Business Week recently released its annual list of the top 100 global brands. The accompanying article called “The Great Trust Offensive” focuses on how the brands that have survived our tough economic times, and even found a way to excel, are those that have built trust with their customers.

Consumers are more cautious about spending and want a larger return for their hard-earned dollars.  They’re more skeptical about what’s going on behind the curtain at large companies.  They want reasons to believe in brands before they offer over their loyalty. 

With trust on the line, it’s more important than ever to make sure that your brand is aligned and that you’re walking the walk of your marketing messages and brand promises. Stray too far, and you may go down in flames.

This was a big week for RadioShack as the 88-year old company announced that it’s reintroducing itself as simply “The Shack.”  According to an article in USA Today, the company is making the change in an effort to maintain its brand heritage while also attracting more tech-savvy shoppers. The article goes on to say that a new ad campaign will focus on the company’s knowledgeable sales staff and the idea that their small stores are easier to navigate than big-box competitors.

Bloggers and Twitterers buzzed about the change all week long - many were quite critical saying the name change doesn’t pull the company out of relative obscurity compared to sleeker rivals like Best Buy.  One blogger wrote that his impression of RadioShack is that it’s a brand that “never made the jump to the 21st Century” and that this re-name doesn’t do enough to give the brand a larger overhaul to make it relevant.

Any time you make a change to your brand, it’s perfectly natural to experience resistance, both from your customers and your employees. What will make this a win for RadioShack will be well-trained, engaged employees who are truly enrolled in and representing the fundamentals of the brand to customers.  This is the foundation of internal-external marketing alignment, and it can make or break a shift in your brand.

This is is critical in the face of competitor Best Buy who recently launched a new program on Twitter called Twelpforce: “A collective force of Best Buy technology pros offering tech advice in Tweet form.”

What do you think of RadioShack’s name change?  Does it impact whether or not you will shop at the store?  Leave us your comments and tell us what’s on your mind.

“They’re throwing guitars out there!” exclaimed the astonished airline passenger as she watched United Airlines baggage handlers on the tarmac clumsily hucking guitar cases off the plane and onto the carts.

Musician Dave Carroll heard these words from his seatmate and braced himself for the worst.  While on tour with his band last year, Dave’s $3500 guitar was severely damaged by United Airlines baggage handlers in a story that makes the perfect case for the importance of internal-external marketing alignment. Dave went through an arduous process of trying to be compensated for the damage. He talked to person after person at United - finally to be told they would offer nothing more than some travel vouchers for his loss. You can read the complete customer service saga on Dave’s blog.

To make a point and tell the world that he was wronged by United, Dave proclaimed that he would write and produce three music videos illustrating his misadventures and post them on YouTube for voting by the general public.  The first video (see below) has recently been published and has become an overnight sensation on YouTube. It’s also being actively discussed in the blogosphere, on Twitter, and Dave’s story has been told through multiple media channels including the CBS Early Show, Rolling Stone, and more. His song is now available for download on iTunes.

Dave’s experience is a classic demonstration of how a company like United has a lot to lose by disregarding the importance of internal-external marketing alignment.  There are several issues at play that add up to Dave’s misaligned experience, which is ultimately doing damage to United’s brand:

Failure to live up to service promise.
A basic principle of internal-external marketing alignment is the expectation that you will deliver a service experience that aligns with your brand promise. United’s website offers a very detailed statement of the company’s customer commitment. Among other things, it asserts that United’s customers “have the right to expect - to demand - respect, courtesy, fairness and honesty from the airline they have selected for travel.” According to Dave’s story, he was continually given the runaround by multiple United personnel in several cities as he tried to receive compensation for his demolished $3500 guitar. It sounds like this was not just one poorly trained or disgruntled employee, but a general failure by multiple United personnel to take accountability for a mistake and try to live up to the customer service commitment by handling the issue with “courtesy, fairness, and honesty.” In an aligned company, employees would be given the tools, resources, and training they need to handle customer complaints in a way that lives up to the brand promise.

Cultural issues - “it’s not my problem.”
Dave claims he was repeatedly told by multiple United personnel that the issue “is not my problem” or that the paperwork he submitted was not received. This general lack of accountability can perpetuate an internal culture where employees feel powerless or unmotivated to handle customer concerns. Every time a customer encounters the fallout from this kind of culture, the brand will continue to erode.

