by Kevin Heney
At the recent brand forum held at Adobe, the topic of communicating the value of brand management to the CEO came up, as it invariably does. A collective sigh permeated the room, and we proceeded to share alternative phrases to replace the word “brand.” It was suggested that the CEO might respond well to the word “reputation,” or “awareness,” or possibly “strategic marketing,” rather than risk one’s career by blurting out the “B” word.
Six years ago, we had the same conversation at a brand forum at AMD, and years later we had déjà vu all over again at a forum at Symantec. After the forum at AMD and again at Adobe, I was approached by marketers from companies east of the Mississippi who told me they were astonished at the tone of the discussion. They were shocked that so many executives in Silicon Valley didn’t “get” branding.
So, it’s a regional thing, and probably more of a high tech and B2B thing. What’s surprising is that things haven’t changed much over the last decade. We, the brand managers and brand consultants of the Bay Area, know that “brand” is a good word. We know that even innovative companies can become roadkill if they don’t pay attention to their brand. We’re the ones who are supposed to educate the CEO’s, and turn them into brand evangelists. If we do our job well, we may even keep our jobs, and visitors from the eastern states won’t be so shocked next time they attend a Silicon Valley Brand Forum.
Related articles of interest:
Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnet by Sean Silverthorne, HBSJ
Lights, Camera, Action: CEO in the Spotlight by Edwin Collyer, BrandChannel
November 14, 2008 at 11:40 am |
The ‘b’ word…!…!
our http://www.brandoa.co.uk/ is ‘b’ is for brand – this was chosen because of stories like this.
“what word can we use instead of….the ‘b’ word!”
http://www.brandoa.co.uk/