Can you make this blue look a little redder?
One of the worst mistakes a company can make is to have the brand mean different things to different people within the organisation. The management want the company to represent one thing, the shareholders believe it should be something different and the workers something else with each department having their own views.
This leads to discord amongst the staff and huge inefficiencies as each faction argues with the other. Nobody wants to work hard for a company that does not match their own views nor seems to care.
The problem is, within every company there are those that have strong views, those that have well informed views, those that really don’t care and those that have been misinformed.
The solution to end this bickering within a company is to bring everyone together to collect their views. Companies often employ marketing agencies like Crush to act as the adviser and mediator. To chair the meetings, listen to all the voices, gather the different ideas and make recommendations.
The cornerstone to success is having and agreeing a mission statement with a vision of the future that can match both the business objectives and include the majority’s view. Not all will agree, but all will have to follow in line, so planning the way to engage the nah-sayers is vital.
If the UK was a company
Can we apply this approach to Brexit to see if we can make sense of it all?
If the UK was a business, it would be a plc.
- The Cabinet play the role of the board of directors running the business and making the decisions, with Theresa May as the Managing Director
- Parliament are the fund managers for the shareholders, each politician having individual yes-or-no power over the board’s decisions based on the votes (shares) they won at the general election
- The British people are the rather beleaguered staff, with very little influence
- Europe is the client, in terms of Brexit
- The Media is the marketing agency, except there is not just one working on this project but hundreds and they only get paid if they keep talking
The Game?
Get everyone to stand behind a single vision for the UK.
Good luck!
The current scenario
Theresa May has just revealed a new logo for the country. The problem is, she has gone off and done this on her own purely based on the original brief (referendum) and only worked with the client (EU).
It is not a bad logo, maybe not brilliant, but it is what it is, lets crack on.
However, the fund managers are not going to play ball;
- Most of them didn’t want the rebrand in the first place (80% remainers)
- Plus, their egos are out of joint because they felt they weren’t consulted
- There is no accountability, as there is no majority power to hand out discipline
- They have no urgency to do the right thing, as well-paid politicians won’t be ones most affected by a recession
So, you have an unhappy bunch deciding on something they did not want in the first place and with little chance of being held accountable for their actions.
Mission Impossible
Some are ok with Theresa’s new logo, but many will only sign it off if it can be amended by adding a new colour, one the client hates. “We know the client (EU) hates green, but can you make it both blue and green at the same time” (the back-stop paradox).
Then there is the trouble making, noisy and macho sales director and sales team (hard brexiteers) who will only accept a logo that has cool flames and are willing to fight anyone that disagrees in the car park outside, now.
And finally, the HR Director, (Jeremy Corbyn) who a lot of the staff quiet like because ‘he is one of them’. Despite having no experience of brand development or running a company he thinks he can be a better MD. He laughs at Theresa’s logo saying it is rubbish but can’t tell you why. He has described a logo he might like, but it turns out no one else likes his idea because it is too similar to Theresa’s logo (the one he hates). But he says “make me MD anyway” because if we really cannot decide he will ask the staff which colour they like and then we can do Brexit again, which he will do brilliantly. Not realising that during the time all this faffing would take the country would be making many thousands of people unemployed because his export department has gone bust.
The simple truth is, there is no solution
Like a logo design or picking a colour the choice to stay in the EU is largely subjective, despite what the politicians will have you believe. None of them has a crystal ball so they have no idea which solution is best.
And there is no single future vision that we, the population of the UK, can agree on.
So maybe we are all to blame for, as Joseph de Maistre said “You get the government you deserve, not the government you want”.
Amazing Company Rebrands
But real company rebrands, that is something we can deliver; on time, on budget and to everyones’ satisfaction!
Examples of our work:
Wilkins Vardy – Estate Agent Rebrand
Briggs of Burton – International Manufacturer Rebrand
Chesterfield Borough Council – Public Sector Rebrand