The Marketing Book 5th Edition

Competitors

Macro-

environment Customers

Corporation Distributors

Brand

388 The Marketing Book

Together, those should sum to the long-term
brand objective. For example, British Airways
set themselves the long-term brand objective of
being the undisputed leader in world travel.
They had a series of shorter-term objectives,
including delighting customers and having a
global network plus a global outlook.
Partly because of organizational bureau-
cracy, employees’ actions become deflected
from the central objective and, while a lot of
work is done, this makes few strides towards
the goal. One way to focus attention on
achieving the brand objectives is through cata-
lytic mechanisms (Collins, 1999). These are
painful consequences which come into play
when an activity is undertaken that does not
support the long-term brand objective. For
example, Granite Rock had the objective of
providing outstanding service. After deliver-
ing crushed stones to road building contrac-
tors, it presents rather novel invoices. On
these are boldly printed a statement that if the
customer is not satisfied, they should cross out
the sum due, attach a cheque for a lower
amount, with a brief note explaining this.
Upon receipt of this information, this is
rapidly routed to the appropriate managers so
they can change matters. To focus everyone’s
attention on activities critical to achieving the
brand objectives, catalytical mechanisms can
prove helpful.

Auditing the enhancing/impeding

forces

As Figure 15.13 shows, there are five key forces
that can enhance or impede a brand. By
auditing each of the forces separately, more
powerful strategies can be devised which capi-
talize on the positive forces and circumvent the
retarding forces.
Inside the corporation, a variety of issues
need considering. For example:

 How well are brand building activities being
co-ordinated?

 To what extent do employees’ values concur

with those of the organization and the brand

they are working on?

 Do each of the departments’ cultures align

with the desired organizational culture?

 To what extent do staff understand and feel

committed to the brand?

 How appropriate is the brand’s heritage in the

modern world?

 How strongly do staff identify with the

organization and its brands?

Having completed this evaluation of the impact

that different corporation factors can have on the

brand, the brand’s team need to arrive at an

overall assessment. After reviewing each of these

issues, the team needs to decide whether overall

they result in the corporation force enhancing or

impeding the likelihood of brand success. If it is

felt that overall the corporation force enhances

the likelihood of brand success, a score of one

should be given. However, if this force is thought

to impede brand success, it gets a zero score. By

forcing this one/zero decision it necessitates the

team evaluating whether the critical issuesover-

all work for or against the brand.

Figure 15.13 The five forces of the brandsphere