Creating the living brand

It's easy to conclude from the literature and the lore that top-notch customer service is the province of a few luxury companies and that any retailer outside that rarefied atmosphere is condemned to offer mediocre service at best. But even companies that position themselves for the mass market can provide outstanding customer-employee interactions and profit from them, if they train employees to reflect the brand's core values. The authors studied the convenience store industry in depth and focused on two that have developed a devoted following: QuikTrip (QT) and Wawa. Turnover rates at QT and Wawa are 14% and 22% respectively, much lower than the typical rate in retail. The authors found six principles that both firms embrace to create a strong culture of customer service. Know what you're looking for: A focus on candidates' intrinsic traits allows the companies to hire people who will naturally bring the right qualities to the job. Make the most of talent: In mass-market retail, talent is generally viewed as a commodity, but that outlook becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Create pride in the brand: Service quality depends directly on employees' attachment to the brand. Build community: Wawa and QT have made concerted efforts to build customer loyalty through a sense of community. Share the business context: Employees need a clear understanding of how their company operates and how it defines success. Satisfy the soul: To win an employee's passionate engagement, a company must meet his or her needs for security, esteem, and justice.     

Building a leadership brand

How do some firms produce a pipeline of consistently excellent managers? Instead of concentrating merely on strengthening the skills of individuals, these companies focus on building a broad organizational leadership capability. It's what Ulrich and Smallwood--cofounders of the RBL Group, a leadership development consultancy--call a leadership brand. Organizations with leadership brands take an "outside-in" approach to executive development. They begin with a clear statement of what they want to be known for by customers and then link it with a required set of management skills. The Lexus division of Toyota, for instance, translates its tagline--"The pursuit of perfection"--into an expectation that its leaders excel at managing quality processes. The slogan of Bon Secours Health System is "Good help to those in need." It demands that its managers balance business skills with compassion and caring. The outside-in approach helps firms build a reputation for high-quality leaders whom customers trust to deliver on the company's promises. In examining 150 companies with strong leadership capabilities, the authors found that the organizations follow five strategies. First, make sure managers master the basics of leadership--for example, setting strategy and grooming talent. Second, ensure that leaders internalize customers' high expectations. Third, incorporate customer feedback into evaluations of executives. Fourth, invest in programs that help managers hone the right skills, by tapping customers to participate in such programs. Finally, track the success of efforts to build leadership bench strength over the long-term. The result is outstanding management that persists even when individual executives leave. In fact, companies with the strongest leadership brands often become "leader feeders"--firms that regularly graduate leaders who go on to head other companies.     

Selling the brand inside

When you think of marketing, chances are your mind goes right to your customers--how can you persuade more people to buy whatever it is you sell? But there's another "market" that's equally important: your employees. Author Colin Mitchell argues that executives by and large ignore this critical internal audience when developing and executing branding campaigns. As a result, employees end up undermining the expectations set by the company's advertising--either because they don't understand what the ads have promised or because they don't believe in the brand and feel disengaged or, worse, hostile toward the company. Mitchell offers three principles for executing internal branding campaigns--techniques executives can use to make sure employees understand, embrace, and "live" the brand vision companies are selling to the public. First, he says, companies need to market to employees at times when the company is experiencing a fundamental challenge or change, times when employees are seeking direction and are relatively receptive to new initiatives. Second, companies must link their internal and external marketing campaigns; employees should hear the same messages that are being sent to the market-place. And third, internal branding campaigns should bring the brand alive for employees, creating an emotional connection to the company that transcends any one experience. Internal campaigns should introduce and explain the brand messages in new and attention-grabbing ways and then reinforce those messages by weaving them into the fabric of the company. It is a fact of business, writes Mitchell, that if employees do not care about or understand their company's brands, they will ultimately weaken their organizations. It's up to top executives, he says, to give them a reason to care.     

金融业的新时代:网络金融时代

网络金融将对传统金融业造成革命性的冲击,代表着一个新的金融时代即将来临。网络金融是一个全新的金融概念,国内外尚无统一的认识,本文从网络金融的发展历史和内在特点出发,阐述其产生的背景、内涵、特点及其与金融电子化、电子商务的关系,从而使我们对这一金融新生事物形成初步认识。     

深化“三农”品牌管理与营销

服务“三农”是农业银行的特色项目。农业银行目前已有一系列的产品品牌。文章分析了服务“三农”产品品牌的特色,探讨了服务“三农品牌”创新与营销推广的路途。     

品牌营销大误区

一个木桶能装多少水，取决于它最短的那块木板，可以肯定地说，哈药如果继续目前的策略，而不尽快和强对其短边的建设——美誉度、忠诚度的提升以及品牌联想的建设，木捅的水将会慢慢地枯竭，为了扩大销量经常进行促销，我们认为是对品牌的贬值，经常性的促销会给人价格不真实的感觉，消费者更愿意等到促销时才去购买你的产品，一些忠诚的消费者也会因为感到“受欺骗”离你而去。     

创建信用卡品牌资产

据CTR市场研究发布的<2008年中国城市居民信用卡使用状况及品牌表现研究报告>显示,中国内地大多数信用卡持有者对信用卡品牌持冷漠态度,仅有1/5用户忠诚于信用卡品牌.高比例的品牌冷漠者和低水平的忠诚度说明,中国信用卡市场存在较强的同质化现象,各品牌间尚未形成显著差异,市场竞争还停留在产品和服务竞争的初级阶段.     