The transparency of the social media world.
In the old days, it was easy for companies to sweep complaining customers under the rug. In today’s world of the social web, one irritated customer can quickly communicate to millions through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, the blogosphere and more. For this reason, companies need to not only be prepared to engage with their customers in the social space before there’s an issue, but they need to react quickly when trouble arises to avoid a wildfire.

A customer’s heart was broken. 
If you believe that a brand is not what the execs in the marketing department say, but it’s an emotional connection that lives in the hearts and minds of customers - then you will understand the magnitude of Dave’s final verse in his song where he says United broke his heart. When he asks himself in the song if he’d ever fly United again, he said he might if saving the world were on the line, and then he goes on to say:

“…And if I did, I wouldn’t bring my luggage
‘Cause you’d just go and break it,
Into a thousand pieces,
Just like you broke my heart.”

When you break that emotional connection with your customer, you may never get them back again.

Dave’s story of the broken guitar ends on an upnote, although it certainly seems a bit too little too late. The damage has already been done - not just to Dave as a customer, but to the United Airlines brand.  Dave posted a subsequent response on YouTube where he says United is offering reimbursement for the guitar.  Although he says reimbursement is not the point anymore, and he’s encouraging United to donate the money to charity. He says “United has demonstrated they know how to keep their airline in the forefront of their customer’s minds, and I wanted this project to expand upon that satirically.” 

In fairness, I also have to point out that Dave is building his own brand as a musician through this tale. We’ll see what happens to his personal brand and to United when the second and third videos come out in the future.

Has a brand ever broken your heart? What did you do about it?  Leave us a comment and tell us about your experiences.

When was the last time you experienced delight as a customer? I’m not just talking ho-hum customer satisfaction (like the guy at the deli didn’t completely screw up your sandwich, but he also didn’t offer you a pickle on the side either).  I’m talking honest-to-goodness delight! Joy! Extreme fulfillment!

Was it last week at the coffee shop when the barista remembered your name and your favorite beverage and started firing up the espresso machine as soon as she saw your face in the window? Or two months ago when you called your cable company for technical support and they handled your problem with professionalism and rapid response?

For me, it was a few weeks ago at the cosmetics counter of a major department store. The clerk was so efficient in uncovering my needs that I ended up buying several things that I hadn’t intended to, but the items were sold to me in such a way that I couldn’t pass them up. I walked away feeling very satisfied with my experience and the value of the products I had purchased. I ended up spending far more than I had intended, but I felt great about it! Next time I need makeup, I’m going back to that clerk for her efficient and friendly manner. 

Out of curiosity, I visited the website for the cosmetics brand this clerk represented. I wanted to see what the brand says about the service experience they promise to customers.  The website talks about expert knowledge, friendly advice, and personalized service that’s defined as a “gold standard” in the industry. 

This clerk truly delivered that description to me - she’s representing her brand appropriately and expertly. Her brand is exhibiting internal-external marketing alignment by making sure the experience I have as a customer matches what the brand promises. The words on the brand’s website aren’t just lip service. The company is truly walking the walk and delivering upon their promise through helpful, well-trained employees who provide an expert and friendly experience.

Sure, we all expect to be delighted when we check into a Ritz Carlton or shop at a high end retailer like Saks, but delight doesn’t have to be limited to luxury brands. You can build delight into any brand and any customer experience. And when you delight your customers, you’re building excitement and passion for your brand. Your customers will probably buy more of your product or service and be willing to pay a higher price for it. They’ll probably think about your brand every time they use your product, and they may even tell their friends, family, colleagues, and the web about your brand.

Beyond the value you provide for your customers, you also have an opportunity to delight your employees. Setting a high bar for service is a rush for the right employee. It’s rewarding and energizing. Employees can feel excited about coming to work and delivering your brand, knowing they have an opportunity to make someone’s day. It starts with finding and hiring those brand-right people who can easily become natural advocates for your company. If you’re interviewing someone who doesn’t seem like they can truly deliver the promise of your brand - move on! You’ll be glad you did.

Delivering customer delight is a fun game to play.  It’s exciting to be the one delivering it - and it’s even more thrilling to be on the receiving end as a customer. What are some brands that represent true customer delight to you? In what ways do they deliver? Leave us a comment and tell us about your experiences.

Dutch social networking site claims half the population has registered accounts.

The Dutch social networking site Hyves (hyves.nl) is getting remarkable attention in the international press. Business Week published about it,  and recently there was a post on Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog on this Dutch phenomenon.  

