Dear CMO:
Sorry not to have time for a proper sit down discussion like we usually do, but it’s getting late here in the hotel where like time and tide, it seems that email and Power Point wait for no man. Serves me right for flying around visiting customers. Ah, the glamour of travel. Anyway. Here’s my question — I had this discussion over dinner tonight and I think here’s something to it:
Imagine that you’re about to host the Tenth Annual “Acme” Awards. Your brand should be substituted here for “Acme”, assuming you don’t work for the same company that sold the Road Runner those jet-powered rollerskates in all those cartoons.
What would you be awarding?
If you were Nike, would you be recognizing the year’s most valuable athlete or the best example of “the athlete in all of us”? If you were Starbucks, would you be recognizing the best emerging music artist of the year or the best emerging small company promoting Fair Trade?
Who would you be recognizing? And why? How would it animate the absolute core of your brand so that no one else could be standing on the podium but you?
Regards.
Copyright (c) 2007 Stephen Denny
