BRIAN MCGURK - STAND OUT!! the secrets of branding for a new generation.

Stand Out!!

Stand Out!!

The Secrets of Branding for a New Generation

Brian McGurk

Stand Out!!: The Secrets of Branding for a New Generation

Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2022.

Cover design by BrandCreate Ltd, Dublin, Ireland

Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in 2021 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-123-9 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-63742-124-6 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Digital and Social Media Marketing and Advertising Collection

Collection ISSN: 2333-8822 (print)

Collection ISSN: 2333-8830 (electronic)

First edition: 2021

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To begin with

Corporate culture is the commitment, over time, of people to the brand.

Gen B includes those born on or after the year 2000. These are the true millennials.

Strong brands play a significant role in driving business performance. Valuing a brand is ultimately an accounting exercise.

For brand believers everywhere. May you become
brand champions and brand innovators, knowing
the joy of creative expression.

Description

Drawing on three decades of professional experience, this book brings the reader down less traveled paths in the world of branding, challenging current paradigms, uncovering the secrets of brand success, and introducing Generation Bthe true millennials who are todays generation of brand natives. In addition, among its key areas of focus, Stand Out!! reviews the roots of financial brand valuation, explains its rationale, and explores the conditions for brand value growth, introducing the reader to a range of popular valuation methods and broader measurement approaches. The specific forces challenging brand strategy planning today are discussed in the context of a new world order of diversifying social media platforms and integrated, synchronized, personalized communication. In light of this, Stand Out!! makes the case for ongoing brand stewardship in the life of an organization and concludes with a focus on brand leadership and the key principles, truths, and challenges that influence brand growth and represent governing guidelines for the journey to brand success. This book is a key reference text for anyone interested in brand development, leadership, innovation, and sustainable business growth. Reader understanding and enjoyment are enhanced by ample presentation of supporting tables, charts, case examples, expert tips, real-life experiences, and pull-out quotes, as well as a helpful word wizard glossary at the end of each chapter explaining business terms and expressions used.

Keywords

brand; branding; brand valuation; brand strategy; millennials; Gen Z; employer branding; brand identity; brand culture; social media; digital marketing; brand communication; living the brand; brand development; brand equity; brand values; creativity; design; brand experience; brand image; brand implementation; brand leadership; brand performance; brand planning; brand principles; brand proposition; iPhone; qualitative research; talent retention

Contents

Throughout my working life, I have always seen the word Brand bandied about as if it was merely a promotional tool to help drive sales. While it is true that one of the critical outputs of a good brand is its power of promotion, there are far too many instances where the brand is largely misunderstood and as a result completely under-valued. Stand Out!! tackles this challenge head-on, putting Brand in perspective both as a transformational strategy and as a financial and asset-building opportunity. A key strategic instrument that can unlock vision, clarify position, ensure distinction and provide a template and roadmap to sustainable growth, Brand is nevertheless often relegated to being a subset of a marketing department. What I would like to see is Brand being no less than a core part of the C-Suite armory, where it is the CEO who is the real brand manager, who has done the hard work of understanding what the brand stands for and has put together a compelling proposition that will fuel growth and capture long-term sustainable value for the shareholders. Indeed, I would argue that the brand always belongs in the Boardroom, as it is the Boards job to protect the assets of the firm as well as providing direction to the management team on behalf of shareholders and stakeholders.

There arent enough published pieces on Brand as a strategic tool for the Boardroom, but Brian McGurks excellent publicationpart two of an exciting series of books under the Stand Out banneris a groundbreaking contribution to the body of business literature in this area and is both an essential and easy read. There are many remarkable things about this book, especially its richness of ideas, useful tools, author anecdotes and the ease with which it can be read and referenced. But what is particularly special is how far it goes beyond the surface and into new territories of thinking as it probes the critical levers of strong brand building for what the author calls todays generation of brand natives. Critically, and in times of great challenge for talent, Stand Out!! pays a lot of attention to the role of culture in brand building. Talent is certain to be the greatest resource battleground of the 21st Century, and it will be those organizations with the most coherent brand promise and experience, internally as much as externally, that will gain a real competitive advantage by attracting the very best people.

And if we are really bringing Brand into the Boardroom or the C-Suite, then it has to have a level of accountability. Stand Out!! dives into the sources of brand valuation, proposing a number of key models to help make the intangible somewhat more tangible, while deepening understanding and alignment across different constituencies within the organization. Some years back, Paul Polman, in his strategic vision for Unilever (Unilevers Sustainable Living Plan), pointed out that Unilever had physical assets then worth 25bn but with a market cap north of 120bn, clearly demonstrating the power of brands in building enormous equity and asset value. Similarly, when Lou Gerstner took over a broken and fragmented IBM, it was through the lens of the brand that he managed to pull the company together and provide a compelling vision for alignment and growthIBM went from bust to boom on the New York Stock Exchange. Equally, it was my own company, WPP, that looked to its brand at a time when it had gone from global dominance to a flagging share price and a loss of distinctive relevance as marketing service companies learned to both compete and collaborate with the major technology providers. A new proposition was formulated that would ultimately pull more than 130,000 employees and 3,000 companies together to form a creative transformation company. Thanks to greater clarity around the WPP brand and, closely related to this, a culture that is now significantly stronger, unified and more purposeful, company revenues are growing again and our share price is returning to reflect its real value. A testament indeed to the importance and power of putting the focus back on the brand.