In the movie Safe House, Denzel Washington tells his co-star Ryan Reynolds: ‘When they tell you “You’ve done a fine job, son. We’ll take it from here. That’s when you know you’re screwed.” Got me thinking about my favorite topic: brands.
Building a brand is a relay and it’s run every day. So often we think that “the marketing folks” are the only ones responsible for the brand. So we rely on “marketing” to launch the 360 degree campaign that gets people talking and the cash register ringing. And when your customer calls they must still wait for 15 rings before anyone with a pulse answers.
We really need to bring everyone in the company on board in our conversation with customers. The courier, the telephone operator, the tea lady, the cleaners, the accounting team, the security guards, the sales people and merchandisers and anyone who comes in contact in person or digitally with customers. Everyone should be able to “take it from here” without dropping the baton. Brands do not belong to “marketing”.
