It’s the product, the people, the
promise, the purpose and the point of
view of an organization. It’s what you
say, it’s what you do, it’s who you are.
My day job is CMO at RBS, once one
of the biggest companies by market
capitalization in the world before the
global financial crisis.
Now my job is to restore people’s trust
in the brand, which in large part still
belongs to the British taxpayer.
I’m not rushing to spend money on
digital media. I’m starting with the
people that RBS employs. Those
same people who saw it rise from
being a provincial Scottish bank to
one of the world’s biggest companies
then witness its fall and the ensuing
government bailout.
My job is to galvanize the workforce
as internal advocates for the brand.
That’s where brand starts.
My two preferred definitions of what
a brand is haven’t changed either:
p “A brand is what a brand does,”
said Arun Sarin ex CEO Vodafone
p “A brand is what people say when
you are not in the room” according
to Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon
Now if I asked do these “tech
companies” deliver on brand, by
these definitions? My guess is you’d
probably go “yes”. Mainstays of good
marketing – are things like defining
a Mission (why does your business
exist) or the Vision (where do I see my
business going).
These tech brands eat many established
brands for lunch in this area.
Our role as marketers is to provide
human understanding: understanding
people within our organizations and
the people outside our organizations,
our customers and potential
customers. This fundamental will
never change.
Brands need to act and think like
people. In my experience, the people
I’ve most admired have a number of
traits in common: they are passionate
and entertaining, they have a point of
view, they show empathy, they are open
and transparent in their dealings. Most
importantly, you know you
can trust them.
As in the pre-digital age we need to
use our understanding of consumers
to deliver the big insight, the unique
moment that makes consumers
consider our brands and reconsider
their existing purchase choices.
So my message to you is to avoid
the seven sins of marketing suicide.
In a paraphrase of the words of
JF Kennedy “I’m asking not what
marketing does for you – but what you
can do for marketing.”
For all the complexity of today’s
marketing, which makes more and
more demands on us as CMOs, the
principles remain the same. We need
to entertain and inspire in order to
change or reinforce behaviors.
Because if we take care of it,
marketing won’t just survive – it
will thrive. As marketers we all have
responsibilities.
To do so, brands need to act and
think like people. In my experience,
the people I’ve most admired have a
number of traits in common: they are
passionate and entertaining, they have
a point of view, they show empathy,
they are open and transparent in their
dealings. Most importantly, you know
you can trust them.
The successful brands of the future
will be those that most effectively
embrace these characteristics. These
attributes will govern not only how
brands communicate and serve their
customers.
In an increasingly open and
transparent world, they will also be
the yardstick by which successful
corporations will be judged.
First it is to the brand or business
you work on and to help grow it.
Second is to marketing itself. Third is
to the people you bring on – the next
generation of talent and the other
companies and agencies you work
through and with.
If we act collectively to look after our
profession, if we cherish it, nourish it
and excel at it, marketing will surely
continue to flourish.
I appeal to all marketers, PEOPLE, in
this room to help make this happen.
David Wheldon is President of the World
Federation of Advertisers and CMO at
RBS. He delivered this keynote address at
the WFA’s Global Marketer Conference
in Kuala Lumpur on March 17th 2016.
You can contact the WFA for more details
via email at: [email protected].