On last Thursday’s radio show, my guest was Ivan Newman, founder and Managing Director of Brand Excellence consultancy Living Inside The Brand and the author of ‘Put Brand at the Heart of Your Business and Watch it Grow’. He was in to talk about the five essentials of branding.
We’ve worked together before. We made a series of audio-visual podcasts on various aspects of customer service. In each of those, Ivan illustrated his points with anecdotes – so it came as no surprise to me when he did something similar on the radio.
All the examples in the podcasts had been real, but just before we went on air on Thursday, he came up with the idea for a fictional business, which we could brand on the spot. Gateway Oven-cleaners was a simple model – their operatives would come into your home, clean your oven, and leave. ‘So what’s to brand?’ I hear you ask! Yes, well, I was asking the same question. The answer is: more than you imagine.
The five essentials which Ivan set out were: ‘Vision, Mission, values, promise and personality’. He then proceeded to look at each one in turn, in relation to our instantly created oven-cleaning company
By the end of the show, we had a team of uniformed cleaners (I did point out they couldn’t keep their uniforms spick and span if they were going from one oven to the next –but naturally, Ivan had the answer: ‘overalls’!). Their vision was to leave the customer with restored pride in their newly shined ovens; their mission was to save the customer time and grime; their values included safety – of the products and the people (I’d never have thought of oven-cleaners being CRB checked, but obviously for any vulnerable customers that would be very reassuring); their promise was to achieve it all quickly and efficiently; and their personality?
Now, I thought that was all about how friendly they were etc. That was part of it – but there was more to it than that. Our oven-cleaners were ‘defenders’, Ivan decided – defending us against encroaching dirt – hence the uniforms.
Speaking as someone whose oven keeps giving her reproachful looks every time I open the door – and who keeps looking away – because I HATE cleaning the oven! – I wish someone would take Ivan’s ideas and run with them. I NEED that company!
If you missed the show but want to know more about branding your own business, Ivan is going to be back on the radio very soon, with a new monthly series: ‘The Brand Doctor’. We’re running a pilot edition in December (I’ve volunteered to take the first spoonful of medicine!) We’ll be looking at my own new brand, which launches this Monday, 31st October. we’ve already got a booking for the January show – but after that, it’s all yours. I’m acting as Doctor’s receptionist (but I promise not to be fierce!), so if you want a consultation, just let me know and I’ll book you an appointment.
This week’s programme is another change of direction (one thing I love about the Enterprise Gateway is the variety). I’m talking ‘amazing support’ – no, I haven’t got Gok Wan on the show – yet! – and there’s no LYCRA involved … So what am I on about? Well, you’ll have to listen on Thursday afternoon, won’t you? 3PM on Gateway 97.8 FM in Basildon and East Thurrock, or at gateway978.com everywhere else.