The Marketing Diner

Three Truisms of Big Time Brand Management

Posted on 08. Aug, 2009 by Jared Degnan in Brand Management

Though I never planned on it, being on the interactive side of corporate brand management has given me a chance to really test drive the whole “Feed Your Brand – Not Your Ego” thing. Not that I am surprised, but the experience with what we’ll just describe as a “very large CPG company” proved to be much more than what I expected.

To understand where I’m coming from, perhaps it’s best to first explain that brand management, in addition to being the most likely career choice, is also considered a type of finishing school for marketing MBAs. Perhaps it’s the allure of working for multi-million, or in many cases multi-billion dollar brands, but there’s something about brand management that is viewed as a type of credential for almost anything else you want to do.

Coming out of my own experience on the interactive side, I’ve been able to draw out three truisms that I think makes big time brand management highly relevant to the life of a marketer:

Truism #1 – Alignment Ain’t Easy

In fact, it’s darn near impossible to get a promotional concept to turn out just like the creative brief said it would. The best you can hope for is to hold fast to a single goal, keep the communication flowing and, most importantly, never stop moving until you, yourself believe it’s going to be effective.

Truism #2 – Micromanagement + Creative Process = Bad

This one should have been self-evident but it turns out quieting our inner copywriters or inner art directors is harder than it looks. Though perfectionism is a good thing, it’s critical to route that energy into delivering effective feedback. Besides, when it comes down to it; you probably have better ways to spend your time than armchair photoshopping.

Truism #3 -Brands Are as Human as the People Behind Them

What was probably the most enjoyable/challenging part of my interactive consulting gig was working with the people behind the brands. In fact, you know how humans have the uncanny ability to select pets that look stunningly similar to them? The same can be said of brand managers.

Though they do change hands from time to time, when you meet and get to know the brand managers, you get a fascinating look at the very core value of the brand. In that way, a lot of the work around creating interactive strategies is how to best translate not only the brand but also the brand manager’s personality into the online space.

Overall, the experience was a blast and being able to contribute unique value to innovative brand teams is a rush like you wouldn’t believe. For me, finishing school may be over but something tells me I’ll be glad if the the lessons keep on coming.

Tags: brand management, brands