Positive Corporate Cultures Nurture Great Brands

20 November 2008:

You buy an avocado for its firm, succulent flesh. The pip, unless you are a horticulturist, is surplus. At best it leaves a hole to be filled by vinaigrette, or a few plump prawns.

But the pip is the mother of the fruit, if cared for it can generate a tree or a forest.

Now think of your company. The pip is your culture, the flesh is your brand. The skin covering the flesh is what the outside world sees.

Positive cultures grow and sustain great brands. Take Microsoft and Toyota.

The people at Microsoft are ever-hungry, high-tech winners. Only the super-bright and endlessly energetic are hired. Their stock-options offer incredible wealth.

The people at Toyota live by ethics their founder penned on his death-bed 70 years ago. Their culture of keizen, a succession of small quality improvements, has resulted in 20 million ideas being implemented in 40 years, consistently creating improved cars and better working conditions.

There is a sense of purpose and leadership values evident in the clarity and consistency of the brand. Look after the inside and the inside will look after the outside.

When purpose is forgotten and values unknown or transgressed, the brand suffers. Apple Computers lost its way when its leaders lost their sense of adventure. The return of Steve Jobs, the creative abilities of the iMac and MacBook and the pioneering iPod are encapsulated in the "I'm a PC, I'm a Mac" ad campaign.

Fuzzy brands emerge from fuzzy cultures and unfriendly brands grow in cultures where fear replaces passion. Over a decade ago, employees at Edgardale, the Edgars Group headquarters, started to call it Edgarjail two years before research began to track growing customer dissatisfaction with the brand, and five years before the share price collapsed. More recently, we have heard of a major financial institution being called ‘the palace of pain'. It is a warning sign. Brand destruction starts deep inside the heart of your organisation.

10 Ways to Rot

When brands are not doing well, the tendency is to fire the advertising agency and/or the marketing director, but this rarely results in a turnaround. If the inside is rotten it is hard to make the outside look beautiful - especially for any length of time.