interbrand promise more deliver

7/29/2019 Interbrand Promise More Deliver

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Promise moreand deliverbetter:Business consulting rms needto shit their understanding

o brands


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Interbrand | Pg. 2

Promise more and deliver better:Business consulting rms need toshit their understanding

o brands

As economic conditions shit, so do buyers

perceptions o value in the business

consulting sector. Clients that have put

projects on hold are tentatively reaching

out to services rms to re-start initiatives.Many o these clients are keenly aware

o proessional service rms desires to

reinvigorate their pipelines and clients

requently nd themselves in a position o

great power over the services they choose

and their ability to demand more or less.

At the same time, clients also eel a resh

openness to

weighing new options against their tried-

and-true provider.

When it comes to weighing options, clients

see a sector in ux. On the one hand,consolidation among large players has clients

considering whether their business would

be better handled by the biggest and best:

global organizations that keep expanding

to oer everything they could possibly

outsource. On the other hand, clients see

the emergence o boutique players who are

walking away rom large players, taking years

o experience with them, and oering it up

aster and cheaper.

In business consulting, brand is still poorly

leveraged and understood

With business consulting rms competing

more than ever or client attention and

loyalty, one might assume that proessional

service leaders would be hard at work

positioning their corporate brands to ensure

dierentiation, relevance and credibility.

Remarkably, this is not the case.

In business consulting, the importance o

brand oten goes unrecognized. When it

is acknowledged as a component o the

organizations presence in the market, it

tends to be considered a marketing expense,

rather than a driver o value or the company.

As a consequence, a brands ability to provide

a competitive advantage is minimal tonon-existent.

Whats so tragic about this lack o

understanding among services rms is that

brand has become a more powerul actor

than ever in the sector. The perception

that other drivers o choice (price, services,

experience and quality) are separate and

untouched by brand, is based on old mental

models and the desire to keep on conducting

business as usual.

The truth is that brand drives value in

business consulting. Interbrand recently

helped a global services client quantiy the

impact o the brand on customer choice.

The results indicate that in some categories

o their business, brand was driving

30-40 percent o client choice behavior.

Unortunately, ew service players know

how much inuence their brand has on the

clients buying behavior.

Build powerul business consulting

brands through people

For brand to be a driver o choice, two

things need to change. First, business

consulting rms must rethink their

prejudices about brand. In a world where

not-or-prots, arts organizations and othebusiness-to-business rms are reaping the

benet o innovative brand programs, the

time has come or business consulting rm

to re-examine their outdated belie system

Second, business consulting rms must

take advantage o the high-touch, human

centered nature o their sector. When

services rms do prioritize their brand,

they oten rely heavily on the application o

mass market branding techniques without

by Josh Feldmeth


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Promise more and deliver better: Business consulting rms need to shit their understanding o brands Interbrand | Pg. 3

sufcient thought to their relevance to

business consulting. To break through

via human relationships, internal brandengagement will be an essential driver o

success and a key component o the rms

brand model.

Why is branding so poorly understood in

business consulting?

At rst glance, some business consulting

leaders may disagree with the assertion

that brand is not understood in their

organization. Some leaders would assert

that they have consistent visual and verbal

expressions and proudly boast high-quality

advertising campaigns. And yet, thatsprecisely the problem their eorts to

make an impression through a mass-media

promise are only one component o a strong

brand and may not always make an impact

on decision making. Decision making is

instead inuenced by whether or not the

brand can deliver on that promise and drive

business success.

In a recent study conducted by Interbrand,

more than 40 leading global engineering

rms were audited to assess their brand-

building eorts. An analysis o their external

communication and brand experience

revealed shockingly homogenized

propositions: visually undierentiated,

described with dense industry-specic

terminology and technical jargon, and

positioned with service oerings so similar

that the descriptions o one rm could have

been interchanged or those o the next.

In a sector so concerned about competitive

pressures and commoditization o services,

these engineering rms almost universally

use the brand in a way that is opposite o its

intent. Brand has become a tool to suggest

similarities rather than point out unique

qualities and dierences.

This isnt isolated to engineering rms.

Similar reviews have been conducted in

accounting, law and HR consulting, and

in every case, our insights yield similar

recommendations: dierentiate, or

accept the inevitable erosion o value

and relationships are critical, and rely on

existing models.

change and rely on existing models.

