How to Humanise a Brand

It feels like we’ve been everywhere lately. Whether you’re logging onto LinkedIn, switching on the TV (Hi Monique and the Sunrise team!) or mindlessly watching YouTube, you’ve probably seen either my face - sorry about that – or a Drakes ad. I’d like to say it’s all through carefully-planned media and marketing activities, but to be honest, our expanded media presence is something that is simply organic to our business.

When Drakes left the iconic Foodland brand in September 2019 we became the first family-owned and operated independent supermarket in Australia to become vertically integrated. With this departure came a steep learning curve – and we sure had our share of hiccups at the start. From not having enough stock to cover the unprecedented support we received from our customers in the first week to orders disappearing from our system, the initial two-week period went down as a dark time in Drakes history. Never before had Dad walked the aisles to see shelves so low in stock. Our suppliers and customers rallied around us and we were back to normal 4 weeks after our Distribution Centre went live. We sailed through Christmas with one of our best performances ever; we got our stock under control and our customers loved the change.

And then came Marvellous March.

I don’t need to go into what we have done since the pandemic hit (it’s well documented on my LinkedIn profile) but I have been asked on multiple occasions – how did Drakes not only survive, but thrive during this time? What separated Drakes from the other supermarkets?

We humanised our brand.

In a time when seemingly every company told its customers that “we were in it together,” we took a different approach. Here are some of the things we did a little differently:

Sometimes you can’t pivot the business without changing the entire culture.

The word “pivot” was thrown around a lot at the height of the pandemic – for most businesses, it was about changing what or how they offered their product to customers. For us, it was about changing the mindset of our team.

Dad’s always lived by the following mantra:

• Rule Number 1: The Customer is always right
• Rule Number 2: If the customer is wrong, refer to Rule Number 1.

When customers started abusing our team members because we had sold out of toilet paper (along with every other retailer in the country), we changed this rule. The customer always comes first. But if you abuse a team member, you lose the right to be our customer.

For Drakes, this was a pivot of the biggest kind. Not because we were taking care of our team - we always have - but because we were so open in communicating this message directly with our customers. Our team are human too, and they deserve to be treated as such. This not only empowered our team, but it assured them that they were being listened to. That we have their back. It's amazing what someone can achieve when they've got the right support.

Be Authentic.

People are always so surprised when they meet me IRL because I am the same as what you see on the screen. I can’t BE anyone else – and I don’t want to be. Some people might not like what I have to say, but that’s ok – I can’t please everyone. Once you reconcile yourself with this thought and stick with who you really are, you’ll attract like minded people. Self-awareness is critical; knowing who you are and why you are doing it will help you to connect with people. 

Don’t underestimate the power of being nimble.

Timing can be everything in business, but even more important than timing is the ability to be nimble. When the pandemic hit in March, we were the first to market with our messaging to be kind to our team, to settle the panic-buying and to support local wherever possible. Why? Because we can make decisions INSTANTLY. Because it’s my name on the door. But you can’t just wield your name in power; being nimble can only work if you are involved. It’s about getting out on the shopfloor and listening to our team. 

When the hard lockdown was announced in SA with NO notice, our entire HQ team dropped what they were doing and hit the shopfloor, packing bags and stacking shelves (for those of you wondering, Dad got relegated to trolley boy). Within 20 minutes of the hard lockdown announcement, we had video messages out to our customers to Calm the Farm and to our team to rally the troops. To everyone’s credit, the message was well received and we didn’t have the same scenes down the aisles as what we saw in March.   

For the first time ever, my team has been classified as Essential - supplying food is a crucial role in the greater community and at Drakes, we don’t take this lightly. What we do won’t just impact our 5,500 team members; it affects their family members, our suppliers and their supply chain - from growers through to logistics - and the local community. The ripple is endless and our ecosystem is greater than we know. Creating this change was hard; not changing would have been harder.

During this pandemic, what’s one thing that you have changed in your approach to your brand or business? Let me know in the comments below!