Strategy & Brand

As a general rule, BlackDog doesn’t brand upstarts. Here are some resources to help get your brand new brand off the ground though…

If you can’t find the answer to the brand query you’re muddling over, puzzling out, and Googling till the cows come home, send it our way. BlackDog’s 365 blog is an ongoing, evolving, question and answer guide developed to help business owners and entrepreneurs understand and hone their brands. Submit your questions on brand, branding, or branders to BlackDog and we’ll send you a personal response with the answer. An anonymous and confidential version of your question and our response will then be posted on BlackDog’s 365 blog to help out your fellow ponderers.

What’s a Brand?

• The Big Idea
• Logo vs Brand
• Who Defines a Brand?
• Brand Success – Just a Marketing Plan?
• Brand vs Advertising

Do You Need a Brand?

• Why Do I Need a Brand?

Naming Your Brand:

• How to Name a Startup
• 10 Ways to Name Your Company or Product
• Types of company and product names — A field guide

Slinging a Slogan:

• What’s The Difference: Good Tagline vs Bad Tagline

Picking a great URL:

• How to Find a Good URL without Having a Brain Hemorrhage

Finding Your Big Idea:

• The Big Idea

Differentiating Your brand:

• Differentiators…Let me count the ways
• Crazy. Inspired. Bold. Successful.
• How Do We Crate an Iconic Brand?
• Strip Away All the Filler…

Missions and Visions:

• Is Our Mission Our Brand Promise?

Components of a Brand Strategy:

• 19 Components of a Brand Strategy

Identifying Your Customer:

• Who Is Our Customer?

Identifying Your Brand Touch Points:

• What’s a brand touch point?

The Best Brand Book for Startups:

• Is There a Brand Book For Startups?

The Best Brand Books Period:

• Do You Have a Favorite Brand Book?

How to Write a Business Plan:

• Writing a Business Plan

Identifying Core Values:

• How Important are “Core Values”?
• Changing the World… One Brand at a Time

Developing Brand Standards:

• Hey, I Have Standards

Sponsorship  & Strategic Partnership Standards:

• Banners, logos, & Neon Lights, oh my!

Diversifying into New Markets:

• How Does A Brand Diversify Into New Markets?

The Truth About Brand Loyalty:

• Do You Believe in Brand Loyalty?

Synching Your Brand with Your Brand Experience:

• How do you sync brand and brand experience?

On Relevance, Transparency, & Avoiding Bullshit

• Do you ever get over whelmed by finding ways or trying to be inventive and original?
• The Better You Are, The Better You Look

Do Charitable Actions & Social Giving Build Brand Equity?

• Do Charitable Actions Build Brand Equity?
• Redux – Do Charitable Actions Build Brand Equity?

Bringing Your Humanity to Work:

• Brand Is An Inside Job

Communicating your Differentiated Brand:

• We Don’t Brand Bullshit: How BlackDog Does Communications
• Narrativity: You’re Too Good For Boring
• How Buff is Your Brand Narrative?
• Crafting Content out of Fingerprints
• Top Shelf: Communications Reads We Recommend
• Top Shelf Part II: More Communications Reads We Recommend

Brand & Social Media:

• Social Media – The Prize Inside
• The Rolling Stones Didn’t Have to Bribe THEIR Groupies
• Twitter, the Medium is the Message
• Social Media Masterminds: Facebook Pages that Are Getting it Right!

Progressive hospitals keep it real. Investing in meaningful strategies that tap the passions of working cultures is the only way to deliver persuasive differentiators and drive preference in any industry. Especially hospitals, where the lifting is heavy, the work is long, and the high call is “personal”.  Effective brand and patient experience programs must first find consensus within the organization.

BlackDog recognizes the work of Leebov Golde & Associates as a critical alignment tool linking strategy and expression. We fell in love with Wendy Leebov’s plain talk approach and her practical insights- both of which you’ll find below, in our 45 minute interview with the queen of patient care herself…

What does ‘patient-centered care’ mean to you?

