Consider this a polite warning:  If your bank does not have a Chief Branding Officer (CBO) soon, you are in danger of losing your competitive edge.

Here’s why:

The clutter and noise in today’s fragmented marketplace is so bad that your communications must stand out with memorable impact and consistency or you’re wasting your bank’s money. Someone must also be in charge of these communications and that someone must be in charge of the bank’s most important asset:  your Brand.

Without a brand enforcer to safeguard all customer and stakeholder touch points, your brand will suffer the consequences of inconsistency, which is almost always results in downturns in market share, revenue and profitability. Confusing your customers and prospects about your brand is same as encouraging them lose trust in your brand. You must prepare to invest in people who understand “trust factors” and the fundamental fact that consistency, a key trust factor, is one of the cornerstones of building a strong and sustainable brand.

Ok, quick, look around the franchise. Who’s in charge of all the visual, cultural and emotional aspects of your bank (aka. your brand)? Your answer is probably “No one.” Over the past 20 years, my firm has rarely found a bank where the managers had a consensus on brand or employed someone whose duty and responsibility was to increase brand equity. Yet, we will argue that it could be the single most important position in the organization. The reason is that, regardless of what any of today’s so-called “experts” have to say, and no matter how much jargon they can make up to say it, the first and most important function of every bank is sales. Case closed. Of course, there is great value in having current research, ahead-of-the-curve technology, organizational management skills, or any other function that can be six sigmatized into a set of spreadsheets. The fact remains that none of the people in these jobs would even have a desk on which to rest their PC if it were not for the fuel that runs the train – sales. If you do not agree with this premise, you need not read any further. If, on the other hand, you can see the unmistakable logic in this thinking, your search for a CBO has already begun, and you have already taken a first step in building a power brand.

 A power brand is brand that, as Dr. David Shore of Harvard University says, “… Is a brand that people will travel further, wait longer, and pay more for.” Power brands also attract high-quality employees. The point is that competitive selling is hard and that the selling process becomes a great deal easier when you are selling a powerful brand. A good CBO can help create a power brand that people trust. Again quoting Dr. Shore, “… Trust is the currency of all commerce.” If you would like a powerful read, pick up, “The Trust Crisis in Healthcare,” (Oxford University Press, 2006) and “The Trust Prescription in Healthcare” (Health Administration Press, 2005).  Both books are geared for health care industry, but Dr. Shore’s work transcends all industries with amazing insights.

Ok, so who did you say was in charge? If you’re like most banks the responsibility implicitly lives in marketing. Unfortunately, most marketing departments do not have the C-level juice to ensure that everyone is singing from the same sheet of brand music. This is how the trap gets set. People from all corners of the bank are free-lancing with the brand. A cacophony of brand messages is being broadcasted or published to audiences already suffering from communication overload. This occurs because there is no consensus or no communication of consensus with regard to the brand to the rank and file. As a result, few people in the organization really understand what the brand stands for. Throw out all other definitions of positioning. What the brand stands for is its positioning. Until that is decided upon, communicated to, and lived by the entire organization, the brand cannot speak with one voice. That mission-critical voice needs to be singular to eliminate confusion that is harmful and wasteful. But the real problem is that no one is responsible for building and maintaining the organization’s singular distinction.

Confused prospects are no longer prospects, unless you count your competition that now has a better shot at them than you do. The reason for that is the trust factor has been unintentionally broken, but broken nevertheless. Again, a CBO could help avoid this confusion and help ensure the brand speaks with one voice. After all, the CBO would be the person who would be in charge of the brand’s equity (value).

Avoiding confusion and promoting consistency gives any brand a better chance of growing. A good CBO knows that brand equity is the commercial value of trust. The higher the trust factor of any organization, the higher the commercial rewards. Consistency is king.

Unfortunately, there are no schools for training the future CBO’s of America—no curriculum for the grooming of brand-enforcers. So, how do you find one? What qualifications should they have? What specific duties would they perform? What follows is my take on what a recruitment ad for a chief branding officer would read:

Wanted:  Chief Branding Officer

Candidates must have a strong sales/marketing background with a deep understanding of brand and brand building. Any candidate now thinking logos and slogans will please skip to the next ad. You must be able to build a consensus within an organization of diverse opinions, visions and hidden political agendas. Once you build consensus, you must display outstanding communication skills for all audiences, internal and external. You will need to spot inconsistencies immediately and author and implement programs designed to avoid them. It would be a big plus if you are a good copywriter who understands the nuances of great advertising. Additional skills include perception manipulation, high-level speech writing, and the ability to discipline those who would violate the brand standards that you have worked so hard to establish. On top of the list of special attributes, you must have courage.
I remember that one of my contemporaries once suggested that what companies need today is a CCO (a chief courage officer).  Perhaps the CBO could do both jobs.

 
About the Author:
Haden Edwards is the senior creative officer and partner at Tracey Edwards, a national brand and advertising/public relations firm located in Boston and Manchester, New Hampshire. haden@teo-usa.com

haden@traceyedwards.com