Who Delivers on Your Brand Promise?

Large budgets are set aside in many organizations for the purpose of designing creative advertising campaigns and exquisite packaging that make enthusiastic and seductive promises of the benefits and value of purchasing the company’s products and/or services. However, a question rarely addressed is: After the purchase, who is responsible and accountable for delivering on those brand promises?

Strong brands are not built in a campaign, they are built over time. Strong brands are built on the attitudes and behaviors of employees who do, or do not, deliver on the implicit promises advertising makes to customers. When a customer writes a letter of complaint, the subject is rarely about the product or service itself. The disappointment is almost always about the way they were treated by an employee or group of employees who addressed the original problem.

Every interaction between customers and employees makes an impression. A deposit or withdrawal is made to or from the equity of the brand. Brands are about emotional connections. My experience with your agency is either that I am highly valued based on the care and commitment demonstrated in solving my problem, or the opposite—no interest was shown by your employees in keeping the promises made in the advertising that convinced me to try your product or service.

Employees play a fundamental and key role in building a company’s brand. Educating them and then providing training in the art and science of superior customer service should be a key component of any marketing strategy. We need to remember that the ultimate goal of marketing is not just to create brand awareness—it is to establish dedicated consumers of the brand. Only consistent, positive experiences with the brand make that possible.

For employees to have a passion for the brand, however, requires much more than training. This level of motivation, dedication and commitment is a function of belief. This belief is not only in their product or service, but also belief in the company. This is where leadership and corporate culture come into play. Leaders establish the values of an organization and values create cultures.

Bill Pulte, chairman of Pulte Homes, the multi-billion dollar home builder, never agreed with the adage that customers come first. His philosophy is employees come first. Pulte believes that if employees feel highly valued, respected and appreciated, then they reciprocate by valuing and providing the highest level of service to the customer. Pulte Homes has won more JD Power awards for quality and customer service than any other home builder in the country.

Agency principals should ask themselves: How do your employees feel about their company? Do they feel valued, cared for and appreciated? Do their opinions count? Are their contributions recognized? Do they believe they work for an organization that knows where it’s going and what it stands for? In other words, do the culture, environment and management inspire them to be passionate ambassadors of their brand?

David McNally (info@davidmcnally.com) is author of “Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd.”


Carrier Branding Connection: Dryden Mutual Insurance Company

Dryden Mutual Insurance Company knows it’s one of the “little guys” when compared to national carriers, but that doesn’t stop the$40-million domestic carrier from thinking big when it comes to branding.

Dryden has been working exclusively with independent agents in upstate New York since 1860 and uses a variety of mediums including print ads and its Web site to increase brand recognition. However, the carrier’s partnership with163 local agencies is the most valuable branding tool since agents are the ones selling the Dryden name on a daily basis, says Bob Baxter, CEO of Dryden Mutual Insurance.

It was through the company’s collaboration with these independent agents that it first learned about the Trusted Choice^® brand.

“For a domestic carrier, banding has a very different twist on it,” Baxter says. “Our name itself, even in this area, is not a brand name, however Trusted Choice^® has been a name with agents for awhile…now wherever our logo is we also try to cohabitate it with Trusted Choice^® to make ourselves part of the bigger picture.”

Since joining Trusted Choice^® in the fall of 2006,Dryden has incorporated the brand into all its promotional materials and has encouraged agencies it works with to do the same. Last year, the company paid 50% of partner agencies’ advertising cost for a co-op ad on boat owners insurance that included the Dryden and Trusted Choice^® logos. The ad incentive was so well-received by agencies, Dryden intends to offer a similar opportunity this year.

“Our advertising now has a much different feel—Trusted Choice^® amplifies it,” Baxter says. “We are part of something much bigger because we are part of the independent agency system.”

—Michelle Payne