Simply:  I am here FOR YOU.  YOUR best interest is my first priority.  I WANT to partner with you to ensure that your best interest and voice are at the center of everything I do.

If you could teach every hospital one lesson, what would it be?

Caring and COMMUNICATING caring are two different things.  We need to help the caring people on our teams EXPRESS their caring in every interaction.

What about your work do you find most rewarding?

Seeing the wonderful people who enter healthcare professions revive their passion for the work by communicating with caring and CONNECTING with the people they serve.  So beneficial for patients and families and so gratifying for the service provider/caregiver!

What are the most common mindsets and protocols you have to help hospitals overcome in order to help achieve patient-centered care?

The most difficult mindset is task-orientation.  People have racing minds.  Their to-do lists are flooding their consciousness.  This makes it impossible for them to connect to the PERSON behind the patient.

What do you say to skeptics who think focusing on patient experience distracts from hospital efficiency?

What good is an efficient hospital without satisfied patients, patient loyalty, a good reputation and referrals from satisfied consumers?  Also, happily, now hospital reimbursement depends in part on patient experience scores… so leaders are shooting themselves in the foot by NOT focusing on patient experience.  They will lose money.

Do you have a favorite example of a before and after patient experience scenario that helps articulate why patient-experience matters?

A patient cries out in pain, and a nurse says, “How would you rate the pain from 1 to 10?”  The Nurse WANTS to come up with the FIX for the pain, but does not communicate with empathy.  The patient experiences the nurse as hardened and unfeeling even though the nurse proceeds to remedy the pain.  If the nurse had said, “I’m sooo sorry you’re in pain and I want to help!  So, tell me, how would rate the pain, etc.”, then the patient would feel cared about and would perceive the nurse as caring and supportive.

How do you foster an internal hospital culture that shifts the collective focus from task-oriented to patient-centered at every nook and cranny touch point?

It takes a combination of work with leadership as standard setters and role models, revised job descriptions, performance review forms, etc., aligning recognition and reward, TRAINING because the skills for making your caring felt are not obvious even if you are TRYING to communicate your caring, reinforcement, practice, and a long-term attention to hardwiring caring communication into everyday routines. 

What are some of the oddball touch points that hospitals and caregivers frequently overlook?

Touchpoints where patient and family ANXIETY is significant.  Anxiety reduction is the most powerful driver of improvements in patient satisfaction.  Patients and families are fraught with anxiety and few organizations have pointedly developed communication protocols designed to prevent anxiety or ease it if it can’t be prevented.  Most communication protocols are fact and content-oriented….. and miss the boat on providing emotional support.

One example is handoff communication.  Usually there isn’t much of this, for instance, when a nurse is leaving and another coming on for their shift.  Patients become anxious.  “Who will be taking care of me now?  When will they show up?  Will they know what’s happening with me today?”  There needs to be (and increasingly there are) protocols for the handoff between shifts:  “Mrs. Harper, I’ll be leaving in a half hour.  Nancy Ford will be taking over for me and she is TERRIFIC!  Also, rest assured that I will talk with her before I leave so she knows what’s been going on for you today.  You’ll be in good hands with Nancy!”

What advice do you have for hospital employees who are advocating for changes in patient care and experience within the organization?

It’s usually either nurses or executive leaders who begin pushing for changes in patient care and experience.  Nurses and other patient-care advocates within the hospital are burdened with the task of making the case for how the organization will benefit from the changes, how the patients and families benefit, AND how the employees will benefit.

Patient-care advocates need to make the case that improving patient experience is a sustainable win-win for the people they serve and well as the organization.

Communicating caring and great patient care experiences promote healing are shown to produce clinical results. Care and communicating helps patients and their families feel more confident with the quality of care they’re receiving, feel better informed about the care and treatment they’re receiving, feel better prepared to speak up, and feel more able to participate in treatment and recovery planning and decision-making.

