What if Superheroes were Sponsored by Brands?

In Brand Champions (Palgrave 2011), Ian plays with the notion of the superhero employee as “ultimate brand custodian”, suggesting that people are too complex to buy into the alignment logic of many brand campaigns, intrinsically suspicious of internal marketing and PR. He offers the suggestion, instead, that the great brands are built on authenticity both inside and out and are supported by willing advocates who understand what the brand stands for and who see themselves in the values they project be they customers or employees.

Many of our favorite, comic book superheroes, especially popular during tough times, fight crime for the greater good. But what if they were sponsored by brands and made to ‘represent’ the companies that paid them?

Italian graphic designer Roberto Vergati Santos helps to make this point in his illustrated series titled ‘Sponsored Heroes’ which plays with the juxtaposition of personal and corporate branding in the context of icons many consider to be “heroic”.

Taking familiar superheroes from comics and movies, Santos linked each of them to a specific brand by dressing them in colors and logos of the company.

In the series, showcased on the Design Taxi site, ‘Batman’ can be seen wearing Nike gear, while McDonald’s sponsored Tony Stark’s ‘Iron Man’ suit.

“Imagine if one day capitalism reaches the point, where the big brands start to sponsor the superheroes,” Santos explains. “How would this influence their images? Based on this hypothesis, I decided to experiment with some characters, and see what would be the results of such idea.”

The results are fascinating and oddly disturbing but certainly make you think twice about the relationship between brand advocacy, values and endorsement.

Gamification: engagement nirvana or emperor’s new clothes?

If you have even a passing interest in employee engagement you’ve probably come across the term gamification. A typically crass hybrid of a word invented by the largely technology-based gaming industry. It’s intended to describe the use of largely online, interactive games in the workplace designed to increase or enhance employee skills- development or engagement. And that has to be a good thing, doesn’t it?

As with the so-called social media frenzy however, and so many other aspects of corporate life, the gaming fans run the risk of alienating rather than engaging much of the audience given that the beauty of most engagement techniques is in the blend. Sure let’s celebrate the march of technology and embrace the freedoms and opportunities advanced gaming technology brings. But let’s keep it in perspective folks!

One thing we’re all born with is the ability to play. Whether it’s constructing new worlds via the imagination of a five-year old; dropping the entrenched facade of the corporate uniforms we all don from time to time both literally and psychologically and allowing ourselves to have fun at work …..or just finding our own toes fascinating as pre-toddling babes, we all know how to play. We may dismiss it at times or may occasionally lose our way but we all instinctively know the power of a good game. And we often do it best of all when we have little more than a few physical props, a group of like minds, a common goal, encouragement, support, space and time.

Most of our homes are fast becoming wi-fi palaces and software citadels. Sure we can all enjoy an evening on the Wii as the Redknapp clan would have us believe they spend most of their time doing. But I’m willing to bet that Jamie still dreams about his England caps while Louise revisits her own Wembley appearances before she falls asleep at night.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised that a recent trip to the cinema with our own troupe to see the latest Marvel offering The Avengers was a huge success and that the games consoles have been replaced by action figures, role play games and colouring pens for some weeks since. Far better to choose the super hero who exemplifies the qualities you hold dear and act out those super powers with your mates than push buttons while watching a screen, essentially on your own.

Of course there’s room for  virtual reality alongside the actual. But never underestimate the appetite of people for face to face interactions with and for their mates, chums,  colleagues, tribe or team.

So while you consider the claims of the software developers promising remote learning nirvana or positioning so-called gamification developments as if play was invented yesterday, reflect on how easily, naturally and readily people interact, become involved and yes, engage, if the conditions are right. And while you wrestle with innovative ways to credibly and impactfully hold back the tide of pessimism and negativity that is an omnipresent threat in testing economic times, it’s worth reminding yourself that gamification is first and foremost about people, relationships, attitude, involvement and empowerment rather than technology. It needn’t be expensive and should be relatively simple to implement. But the aim should nearly always be to involve and discover the latent superhero qualities in the many, not to implant extraordinary superpowers in the elite few.

