I was reading the latest issue of Adobe Layers magazine over the weekend, mainly because it had a good article on "strategies and realities of successful market branding." Apparently the article had been written pre-BP oil spill, because the first example that author Andrew Sabatier referenced was the BP branding make-over.
With no mention of the spill, Sabatier gamely explained how the BP brand embarked upon an image update in the late '90s. According to the article, BP wanted to shed its imperialist history, take on a more "green" personality, and distance itself from the "petroleum age at its worst."
As a result, BP began to change their outward image, including a fresh new lotus flower shaped logo.
Writes Sabatier of the makeover:
"To some degree, BP may be wearing a mask, but in time the features of the brand will take on the features of the mask. For die-hard eco-warriors, this kind of branding may appear as a superficial greenwash, a false mask, but in the realm of appropriatly mediated brand experiences, BP has now become a breakaway brand, leading by example. BP's transformed brand identify represents a set of ideas that drives an internal and external business culture that envisions a future (B)eyond (P)etroleum."
In light of the company's reality today, day 84 of the oil spill, amidst Presidential investigations and daily media allegations that BP's business practices were habitually unsafe, this trickle-down idea of "if we present ourselves as environmentally conscious company it will become true" would be laughable if it were not so frustrating and sad.
Which brings the subject of branding back to you, the small business owner. The BP example serves as perfect, dramatic example of what not to do in your own branding: don't portray yourself through branding to be something that you are not.
It's pretty simple: Be your brand; not just by what you say or how you look, but by everything that you do.
For example, if part of your branding is that your company is a proud member of your community, make sure you are actually involved in events, groups, and promotions that support the community.
Perhaps Sabatier hits the mark best when he writes "Simply put, a brand identity is a brand strategy made experiential."
For BP, despite their green brand make over, the current "experience" of their brand is the exact opposite of the one they outwardly portrayed.
Hi Julianne
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in your assessment that I wrote the article before the oil disaster for which BP has taken responsibility. Had the accident happened before I wrote the article I would probably have caveated what I wrote more heavily. I would also have emphasised the fact that the leadership who committed themselves to the branding has since been replaced.
I stand by what I wrote. BP is still considered a break-away brand. Now, more than ever, BP's brand identity serves to remind us of the relationship of a company's image to its behaviour. At the risk of loosing all credibility BP now has to demonstrate a renewed commitment to their brand. The branding as it stands in all its apparent falsity will, in all likely-hood, become its saving grace.
Andrew