Reputation Gurus

The Financial Times gives us so much fodder for this blog!  Their columnists seem to comment on issues impacting the PR business almost daily.

There are two stories today worth commentary.  First, Lucy Kellaway continues her rant about Deloitte, writing a column yesterday about having an appointment to meet with them as a result of her recent columns, and then a podcast about the meeting.  More on that tomorrow when we’ve had a chance to listen to the podcast.

The other is a commentary written by John Kay, who has focused today’s column on the confusion between branding and products.  He brings up some interesting points (e.g., “With restaurants or wine, a strong brand is not so much a guarantee of excellence as of its opposite — McDonald’s and Gallo are names to conjure with for accountants and brand managers, not gourmets or wine connoisseurs” and “The name is a means of labelling what we know; the brand is a means of conveying information about what we do not know”).

However, we find ourselves disagreeing with his overall premise.  While it’s true that people do confuse brands with products, he’s missing the very important concept that brands are only as good as their brand essence.  McDonald’s isn’t a brand that’s meant to appeal to a gourmet.  It’s a brand that stands for quick, inexpensive and uniform food in any McDonald’s restaurant in any part of the world.  Likewise, companies that have focused on building their corporate brands stand for something that business executives and investors appreciate — FedEx for service and dependable delivery; J&J for caring; Dell for made-to-order.

In addition, the columnist states, “Brands appeal to the underconfident.”  While we understand his point, we do not agree with it.  Building a brand means finding a way to resonate with your audience … whether it be the hamburger eating public, the wine connoiseur, or the investor.  By conducting in-depth research, we can now identify what most resonates with the company’s target audience, and then build a brand around their expectations and the promises the brand is meant to keep.