Brand development; stakeholder engagement and diversity

WASP males don’t tend to get too many invitations to be involved in the promotion of diversity management; which is a shame really.  I’m a firm believer in the notion that the promotion of diversity should embrace the full range of stakeholders and should truly practice inclusiveness in the way stakeholders are engaged with the philosophy or it runs the risk of being seen as a marginal activity aimed at an exclusive audience.  Within businesses, this means adapting the language used to promote diversity from the usual hearts, flowers and equality stuff to appeal to left brain and bottom line thinkers. As with the CSR and sustainability agenda, It can be done, as it makes damn good business sense. But a “push” communication approach may be one of the reasons why the diversity flag bearers within organisations sometimes find themselves struggling for real influence at the top table.

This thought piece isn’t intended to critique the notion of diversity or challenge its increasing relevance to the organisation development and employee engagement agenda within challenger brands in particular. It’s intended to promote the diversity cause and to that end, I would like to share a rare moment of Belgian enlightenment.

Picture the scene.  The wonderful and irrepressibly inspirational Myrtha Casanova of the The European Institute for Managing Diversity had enlisted my help to co-facilitate a workshop she was running with the senior executives of a global producer of cereal crops and foodstuffs.  They had been embroiled in a PR war with NGOs and pressure groups worldwide because of controversial growing techniques and what was perceived as an arrogant communication stance which was adversely affecting brand perceptions and most importantly hitting them where it hurt, on the balance sheet.

The workshops were intended to develop diversity strategies across their global businesses come what may.  Most of their senior executives were gathered in Belgium to that end – and they weren’t very pleased about it.

It was soon clear that their beleaguered HR Director had been forced into developing a diversity strategy by the board who were in turn responding to US legislation.  The executive cadre encamped in Belgium were 90% male, mostly of Anglo-Saxon origin and frankly, felt they had much more pressing priorities.  In short, the workshops quickly regressed into trench warfare.

The turning point came, however, shortly after lunch on day one when, rather than push more and more statistics, facts and process at the group, we adopted a less evangelical approach and asked them to explore their brand from the customer’s perspective.

They had traditionally seen themselves as a business to business organisation but it took one of the more junior managers, who also happened to have the largest team and who also happened to be a woman, to point out that housewives could make or break their brand.  By drawing a simple supply chain model she was able to quickly illustrate the route their primary product ultimately followed to market and how it was immaterial that they weren’t putting the bread on the shelves themselves. Women still make the vast majority of purchasing decisions per household and the retailers were reliant upon their suppliers to provide raw materials in tune with the ethics and values of the consumer.  An epiphany!

This simple, jaw-dropping moment proves to be a revelation for her cynical peers who had clearly spent years developing competencies and promoting values appropriate for managing their equally macho purchasing managers in the businesses they were selling to.  Suddenly the link between organisational culture, brand and their PR problems was put into stark relief. More importantly, they realised that, without a more representative management structure they would make similar mistakes.  The business case for diversity had become clear and the rest of the session was put to productive use developing a central and local diversity policy, strategy and engagement approach which owed much to a loaf of bread!

If you want to find out more about the EIMD (a not for profit organisation founded in 1996, with headquarters in Barcelona and which operates across the European Union), take a look at their website or feel free to drop us a line and we’ll tell you more about this and similar stories.

Book Review: Future Minds by Richard Watson

Given the cover and sub-title “How the digital age is changing our minds…”, I have to confess that I approached futurist Watson’s second book with the same trepidation a twelve-year-old feels when faced with a Winter cross-country run. I expected it to “do me good”. But I didn’t expect it to be so enjoyably engaging.

This isn’t a geek’s treatise. I’m pleased to report that Richard is a humanist rather than a techie and a pragmatist rather than a dogmatic zealot perpetuating the marketing myth that life begins and ends with so-called social media; mobile phone functionality and the whims of Microsoft and Apple.

Some time ago I published a piece titled “Facebook will never replace Facetime”. It was targeted at the non-sensical hysteria surrounding so-called social media and reminded people of the importance of deep thinking; relationship management and development and the necessity of contact and connections flesh to flesh rather than via an ISP. My treatise is primarily based on experience of facilitating change within organisations. Watson’s thesis is based on extremely well researched fact.

