THE "R" THAT SHALL NOT BE NAMED

Yesterday was 1/1/2013.

 So with this new year, we vow never, ever again to use the “R-esolution” word. To us, that means a promise to fix this, upgrade that, add on something else  – or “renovating,” the usual gist of our “gotta do this.”

We could be talking personal renovating horrors:  Contractors who appear – and vanish at the speed of sound.  Projects that don’t want to be finished (like the tile floors our builder swore weren’t crooked or mislaid).  Pristinely perfect bathrooms with, in the day’s light, faucets that creak and showerheads that gurgle. 

Yet the same kind of fear, uncertainty, and doubt surround us when starting to look at brands and the brand experiences, ours and the companies that touch us.  We read with extreme interest, for one, about the makeover of Holiday Inns’ hotel bars, morphing into social hubs for extroverted guests (and reducing restaurant labor costs since bar staff will serve customers).  This is more than a refresh or facelift.  It’s a significant renovation, even in pilot, that signals a major update and brand experience change to not only business travelers, but also to the hotel’s franchisees, their staff, and the various vendors who work with the brand. 

Which is why it’s so refreshing (!) to read/hear about CMOs and other executives who are not afraid to call a brand renovation exactly that.  For sure, overhauls like Holiday Inn are standard in the hospitality industry.   And retailing as well.  In our minds, all businesses need to emulate that same kind of straightforward brand thinking.  As well as the news that renovations are underway:  “We’re making over our brand to better reflect who we are – and what our customers want.  Watch for it!”  Now that’s a conversation we’d like to participate in – with “R”s that can be named. 

POPULAR PHRASES WE'D LIKE TO CHANGE #3

There’s a not-so-new four-letter word we love to hate, one that the media (and our professions) are all over.

In one word?  Icon. 

At least five times a week, sometimes more (depending on the news and featured celebrity), headlines and Web copy label a style as “iconic” or a recently deceased personage, an “icon.”  Now, please don’t misunderstand us:  Elizabeth Taylor, for one, was the ultimate Hollywood icon, an enduring and classic symbol of the acting industry.  And Ralph Lauren could be deemed an iconic designer who popularized that certain je ne sais quoi of preppie-dom.

As communications stylists, we liberally toss around the word as representative of our ideas.  Developing a series of icons, for instance, enables us to communicate in a pictorial shorthand a desired action, a behavior, a brand to a set of stakeholders.  Geeks, too, have seized on these images as signaling quick entrances or exits into different computer programs and files.  [Steve Jobs, we thank you.]

Too, don’t forget that our favorite four letters originated with the Greek meaning “image,” associated at that time with a religious work of art from Eastern Christianity.  As defined by art historians, icons are usually flat panel paintings – also carvings, castings, embroideries, printings – picturing a religious being or objects such as angels.  Colors in these artworks also had iconic (ahem!) meanings, with red used for divine life; gold, the radiance of heaven; blue, human life.

With all that serious history, it’s difficult to call even the moderately famous “icons.”  [Clarence Clemons, Bruce Springsteen’s late and great saxophonist, does fit that bill, in our opinion.]  Or describe a popular style, like the wearing of Uggs, as iconic.  [Add your own two favorite icons here.]

Maybe we’ll know it’s time to retire the word when Fox re-brands “American Icon.”

C'EST NE PAS UNE AGENCIE ...

Color us shades of oxymoronic.

Despite all the attention lavished on Mad Men, its depiction of ‘60s’ ad life, and millions of viewers (not to mention Netflix rentals, streaming options, and re-runs), professionals in and out of the agency business flat-out refuse to use the word “agency.”  Or as the trade pubs report:

“It doesn’t describe what we do in this digital age.” 

“We’re so much more all encompassing than just advertising.” 

“Our business is about ideas.” 

Part of the word’s repugnance today has to do with monetizing and revenues.  In the face of rocketing tech IPOs like LinkedIn and Facebook, the plain old agency, sans product and other non-service dollar streams, looks puny. 

Another revolt against the term centers on procurement’s increasing role in selection.  If we’re not actively promoting our chops in digital and word of mouth and PR and creative and broadcast, or so the thinking goes, we won’t make the short list.

Other reasons for eschewing the straightforward “agency” descriptor range from branding and an ever-increasing crowd of competitors to stockholder/analyst perceptions. 

Is this a ploy for publicity and extended notoriety or an honest complaint?  Give us a break.  Because few are focusing on the raison d’etre of firms, shops, studios, even consultancies.  Which is, without customers, we’re nothing.  

There’s no better feeling than nailing the right strategy (and creative) that will do a company good – and meet its goals.  Than figuring out, with the client, what tools best support its consumer conversations.  Than partnering with a whole bunch of talent, from digital and design to PR to broadcast and cultural anthropologists, to develop the right road to value, in and outside the company. 

To be fair:  My colleagues and I have considerable agency-side experience – in addition to our specialties.  Now, our joy and payback come from working with customers we respect and trust who share, listen, and do the appropriate thing for their companies.  That’s the heart of a service business, no matter what you call it.

Prefer more poesy in your moniker?  Then listen to Hillaire Belloc’s words:  “Be kind and tender to the Frog, And do not call him names, As 'Slimy skin', or 'Polly-wog' …”

GOT ID?

Losing or having your wallet (or purse) stolen is one scary life moment.

Suddenly, an unknown someone else knows who you are, where to find you, and how to wreak havoc on your credit.  Unless you’re super-organized with lists of whom to call and what to do, helplessness and fear set in.  [Admission:  It’s happened to us, more than once.]

Estimates by security gurus claim that one U.S. ID is stolen every three seconds.  Put another way:   11.6 million American adults were victimized in 2011*, a number rising by double digits every year.

Compare those emotions with the FUDs (fear, uncertainties, and doubts) occurring when a work change is announced.  Especially if that change involves a corporate transaction, say, a merger, acquisition, divestiture, spin-off, and the like. 

Then:  Who you are is up for grabs.  You might not be able to say for much longer that “I’m an XYZ manager with ABC Corporation.”  Instead, you and your colleagues scramble, drafting resumes, placing networking phone calls, and surfing career sites. Productivity can drift downwards, with reverberations felt in every part of the organization.

Ah.  Those memories resonate with everyone we know.  At the same time, identity crises of all types can present major opportunities to, yes, get involved.  After Day One in a merger-type transaction, there’s often room to refresh the corporate brand, along with its values.  It’s a chance to review what’s working, what’s not in the communications arena – and if your team can provide comfort to colleagues and staff who are experiencing loss.  Professionals working in industries under fire, whether in the energy or financial services or other sectors, can attest to the sense of accomplishment that participation in “identity” work brings. 

Think, too, about the lists, other than the traditional resume and references, that will help you recharge work identity … for you, your team, department, and firm.  In the broadest sense, getting prepared is a move towards independence and developing flexible identities that work. 

Elementary?  Perhaps.  Yet determining how to reinvent your working self – and that of your employer – is a valuable (and continual) pursuit. 

*Latest statistics from Javelin Strategy & Research.