I’m not an expert in branding, but it’s always a pleasure to see one in action.
A little while back I did a brand exercise with Matheos Simeou for my satirical alter ego, Gary W, who always does one, better.
R361 was the fictitious brand, with a logo that was one degree off. Made your eyes go funny.
Anyway, as amusing as the output was, seeing how the brand was put together was really fascinating.
We thought of any negative connotations of recruiters and wrote them down.
All the things candidates complain about.
All the things employers complain about.
All the things recruiters laugh about.
That was the GaryW brand.
The idea of this exercise was to show what not to do, as a way of framing what you can do.
The thing about satire is that it riffs off difficult subjects that happen in reality, using humour to tackle tough subjects.
It isn’t satire unless it’s actually happening.
But then that’s exactly the same as a brand.
If it doesn’t reflect what the consumer experiences or may experience, what they feel and may feel, then it’s just bad marketing.
I realised a little while back that my brand isn’t what I say, it’s what people experience of me.
Talking to all my clients and candidates about what they experienced of me was a lesson in how I help them and can help others.
In many ways, it wasn’t a match with what was on my website or other marketing collateral.
Now I try to write about how I help my ‘favourite clients’ in ‘you’ form, which seems to appeal to people I want to work with.
It’s no different to your employment brand.
It’s what your employees and candidates experience that’s your brand, and if it’s a good experience it will likely appeal to others in the same way.
I looked at one career page recently. Not bad actually, and you get a sense of what they are all about.
There’s a video interview of their workers where they talk about how they are doing groundbreaking science and having a surprising amount of fun doing so.
And in their LinkedIn posts, there’s a similar balance of humour and insight.
But that’s lacking in their job adverts and their website at large.
Why wouldn’t you be consistent across all your channels?
If your people like a and b, doesn’t make sense to shout loudly about a and b?
I watched two programmes about Michael Jordan this year.
The first is The Last Dance, a remarkable documentary about the Chicago Bulls and how Michael Jordan created a unique brand through his personality and excellence.
It says little about his flaws, which is understandable, but the only disappointment.
The other is the film Air, about the development of Air Jordan as a shoe and iconic brand. Funnily enough, the only thing you see of Michael is the back of his head, a brilliant solution to ‘who on earth would play him’.
Fascinating to see two sides of the story, with the common theme of creating a feeling in consumers of what it might be to be Michael Jordan.
The creation of shoes that would give their users that experience.
How successful would it have been if the shoes weren’t what was promised?
How does it feel to work for them?
What will my career look like?
How might I be treated?
What should I expect?
What’s in it for me?
An employment brand has to project these answers with meaning from what is already there.
Answers that lie with the people you work with, the stakeholders they work with, the people who have left, with market conditions, the changes that need to happen in your business - anything that may influence the course of your business.
Anything that can be talked about by others or experienced is your brand.
Thanks for reading.
Greg
p.s. yesterday was 2022 day for me, as I beat last year’s running mileage in my not-Nike’s. #brag
p.p.s. I’m running in the Manchester Marathon in April, raising money for MacMillian Cancer Support. If you get value from these posts, please spare what you can: Just Giving.