Brand Stewardship

What’s that old saw?  ”Charity begins at home.”  I’m beginning to fully understand that the same could be said for stewardship, or championing, goals and ideals.

For instance, let’s say one of your goals, as marketing manager, is to identify short and long term strategies for developing consumer affinity and ultimately loyalty.  Now that is a one-sentence goal, but it sure does have heavy implications.  Consumers are inhereintly fickle and the economic and political climate is so unstable that to say there are few variables you can identify (much less effect) is an understatement.  But you are goal-oriented and have the resources to craft a well-considered plan steeped in empirical evidence that’s also sprinkled with some progressive tactics and measures. 

Now what?

Re-read my last paragraph.  While it may seem straightforward and reasonable, there are a few key elements missing.  Perhaps you, the reader, were just buying in to the general story flow and overlooking a few chinks that may have been niggling at the back of your mind.  Or maybe you didn’t even see the pink elephant in the room at all.  But it’s there.

What do you do when you’ve done the research, crafted a plan, vetted it, revised it, and put the glossy quality-assurance bow on top?

You might just find yourself holding a great work product that’s, well, academic.

Blasphemy! you cry.  Not so much, says I.  Answer a few key questions and see if you don’t start to wonder.  How was your charge/responsibility/deliverable determined and/or unearthed?  Who specifically gave you the orders?  Are your peers aware of the initiative?  Has it been communicated externally?  What other key/important events are on the horizon at your organization?  How much “face time” did you have with executive-level staff during your development process?  Have public commitments been communicated, and made?  What level of involvement and/or support would you say that you have from team mates or cross-functional influencers/contributors?

As marketers, we know how crucial stewardship is for a client brand.  There’s cheeky jokes about the “brand police.”  But the reality is, a brand is an organic ideal that has to be nurtured, maintained, and protected almost as a child would.  The child could likely fend for itself for a little while (depending on its age – another irony at play here), but it wouldn’t thrive, it could be endangered, and well, it just isn’t smart to do it.  Same principles apply with a brand. 

A brand has developmental stages.  A brand hits growing pains and suffers at the mercy of its peers occasionally.  If raised right, a brand has strength and character and moral fiber that will be woven into every touchpoint.  A brand strikes an emotive chord with its “family” (consumers) because of its association at events, situations, and memories.

Long way around, but what I’ve discovered in one lightening-bolt moment is that in order to have an honest chance at success, a brand has to have a champion.  It has to have an internal party who will articulate its purpose, its place, its strength, its reason to be.  That champion has to doggedly weave the brand into the fabric of the organization, preach its gospel, and encourage others to open up their line of thinking.  A brand has to be given a fighting chance, and the best fight is won through internal transparency, proud ownership, and external commitment.

Stewardship will create an environment for success that will resonate with your stakeholders and your consumers with authenticity.

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