Leaders on Brand .06
There are many different ways that leaders value brand strategy. Through the work we’ve done with leaders at companies of all types and sizes, across all kinds of industries, we’ve been particularly inspired by those who view brand strategy as part of their overall outlook on business. So inspired, in fact, that we decided to sit down with some of them to talk about how they see this sometimes elusive notion of brand and how, in their view, it informs their approach to business.
In the sixth installment of our Leaders on Brand series, we sat down with Lorraine Martin and Tom Bell of the National Safety Council (NSC), a nonprofit leader promoting safety across the United States since 1913.
Lorraine Martin is the president and chief executive officer of NSC. Throughout her career, which includes leading and developing global international businesses as an executive at Lockheed Martin, Lorraine has always put employee safety and support at the forefront of the conversation.
Tom Bell is the chief marketing officer of NSC. He carries with him more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience, which includes being SVP of marketing for Wells Fargo. Just a few of Tom’s many responsibilities include growing the NSC brand, driving business revenue and raising advocacy awareness.
Readers note: Prior to this conversation, Simple Truth and the National Safety Council worked together to conduct a comprehensive rebrand. Check out the case study.
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As has become tradition in our Leaders on Brand discussions, we’d like to start by having each of you define brand in your own terms.
LORRAINE: To me, brand is the outward projection of what your organization is all about. It carries with it all of your stories and your heritage, and helps create the experiences you want people to have as they interact with you.
TOM: I agree, and I would add that for me, brand has three parts. The first is a representation of who you are at your core. The second is what you want people to see you as. And the third part is people’s impression of you.
That’s interesting, Tom. Did any of those three parts influence your organization’s decision to undergo this rebrand?
TOM: Yes, over the last couple of years, we had undergone many changes internally while working on our strategic vision to ultimately sharpen our focus. The whole process forced us stop and think, “What is it that we want to stand for?” And that led us to say, “Ok, we know what we want to stand for. Now how do people really see us?” What we found was that how we wanted to show up and how we were presenting ourselves weren’t aligned.
You’ve both used terms like “what you stand for,” “stories” and “experiences.” Would you say that brand is more strategic or emotional?
TOM: A balance of both. I think where a brand is most powerful is when it provides just the right balance of heart and mind.
Do you agree with that, Lorraine?
LORRAINE: I would agree with it being a combination of both, but the industry and impact you want to have could give one side a slight edge. The aim of our work is to impact people’s lives — literally — so there’s an emotional aspect to our brand for sure. For that same reason though, it’s also very strategic. With so much at stake, each aspect must be well thought out and have a purpose.
You came out of a comprehensive brand exploration with a brand platform and a new outward expression. What are a few things you took away from the process?
LORRAINE: One of the major things I learned is how brand is so much more than just a name, logo and colors. It also includes all of the other aspects of how you present yourself to the world — like messaging, image style, motive and tone. I also learned how effective of a tool brand can be. Alongside our brand work, we were shifting our focus as an organization more toward the workplace, a traditionally industrial-like environment. Being able to make that pivot with a humanized brand was very helpful. It really went hand in hand.
TOM: During our strategic brand development, I recall your brand platform presentation. I felt our “simple truth” that surfaced through your work truly captured the essence of where we wanted to go and elicited an incredibly emotional response from me and the rest of the team. Honestly, for me, the emotional and logical connection tie was so strong, it helped reframe a sense of purpose for why I go to work each day and why NSC exists — and it also helped focus our mission as well.
LORRAINE: Before we move on, I have to say that another aspect I loved in the creative portion of the process was that the last actual representation of our new logo came from internal employees. This helped our team make a deep connection to the brand.
Absolutely. Earlier, you defined brand as “the outward expression of what your organization is all about.” We would say this is an example of that definition coming to life.
Now, you launched your new brand during a global pandemic. Talk a little bit about that decision.
LORRAINE: I think most people would’ve waited until things settled down because of how crazy things were but we said, “It’s crazy right now and everyone has their eyes on us: Let’s launch early!” For critical reasons, the marketplace was rapidly shifting toward workplace safety — which completely aligned with our new strategy and initiatives.
TOM: Yes, it turned out to be the perfect time to launch because people were relying on us more than ever. For example, before the pandemic, one of our typical member webinars would have 300—400 attendees, which we’d be pleased to see. Virtually overnight, we were seeing webinar attendance jump to upwards of 12,000 people. While we had the attention of so many, there was also a significant risk to changing our brand during a crisis, especially one that is so trusted during a time when it was absolutely critical to maintain our credibility. Ultimately, we were confident in our new brand, and launching during this time allowed us to represent the path forward while reinforcing the fact that we’ve been keeping people safe for the past 100+ years.
Last but not least: What advice would you give a senior leadership team that’s considering investing in their brand? Lorraine, we’ll start with you.
LORRAINE: First, make sure you have a Tom: A trusted expert who has done this sort of thing before. Also, make sure you fully understand what you’re trying to accomplish and why you want to accomplish it. And of course, make sure it’s aligned with the other things you’re doing — both internally and externally.
TOM: Thanks for that trust Lorraine. I would say that you need to listen. That’s what it takes to get it right. You need to fully understand what your brand represents to all constituents, both internally and externally. That leads to my next piece of advice: Bring people along on the journey. We knew that our team needed to be actively participating at each step because at the end of the day, the work was going to represent who we all are as an organization. So if you want it to truly represent who you are as an organization, you have to keep it authentic and unforced every step of the way.
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Dive into our previous Leaders on Brand discussions below.
Three senior leaders from the global real estate investment management firm Heitman
Board of directors professional and business-marketing consultant
VP of Marketing and Communications at the residential real estate company Baird & Warner
President and CEO of the century-old membership organization HR Source
Two senior leaders from the healthcare marketing company InStep Health
Stay tuned for more discussions in this series. Know the perfect leader for us to talk to next?