Here are some of his challenging observations:

-          Gen Y “screenagers” have become better at IQ tests than their predecessors, yet the No1 gripe from employers is a lack of basic reading, writing and arithmetic

-          The effectiveness of multi-tasking is largely a myth

-          Online crowds are drowning out individual wisdom

-          The culture of pace for the sake of it and rapid response (reaction rather than reflection) is perpetuating mistakes and half-truths

-          The anonymity of the web is eroding core relationship skills like empathy and promotes virtual courage over real emotion and accountability

-          As so-called social media grows at the expense of true social interactions there are increasingly fewer opportunities for serendipitous encounters (a great phrase)

-          The next working generation will be less resilient as they have a “re-boot” mentality

-          The increase in on-screen reading at the expense of books and paper may improve the pace and volume of apparent reading but it  is already having a detrimental effect on problem-solving & deep thinking

-          Handwritten correspondence is staggeringly more successful at engaging recipients than electronic messages

-          We have to try harder to allow children to be child-like for longer

-          Workplaces are very seldom conducive to generating ideas

-          Humour is hugely important to forge relationships and break conventional patterns of thought

-          Personalised, intrusive advertising is imminent

-          Mental privacy will become one of the hottest issues in the next 30 years

-          Expect to see a return to the real and the growth in localism and crafts

These are just a few of the well thought through and provocative arguments which run through this book. Interestingly, many of his points echo similar phases in social evolution like the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement as a reaction to industrialisation and mass production, for example

But before the tech heads start to cry “Tolpuddle martyr”, it’s important to stress that the ultimate thesis of Future Minds is a plea for balance and a blended approach to technology.

It’s clear that Watson believes in the power of so-called new media. But what he does very well in this book is re-visit the biology of thinking as well as the sociology of relationships to appeal for individual and collective responsibility for re-framing how man uses machines “Technology should sometimes be forced to adapt to us” and not the other way round. And he makes a compelling case with the help of a great deal of hard, factual evidence, expert testimonial and provocative, sometimes disturbing case study. Perhaps the most shocking is the couple who let their real baby starve because they were obsessed with caring for a virtual infant online!

Ultimately, this book is a timely reminder that our technology should be an enabler not an end in itself. Actual experiences will always take precedence over virtual ones and we need to determine the technology agenda and set and remain in control of the rules “It seems to me that what people seem to want more than ever these days is the opportunity to be touched emotionally by the thinking and experiences of other people ….What should we do if we are concerned about the invasion of screen culture into our everyday lives? Bluntly, we should think.”

Far from being a geek-fest, Future Minds is controversial; thought-provoking; easy to read (I finished it in 1 sitting) and most importantly, entertaining. I never expected to be confronted by a chapter concerned with the Sex Life of Ideas, for example, and the wisdom that “For new ideas to be born you need two or more old ideas to jump into bed and get frisky”.

In the ever-evolving debate about existing and emerging technology, it’s refreshing to see someone straddle the old school (no pun intended) and the new so very comfortably yet is grounded by an admirable value set and a gift for appreciative critique. I highly recommend you pick up a copy as I’ve little doubt you’ll find yourself nodding in agreement as you turn the pages, at least most of the time, even if it may feel a little heretical to point at the elephant in the room or acknowledge what I’m sure most of us are thinking.

Go on – hug a cynic!

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the usual “employer brand”-style communication campaigns. You know, the glossy brochures filled with beautiful people decked in power suits, killer smiles and emasculating handshakes? Or the so-called “champions” plucked from the ranks of the unwashed and the obscure as apparent beacons of the corporate values and virtues paraded at awards ceremonies, on “star of the week boards” or launches.

I’m a little ashamed to say that in the past, I’ve occasionally been complicit by commissioning “fairytale” imagery and copy or adopting a “no negatives” approach to recruiting internal facilitators which belied the workaday reality of the people whom the initiative was meant to represent.

