Managing The Brand
Author: Bryan Rankin
“When you are in a battle, you look for the flag to rally around. This is the visual brand.”
Marketing Director, Britvic
What does your firm stand for? What marks you out? These questions are at the core of the future success of your business. While your most talented staff will come and go, your services will expand or become more specialist, and the business environment fluctuates daily, the essence of what your firm stands for, what marks it out – the brand of a company - remains as the only consistent reference point for clients.
Call it what you will – your logo, brand or corporate identity – the flag to which your clients rally is something that matters to them and should matter to you. And identifying your brand and sorting out the message and associated graphic identity does pay a dividend, albeit an intangible one. The value inherent in your brand (or ‘brand equity’) affects the behaviour of all stakeholders, influencing perceptions, loyalty and client behaviour. Research has demonstrated that clients pay a premium on fees and for longer duration from firms with strong, easily identifiable brands, while finance providers invest at lower cost. These behaviours have a direct pay-off on the bottom line indicators of higher revenues, lower cost-base and increased capital value. For these reasons, brands are increasingly recognised as important intangible assets that confer long-term competitive advantage.
So when a firm decides that its existing brand no longer represents what it’s about, how do they go address the problem? Michael Keenan, a partner in the 300-strong FGS partnership explains the process behind the re-branding programme undertaken by the newly merged firm in 2008, and explains how other forward-thinking businesses can use this approach in their own organisations. Michael takes up the story.
“In 2006 we had a simultaneous merger of three firms: Farrell Grant Sparks in Dublin, McClure Watters in Belfast & Lyons Keenan Kilemade in Longford. The merger of three separate firms into one naturally presented a lot of challenges, such as operating in two legal jurisdictions – Northern Ireland and the Republic, as well as having clients in a number of other countries. Furthermore, each of the three firms had very strong reputations in their respective marketplaces.”
The starting point in the process of re-branding was deciding the core values that larger firm would represent. “We had spent quite some time discussing what the purpose of the merger was, what we were seeking to achieve in the marketplace. If we were going to be joined together, the sum of those parts had to make a difference or else there would be no point in merging”. The partners settled on qualities of Integrity, Performance, Innovation, Collaboration and Accessibility as summing up the core values that would epitomize the new FGS. Says Keenan “If I was to explain the objective of the enlarged firm in one sentence, it would be: ‘A commitment to making a difference to clients’.
Having decided on what the enlarged firm would stand for, this repositioned brand would need to be communicated to clients, staff and the marketplace. The three old brands had to come together as one new brand reflecting one new firm with a new strategy, positioned to offer a much broader service from a larger and strengthened skill base.
Keenan was aware that one of the primary audiences for communication of the internal strategy of the new merged firm would be its own people. “We needed a brand that would connect with our people’s ambitions, and also connect with the ambitions of future staff. In effect, we’re a people business – people often describe the accounting business as a technical game. Technical competence is only a small part of the story – it is a necessary but not sufficient condition in our business. We serve people, otherwise we’re irrelevant”. So ensuring that the staff understood and supported what the new merged entity stood for would prove vital to the success of the new brand.
Mission statements and values were all very well, but did they match the current market perception of the new firm? Clearly FGS needed to understand their current market position. Marketing consultants, Brand Dynamics interviewed a wide range of clients and the responses generated highlighted clients’ key needs for the future. This helped the management team to determine the firm’s future direction. “In essence,
our strategy was determined by what our clients needed, rather than our deciding on a strategic direction in isolation” says Keenan.
Perhaps one reason explaining the difficulty in defining the term ‘brand’ is the fact that it draws together many separate factors such as words, visuals and a nebulous sense of ‘emotion’, qualities that brands such as Coca Cola generate in consumers. In terms of language, FGS’ strategic brand team focused on the most appropriate and succinct words to describe services, an often overlooked aspect of brand communication. Says Keenan, “We spent many long days and evenings considering words that clearly reflected our varying services such as audit, corporate finance, insolvency, HR, public sector services etc - with an overriding objective that the words chosen would connect easily with all clients and staff.
