Belief

There's been lots of great response to the questions so far and I may make this a more regular thing on Brand New as it seems to trigger some healthy discussion. 

One of the comments left by Mark got me thinking.  He said:

"I believe that it is beliefs which makes brands worth bothering with (Lordy, how few of them are...) - beliefs about the world beyond the category or market and what's wrong with it.By contrast, brands that believe only in money, brands that only pretend to believe in something other than money and brands that ask you what they should believe are not worth your time and attention"

It's a point of view I passionately believe in and explains why John's concept of marketing enthusiasm makes so much sense to me  - brands that are successful today are the brands you are enthusiastic about.  And to be enthusisatic about a brand that brand needs to have a bigger enthusiasm than itself. 

All this reminded me of a famous quote that is not nearly famous enough from Dave Packard (one of the HP founders) in 1960; a piece of thinking that predates things like Built To Last:

“I want to discuss why a company exists in the first place.  In other words, why are we here?  I think that many people wrongly assume that a company exists to make money.  Whilst this is an important result of a company’s existence, we have to go deeper and find the real reasons for being.  As we investigate this we inevitably come to the conclusion that a group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so that they are able to accomplish something that they would not be able to accomplish separately - they make a contribution to society, a phrase which sounds trite but is fundamental…”

Comments

[Rob @ Cynic]

Gareth - I think you know I agree with both John and you very, very much ... I believe the issue is that too many organisations believe their end goal is 'making lot of cash' when in reality, it should be a byproduct of them doing something great and interesting.

It's like fame - once you got it as a byproduct of doing something special ... nowadays, it's the goal in itself.

That is why I believe brands like BodyShop/Apple/Virgin/Tesco etc etc do well both interms of sales and loyalty - because they have [and live] a philosophy in all they do and people know it, believe in it and like it.

How many companies go on about having a strategy and then do something totally contrary to it simply because they see the short term financial opportunity. It makes a mockery of strategy altogether - and they have the nerve to say we don't understand how to grow businesses!

We also can't ignore the fact that a company by law, must do all it can to maximise the potential investment of it's shareholders - so as much as we blame the corporations, we - as everyday shareholders - must also accept some of the blame given we continually demand higher and higher returns.

Have you read/seen the book/film 'CORPORATION'? There's a great bit about how Henry T Ford felt his company had a moral duty to evolve it's employee's and community. Call me daft, but if Ford had continued on this path, I believe the consumers out there would have given the brand more support and they wouldn't be in the mess they currently find themselves in.

When people believe in what you believe - they let you off the odd mistake if they now you are doing it for the right reasons.

Lets face it, Virgin and Apple have made some of the greatest business blunders of all time [Newton anyone?] but because they believe in more than just their category [and have a history of demonstrating it] people will keep coming back - which is more than can be said for the 'get rich now' brands/companies out there.

[Mark Earls]

Spot on, Gareth.

I've been boring anyone in range for the last few years reminding them that a business HAS to be more than a money making machine - if it's going to justify your efforts to build it from scratch (or from what ever state you inherit it), if you're going to justify any customer or advocate spending any of their limited time and attention on yo, if you're going to going to get anyone talking about you.

So the big question is not "what does this business do?" Or "why or how is it better?" but "What is your business FOR?"

David of Howies (http://www.howies.co.uk) said this to me in the summer: "belief is great fuel; it's cheaper than money"

[Noah Brier]

Companies need to have missions and not just the bullshit ones agencies come up with after the fact. I believe brands emerge from that mission. The stronger the philosophy, the stronger the brand.

In the end, brands are like leaders: The best ones have a combination of passion for what they do and vision for the future.

As a side note, I've been wondering for a while whether we will start to see more non-profit brands emerge.

[libby]

Brand as belief system - the final frontier? I hope so, it's all so much more interesting than previous approaches to branding (product/usp, consumer/insight, disruption/interruption stuff).

Also, current brands out there doing this (and yes, there do seem to be fairly few) are the ones that are actually growing. Perhaps this will legitimize this school of thought for clients and shareholders alike? Sad that an anti-money view on the role of brands may only be embraced after the cash register starts ringing.

Gareth - love these questions, I've been tuning in every day this week. Hope you continue this.

[David Carlson]

Gareth,

Good and interesting post!

I think branding is all about being respectful to your present and future consumers. Because if we hold these words of Al and Laura Ries as true (a brand is a perception in the prospect's mind) you are nothing if you don't communicate in a credible and respectful manner.

[Mark Earls]

Cheeky question to David: Where exactly in the mind of the individual customer is the perception that is the brand?

For my money, you'd be more likely to find a brand between folk. Brands are about social meanings...

Just a thought

[olivier blanchard]

Nice.