Marketing certainly has its virtues. But internal audiences are much more demanding than customers. They expect authenticity from their representatives and gritty realism from their representations. And it’s a tad short-sighted to recruit employees on the back of false and empty promises. They’re unlikely to recover from the cold dose of reality that meets their idealism once they’re through the revolving HQ doors.

One of my “eureka” moments on the long and winding road through corporate change and development is that the power to be engaging, more often than not, comes with a dose of skepticism; a maverick edge, a darker side or even a little vulnerability.

Consider the enticing power of the rebel; the hooded renegade; the Everyman who represents the rank and file. Or reflect on the beguiling charm of the flawed hero or the beauty with the scar!

I was interested to read a McKinsey article suggesting that 2/3rds of major change programmes fail because of the failure to target true leaders and positive change role models. Well, as shocking as that statistic is for the big battalion consultancies, I know from current and past experience that the first line management community is absolutely key; the senior leaders must walk the talk but just as importantly, the sometimes cynical but usually authentic informal leaders have a very powerful influence over their peers. But it’s impossible to spot them unless you’re prepared to take a people-centred and mentoring-focused approach to change and live the values from the diagnostic through to evaluation stages.

In my experience, it is far more effective to connect to employees via the sincere medium of true representatives who not only reflect a personalised take on the corporate values, behaviours and culture but who are brave and honest enough to give a warts and all representation of what it’s really like to work there. That’s why I favour the use of the People Panel; the facilitator with less polish but bags of character; or the informal editors of the grapevine whenever I’m called upon to help facilitate change.

So go on! Be brave and embrace your cynics. After all, tough times call for thinking differently and when was the last time you saw one of the “fragrant T&T “crew leading an innovative and even revolutionary charge?

For more information on mentoring programmes for the leadership community drop us a line.

More ceo, less CEO

Tom Peters, trans-generational management guru supreme, has been ranting increasingly vociferously on Twitter etc about the role of first-line managers . At the core of his ongoing thesis are two things:

1. An organisation is ONLY ever as good as its cache of first-line managers

2. First-line managers are a direct reflection of the cultural tone set by the senior leaders; their experience and their training and development.

I couldn’t agree more. In Brand Engagement, based on two decades of working within the engagement field, I reversed the logic of CEO as the primary communicator vociferously arguing the case for the ceo (chief engagement officer) or first-line management community.

SO, if we assume that the tales of engagement levels in the lower quartile are true (or even if we retain a healthy skepticism), isn’t it worth reflecting on how organisations are engaging their engagers? Even when budgets are too tight for scatter-gun or mass immersion approaches to engagement, doesn’t it make even more sense to awaken the sleeping giant within and focus on a relatively under-utilised legion of potential champions?

Or perhaps Tom’s wrong!

Well…I know who I believe.

If you would like a conversation about developing your line management community into mentors, champions and role models, drop us a line.

The Why of Work

A review of the recently released book by Ulrich&Ulrich.

The first response many people will have to the Ulrichs’ book title will be to hear the Why and Work words, contrast them with the increasing pressure they probably currently feel simply keeping the show on the road and reach for the Ten Minute Manager or a similarly pragmatic and less esoteric title. I also have a strong suspicion that a considerable cadre of senior managers believe the answer to the question is “because I pay you to”,

The Ulrich’s have a damn good stab at making yet another business case for why to consider the why. In this regard they’re keeping company with many of the major research houses that have come to the same conclusion.They point, as others do, to the market value of intangibles and the track record of business leaders who value soft skills. The trouble is, the market is saturated with studies making the same case. So why are employee engagement levels still at record low levels? Well, clearly, boardrooms, in the main, are still saying one thing and doing another, safe in the knowledge that it’s an employer’s market “like it or lump it”. Will this book change that “dog in a manger” mentality? It may help… a bit. Even if the revolution has to come one leader at a time, that, at least, has to be a good thing.

The most impactful business case for their core thesis that people and businesses are more effective when they understand the why of work comes well into the book, when David shares an anecdote about the banking crisis and counter-capitalist bailout process. When asked his opinion he does point to the elephant in the room namely the glaring absence of actions to address the root cause of the problem: “If the holes are not fixed or people’s lives are not put in order, bailouts accomplish little”. Wise words indeed. But again, who is really listening? David makes the link between individual behaviour, corporate culture, work and home life. Yet all of the political talk is obsessed with structural and legislative changes.

