The Communication Sloth!

Have you ever come across an article, a press release or any other form of communication material, that as an experienced professional, makes you want to pull your hair out? Well, as seasoned professionals, on the face of it, we might say no. But internally the thought process would be something like this:

“WHAT DID I JUST READ…”

Now, in certain situations, there might be extenuating circumstances which force a company to release a piece of communication, which for lack of a better term, is flat. Maybe some sort of crisis, performance anxiety (please don’t take that the wrong way, even marketing and communication professionals can have their own version of “writers block”). But if experience and history proves anything, it is that there is always a way for companies to come out of a bad situation while keeping their brand image intact.

Look at the automobile industry, Toyota, Volkswagen etc. Each has faced disasters which has resulted in billions in damage. Toyota once made the mistake of being silent and they paid for it dearly. But they learned their lesson and ensured proper measures were put into place to ensure the brand image stayed strong and protected during times of crisis. And now, Toyota is stronger then ever before and continues as the worlds largest automaker with a market capitalization of over USD 200 billion.

Lets not forget the absolute disaster that was the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, a literal “bomb in the pocket” situation. People carrying this smartphone were not allowed to board airplanes unless they ditched the phone. You’d think that was the end of the Note series right? WRONG. Samsung handled the disaster like professionals and ensured the legacy of the Note series lived on and came back stronger than ever. And don’t forget that not too long after the Note 7 disaster, the de facto Chairman of Samsung at the time was arrested in a bribery scandal which even the then President of South Korea could not get away from. So now one may ask, how did these titans of industry accomplish this? How did they overcome disasters which would have set any other company back tens of billions in revenue and taken years to recover?

Well, while many may argue against this, to simplify, the reason they could overcome this is because they have invested in their respective brands. Toyota is known for safety and family first. Samsung is known for innovation and consumer friendly products, despite the fact that the majority of its revenue comes from B2B activities. If Toyota and Samsung behaved in the same way that some of the local companies in my home country do, they would have spent a far longer amount of time and far larger amounts of money in combating the crises they faced. Before a company decides to use public relation tools or corporate image building techniques, it is important to first invest in and establish a strong brand from within and then move it beyond the walls of the factory and office space. Unfortunately, many here at home, limit the importance of brands to one particular sector of industry, FMCG. The service industry with a few exceptions, is still trying to comprehend the long-term importance of building a brand. You might hear lines like “oh we are only a bank”, or “oh we are a utility”. Yes, I know, its hard to believe that this ancient school of thought is still alive in today’s age of hyper branding and communication clutter. But it’s a harsh truth. One that stems from either a lack of understanding about the importance of brand building and the role it can play in guiding effective communication, or simply from fear.

The role of a brand building is simple; to take the functional aspect of an existing business and add an emotional element to it, to create a personality around it per se. Tell me this, does it make any sense for a bank, with a product line that is cliched, to hire celebrities to sell the product? Does it make sense for a well-known lingerie brand to move away from its proven method of marketing to skinny women and adding plus-sized models to their portfolio? Yes, it does. Because the times have changes. Today’s consumers and customers have changed. They want to know who they are buying from, not simply what they are buying.

For those that would like to read more on the Samsung Note 7 crisis: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-samsung-overcame-its-galaxy-note-7-fiasco-2017-10

For those that want to know about Toyota: https://hbr.org/2014/03/the-crisis-management-lesson-from-toyota-and-gm-its-our-problem-the-moment-we-hear-about-it