In approaching the visual aspect of the brand (corporate identity), FGS opted for a design that was essentially different, consistent with the message that FGS wanted its audience to understand, ie that FGS is innovative and stands for making a difference to its clients and staff . “We wanted our logo to reflect our professionalism, but more importantly to show that we were a people organisation, that we’re focused on our clients and staff as people”.
In order to implement a new visual identity for the brand, FGS met with a number of agencies over a period of some months. “An enormous amount of effort went into this aspect of the project, which would be perceived by many as what a re-brand is all about. I worked very closely with our own marketing manager, Jacquie Hudson together with companies like Brand Dynamics, AMAS, DCOY and Clearscape. In briefing these companies, we constantly emphasised our strategy, so that the brand reflected and contributed to that strategy.”
After the preparation phase, it was Michael’s unenviable task to present the proposed written text and visual ideas to his partners and other stakeholders, all with their own subjective ideas. Happily, the new corporate identity was adopted and rolled out across the organisation.
More than 12 months later, its mission accomplished for FGS. “It’s almost as if the old identity was never there” enthuses Keenan. “Everyone was impressed with the new brand from day one. Our clients and staff connected straight away with the new identity and I could also see that sense of connection when we were recruiting last year. Our time dedicated to strategy and branding also contributed to the success of a further merger in 2008 with Moore Stephens Caplin Meehan”.
Not surprisingly, the biggest brands in accountancy in Ireland belong to the Big Four practices, and the way they manage their brands provides insight for practices of all sizes. Irene O’Gorman, Director of Marketing & Business Development at Deloitte, describes what their brand is about, and advises businesses on the best course of action in a situation where a re-branding exercise may be required.
“The Deloitte brand evokes a leadership position, not just in the minds of our clients, but also our people and our member firms’ communities. It’s more than just a logo, it’s a visual statement which represents the energy, experience and expertise that the firm’s professionals bring to their clients. For Deloitte people, the brand is a call to excellence and the name “Deloitte” evokes world class attributes and an ability to deliver quality and measurable value. To this extent the brand is intrinsic to our identity and underscores our professional actions and behaviours at every level”.
“In its most basic form, a corporate identity is what a company is known for and represents the public perception of the organisation. It goes without saying that all companies, not just those in the professional services industry, need to be regarded positively by their customers and potential customers – be it for offering friendly customer service, the quality of work provided, professionalism or strategic insight. The brand is extremely important in shaping this corporate identity and it’s critical that a company’s identity is based on a set of strong core brand values and that these are understood by staff and clearly communicated to all stakeholders. These issues have always been important – not least as the visual manifestation of what a company stands for and wishes to reflect”.
“Now more than ever, having a strong brand is extremely important. In times of uncertainty, clients and customers will seeks out assurances of quality and reliability etc by going with a name they know they can trust and that will deliver for them” says O’Gorman.
For any company reviewing its brand image and identity, it is important that the tone and attributes associated with the brand adequately reflect the organisation’s values and the service it offers. O’Gorman advises “The key messages being communicated through the brand must resonate with the company’s target audience and strike a meaningful chord in relation to what clients and prospective customers expect from the organisation. Companies should invest time in clearly understanding and articulating what their brand values are and then making sure that these translate into meaningful value for their clients.”
So what does the future hold for brands and corporate identity? According to most commentators, over the next ten years leading business owners will build on their current brand foundation to become more proactive in managing identity. Training and engagement will deliver greater consistency in the execution of brands. It is anticipated that audit and control measures will become more widespread and accepted by business leaders in protecting the overall value of the organisation, and will become a key indicator of strategic direction in the future.
The examples and experiences outlined above show that businesses that aspire to competitive advantage understand that the visual execution and implementation of their identity does affect brand value, and warrants strategic planning and careful management. It’s not just a squiggle at the top of your letterhead!
Bryan Rankin is Marketing Manager with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. Email: bryan.rankin@icai.ie