This book implies that creating a culture in which leaders think as hard about the “how” as they do the “what”; where people create rather than exploit relationships and where colleagues examine their own motivation, values and style as well as the qualities of others can collectively be a route to addressing the root causes of the economic malaise. I can’t agree more.

Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl sums this cause and effect relationship up (as he tends to), much more effectively with a single poignant phrase, when quoting Nietzsche “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how”. The worry is that the current focus remains firmly on the suffering rather than enabling and on the “bearing” rather than re-framing and re-focusing the why.

I recently happened upon two choice quotes during the course of my workaday consultancy that illustrate why. The first is from a CEO:

“I have plenty of emotional intelligence…I just choose to ignore that voice most of the time”.

The second is from an HR director who confided privately:

“The mistake many people make is that when I say “I understand” they somehow hear “I care”.

I think we can all see the dilemma the Ulrichs faced when they wrote this book. While I would like to see more of their philosophy role-modelled in the style and structure of their writing, the reader will be left in no doubt that leaders would do well to read this and soak it up attentively and with some quiet humility. Let’s face it, few business and political leaders have too much to be arrogant about right now and could, quite frankly, do with all the help they can get.

Survey says young people behind the reality curve? We say “build it and they will come!”

It’s fascinating to read a recent study suggesting that as youth unemployment reaches a new high, 14-15 year old people’s career aspirations don’t match requirements for economic growth.

The survey claims that major British industries are facing a talent shortage unless they can shake their unattractive images. 

According to more than 1,000 young people surveyed by Magnified Learning, the jobs that are apparently essential for economic growth are “boring”:

• Less than 3% of young people considered the environment sector – marked by Cameron as a vital industry for economic growth
• Least popular was public transport with less than 2%of young people choosing a career in the sector
• Just 3% showed an interest in the energy sector

Jobs in the media and creative industries may be the only sectors to score consistently well among young people approaching working age. But then I wanted to captain the England rugby team and drive for Ferrari when I was a teenager!

Chris Horton, Director of Magnified Learning, said:

“The high levels of youth unemployment are alarming, but even more alarming is that our research shows that the industries in which there are likely to be jobs opening up for young people, are not even being considered by the vast majority of them.

“We believe tackling these negative perceptions is a two-way process, and it is important that industry leaders recognise their responsibility to engage with the next generation in order to foster new talent. It will be impossible for the UK economy to thrive if we can’t convince young Britons that such career paths are worth aspiring to.”

Of course HR functions have a part to play on the demand side of the equation. But it isn’t necessarily the one hinted at by Mr Horton.

 I’m less convinced by the traditional thinking that new talent = young talent. The bad news for these young folk is that the biggest issues we see when working with organisations currently have little to do with solely attracting fresh talent. The greatest challenge by far is re-engaging, energising and making the most of largely disengaged existing talent where investment will stay within the “family” and there will be no acquisition costs.

Once again, the call goes out to HR directors across sectors to open their eyes to the reality that the bulk of their employment brand efforts should be directed at developing truly sustainable performance cultures and liberating the potential of existing employees. Much more effective to create attractive brands from within by developing an appropriate culture and to influence perceptions of the next generation in that way than to waste time and money on external PR when the words and figures differ.

As the old saying goes “if you build it, they will come”!

Is duplicity ever the finest form of flattery?

One of the few drawbacks of being a published writer is that at some stage or another, you’re going to bump into yourself. By floating your considered thoughts, stories and approaches into the literary stream of consciousness, you create a sort of alternative reality in which they take on a life of their own and generate new stories as a consequence of how readers interpret and then use those materials.

That double-dip creative process can be extremely rewarding when your insights help clients and colleagues improve the engagement and sustainability landscape one company or one brand at a time, as you intended, especially when they acknowledge your contribution. Occasionally, however, someone over-steps the mark and shamelessly cannibalizes your content. And there’s nothing quite as tragic as coming face to face with a desperate doppleganger.