Named after the idea of a buzzing beehive, Hyves boasts nearly 8 million accounts, meaning half of the Netherlands’ population of 16 million are using the tool.  Facebook is only a minor player on the Dutch social networking market, and MySpace was such a weak competitor that it closed its Amsterdam office a few months ago. Only LinkedIn seems to be a serious competitor and has grown in the Netherlands to more than a million users in the past year.

The Dutch seem to have a particular fondness for social networking on the web and have adopted the technologies at more than twice the rate of other Europeans.  Jeremiah Owyang’s blog post made some interesting points about this phenomenon that were fairly accurate:

1. The Netherlands has a strong web based infrastructure and easy availability of high speed networks and access to wireless.  This is true.  We rank highest in the world on these stats.
2. The Dutch have a mobile based culture where most citizens have smart phone devices with web surfing ability.  Not true.  This is not a factor in these statistics. Maybe in Asia or Silicon Valley, but not here yet. Over 90% of the people use their phones only for calling and texting.
3. The culture and government of the Netherlands encourages independent thought and freedom of expression. True.
4. There is a general social acceptance of sharing, learning, and collaboration. True.  To put it bluntly, the Dutch can be kind of nosey as a culture, and we like to show off our social talents (hence lots of Friends, Pals, Connections, etc).

Another big factor is our state of welfare in the Netherlands, which not only gives us high speed connections and many computers available at home, work, school, university or library, but also the free time to invest in these kinds of social activities.

Three out of four of Jeremiah’s observations about social networking in the Netherlands are true.  Not bad for a Silicon Valley resident.  Although this still does not fully explain the startling success of Hyves, which lacks the design qualities and features of similar sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Compared to the competition, Hyves looks like it was designed by a 12 year-old as a school project. (And not a “Harvard here I come” 12 year-old, but an average pre-teen who sees the project as an obstacle to more free time.) So why the huge success?

4 main reasons:

1. Many users have multiple accounts.  On Facebook and LinkedIn, most people have one account. Hyves is loaded with multiple accounts. People generate a new account every time they forget their password, and they open additional accounts for their child, pet, favorite bar, TV-series, sports team, car brand, or any other professional, social, or hobby related topic. And people have weird hobbies, believe me!
2. Being keen on free possibilities for partnerships, celeb endorsements and commercial activities. When Hyves started to get a lot of hype, popular DJ’s, singers, actors, and commercial brands were supported in getting their Hyves accounts to link with their fans. In certain age groups, this created some social pressure to get an account, or alternatively be without “real” friends.
3. The local competition was too technical. When Hyves started in 2004, Holland was ready for a good social networking site, but all the competitors seemed too technical for the masses.  This resulted in average users not being easily engaged.      
4. The global competition was too slow and not able to fight for market share. Once Hyves became locally accepted, competitors like MySpace and Facebook had to provide incentives for people to move and become a member.

The battle for Facebook in the Netherlands isn’t over yet, but it will take some strategic maneuvering to make it a viable competitor in the Dutch market.  LinkedIn has added value to Dutch professionals that make it stand apart from the others.  For now, the buzz about Hyves is extremely prevalent in the Netherlands, and the Dutch will likely continue swarming around it for the foreseeable future.

Last week, my colleague Dan Biesma in Europe, wrote a blog post saying the end is near – the end of the recession that is.  I keep waiting to see the headlines in the newspaper and on the Net:  “The Recession is Officially Over! Life Can Get Back to Normal.”  This recession may not have an official “end” - it’s more likely we will gradually shift to a new normal that’s ripe with opportunities for companies who are ready to play big.

The new normal will have some exciting innovations. To weather the recession, we’ve all been forced to be more resourceful, efficient, and creative, which has shifted the way many companies do business.  Companies have become lean and mean, and displaced workers with an entrepreneurial spirit have opened new businesses.