When it comes to understanding

brands, there are three mental modelsthat prevail, all o which serve as an

impediment to understanding and

leveraging brands:

From current mental models ...to a shift in thinking Example

1: Reputation is everything. In the

traditional model, the rm rejects thenotion of a brand; it i s an un-word,removed from the lexicon of thebusiness. As a proxy, the rmrefers to its reputation, which theleadership and/or partners of therm passionately guard and honor.While reputation is both a corporateand individual responsibility, it isdisconnected from the brand program,since individuals tend to believe thattheir approach to relationships issacrosanct. Reputation and brand aresimilar, but not the same.

Reputation is only one part of the

brand experience: Relationshipscontribute to reputation, and brandcan help isolate which behaviorsmake relationships more valuable tothe highest priority customers. Here,business leaders create a consistentbrand experience by insisting on setof behaviors from everyone in therm. These behaviors both clientrelevant and competitively distinctive will not only preserve reputation,but will drive client loyalty and pricepremium.

Brand is a strategic businessasset: Business consulting rms havealways struggled to harness their

intellectual capital and have investedbillions into internal knowledgemanagement systems to leverage this

asset. Leaders in the future will treatbrand in the same way. They will builda compelling brand proposition aroundthe strategic growth agenda and putmetrics in place to manage successand return.

Brand as a way of working.Leadership must commit to buildingits brand over the long-term make itclear that brand is never going away.

While a journey with no destinationis hard to justify, a brand programshould require at least several yearscommitment, with milestones of

success and specic outcomes inmind. Brand teams that launch a newidea and visual system with a splashyevent suffer when these point-in-timeactivities lead to brand as a supercialproject with a beginning and end.

Hays, another leadingtalent services provider,has a long-term plan. Afterdening how their brand

will create value, they areembedding it into their go-to-market strategy and culture,which is reinforced through

communications and brandedexperiences.

Randstad, the worldsnumber two stafng andtalent services company,

uses a value-based systemto manage the brandscontribution to corporatestrategy initiatives. Market bymarket brand performancedata is mapping marketingspend data across theircommunications mix, resultingin a clear picture of ROI and

the insight required to ensureshare responses

Accenture. One of the

few services companiesthat actively build acomprehensive brand ratherthan passively preserving areputation: a consistent andwinning culture, thought-leadership IP and powercommunications all aligned

around a clear promise ofhigh performance.And now the strength of theAccenture brand will be putto test. Will the experience oftheir brand insulate the rmfrom the reputational damageof Tigers monster duck hook?

2. Brand is an expense. A secondmental model is one in which brandsare viewed much like insurance -its something the rm must spendmoney on, and they grudginglyprovide some investment. Spend onbrand is chalked up to the necessarycosts of doing business, and is rarelylinked to business performance orindividual behaviors and their abilityto produce business results.

3. Brand is a special project. Thethird way of thinking about brand setsit out as an exciting project. Many anenthusiastic CMO has put together acompany-wide brand team, hoping todrive a long-term shift in thinking. Butafter convincing the rms leadershipto allocate a substantial short-term

investment to the brand, evencompelling research ndings and acase for urgent change cant prod theservices rm to fund the brand effortfurther, since short-term results arentimmediately produced.

Brand teams that launch a new idea

and visual system with a splashyevent suffer when these point-in-timeactivities lead to brand as a supercialproject with a beginning and end.Inspired participants become cynics,feeling as though their contributionswill go nowhere. The accountantsand architects go back to managingtheir relationships to save the rmsreputation, or to seeing brand as anexpense rather than a driver of value.

drop in price that your brand is able to

command, along with the inevitable

impact on your business.

To build understanding, shit mental

models

Business consulting rms must shit

their thinking. Easier said than done

changing mental models is nothing short

o challenging. Its human nature to avoid


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From understanding to engagement

Any eorts to build a strong

business consulting rm begin with

understanding: What brands and

branding means, what opportunities

a strong brand presents and why it is

relevant to everyone at an individual

level. By changing perceptions and

shiting mental models, a rm can begin

to move rom thinking to doing. Thats

where internal brand engagement

comes in.

As mental models shit, employees

will be open to seeing their notions o

branding shit. For business consulting,

brand has oten been limited to the

promise: acquiring customers through

communications and marketingcampaigns. O course, this narrow

application ails to leverage the very

best o the rm its people as well as

its ability to prove the brands power to

deliver on its promises.

To build brand value, have the courage

to both promise and deliver

Engagement means involving employees

in delivering a specic, desired customer

experience, over and over again, via the

touchpoints that matter most.

