The Importance of Creating and Reinforcing Culture in Operations and Marketing
The importance of creating and reinforcing culture in operations and marketing is essential to the brand image. The “personality” of the brand needs a fabric of foundational values. The foundation begins with a culture that is reflected in every aspect of the brand. Every aspect of the brand should reflect its public projected image or personality. This includes the sales force, office support staff, manufacturing, and marketing.
The first step in aligning all the aspects of creating and reinforcing culture throughout the operations and marketing of the brand is its personality type. This begins by rediscovering its core. If the brand was created and introduced as a high-quality value brand the culture, operations, and marketing platforms should reflect that principle.
Projecting a Purposeful Culture
A value brand with a corporate store on Rodeo Drive in Hollywood, CA is sending a confusing mixed message. If the brand was created to reach a wide swath of consumers, the culture, operations, and marketing should all reflect the brand personality. The culture of this brand can be one that projects accessibility, practicality, and straightforwardness. Trying to fit it into the high-end luxury market could quickly lead to its demise.
A brand may grow beyond its image and be embraced by a different segment of consumers, this does not mean that the brand should suddenly change to chase them. It is a confirmation that the brand projects a culture of brand personality. A leading example of a Brand that created and reinforced a culture in operations and marketing that enhanced it and projected its personality is the story of Crocs.
The Brand Personality Types
The story of the Crocs brand is a classic example of creating and reinforcing the corporate culture in operations and marketing. Crocs were founded over 20 years ago by Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker Jr. They did not design the shoe. They nurtured its brand personality by reinforcing its image. Introduced at a boating show as a boat shoe, it didn’t take long for the Croc to develop an image that checked off multiple brand types.
Like personality types, brands also have types, they include:
Disruptive – This brand type like its human personality type has an image that reflects its daring ability to challenge the norm. It challenges the current market by introducing concepts that are different. Crocs was a different kind of shoe that was quickly embraced. In creating and reinforcing culture in operations and marketing the founders reinforced the brand as a mold-breaker in its approach to manufacturing and marketing. It did not try to convince consumers that it was anything other than an affordable shoe with an odd look that was good for your feet and the environment.
Innovative – This brand type reflects risk, possibilities, and imagination. Crocs fit this type also. Although they did not change the core product, they have taken risks by introducing shoes in an array of daring colors. In this way, they maintained the image of the brand while reinforcing its culture in operations and marketing.
Other brand personality types that Crocs fall into include,
ü Conscious – a brand that projects inspiration and purpose
ü Performance – a brand that is reliable
ü Style – a brand that is creative
ü Experience – a brand that has a proven record and a recognized image
Creating and Reinforcing Culture
The creators of brands are not always able to see the personality and how its culture should be created and reinforced in operations and marketing. It may take the expertise of imaginative brand storytellers to discover, mold, create and reinforce the brand story.
Every brand will not easily cross from one brand type to another like Crocs, and it is important that it is not forced to become something that it is not. Crocs have recently crossed over to the luxury market. It didn’t happen because of a shift in the purposeful culture that nurtured the brand. It happened because it was “discovered” and embraced by a “new” consumer market based on its core brand image.
The makers of Crocs stayed true to the brand, although they are suddenly the hottest “wave” on Rodeo Drive, they did not tailor a high-priced version to that market, nor did they open a retail outlet on the most expensive block. Crocs remained true to creating and reinforcing culture in operations and marketing and didn’t change a thing.
