Look alive, readers! It’s pop-quiz time. Today’s quiz is a single question: Within your company, which department is responsible for brand-building?
In my experience, about 80 percent of you will point to marketing.
But that’s because of the way I framed the question. I tried to trick you! I’m sorry about that.
The answer: Brand-building is not the responsibility of any one department. Everyone plays a part in bringing the brand to life.
Let’s use a large consumer packaged goods company as an example of “who does what.” The parallels to your company should be easy to see:
- Marketing: Establishes the positioning and strategic plan to win (who, what, where, when and how), serves as the guardian of the consumer and ultimately owns all brand activity and results.
- Sales: Guides the retail experience in line with brand strategy, and, most importantly, ensures that the product is available to consumers when and where they need it.
- Market research: Identifies new opportunities and closes blind spots by capturing data and turning it into intelligence and insight.
- Operations and manufacturing: Fills demand and ensures the lowest delivered cost in line with brand strategy.
- Finance: Ensures the brand is profitable and financially optimized.
- R&D: Generates ideas that help the brand to remain relevant and innovative.
- Customer service: Handles consumer requests effectively and efficiently, again in line with brand strategy.
- Human Resources: Plays a lead role in acquiring key talent and developing the culture.
Key thoughts
It’s easy to see how the failure of any department can damage or even cripple the brand.
When you view brand-building as a priority of the entire organization, some key implications follow:
- Marketing is the “hub of the wheel,” not “king of the mountain.” The best marketers treat others as partners, not as order-takers or lackeys. The ability to build effective working teams is one of the hallmarks of a strong brand leader. If you’re a marketer, this alone can mean the difference between success and failure in a marketing career.
- The CEO’s role in the success of the brand delivery system is impossible to overstate. Clearly, no one else in the organization is in such a position to coordinate activity, deploy resources and remove obstacles. CEOs who believe that “branding is the job of the marketing department” are taking a dangerously narrow view of their roles.
- As I often say — your brand is everything you do! If a consumer has a bad experience, the brand suffers, no matter which department is responsible. And if consumers are consistently made happy, it’s a sign that the organizational system is working well.
