Ajax, for example, is a global service company created from a set of a half-dozen acquisitions, each of which continued to operate somewhat autonomously. It was becoming clear, though, that customers preferred a single-solution firm with broad capabilities. The new Ajax strategy was to orient its service to broad customer solutions and to get its operating units to work together seamlessly. The strategy represented a significant change in culture and operations. With respect to the brand vision, the elements “Partner with Customers,” “Customized Solutions,” “Collaborative,” and “Close to Customers” were clustered and given the name Team Solutions, which became one of eight vision elements as shown in Figure 2. The brand goal was to provide a face to customers that matched this new strategy.
The third step is to prioritize the brand vision elements. The most important and potentially most impactful, the core vision elements, will be the primary drivers of the brand-building programs. For Ajax, the core vision included the “Spirit of Excellence,” “Technology That Fits,” as well as “Team Solutions.” The remaining five vision elements make up the extended vision.
THE BERKELEY-HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS BRAND VISION
The Berkeley-Haas School of Business created a brand vision that stimulated extensive changes in the school, helping them to refine the student body, the faculty, the research programs, and the curriculum. The four core brand vision elements are:2
• Question the Status Quo. “We lead by championing bold ideas, taking intelligent risks, and accepting sensible failures. This means speaking our minds even while it challenges convention. We thrive at the world’s epicenter of innovation.” Captures the aspiration of big ideas and the vitality of the innovation process.
• Confidence without Attitude. “We made decisions based on evidence and analysis, giving us the confidence to act without arrogance. We lead through trust and collaboration.” Highly differentiating.
• Students Always. “We are a community designed for curiosity and the lifelong pursuit of personal and intellectual growth. This is not a place for those who feel they have learned all they need to learn.” Makes Berkeley-Haas relevant to alumni and executive programs.
• Beyond Yourself. “We shape our world by leading ethically and responsibly. As stewards of our enterprises, we take the longer view in our decisions and actions. This often means putting larger interests above our own.” Describes a higher purpose.
The essence, which nicely captures the four core elements, is “We develop leaders who redefine how we do business.” A different take on innovation and leadership, it aspires to redefine rather than simply refine the business.
The fourth step is to create a brand essence, a single thought that reflects the core of the brand vision. For Ajax, “Commitment to Excellence—Anytime, Anywhere, Whatever It Takes,” as shown in Figure 2, was a punchy essence that captured for them their core identity.
The final step is the brand position, The brand position for Ajax involved a difficult decision around aspirational associations. Should Ajax position around team solutions even though the firm could not yet deliver? Being ahead of what is being delivered could serve to motivate the employees by signaling that the future business strategy depends on being able to deliver behind the aspirational promise. However, the more conservative option is to delay putting an aspirational association out as part of the positioning effort until it is credible, and until the firm has developed the ability to deliver on the promise…much safer to instead emphasize the other two core vision elements.
The Ajax Brand Vision
Figure 2
ADAPTING THE VISION
Having the same brand vision in all contexts has enormous advantages in coordinating brand efforts across product categories and markets, scaling brand-building programs, and gaining internal clarity for the brand. However, the goal should be strong brands everywhere, not the same brand everywhere, and adaptation is often helpful and sometimes necessary.
Brands often span products and markets that may represent important differences such as in a brand’s market share position (VW is dominant in Germany but not in the UK), brand image (some brands are premium in one product or country and have a value image in another), customer motivations (P&G’s Olay found that in India people wanted skin that was lighter looking rather that younger looking), distribution channels (ice cream is not sold in bulk in some countries but only on a stick or other single serving form), local heritage (cultural differences between France and Germany matter for some products), and competitor positions (a desirable position, such as being the chocolate that contains a glass of milk, might be preempted). If the differences warrant, the brand identity and/or position should be adapted.
The challenge is to allow adaptation without the process leading to anarchy, inconsistency, and uncoordinated marketing programs. The brand vision model, because of its richness and flexibility, is well suited to several adaptation strategies. The core elements can be selectively highlighted, interpreted differently, or augmented.
Emphasizing Different Elements of the Brand Vision
A brand that has a core vision of two to five items can selectively draw from this list to maximize its impact on the silo market. A major financial services company was developing a loan program eventually to be used in many of the countries in which they operated. The brand vision included “easy to work with,” “bias to yes,” “flexibility,” and “speed.” Qualitative research followed up with a quantitative concept test in three representative countries showed that the markets reacted very differently. In the United States, “easy to work with” and “bias to yes” were the most effective appeals. In an Eastern European country, “easy to work with” and “speed” were the most impactful while in a developed Asian country “flexible,” “easy to work with,” and “speed” were the winners. So countries could dial up different aspects of the vision even though the vision was the same.
Spinning the Brand Story for the Local Market
The same brand vision can be applied across organizational silos, but elements of it could be interpreted differently in different markets. A hotel’s friendly, interactive style may look different in different countries. Or social responsibility could take on water conservation in one country and worker conditions in another. Or the innovation story by an appliance firm could focus on affordable, compact appliances in emerging markets and on computer-aided features for a more advanced market.
ChevronTexaco has a core brand vision that consists of four values—clean, safe, reliable, and high quality. The country and regional markets and the product groups hold workshops to adapt that brand vision to their context. One mechanism is to interpret the core elements in their marketplace. So what is quality in the context of a convenience store? Or in a lube business? As a result, the silo units get a degree of flexibility but within the confines of the overall brand strategy.
Augment with Additional Vision Elements
Another way to adapt is to add a vision element to the master brand vision in the silo context that will be relevant and even compelling but not inconsistent with the global brand.
ChevronTexaco, in addition to allowing the silos to interpret the brand vision elements, also allows the country or product silos to add one vision element to the four element already in the core vision. So the lube business could