He is who he is.
This is Ringo.
He’s been staying with us the last few days.
I’m not going to lie. His bark is worse than his bite.
Turns out his breed - miniature dachshunds – are notorious yappers (not rappers, although that makes me think “Notorious S.M.A.L.L.” would be a hilarious name for one).
And we’ve had it full volume. He’s got classic small dog syndrome. And even though I have watched many, many, many episodes of Dogs Behaving Badly (and learnt its always the owners fault!), and I have worked hard at trying to de-sensitize him to the triggers that set him off (doorbell, vans, cars, people, dogs, mail, hoovers, everything), it turns out there’s no cure.
It’s in his DNA. He’s programmed that way. So, I’ve had to learn NOT to make him fight it, but instead to let him live his best yapping life.
It made me think about the importance of being yourself not just in your career (avoiding pretending to be something you are not) but as a brand.
There are some brands who nail this down to the ground. In fact, in thinking about “who”, I found this article.
Turns out there is a lot of “authenticity scoring” out there. ?Personally, I’m not hugely liking some of the results in this particular article. All of them giant brands with deep deep pockets after all.
I’m a fan of the brands that have to work an awful lot harder to cut through – and achieve this by knowing what their secret sauce is, really understanding who they appeal to, and doing the hard work of matching that up in a truly creative way.
I’d like to think in the B2B space, ORB would score rather highly on authenticity. We’re as Glasgow as it comes (and that’s a huge positive). Warm and friendly. Full of humour and passion. Do-ers and graft-ers. Wearing our hearts on our (branded) sleeves.? Determined to be loved (by getting on with getting the job done every time). We say “’we’re on it” and we genuinely always are. Doggedly determined.
Just like Ringo.
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