Brand 'You'

Catching up with a colleague over a teh tarik is by far one of my favourite ways of working. It is relaxing, enjoyable and when it ends, a spark of an idea always gets lit.  The idea that day was life directions and how it was akin to branding a corporation.  

When I facilitate a branding process with my clients, I always ask them what the core purpose of their business is. Many of them immediately start rolling out the obvious functional aspect, i.e. ‘I sell this’ or ‘I provide solutions’. And so I get them to drill down deeper as to why their companies exist at all. What was the main reason that got them here? What was the impending need that galvanised them to start a company and become an entrepreneur?  My amazingly creative colleague then said, actually to get to that question, you really have to know who you are and what drives you. You have to know what your purpose in life is.

Simon Sinek, asks us to "Start With Why": and has even written a book about it. For the longest time, I knew that my path lay in service. But I mistakenly read this as saving the world and doing projects that were much larger than what I could handle.

Creating a Global Malaysian Brand

The other day I was giving a talk on "How to build a Competitive brand" to a group of CEOs and one asked how come there were so few great Malaysian brands. I thought about for a second and then answered, "because companies here aren't willing to pay for branding"

Malaysian entreprenuers often think branding or advertising is easy and therefore be done in-house. There is that make-do mentality that is a double edged sword. On one hand, it makes us immensely creative in cutting corners and bending rules, but in the long run, these creative measures don't quite provide the foundation needed to anchor and create a long lasting brand that resonates beyond our shores. We are great do-ers and thrive on quick fixes and quick wins. We desperately need to see some results by the 1st quarter or within 3 months, hence we become a very sales driven culture of push, push, push as oppose to creating a brand centric pull culture.

Brand Chaos

The last month or so I have been reading about or have attended talks about speed and chaos: how ‘business unusual’ is the next wave.

Those who thrive in chaos and are able to embrace change; and those that allow a certain amount of creativity, are those that will have the competitive advantage.

Eminent British artist Cornelia Parker 's  'Cold, Dark Matter'. She had the British Army blow up this shed and its contents to create an installation piece now displayed at the Tate Modern in Britain.

It is chaos managed so that the viewer can discern method and beauty.  Even without the background knowledge that this suspended piece was once an actual shed, the viewer can see various components - a hammer head, a bicycle wheel spoke - that reveal this.  'Cold, Dark Matter: Exploded View' offers a new perspective - the idea that even something blown to bits makes sense if the chaos is handled with knowledge and creativity.

Cold, Dark Matter: Exploded view is one of the premier attractions at the Tate Modern

Four years ago I proposed a working brand essence based on this theory of managed chaos, as a platform for creativity and growth. This was for a destination brand, industry lingo for branding a town city or country. The consulting economist, who was with an international design and planning firm, looked at me in horror and said that no investor would look at a destination that enabled or encouraged chaos. 

How times have changed. 

Brand Energy

Have you ever felt stuck in a rut, where nothing, not even the air was moving in your office?

Your people feel like they could do with a holiday, even when work has been less than hectic?  When you step into the office, do you immediately feel like leaving?

If you answered yes to any of the above, chances are you are suffering from low brand energy. Yes --  low brand energy. In Cantonese, the use the word Yen Hei or Ren Qi in Mandarin, which, translated, means "people energy".

Thriving, productive places have a certain buzz about them. It may be quiet but you can virtually hear the silent moves of purpose -- people walk with it and work with it.

It's a simple idea. Your brand is really brought to life by the people who care for it and nurture it -- from the dutiful receptionist to the visionary CEO. When everyone is motivated, their collective energy becomes the fuel that drives great work, which in turn gets business in.

The buzz of an energetic brand
(Image from www.business.burritos.com)

Speed up or die?

TWO weeks ago at the Khazanah Mega Shift event, I attended a talk by Chris Zook of Bain and Company. The topic was about Speed. Apparently we are now entering into an era of speed. Zook talks about how things are changing so rapidly that if we are to survive, we need to speed up as well.  For companies and organisations, this means that the most adaptable and agile are those who thrive over the competition.

Image sourced from: http://francisyeng.blogspot.com

Mark Zuckerberg, of Facebook fame, talks about eschewing perfection in favour of getting things done and I subscribe to that wisdom. There are times when we can talk or deliberate ourselves out of things and programmes that are beneficial for us. At one time or another, we've all dealt with organisations out there who can take months just to approve a brand or communications exercise and this was in line with world class ISO procedures. Compare this to the telco companies who now have a 48hr turn around time for new campaigns. Well apparently,  the new world class waits for no man.

So where does branding fit in with this clarion call for speed? Is speed everything? Do we then sacrifice quality for speed? In a world of constant flux, does branding become the compass? If you have a clearly defined brand, are you more likely to make decision for and against speed? Ultimately, are the best organisations those that deliver both quality and speed? Let me know what you think.

Much Ado about Awards

Last week, for the first time, I attended an awards ceremony where my brand was nominated for an award. The nomination came as a surprise as it was from industry clients. I must admit, after the incredulity wore off, I began to feel a little chuffed, as well as tremendously grateful.  Truth be told, I am not a fan of local awards. Even though I feel that they are important to some extent, there is always a lingering feeling that they celebrate and perhaps nurture a big fish in a small pond syndrome. However I was determine to put my skepticism aside, observe and perhaps learn what the industry at large was doing in terms of ideation and innovation.

The venue was impressive and the flow of cocktails and drinks more so.  There was definitely a lot of flash, pomp and ceremony to start and there was excitement in the air, fuel high on alcohol and hunger pangs. The line-up of nominees were equally impressive and kudos to the organisers for being as inclusive as possible in a rather diverse and sometimes fragmented industry such as branding, advertising, media, events and communications. There were awards for PR, Brand Consultancy, Media, Social Media, Viral etc.. Even my clients were suitably impressed as they valiantly came to cheer me on. The night was looking promising.