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May 2007
 Ann Fudge knows branding. Throughout the course of her career, she has overseen the development and evolution of many great brands, first at General Mills and Kraft Foods, and more recently as the former Chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands.
Named to the Forbes 2004 list of 100 Most Powerful Women in the World, Fudge's clients have ranged from Dr. Pepper to MetLife to the National Football League. With more than 30 years experience in the field, Fudge has seen an evolution in the worlds of marketing, advertising, and branding, from a relatively simple world where advertising messages focused on problems and solutions, to a world of fragmented media with boundless opportunities and uncontrolled messaging.
So when Fudge says, "How a brand looks and what it stands for as a citizen of the world is more important than at any time in our history," her words carry some weight.
"We're living in a time where business models continue to evolve, and where we have leaders in business who understand, more than ever before, the connection between doing well, doing good, growing businesses and building brands," Fudge told attendees at The Center's International Corporate Citizenship Conference in March.
The new branding model
Branding has changed since Fudge began her career in the 1970s. Back then, she explained, advertisers gave consumers rational reasons to try a brand: because it had a certain value, because it could clean better, because it tasted better. "In marketing a brand, we looked at the problem and the solution," said Fudge. The focus was on rational reasons for buying a brand, and didn't capture its emotional side.
The '80s saw a shift away from rational communication, and branding became more about the consumer's relationship to a product. Brand choice, such as designer jeans, was often a reflection of who you were and what was important to you.
"But in more recent years," said Fudge, "that feeling, that connection, that relationship with a brand has evolved in ways that I couldn't have foreseen. How a brand looks and what it stands for as a citizen of the world is more important than at any time in our history, and it's going to become even more important, because people are going to write about what they think and feel on a blog, on the internet, and people are out there talking about it."
We no longer control our messaging. So how do we begin to weave in and work with those very people who are having the conversations, whether it's about our company, our product, our service, how do we now influence that in a way that has a positive impact on our corporate reputation and how people choose to think about us?"
Fudge's advice:
- Be an observer. Whatever business you're in, the most important thing you can do is be an observer of human behavior. In addition to listening to what people say, watch what they do. There is often a large gap between the two, but both will help you understand important aspects of their expectations.
- Be consistent. The eyes of the world, whether it's CNN or the internet, are constantly on you, your company, and your brands. If they see inconstancy in what you've said and what you do, it can diminish your reputation overnight.
- Pay attention to your employees. Be sure that whatever you're saying externally, you're not just saying internally, but acting internally. Ask your employees, does this ring true to who we are and what we're about? Engage your employees and they will help reinforce what you mean as a company.
- Take it to the next level. In getting involved with issues, companies have an opportunity to go beyond just sending a check, or giving lip service to a cause. Use this opportunity to create a higher level of awareness and education around an issue, so that people have a greater connection with the issue and take it on as their own.
Although Fudge's experience is primarily in the consumer world, she noted that corporate citizenship is also coming into play with business-to-business relationships. "Over the last year and a half at Young & Rubicam Brands, more and more companies asked about CSR as part of the RFP process. We were asked about our diversity, and about our use of minority suppliers. These issues are becoming differentiators for people making decisions about vendors and suppliers."
What it all comes down to is mutual benefit, concluded Fudge; being able to do good while increasing your sales, gaining visibility and hopefully consumer loyalty.
"You are in the business of building more responsible organizations, and brands that make a difference in people's lives," Fudge told the audience. "It's important that each of us think about our personal passion, and about where we can make a difference in building our companies. The generations to follow are absolutely dependent on the decisions that we make, what we do, and more importantly, how we do it." |
