storm like Earl. Sounds like a brand to me.

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