GREAT patient experiences also maximize value-based purchasing for the organization, builds a great reputation within the community which helps retain and attract patients and helps the hospital become provider of choice. For employees, Great patient care experiences and communicating caring helps make their work more gratifying, makes them more likely to devote energy and enthusiasm to their duties, and considerably improves job satisfaction and retention.

Tell me a bit about the role anxiety plays in determining patient experience.

In the past, too many improvement strategies were designed to make people happier, but when you’re sick you can only be so happy. At Disney, it matters that customers feel happy; in healthcare, what matters is that patients and families feel cared for.

Research conducted by the Jefferson University Hospital has shown the importance of anxiety reduction to patient experience. When patients’ anxiety levels are reduced they can concentrate on the information they’re being given, they’re able to ask better questions, they’re better able to retain information, they feel more confidence in their caregivers, and they’re more likely to partner with caregivers. Additionally, anxiety has been shown to interfere with healing and recovery- it matters for patient experience and HCAP scores, but it also matters for clinical outcomes.

Are there tools other than communicating caring that you frequently recommend to help reduce patient and family anxiety?

The specific skills that show caring help reduce anxiety. When the patient feels that you’re genuinely paying attention to their needs, they feel respected and they feel confident in their caregivers- they don’t feel judged, they feel safer.

Non-verbal communication is also very important. Sometimes people say things they think are caring but their non-verbal communication is conveying something else entirely- which creates anxiety. This is an especially common problem because medical professionals tend to be very task and outcome oriented- which can make them seem cold and hurried. Patients are getting a double message. Aligning non-verbal behavior with caring and communicating helps create trust, reduce anxiety, and improve patient experience.

Explaining Positive Intent is also important. Positive Intent means explaining how the activity a caregiver is about to perform is in the patient’s best interest. Saying you’re here to take vitals doesn’t say anything about how that activity is in the patient’s best interest- then the patient has to worry if something is wrong, or if they’re just being inconvenienced by a standard policy. If the caregiver instead explains that they’re here to check on you and make sure you’re well throughout the evening, the patient doesn’t have to experience anxiety- someone is paying attention to their specific needs, they aren’t lost in a big cold busy hospital system, and so on. Expressing emotional intent creates trust and reduces anxiety- it communicative that caring activities aren’t just policy- they’re caring activities in the patient’s best interests.

One of your specialties is “Horizontal hostility; coworker relationships”. Tell us a bit about horizontal hostility and how it affects GREAT patient care.

Staff members are relating to each other all day long, and the quality of those actions affect how staff members feel about their jobs all day long, which affects how they feel about patients.

Hostility and relational aggression among staff members has a disproportionate affect on the working culture- what helps is labeling it with the team. Managers need to explicitly address the issue and teams need to create signals so they can address horizontal hostility when it occurs. Team building strategies and communication routines within work teams help reduce horizontal hostility by addressing accountability with managers, creating a working culture that addresses issues proactively and is unintimidated to address the issue, and by creating a zero tolerance mentality.

We have one associate on our team who is a specialist in horizontal hostility specifically to work within hospital teams to help create a culture that’s supportive, that positively contributes to each others’ working experience, and works with a constructive team mentality.

What admirable staff characteristics help facilitate GREAT patient experiences?

I always assume people are caring people, and people just need to express their caring and make it felt. Emotional intelligence is an extremely valuable characteristic in great patient care, as is the ability to be emotionally generous (which requires that they be able to get outside themselves and listen to the needs of other people and act genuinely on behalf  of other people). Also: the ability to connect in a non-judgmental manner, the ability to listen, mindfulness, the ability to communicate effectively and providing effective explanations, responsiveness, the ability to take initiative and be proactive, the ability to anticipate people’s needs-  because patients shouldn’t HAVE to asked for everything they need, and the ability to connect with other people and help patients feel less alone.

