NHRD April 2013.pdf - National HRD Network

traceable to its source of origin. Brands
need to be visible, identifiable, relatable;
but these are attributes it must possess,
they do not describe what the brand
fundamentally is. The value that branding
creates is an providing an additional
layer of meaning to things that makes it
distinctive,; it is the difference between
flavored carbonated water and Coca-Cola
and between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
The common understanding of branding
as self-conscious promotion obscures this
vital aspect of branding. Which is why
so many so-called brands look, feel and
sound the same. The problem is much more
acutely felt in the case of the organization
brands. Examine the alleged driver of these
companies, their vision statement and you
will find that most of them are versions
of a desire ‘to be and to be recognized as
the best provider of the best products and
services providing the best environment
for the employees to be at their best.’ In
many ways, the mindless adoption of best
practice is the opposite of branding; for
every organization must find its own best
practice rather than case the best practice,
which by definition cannot be branded as
your own. The idea that there is a mythical
ideal way of dealing with employees that
everyone must strive to emulate makes a
mockery of the idea of branding.
In that sense, the brand is the essential
nature of a product, service or idea; the
reason for the Coke-ness of Coke or the
Infosys-ness of Infosys. When we talk of
a company brand for instance, there is a
common set of images and associations
that come to our mind. If we were to dig a
little deeper, we could, particularly in the
case of strong brands, be able to identify
a strong driving idea that produces these
associations and images. Apple might
be seen as an innovative company with
a deep understanding of the power of
design, but its core idea has to do with
its radically new imagination of what a
machine is. The idea that machines do
not merely produce work and reduce
human labour but instead actively spark
the human imagination and enable us to
experience life in a new way, is what drives
everything that Apple does. All its actions
including the configuration of its product
offerings, the lucid beauty of its designs,
its desire to create closed ecosystems
that respect individual brilliance, its
advertising and promotional programmes,
the work culture that combines creativity
with driving pressure- all of these can be
traced to the idea that drives the brand.
The strongest brands in the world are
based on powerful ideas that connect
with some fundamental human truth.
And communicated as powerful mythical
stories that we want to hear.
A brand derives its meaning from many
sources, but all of them need to act in
ecological unison to produce the final
effect. Nothing lies outside the brand,
nothing can be excluded from its ambit. It
is by harnessing all the elements in the mix
that a brand truly comes alive. The idea
that the brand is ‘owned’ by the marketing
function, is thus patently absurd. Since the
brand is much more an articulation of an
internal truth, its ownership lies with all
stakeholders of the business. Marketing
leads its interaction with consumers, just
as finance would manage the organization
brand for its constituency. It is only when
we detach branding from marketing that
its full power can be unleashed. That is
not to say that Marketing is not critical
in managing the brand only that the
presumed synonymity that the two enjoy
needs to be challenged.
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April | 2013 NHRD Network Journal