Branding? That's not my department

By Kathy Crockett

Friday 1st November 2002

Call me naïve, but I believed Telecom's advertising - and expected them to help me "Keep in touch" when I moved from Auckland to Gisborne. I was wrong. For six infuriating days I was unable to connect with colleagues and friends via email. Staff at various Telecom and Xtra 0800 numbers gave no hint they understood their company's tagline.

While evidence in New Zealand is mainly anecdotal, it appears marketers here are following overseas trends and allocating more resources to explaining their brand visions to staff. Jake Pearce, director of marketing consultancy Chisel, suggests New Zealand companies are realising market share grows when they deliver on a great promise, not necessarily when they make a great promise in their advertising.

Marketing strategist Howard Russell of Strategic Insight says: "If a brand is the sum of all your experiences with that brand or product, and an organisation's main task is to try to create sustained rewards for customers and shareholders ... then as an employer, everything you say inside needs to be about how everyone can deliver the right brand experience."

We've all felt the dissonance between what brands say and what they actually do. A colleague recently bought her new vacuum cleaner from LV Martin, wooed by the appliance store's service-oriented motto, "It's the putting right that counts." Four breakdowns later, LV Martin reluctantly agreed to replace the vacuum cleaner - then sent her a $250 bill for the one she'd supposedly swapped.

Was putting things right really a priority for LV Martin? It wouldn't seem so, although LV Martin's marketing manager, Rachael Moore, says the company does take internal marketing seriously. "We've had that byline since the company's inception in 1934 and our staff live and breathe putting things right," she says. LV Martin employees have daily briefings, mystery shoppers and constant incentives to keep them on track, she says. "And the chief executive has his direct-dial number in all our catalogues so customers can go straight to the top if they need to."

It seems people share bad experiences more quickly than good, but most of us also recognise when a company gets it right. You only need to visit a Warehouse store to know unnecessary expenditure would be unacceptable. There's a simple alignment between the promise "Everyone gets a bargain" and the service delivery.

The Warehouse's acting marketing manager, Grant Jennings, confirms the company spends a lot of energy on internal marketing and, yes, staff are reminded they can't be spending indiscriminately. "[That policy] is definitely part of our 'stingy' internal culture - if we're going to deliver a bargain, we can't afford to have all those nice things that don't necessarily add any value to the business."

Jill Brinsdon of consultancy Radiation says it's important to translate the company vision for staff. "Brand values are too esoteric for the majority of people, so they need to go through a process that makes them tangible. If confidence is a core spirit of your brand, you have to show staff how to instil confidence. The receptionist needs to know how long the phone can ring before she answers and still instil confidence. What does she need to do to appear available, efficient and accessible? Staff need true handles so they can hold onto the values."

Take the ASB Bank's 60-minute home loan challenge. Head of personal banking and marketing Barbara Chapman says this was a good example of taking the bank's long-term vision to be number one in service and turning it into something tangible for both staff and customers. "For the home lending market, we didn't just talk about product ... we took a service proposition that we could deliver on and turned that into a communication piece. We told customers we'd have an answer for them within an hour. It was a challenge for staff, but they thought, 'Right, we're onto this 60-minute thing, we can do this.'"

It's not easy to get it right. One angry Telecom staffer recalls a full-colour brochure about the company's vision to be leading Australasia online. "You get this constant talk about cost-cutting and your friends at Telecom are being made redundant ... then every single Telecom employee gets this expensive brochure. Anyway, if we're really leading Australasia online, why didn't I get an email?"

On the flip side, the same person's face lit up when he talked about the company's Virtual NPC game. He and his colleagues were delighted Telecom's rugby sponsorship came to life for them in the office, calling the internal competition an "awesome team-building game".

Telecom residential marketing manager Sandra Geange says the company makes a huge effort to show staff how they can be part of the Telecom experience, spending big on training, internal promotions and staff competitions. "It's an ongoing process and there will be occasions where we slip up ... we aim to do better and better."

Vodafone consumer director Chris Taylor says his company has also invested heavily in internal marketing values, including ones to back up its external marketing slogan "The old rules are gone". He says it's helped create a culture of unity, excitement and not being afraid to do things in a different way. The message appears to have got through to customers, too - remember Aaron Bain and Brett Mutton sprinting nude onto the pitch during a Bledisloe Cup rugby game with Vodafone logos on their backs? The old rules are definitely gone.

Five tips for internal marketing

Tell the truth: Before you start work on your internal branding, says Radiation's Jill Brinsdon, you must be clear about your competencies and honest about your culture. "Brands that are successful fundamentally come from a position of truth. It's a fraught route to invent a brand or a culture."

Bring HR and marketing together: "Often these two divisions sit at opposite ends of the building," Brinsdon observes, "but for marketing dollars and training dollars to be effective, they need to work together. They're actually doing the same job in different ways."

The boss must believe: Barbara Chapman says ASB's focus on internal marketing comes directly from the bank's core vision to be New Zealand's best bank, excelling in customer service. "Marketing drives the communication of [the vision] but as a strategy it comes right from the top of the organisation."

Use expert experts: There are plenty of internal marketing experts around but beware, says Strategic Insight's Howard Russell: an internal campaign (like any advertising) can sometimes provide only a short-term mindset shift. Ask for demonstrable proof before engaging a specialist. "Make sure they've delivered the goods somewhere else, and that the changes have stuck and become natural behaviour."

Do it first: External branding and media placement are expensive, so Brinsdon warns clients to do them last. "Do your advertising when you know you can back up every single claim - when your staff know exactly what they need to do to make your promise true."

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