Your website explains that “Nurse Communication” is the factor with greatest impact on patients’ overall hospital experience ratings. What are other common factors that have major influences on patient experience?

Great patient care is much more than confidently performing the tasks, and handling the information and treatment and plans in an effective way, it’s also the emotional aspects- the emotional aspects are vital to great patient care. People are relying on us for more than effective care, they’re relying on us for effective caring- because it makes them feel safe and confident. There are lots of things that we can’t fix, and people in healthcare are fixers by nature, but some medical conditions can’t be fixed. What we can always do is help people feel cared about, cared for, and less alone- it’s a vital part of providing great care.

That’s why, when you address caring and communication you DO see patient experience scores improve.

What questions are you asked most frequently by new and prospective clients?

1. “How do you hold people accountable?”

The answer is that managers on the front lines need to be engaged and be prepared to raise the bar with their staff. Managers need to be clear that they’re expecting more than clinic excellence- managers need to expect that clinical excellence be combined with caring and communicating caring. Managers also need to be responsible for coaching and feedback. Accountability is in the hands of frontline managers. So we do considerable coaching for mangers who are having trouble getting the results that the organization is looking for.

2. “How do you know you’re having an impact?”

Mostly our patients prove impact with their experience scores, and you can supplement that feedback with patient stories and a real-time feedback system so interventions can be made immediately when problems do arise to help make things right. It’s important to decide the methods you’re going to use to monitor impact and to set up the systems in advance so they work.

3. “Are these results sustainable?”

Everyone cares about sustainability.  Communicating caring usually sustains itself because IT WORKS.

To achieve sustainable results hospitals need to incorporate caring and communicating into job descriptions, they need to evaluate for it when they’re hiring, managers need to hold employees accountable, and ongoing training and focus on caring is essential. Managers absolutely need to refocus on caring and communicating, because the more you communicate with caring the better you get at it and the more satisfying your job becomes.

For more insights from Wendy, and more info on patient-centered care, we recommend signing up for Wendy’s monthly newsletter: HeartBeat on the Quality Patient Experience

______________________________

Links in this post

http://www.quality-patient-experience.com/wendy-leebov-e-zine.html

The hardest thing about Brand Development isn’t the time intensive research….

It isn’t being consistent yet flexible… innovative yet timeless.

The hardest thing about Brand Development isn’t creativity, charisma, social media, new marketing, old ideologies, fierce competition, or even too many cooks in the kitchen (although that is a much too oft encountered obstacle)… nope.

It isn’t over coming brain washing…. all those years of being told a brand is a logo, no… wait, a tag line… no…  an elevator pitch, an advertisement, a website, a banner, a name, a look, a campaign, a (___fill-in-the-blank___)… not those things either.

Nope… the hardest part is being explicit…

It’s precisely zeroing in on what really matters to your customers and  finding the guts to sing the glory of the story, explicitly, once you know it.

Successful brand development demands that an organization take the blinders off, put down the kool-aid, and walk tall and bold in the other guy’s shoes. Once you accurately identify the “pinch” your brand resolves…you’ve got to own it. Successful brands own their purpose, niche, cause, and message, explicitly.

Be precise about what you stand for and what you believe, where you’ve been and where you are going, what issues and values drive decisions, what you will and what you will not do. Be unequivocal about your purpose and absolute in your expectations.

A successful brand engagement should purpose to excavate an organization’s explicit brand:

• The kind of brand that transcends the conventional and continues to represent the foundation of the organization… it’s Big !dea.
• The kind of brand that connects employees, clients, customers and the public to the company’s mission, core competencies, differentiators, and powerful benefits through a carefully considered governing purpose, a meticulously crafted positioning statement, and a real “story” that means something to those you want to engage with your brand.
• The kind of brand that is unequivocally specific about what an organization does, how it’s done differently, why anyone should care, and what the company team and identity stand for.

You know…the kind of brand that literally double-dog dares customers, employees and partners not to choose it.