Using internal brand engagement to

improve the value o the brand is a

natural t or business consulting, where

high-touch relationships are critical,

and the transition rom thinking about

reputation to thinking about the larger

brand experience can be smooth when

done strategically and comprehensively:

A strategic internal brand engagement

program utilizes brand as a strategic

tool to achieve specic, long-term

goals (that is, there is no o-the-shel

solution). It requires involvement rom

leadership to the most junior positions,

and includes learning experiences with

specic objectives and outcomes.

A comprehensive internal brand

engagement program means that every

unction in the services rm must play

a role in delivering on what the brand

promises. This takes brand out o the

sales and acquisition role (closely tied

to marketing) and puts it in everyones

hands, including human resources, who

have a uniquely critical role in attracting

the talent necessary to make the brand

experience second to none.

When brands drive decisions and

behaviors, returns are inevitableThere are substantial benets to using

internal brand engagement as an approach

to building a stronger business consulting

brand. Whereas traditional branding tools

may help rms set out new promises to

the market in a shiny new campaign, an

internal brand engagement program can

help produce real results.

Any eforts to build a strongbusiness consulting rm beginwith understanding.

Promise more and deliver better: Business consulting rms need to shit their understanding o brands Interbrand | Pg. 4

Competitive pressures Benefits ofbusiness consulting brand engagementprograms

Acquiring, building and retaining top talent is anongoing challenge.

In business consulting, not only are brilliant mindscritical to success, but these industry leaders often havethe ability to take clients with them upon departure.Attracting the right new talent is also critical asworkforce demographics continue to shift.

Strengthen the employer brand.Employees benefit professionally from an internal brand

engagement program via development opportunities,successful client relationships, and more efficient,consistent approaches to business challenges.

Strong employer brands are of the products of cohesive,brand-centric cultures. Employees who are selectedbased on behavioral alignment with the brand are morelikely to stay.

Industry consolidation threatens firms of all sizes.Big firms are getting bigger and may appear unwieldyto clients. Their increasing aggressiveness puts otherson the defensive. Small players who are unable to offerfull service capabilities wont compete with the biggest,but have to focus their offering and challenge others onprice and agility. Mid-size firms fear they will be lost inthe category.

Clarify points of differentiation and improve servicedelivery efficiency.When a firm undertake a brand engagement program,its employees recognize precisely why their branddifferent and what role they play in emphasizing thatevery day through the touchpoints that matter.Whatever the size of the firm, employees will beempowered to act in a way that supports a focused anddifferentiated brand promise.

Internal engagement also drives efficiency whereconsistency can be improved, time and money are savedand both the firm and the client stand to benefit.

Commoditization of services puts pressure on every

kind of firm.As the industry consolidates, firms expand their serviceofferings, attempting to prove that they can doanything and everything. When service offering changesare perceived as reactive measures or dont fit the brand,it only serves to clutter the marketplace and erode thevalue of the services for everyone. This can also lead todownward pressure on pricing.

Ensure clear differentiation and command a

premium.Knowing precisely what matters to your highest valueclients will enable leaders to make smarter decisionsabout service offerings, and ensure that what they dooffer is seen as worthy of a premium. Moreover,employees will be able to focus on what matters most aswell both in terms of the service offering itself and theway in which it is delivered.

Rapid replication of IP and innovation can be hard tocapture and leverage. Through social media, it is easierthan ever for leaders to advance thinking in their areasof expertise. With ease comes speed of replication anddistribution. However, speed may reduce the likelihoodthat firms can leverage thinking to drive innovation anduse it broadly across the firm. Great opportunities canbe missed.

Increase collaboration and evolve servicesEngagement programs prioritize idea generationthroughout the organization as well as IP development.This helps employees recognize the way in whichcollaboration adds value to the broader externalexperience (as well as the value of collaboration tointernal efficiency).

When a services firm uses brand as a filter for productand service innovation, great ideas are developed tofulfil targeted needs and applications.

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Creating and managingbrand valueTMinterbrand.com

Josh Feldmeth

Josh Feldmeth is Chie Executive Ofcer o

Interbrands New York ofce. Since joining

Interbrand in 2002, Josh has led project

teams working with some o North American

and Europes best brands. Josh ensure that

everything we do or clients, rom strategy

through creative creates business value. He

helps colleagues and clients understand the

mechanics o how brands create value and

where capital should be deployed to maximize

that value.

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