In branding the small things are the big things

It´s the little things that are the small things.
TVC, brand DNA, fancy reports on what you wish to achieve are BAH if you don´t get the details right.

Like... travelling is nice, but when the shuttle bus company claims you should have been there five minutes before the time you agreed on the day before, and you need to take a taxi instead - with a driver who is talking constantly, smelling bad and adding a few dollars on the meter, "travelling" is suddenly not as enjoyable.

Or when you order the fancy options at McDonalds and they are packaged without the wrap paper, hence all the grease and onion and burger is falling out in your lap and you look like a pig, it doesn´t matter how many TV ads telling me it´s fancy. I don´t look fancy!!

Details count. A brand is not really owned by the trademark, the product, the CEO. It´s common goods, and whoever comes across it creates it. Detail by detail. All a brand manager can do is to carefully craft a brand from inside and out, checking the bits and pieces, making it smooth and likeable. Be authentic. Be what you are.

No shiny logo magic can save a company that is not performing. No PR consultant can successfully sell someone who is a dickhead. It will be revealed in the end...

So what to do? I suggest you write a list of all your brands touch points, and review them. Feel them, touch, smell, look from different angles. Pretend you are your customers experiencing the brand, eating the food, being in their moment. You are not in control of that from your workshop with the ad agency - in the real world people Occupy Brands.

I´m at Sydney international airport right now and the generous Expedia.com.au is supporting this blog with free wi-fi. Thank you!