“Conscientious Objectives: Designing for an Ethical Message” by John Cranmer & Yolanda Zappaterra… An inspired look at the correlation between messaging, design, and social ergonomics. Cranmer and Zappaterra brilliantly tackle the design world’s accidental mantra: “if it looks good, it is good.” Written to fill a glaring gap, this book addresses the impact of design on ethical, sustainability-oriented, purpose-driven messaging.

“Guerrilla Advertising: Unconventional Brand Communication” by Gavin Lucas and Michael Dorrian… This book explores a varied array of noteworthy experimental campaigns that chose brand experience and guerrilla engagement over the same-old same-old way advertising had always been done. While a few of the examples depicted are likely to cause a well-deserved cringe, this read is guaranteed to get your creative cogs wheeling.

“Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead” By David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan… An easy reading case study on how the Grateful Dead broke the rules on purpose, for a purpose.

“This One Time At Brand Camp” by Tom Fishburne… The collected and cartooned satirical “What Not To Do” wit of Tom Fishburne, inspired by brand builders gone enthusiastically awry.

“The Elements of Content Strategy” by Erin Kissane… The charming, pink-haired, content-loving strategist we’ve come to know as @kissane has captured the nitty gritty how-to’s of content strategy and compiled them into a concise little manual that would make Strunk &White darn-right proud. A brilliant guide for accidental and aspiring content strategists alike.

“100 Best Annual Reports 2010” edited by B. Martin Pedersen… A collection of 100 annual reports that convey the brand, utilize design principles, and create distinction. If boring isn’t for you, this book might be.

For more reads we recommend, check out the Top Shelf  Part I.

It has been surprising to realize just how many business leaders are struggling with the same question: “What’s the point?” The question, asked any number of ways, is usually followed by a long  list of reasons and arguments for convincing the working masses to show up every day to do what “should” be done, that is, produce something that someone else wants to buy.

Organizations must exist to contribute positively to the human experience…that is benefit one’s quality of life, culture, and community. Quite simply work should empower people in their quest and pursuit of happiness as they labor, contribute, and create. Anything less and the business will flounder. The uninspired, overtaxed working community will struggle to maintain momentum and sustain passion in transactional cultures. Focus will wane, mission creep will set in, morale, productivity, and value will slide.

The current economic crisis is a reflection of our human crisis. We unequivocally must bring our humanity to work. Our work should reinforce our sense of purpose, our value, and feed our very human need to build and create. It’s that simple. It’s that complicated. Work is not an add on.

The quality of our work changes when we see it as a vocation and a service. Watch the quick clip of Rainn Wilson describing his role as Dwight Schrute as a “service” on Big Think.

http://bit.ly/quNKwm

Why are condom and tampon brands so far behind the eco-friendly times?

A cultural shift has happened and it’s made us all increasingly aware of our social and environmental impact. The 2009 Global Edelman goodpurpose* study found that “83% (of consumers are) willing to change consumption habits if it can help make the world a better place to live.”

In 2009, 71% of consumers thought brands wasted too much money on marketing and advertising and reported that they’d like to see brands spending more money on good causes instead- a 10% increase from 2008.

Even the household cleaning aisle at our local grocers has reacted to our growing concern with eco-impact and social-consciousness, so we were shocked to realize how few environmental impact indicators appear in the feminine hygiene aisle.

When it comes to tampons, pads, condoms, personal lubricant, and panty liners it’s the (extremely) rare exception when the packaging indicates whether or not it’s recyclable, identifies whether it’s made from recycled materials, or actually helps consumers to make brand decisions based on eco impact.

Of all the different brands of tampons, pads, and liners carried by our friendly neighborhood Wegman’s- only 1 brand indicated that their boxes were made from recycled materials (credit here goes to O.B.). We understand why the feminine hygiene industry may be confused- pad wrappers and tampon applicators comprise the vast majority of the trash that finds its way into wastebaskets in ladies rooms the developed world over. That does not, however, mean that packaging shouldn’t be made from recycled materials. If toilet paper can be hygienically crafted from post-consumer materials, why can’t boxes and applicators?

