By Telisa Yancy, American Family Insurance
A few weeks ago, I and the twenty-six person team I have the privilege of leading, sat in a small conference room near Madison Wisconsin challenging ourselves to “break barriers, think differently and challenge ourselves” to figure our new and innovative ways to be authentic in the way we bring to life our brand, American Family Insurance. This was an all day meeting of fun, engaging conversation, and respectfully challenging each another as we looked forward into 2010 and beyond. At some point during the meeting, probably as someone was lamenting about the fact that insurance, the business of protecting the things that people love (my definition), was strictly a numbers, price-game, I got so agitated, that I respectfully “yelled” at the team, “Why act like a commodity if you don’t want to be one?” At the time, I thought it was a pretty deep statement, but most of team politely ignored my outburst, and moved on to whatever was next our very packed agenda.
Well, today, John Stratton, CMO of Verizon, vindicated me! He explained to the audience of the Masters of Marketing Conference how he and his team have essentially challenged themselves to walk away from the temptation of competing on price in the very competitive telecommunications industry. According to John, Verizon made a commitment several years ago to:
- KNOW who they were as a company and a brand,
- Get really clear about what they did, and
- Get fanatically committed to doing it better than anyone else.
According to John, getting this type of clarity is not easy but pays in dividends. It requires that we as marketers and brands invest in our core competency and make conscious decisions to be slow on some things if that “thing” runs the risk of detracting from your core competency. The dividends have been in customer growth, satisfaction with the services they provide, brand clarity, and most importantly, growth.
Today, as I sat with three members of my team who witnessed my “why be a commodity” out-burst, and my VP of Marketing, Lisa Bacus, listening to John review the long-running, but still very relevant to the consumer and his company “Can you hear me now” campaigns, I peaked at all of their notes to what they were writing down—and without fail, each of us wrote something to the effect of being committed to the brand without fail and making sure that this commitment guides our actions, our choices and our communications with our customers.
Commoditization of brands is not just about price—it’s about moving away from the essence of who the company /brand is and getting lost in trying to compete in a game you didn’t set out to play. Economic factors, fragmented media landscape and the rapid evolution of new media and marketing techniques are all capable of move even the strongest brands away from their core competencies.
John’s message had a lot of themes—avoiding the temptation of competing on terms other than the ones you set, developing enduring creative campaigns, and even commitment to your brand essence. As a marketer, I walk away with a new challenge of being committed to helping our brand remain authentic to who we are, what we do, and how we do it better than anyone else. For John and Verizon, it’s the “best and most reliable network”, for Stephen Quinn, CMO of Walmart, who spoke earlier, it’s “helping consumers save more to live better lives”, for our team, it’s helping families protect the things they love.
So what is it for you and your brand?
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