What Can Your Brand Learn From The Marines?
When building a strong brand, there is one thing that matters more than anything else. The one key element is delivering consistent, quality performance. Sustained performance and delivering on the brand promise is what builds credibility.
Too often companies attempt to create a brand based on the story they want to tell. The pitfall here is that a brand cannot simply be contrived, or conjured out of thin air. The brand must represent the true values and character of an organization. It is completely transparent. Despite best efforts to craft a story, consumers will ultimately ascertain reliability, determine credibility, and judge performance based on their own individual experience.
To the Marines, mission success is everything. In the world’s premier leadership organization, failure simply is not an option. Marines are known for their readiness, reliability, and competency in battle. As the world’s most renowned fighting force, the Marines deliver smart, tough, elite warriors, capable of achieving success under the most difficult circumstances; charged with being the most ready when the nation is least ready. That is one of the reasons why the Marines brand has taken its place among the world’s most respected and recognized brands.
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About the author: Andrew Fortunato, http://www.linkedin.com/in/AndrewFortunato, former Marketing Chief for the Marines, CMO, consultant, and speaker, advises and leads organizations seeking marketing and operational success. Andrew shares insights in-person and on his “What Can Your Brand Learn From The Marines?TM” blog at http://marinesbrand.blogspot.com.
Copyright © Andrew Fortunato, 2011
One of the leadership traits that I've learned in studying the USMC and interviewing vets from the WWII and Vietnam era is loyalty. Marines are loyal to their Marines to death and beyond. Legacies are rich in the Corp. Many Marines are loyal to the legacy and find poor performance disgusting. Many brands simply do not imbue employees with an esprit du corps that commands this level of loyalty and therefore the loyalty of their customers. In my experience IBM attempts to achieve this level of loyalty. I think it’s the recruit selection and training process. You feel special and confident upon graduating IBM Executive Institute or Consulting School. My father told me about U.S. Marine Raider training at Camp Pendleton in 1943. He told me how his training and love for his Marines “kept him going” during the brutal beach bombardment by the Japanese military on Iwo Jima. I have witnessed this level of devotion and commitment in the lives of Marine vets today and it extends to other areas of their lives.
ReplyDeleteGreat points Cole. I plan to cover loyalty in an upcoming post. Thanks for joing the discussion. Glad to have you aboard.
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