It’s 2011, it isn’t a secret that women menstruate, and eco-conscious women will probably be willing to put tampon boxes out with their recycling, but condom boxes present an entirely different recycling challenge. Do you really want your neighbors to know how frequently, or infrequently, you’re running through your supply? Do you really want them to know whether you’re using Magnums or Snugger Fits? The new plastic packaging on LifeStyles Thyns does happen to indicate that the package is recyclable, but are mindful lovers going to put their vibrant eye-catching blue condom box out with the recycling? Or will it be discreetly nestled in the trash?

The new LifeStyles Thyns’ packaging may be recyclable, but it isn’t made from recycled materials- we checked. So, do plastic condom boxes have a greater or lesser environmental impact than cardboard boxes? The presence of recycling symbol isn’t actually an indicator of a products’ environmental impact. An eco-aware, customer-centric, socially responsible condom manufacturer would be using recycled materials, would be finding ways to overcome our recycling hesitations, and would be driving their industry through thought leadership.

The condom, lube, and feminine hygiene industries have failed to keep their finger on the pulse of our cultural evolution.

Once a condom manufacturer creates eco-friendly packaging and a corresponding advertising campaign that promotes their green values, the competition will likely follow suit. Price and function are the easiest differentiators to duplicate but Constant Innovation and Commitment to Values are highly unique differentiators that can’t be faked, contrived, or easily replicated. Thought leadership ensures that you won’t just be the first on the market- you’ll the first brand that comes to mind.

*goodpurpose. “Despite Prolonged Global Recession, an Increasing number of people are spending on brands that have social purpose: According to the 2009 Global Edelman goodpurpose™ Study.” New York, 2009; 21 (October). http://www.goodpurposecommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/2009GOODPURPOSEGLOBALRELEASE.pdf

There are so many companies with so many brands that it is hard to believe there is much “new” out there. Do you ever get over whelmed by finding ways or trying to be inventive and original?

Finding ways to help relevant, authentic brands tell a unique story is rarely overwhelming, in fact it is energizing and inspiring.  Organizations with energy, curiosity, courage and chutzpah that are willing to take on the challenges of driving their brand forward are a joy to work with.

That isn’t to say there aren’t obstacles. The most common, and most difficult, challenge is in establishing a brand’s positioning. It’s thorny ubiquity stems from two realities.

The first reality is that very few organizations truly understand differentiation. They are so ensconced in their day to day world, that they cannot lift their eyes up to see what makes them special. They typically don’t want to do the hard work of excavating that which makes them different… the essence of their brand.  And, even after doing the hard work, they often have a hard time embracing their differentiation, because the results are rarely what they anticipated and most often are significantly different from anyone elses in the market. Which they should be.

The second reality compounds the first. The vast majority of organizations, despite their vociferous claims of wanting to stand out, be different and unique, in the end just want to do the same old thing. They want to do and say what everyone else says and does. Unfortunately for them, imitation has never been a form of flattery; it’s always been boring and it’s really overdone. You cannot fake brand relevance, it’s not cheap or easy; it can’t be copied or bought.  It is hard earned and hard won.

It is in that hard work, the excavation and research, missteps and do-overs, thoughtful days and restless nights that the obstacles are overcome… and a brand emerges.  In the end the challenge isn’t a shortage of creativity; it is invigorating everyone to set their creativity, innovation, and ultimately their brand, free.

I have partners. I have very smart partners that are not very creative. For being very smart they don’t seem to mind that we have a tagline that is not smart or creative. I think that they (we) are concerned that we won’t know the difference between a good tag line and a bad one if we were to hire creative services. Any advice?