品牌营销大误区（续）

一个木桶能装多少水，取决于它最短的那块本板，可以肯定地说，哈药如果继续目前的策略．而不尽快加强对其短边的建设——美誉度、忠诚度的提升以及品牌联想的建设．本桶的水将会慢慢地枯竭，为了扩大销量经常进行促销．我们认为是对品牌的贬值，经常性的促销会给人价格不真实的感觉．消费者更愿意等到促销时才去购买你的产品．一些忠诚的消费者也会因为感到“受欺骗”离你而去。     

金融品牌营销方兴未艾

8月4日,由中央电视台广经中心与搜狐财经主办、本刊和《金融时报》协办的2007中国金融品牌营销首脑风暴在四川九寨沟举办,50多位来自银行、保险、基金行业的管理者和专家就我国金融营销的发展和创新以及金融品牌的塑造和传播进行了探讨,共同启迪金融营销的新思维。     

建设经济强国需实施品牌战略

刘平均是全国政协委员、中国品牌建设促进会理事长、原国家质量监督检验检疫总局副局长、国家标准化管理委员会主任．他多年从事品牌战略的研究与推进工作,并针对中国现存问题,在今年3月“两会”期间提交了有关《实施品牌战略．建设经济强国》的提案。采访中．刘平均先生强调指出：“为了充分利用我国已掌握的国际品牌价值评价话语权．打造我国良好的促进品牌成长的环境,我建议实施品牌战略,建设经济强国”     

Kill a brand, keep a customer

Most brands don't make much money. Year after year, businesses generate 80% to 90% of their profits from less than 20% of their brands. Yet most companies tend to ignore loss-making brands, unaware of the hidden costs they incur. That's because executives believe it's easy to erase a brand; they have only to stop investing in it, they assume, and it will die a natural death. But they're wrong. When companies drop brands clumsily, they antagonize loyal customers: Research shows that seven times out of eight, when firms merge two brands, the market share of the new brand never reaches the combined share of the two original ones. It doesn't have to be that way. Smart companies use a four-step process to kill brands methodically. First, CEOs make the case for rationalization by getting groups of senior executives to conduct joint audits of the brand portfolio. These audits make the need to prune brands apparent throughout the organization. In the next stage, executives need to decide how many brands will be retained, which they do either by setting broad parameters that all brands must meet or by identifying the brands they need in order to cater to all the customer segments in their markets. Third, executives must dispose of the brands they've decided to drop, deciding in each case whether it is appropriate to merge, sell, milk, or just eliminate the brand outright. Finally, it's critical that executives invest the resources they've freed to grow the brands they've retained. Done right, dropping brands will result in a company poised for new growth from the source where it's likely to be found--its profitable brands.     

网上银行的品牌竞争战略

随着信息技术的突飞猛进,网上银行近几年超常规发展,客户保有量增长迅猛,综合业务量也节节攀升。以招商银行为例,目前招商银行超过50%的对私业务和约15%的对公业务实现非柜台操作,网上企业银行每月完成的结算量占招商银行对公结算总量的22%(按金额)和15%(按笔数)。依托技术创新和体制创新,特别是网上银行的推波助澜,招商银行在2000年初至2003年初的3年间对公业务交易量达29229亿元,交易笔数518万笔,收益高达10360万元鸦个人业务交易量高达1239亿元,交易笔数达714万元,收益达6500万元,每年的综合成长率高达16%～30%。招商银行是网上银行竞争…     

反不正当竞争法与驰名商标保护

驰名商标是在市场上享有较高信誉、为相关领域和范围的公众所熟知的商标。对弛名商标的保护不仅要仿靠民法、商标法,而且要依靠反不正当竞争法。反不正当竞争法对驰名商标的保护内容包括：驰名商标的整体保护、防止市场混淆保护、防止反向假冒保护、反淡化保护、未注册驰名商标的保护。     

保险公司品牌营销问题研究

保险公司品牌营销可以通过不同方式替保险公司创造经济价值。但是从目前各家保险公司市场经营的实际状况来看,我国保险公司存在着品牌观念滞后、品牌战略规划缺失、品牌定位模糊、品牌保护意识薄弱、品牌误解和歧义等问题。基于这些问题,保险公司进行品牌营销的对策选择有:制定保险公司品牌营销的总体战略规划、设计营销策略、创建品牌资产、实施保险公司品牌营销的服务策略、实施保险公司品牌整合传播策略和保险公司品牌文化策略。     

注重品牌原创性,打造JCB模式

2010：稳健经营,推广JCB品牌服务在过去的一年中,JCB国际信用卡组织继续深化与中国各大金融机构的合作,协助开发新的信用卡产品,同时,加强JCB的品牌服务,努力为中国持卡人提供更高品质、更为贴心的信用卡使用体验。