Building inspiring brands is not an easy task. But these four finalists in the Cojones Awards’ Courage to Inspire category have demonstrated that it is possible under all kinds of circumstances. In this post — the last in the five-part series leading up to the Cojones Awards ceremonies in Austin during SXSW — I’ll profile four execs who have courageously inspired not only their customers but also their associates and business partners.
Jon Iwata, SVP Marketing, IBM -- Tweet2Vote
In 2008 Jon Iwata rolled out the Smarter Planet campaign for IBM to unify the various ways the company’s products positively benefit the world in which we live. The message of the campaign has inspired more than just television commercials; it has led to more engaged employees and deeper relationships with business partners.
Last year Iwata wanted to leverage the company’s sponsorship of the Masters golf tournament and to bring additional relevance to the Smarter Planet message. So his team, along with their agency partner, created over 70 unique commercials that told stories from around the world about how IBM products are making a difference in the world.
His advice to marketers leading brands that benefit the world:
- Don’t define your brand by what you sell, [define it] by what you believe.
- Don’t confuse data and digital, they’re not the same thing.
- In a world of serious content marketing, path to purchase is not as important as path to proficiency. We have to not only give you the product, we have to enhance your knowledge. The most valuable content will feel like a service to the recipient. It will have some intrinsic value.
Courage for Iwata, leader of an iconic, historic brand, means “sometimes the most courageous thing to do is not to change the things that don’t need changing — and knowing the difference is never-ending work. We may have to contemporize, we may have to modernize, we may have to express it in new and totally modern ways. But we can never forget the enduring characteristics of the brand. And you have to fight for that sometimes.”
Jeff Jones, EVP/CMO, Target -- Tweet2Vote
Few brands have endured the amount of negative publicity in recent years as Target did after its security breach. But Jeff Jones wasn’t going to let that permanently damage the reputation of a brand that has been a fan favorite for years. He and his executive colleagues re-examined what the company stood for and were determined to put more emphasis on the “expect more” element of their mission: Expect More. Pay Less. So last year Jones introduced Cartwheel, a mobile platform to deliver personalized offers; Made To Matter, an innovative alliance with 16 natural and sustainable brands; and One For One, For All, a unique partnership with TOMS.
His advice on leading a transformation initiative to re-inspire a company:
- Why before how: Transformation is more than change. It's bigger, more systemic and more difficult. You won't know exactly how it should happen or how things will work, but you better be clear on why it is required. Hope and clarity are the essential work of leaders.
- Don't fly solo: Individuals can make changes, but teams are required for transformation. Enlisting others can be messy and requires time and patience. Some will not believe, some will reject new ideas and some will opt out. In the end, however, the lasting effect of transformation will be a part of the culture when people are committed to the greater good and to each other.
- Go faster than you thought you could or should: It can be difficult to trust your experience and instinct as a leader, but decisiveness is so important. Things will not be perfect, so the premium is on forward progress and building momentum. I remind myself regularly that few leaders ever regret moving quickly.
Jones believes courage means moving forward without all the answers, in the face of disbelief from others, with complete confidence in what is possible.
Chris Lindner, President, Keds; CMO, Saucony -- Tweet2Vote
2014 was a memorable year for Chris Lindner. He began the year as CMO of Saucony where the “inspire the human spirit through running” mantra led customers to make significant contributions to their communities around the globe. He then led the revitalization effort for sister brand Sperry Topsider, developing the Odysseys Await campaign to inspire individuals to find their course in the world in the same spirit as Paul Sperry, who invented the first boat shoe. He ended the year as president of Keds, collaborating with Taylor Swift to inspire young girls to believe that the greatest act of all may be to just be yourself. “In different ways, I’ve tried to take the core belief that brands can literally change the world.”
His approach to finding the inspiration in every brand:
- Dig deep into what the brand really means. You have to dig beyond that crusty layer of conventional thinking about what your brand stands for today. It’s like an old house that’s painted with wallpaper and paint on top of wallpaper. You have to get all the way into the guts of the thing to make sure you [know your brand].
- You’ve got to be led by the consumer. The consumer decides, and you have to have a deep conviction around connecting with consumers and letting them lead.
- Put a great team around you: passionate people and agency partners. Surround yourself with the right talent.
To Lindner courage means putting yourself out there and having a conviction, whether that’s on a personal level or on a brand level. “Not everybody loves every element of a campaign, so you have to have the conviction to take that step and put it out there. And know that sometimes it’s going to work, sometimes it isn’t. Some people are going to like it and some people won’t. But if you have that deep conviction at the end of the day [and know it] — that’s courage.”
Marc Mathieu, SVP Global Marketing, Unilever -- Tweet2Vote
Getting a marketing organization as large as Unilever’s to embrace the concept of brands focused on Sustainable Living is not a simple task. But Marc Mathieu set out to do that and to change the way the company’s brand teams re-imagine the purpose of their products. His approach — Put People First, Build Brand Love, and Unlock the Magic — is now standard operating procedure for the global consumer products company. “When you are able to ladder up from the product solution to the way you change people’s behaviors and eventual change the world in a positive way, it is incredibly fulfilling for marketers.” Whether it’s Dove’s quest to help women appreciate their real beauty or Lifebuoy Soap helping kill bacteria to prevent diseases among children in the developing world, Unilever is out to do more than sell soap.
His advice to marketers who want their brands to be good global citizens:
- Put people first, because marketing is about improving people’s lives. To create powerful brands, inspirational brands, we need to market in a way that is fundamentally human.
- Believe in the power of brands. If you want to create inspirational brands you need to believe in the power of brands. Brands can change the world, they can create culture
- Unlock the magic of marketing. Thanks to digital, mobile, social and data, we are able to unlock the magic of marketing in ways that are unprecedented because marketers can rethink content, connectivity and data in a way where they are intertwined as opposed to separate buckets.
Courage to Mathieu means daring to think beyond the present and actively trying to make the future reality. “To boldly go where no marketer has gone before.” He acknowledges it’s not easy: “[Courage is having] the resilience to embrace change while still being authentic, to believe that marketing is a noble cause but know that it needs to reinvent itself all the time.”