The word “slogan” derives from the Gaelic slaughgaiirm. As it turns out slogans are not for the faint of heart, a slaughgaiirm (slogan) translated is a “war cry”.

A Powerful Tagline is defined by essential characteristics:

1.)    Pop: A powerful tagline gets to it. A well-turned phrase is direct, succinct, and to the point in a few words. Excavating an expression that represents your brand is critical. Big ideas condensed create sticky messages. If you want it remembered and repeated…just say it.

2.)    Differentiates:  The goal is to tell your story with a little punch in a memorable quip. Communicate your attitude, core competencies, flair, and novel purpose in your own voice.

3.)    Capture the truth: Your tagline should be believable, straightforward, clear, focused, and original. Avoid lofty, pretentious, phrases that won’t turn a head, capture anyone’s attention, or mean anything to anyone. Stay clear of jargon and clichés (unless you have a new spin on an common quip).

4.)   Operationalized:  The last thing you want is a message that you can’t deliver and a brand promise that you can’t keep.

5.)    Recognizable: To thine own brand be true. Taglines are intended to reinforce the “word” that you want to own in your customers mind. The trick is to capture and communicate the brand’s collective persona.

6.)    Discover the universal truth in your brand: Sticky slogans get to the heart of the matter revealing an inherent quality, a universal truth, or a drive that all users can relate to at a meaningful level.

8.)    Bold: You want a slogan that is impossible to mimic. This is no time for obscure promotions. Your audience is listening for bold brands to speak up and in a customer centric voice. Be impressively, unequivocally, explicit about who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. Bland is boring. Avoid copy cat, cookie-cutter, safe, vague, tired, homogenized, and drab slogans. A bland brand is nothing to brag about.

9.)    Enduring value: Taglines that have stuck and lasted the test of time have dug deep with a simple message.

10.)    Customer focused: Never forget who you are talking to. Why do they care? Why should they care? What’s the need? The need behind the need? The shared perspective? The promise that compels? The real deal?

11.)    Works: And now that you have done all that…you need to vet it, “google it”, field test it on the outside, put it to the “mother-in-law” clarity check to ensure that it works for you and doesn’t belong to someone else.

We are always amazed at how many brand firms use the phrase “brand fuel” as their proprietary approach, in their taglines, names, and communications. Once upon a time it had zing…now it’s just overdone.

We have a brand experience process; but we have a very different brand experience. How do we sync what we want done with what is done to deliver the promised and hoped for brand experience?

Executing a brand is a strategy.

Brand strategies may be “believed” by contributors but they still require integrated systems to be operationalized and delivered.

Systems are created to clarify direction, resolve challenges and satisfy needs.

Healthy integrated systems are guided by principles:

1.)   Define, revise and pursue the purpose (outcomes):

You’ll need a sound understanding of the outcomes, the challenges, and the disparities as well as the related and unintended consequences to focus sensible solutions. Don’t trust assumptions.

Encourage everyone involved to adopt an open attitude and a resolve to improve and revise processes. Involve all insiders and outside eyes.

2.)   Take account of the people:

Integrated systems consider everyone that is impacted or affected by the need to be met and the process that resolves the need: specifically those that experience, use and maintain the systems.

Never hand down a system or changes without the input of the very people that work it into a reality.

3.) Be creative and open to new approaches to old ways of doing things:

Entertain and devise effective solutions to the real problems rather than force the problems into canned solutions.

4.) Think holistic; start with the end in mind:

Rely on a long view and critical thinking to resolve the disparity. Imagine what can go wrong at every phase in an effort to achieve a healthy work environment and an exceptional user experience.

5.)    Work the system:

A well-designed system does what it should and doesn’t do what it should not for everyone. Put changes into action.

6.) Engage the relationships and manage the project:

Proactively reconcile the inevitable conflicts that arise. Encourage users to provide insights and feedback relating every real or imagined concern. Encourage everyone involved to adopt an open attitude and a resolve to improve and revise processes.