We’ve had the misfortune of encounters like this a number of times. On one occasion a client proudly presented a programme they had previously developed with one of our competitors which clearly contained our distinctive models and approaches. It had floundered when they ran out of steam. And a former colleague has frequently re-branded ours and other practitioner’s materials . In the latest raid, he not only lifted a concept from Brand Engagement but he included the unique and very distinctive first line and listed the book in the online tags. Bless him!

There’s more than a touch of Talented Mr Ripley about it all. He has, however, reminded us of a very useful tool developed “back in the day” and which Marketing supremo professor Phillip Kitchen featured in his book Marketing Metaphors and Metamorphosis in which Ian explored the importance of adapting engagement approaches to the differing needs of internal vs external stakeholders. So as we enter the Q 4 strategy and event season, let’s share it again.

BS (that’s “bullshit” for the adults), Bingo was developed over a decade ago as a lighthearted way of “keeping it real” at business conferences and events. You know how easy it is for senior leadership figures in particular to inadvertently slip into using Orwellian “double speak”, especially when they’re dealing with complex and potentially emotional subjects? BS Bingo provides participants with a fun way of applying gentle peer pressure by spotting and calling that non-sensory “double speak before it sends the participants into a trance. You should try it at the next event you attend. Just draw up a list of clichéd phrases, share them amongst a group of players and award prizes. It soon makes a difference.

As for the Doppleangers, well, we’d like to say we’re flattered, but can’t quite bring ourselves to. So we’ll give the final word to Mr Ripley, as we really can’t put it any better:

“You never meet anybody that thinks they’re a bad person.”

Come on folks.  A simple acknowledgement would be nice. More importantly, surely you have approaches, developments and case studies of your own to share….don’t you?

What are you doing to liberate your champions?

Brand champions don’t tend to come with a unified rank. Yes there are the uber brand champions in the C suite of the Branson; Gates and Jobs* guise. But lucky for Richard, Steve and co, brand champions appear at all levels. In my first book, Brand Engagement,  I make a particular case for the chief engagement officer or ceo as the pivotal communicator within the modern business. Overwhelmingly, ceos tend to be first line managers.

In a 2009 Bring Yourself 2 Work poll of 1,000 representatives from over 700 companies, they answered the question “Who is the most important internal communicator in your organisation” as follows:

• The Hr Director (2%)
• The Chief Executive (23%)
• My Line Manager (27%)
• My Department Head (48%)
• The Marketing Director (0%)

But when we asked the same people the question “Who is the most useful internal communicator in your organisation”, the results were very different:

• The Hr Director (4%)
• The Chief Executive (12%)
• My Line Manager (57%)
• My Department Head (27%)
• The Marketing Director (0%)

Clearly status and practicality are two very different things.

This shouldn’t come as a great surprise but I wonder how highly employee engagement functions, whether in HR or otherwise, prioritise first line managers in their strategies. The first line manager population are the people who, in modern businesses, are predominantly responsible for connecting the business with the people on a day to day basis. I’ve seen nothing since in the millions of soundbites about god like CEOs and so-called liberating, stand alone, new media, social media and technology to convince me otherwise. Funky technology is fun and is useful if well applied but there’s no substitute for a pulse, voice, nurturing manner and an active, attentive set of ears. Facebook will never replace Facetime.

In an age where process re-engineering has removed layers of leadership and customer relationship managers have been upstaged by call centres; where social media solutions are being touted as communications nirvana and face to face communication is somehow seen as old-fashioned, the everyman first line manager and supervisor has literally never been so important.  He/she is the vital link in the chain between the brand promise and the delivery of that promise because they are primarily responsible for engaging the vast majority of the workforce with the core purpose, vision, mission and values of the organisation. Lasting brand engagement doesn’t happen at grandstand events alone.

It’s a fact that the organisation’s people processes, the core engagement channels like performance management; training and development; communication and recruitment thrive or wither away at the line manager’s desk not in the HR department. So what are you doing to identify, liberate, engage and celebrate the achievements of your champions?

*Re-published as a tribute to brand superhero Steve Jobs who sadly passed away today:

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them,glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them, because they change things. They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.

RIP to a crazy one