why brand transparency still matters

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Modern Brand Transparency

Transparency.Transparency is a frequently discussed, and often overused, term in the business world.

The majority of brand transparency efforts focus on communication.

After researching a large sample of companies who value transparency, we discovered there are three levels - each with a different degree of difficulty and adoption.

This is only one way in.

INTERNAL CULTURE

BRAND

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL ACTIONS

Manufacturing Processes Key People Practices (e.g. Sustainability) Future Initiatives Etc.

Adoption: High Difficulty: Easy

Level I: Expose Actions

BUSINESS/GREATER COMMUNITY

CONSUMER COMMUNITY

Crowdsourced Ideas APIs / Patents Business Collaborations Spark Discussions/Debates

Adoption: Medium Difficulty: Medium

Level II: Invite Actions

INTERNAL CULTURE

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL ACTIONS

BRAND

BUSINESS/GREATER COMMUNITY

CONSUMER COMMUNITY

INTERNAL CULTURETransparency is a cultural

imperative of the company and all actions are taken with openness in mind.

Adoption: Low Difficulty: Hard

Level III: Empower Actions

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL ACTIONS

BRAND

BUSINESS/GREATER COMMUNITY

CONSUMER COMMUNITY

Examples of this model in action.

Manufacturing Processes Key People Practices (e.g. Sustainability) Future Initiatives Etc.

Adoption: High Difficulty: Easy

Level I: Expose Actions

The footprint chronicles launched a host of copy cats and a new view of how transparent a company can be.

Patagonia is famous for exposing their supply chain.

Fashion supply chains are a deeply guarded secret until an ex-Hugo Boss art director (Bruno Pieters) decided to turn the tables and expose everything.

He says it was the failure of heritage brands – Chanel, Versace and other "bling" labels you often see faked on eBay – to live up to their reputation that led to his interest in ethical fashion.

http://www.honestby.com

Honest by has taken exposing their actions to the ultimate level.

Due to people’s heightened desires to understand what they’re eating, food has become a lightening rod for transparency.

Food brands are one of the largest categories exposing their actions.

Crowdsourced Ideas APIs / Patents Business Collaborations Spark Discussions/Debates

Adoption: Medium Difficulty: Medium

Level II: Invite Actions

Tesla made news when they released their patents to the world.

Elon Musk is famous for making statements that explain why this is a required action, “[Tesla can’t] build electric cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis” and “the world would benefit from a common, rapidly-evolving technology platform.”

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2014/06/tesla-bmw-collaborate-promoting-electric-cars.html

Tesla knows collaboration will benefit everyone.

For many years their practices were under intense scrutiny until they decided to be proactive in their approach and change the conversation.

Current actions include: • Robust interactive sustainability report • An open source sustainability app • A collaboration with NASA to to crowdsource the future of fabrics.

http://www.nikeresponsibility.com http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/Pages/CalculatorPage.aspx

Nike continues to truly make strides.

GE started the Open Innovation initiative and Toyota started The Collaborative Safety Research Center to connect their business problems to a greater pool of talent.

http://www.ge.com/about-us/openinnovation http://www.toyota.com/csrc/

GE and Toyota open up their innovation to solve business problems.

Transparency is a cultural imperative of the company and all actions are taken with openness in mind.

Adoption: Low Difficulty: Hard

Level III: Empower Actions

At 600 people strong, actions like - all company emails for meetings involving more than two people, giving everyone a stake in the company, and weekly ‘ask me anything’ sessions with leadership - make a big impact.

This transparency extends into their business practices where they have a flat pricing structure and access to data. "We want a small business to have as much knowledge about their company as possible," - Jack Dorsey CEO

http://mashable.com/2013/01/04/square-office-culture/

Square has created a truly transparent culture.

By uniting employees to a clear set of values they have empowered them to truly make connections with people in a way that’s hard to replicate.

Ways in which they continue to be transparent culturally: • Live Stream Company meetings • Offer free tours • Publicize employee memos on their blog

http://www.terrigriffith.com/blog/2010/08/25/more-transparency-zappos-tells-all

Zappos is famous for building trust through transparency.

• Which of your brand’s actions are the easiest to make transparent? Which are the hardest?

• Which of your business problems could benefit from working with partners to help solve them?

• Are there any issues that your brand could benefit from raising awareness about? (E.g. Tesla - Energy/sustainability)

• Are transparency levels 2 (invite) and 3 (empower) a possibility for your brand? If not, how could you get there?

Making this approach actionable:

Thank You