Why you need a chief brand officer
At no point in history has brand been more important than it is today.
Barriers to entry have decreased, geographic boundaries have dissolved and the lust for entrepreneurship has skyrocketed. In 2021 over 5 million new companies were launched. In this ultra competitive landscape failure rates are also high with only approximately 50% making it to their fifth year.
Customers have become far more discerning, with a plethora of other options to choose from – they engage with brands that align with their values, provide a seamless experience and evolve with their ever growing needs. Brands that speak their language, and meet them where they are. Not the other way around.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOUR BRAND?
Brand is no longer a tacked-on part of the marketing department’s agenda. A logo, some colours and something to review every 5 or 10 years.
Brand is the backbone of your entire operation, or so it should be.
Your brand is the essence of your very existence. It’s why your business came into being, how it shows up, why it matters and to who. Like DNA to a human, is brand to your business. It’s the blueprint of how every part of you manifests in the world.
To leverage the full power of brand it must have a seat at the boardroom table. Every decision made at the highest of levels must be considered from a brand perspective. Whether it’s a key partnership for procurement, a hiring process for HR, an issue in customer service or the design and launch of a new product. Every decision needs to be viewed through the lens of whether you are strengthening your brand, or diminishing it.
And the only way to make sure that is true, and consistent, is to have someone at the C suite level with ownership of the brand.
Your business and brand strategy go hand in hand, a marriage of sorts. It is impossible to make a decision about one, without impacting the other. Yet many businesses still fail to embrace brand as a key driver of sustainable growth, and long term success.
WHAT IS A BRAND-LED ORGANISATION?
Businesses that thrive deeply understand the dynamic relationship between the business, the customer and their employees. Your brand strategy is the connective tissue that weaves all of this together – and in a brand-led organisation is central to all decision making.
Managed in the right way, your brand will define and grow your culture, create a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and build strong bonds with your most desired customer. Brand will influence and impact your customer’s experience, and turn your employees into passionate ambassadors with a shared set of beliefs.
Brand-led organisations understand this power, and make decisions based on longer term impacts, not just short term gains.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A CHIEF BRAND OFFICER?
Branding comes down to two high level areas – clarity and consistency. Clarity is generally achieved through the creation of a brand strategy and identity, often the work of a specialist agency such as Tiny Hunter. Getting to this point of clarity is a discrete and enjoyable process as a business will learn much about itself, and its customers.
Consistency however is a long term commitment and is only achievable when there is clear ownership of the brand ongoing. This can be achieved in a number of ways such as ongoing brand advisory services, or appointment of a ‘chief brand officer’ (officially titled or not) within the business.
The chief brand officer (CBO) is a fairly new position that reports to the CEO or board of directors and is the keeper of the brand. The CBO will ensure that all decisions made in the business are inline with the overarching brand strategy, and ensure that brand value continues to be fostered and created alongside all other activities and interests of the business.
Where the chief marketing officer may be responsible for broadcasting key messages, the CBO is responsible for the substance behind those messages, ensuring they are built on deeply held beliefs and values, and embedded in all levels of the organisation.
Far beyond simply influencing consumers through marketing activities, a large part of building a strong brand is the engagement of the team. To ensure alignment and motivation the CBO will ensure a strong culture and that brand influences all levels of HR including recruitment, coaching and performance management. This in turn drives customer experience, loyalty and retention. Which drives word of mouth and reputation.
Essentially brand is the engine that drives success, or failure, of an organisation.
And the CBO is responsible for making sure that engine is purring to perfection.
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If your business needs a strategic brand review, or you would like to discuss our virtual CBO advisory service, please get in touch.
Written by: Jodie de Vries
Published: April 8, 2022