As we begin the new normal, it’s important to take stock of where you are and addresses any internal issues that could stunt your culture if left unattended. Here are three tips to help you get ready to play big in the new normal:

1. Reevaluate and reinvigorate your mission and vision. As you come out of a downturn, be sure that your mission and vision still apply to your business. Make any changes that need to be made, then re-enroll your teams. During the recession, there have likely been lots of distractions, stress, and gossip as layoffs have been made and people have been forced to do more with less. This is a golden opportunity to re-enroll and reenergize. This will also help it become clear who’s with you on your team and who might need to move on to other opportunities.
2. Reassess your marketing promise. Are you still fulfilling on the promise of your brand(s) and the promise to your customers? What needs a tune-up? Examine key processes. Take a hard look at your products and services. Companies who are promising one thing and delivering another quickly lose integrity with customers during a time they need it the most.
3. Re-hire for success. Now’s the time to be poised to hire the best people to support your mission and vision and bring them on-board in a way that empowers them for success. As you begin to add back to your team, make sure you have hiring, on-boarding, and training programs that support your brand and marketing promise.

Smart companies can leverage the end of the recession as a re-birth.  This is not the time to nurse your wounds and feel sorry for yourself but to re-build, re-energize, and recommit to your business in the new normal.  This begins with a clear vision, the right team, and the right communication with your customers and your employees.

We are pleased to welcome a first post to our blog from Dan Biesma, Managing Director for the European Office of Kennedy Communications in Hilversum, the Netherlands.

The global recession is still upon us. As an agency working for global brands we saw it happening last year in conversations with our clients, first in the US, then in Europe. In a few months the topics changed from projects aimed at building brands and people’s capabilities, to communications strategies and tools for change operations, cost cutting programs, and downsizing projects.

Luckily, history proves all recessions come to an end. And the media, as well as companies, governments, and consumers are looking for positive signs over recent weeks. Signs indicate the end of the economic downfall is near. The Fed and the ECB, its European equivalent, are sounding more optimistic than they have been in a long time and the stock markets seem quite stabilized or even trending upwards.

U.S. employers made 539,000 workers redundant in April. According to U.S. Labor Department statistics, this represents the fewest job cuts in six months and far better than the 620,000 reduction that economists had expected. But still the country’s unemployment rate hit a 25 year high.

However President Obama gave a positive interpretation of these figures when he said that America was showing signs of economic recovery.

Like the French say: ‘C’est le ton qui fait la musique’.

During the past 6 weeks, our team has heard a shift in the tone as well as the content in our conversations with clients, global market leaders who move quicker than their competition. The tone has become more positive and reflects the belief that their company and brands, their teams and they themselves will come out of this recession better and stronger. And they want creative, engaging, and solid solutions to make this happen.

As the tone of the conversations has shifted, so has the content. Our clients are showing they want programs in place to help align their companies for long-term, strategic growth. Conversations have centered around programs related to leadership development, on-boarding, diversity & inclusion, employment branding, customer service and sales training. 

Strategic thinking like this will help companies build strong cultures from within that will support their external marketing promise - the core of internal-external marketing alignment.  Leading companies are ready to refocus on creating and delivering value to their customers and developing their employees.

The end of the recession must be near, which means it’s time to focus on a new beginning. Now is the time to start rebuilding and refocusing on the next phase.  In an upcoming post, we will outline some considerations for business communicators that can help you emerge from a recession empowered and ready for action.  Are you ready for the end?  What’s happening in your company to prepare for your next chapter?

Many of our clients are excited about the emerging possibilities of social media, but often hit road blocks when talking about the social web with company executives.

Concerns often center around damage control from rogue “social” employees, an unclear return on investment (ROI), or a perceived decline in productivity from team members who are now tweeting, blogging, and friending on the web rather then getting their primary job done.

These are all legitimate concerns but need to be looked at from a broader context that includes quickly shifting consumer behavior, the future business communications landscape, and the tremendous positives that many companies are generating from participation on the social web.

It’s not suprising that many executives are skeptical of the social web. I assert that this scepticism comes, in large part, from a very limited understanding, as well as limited participation in the social space by most executives.

Paula Drum, former VP of Marketing at H&R Block put it this way in a recent blog post:

“One of the most popular questions that I get asked is how to build support at the C-level.  Having a clearly defined objective is critically important to gain support of any initiative.  However, everyone is always focused on the ROI or return on the investment.  I have defined ROI a little differently in this new and emerging space as Risk Of Ignoring. There is an absolute change occurring in how we communicate and seek information as a society.  The millennial generation is the first digital native generation with very different expectations of companies and marketing.  In the not so distant future the millennials will be a larger purchasing demographic than the boomers.  Not understanding this segment will be detrimental for future marketers.”

We’ve collected a few current resources that may assist you with building the case for social media with your “C” suite. Most executives honestly do have the current and long term interests of their organization at heart. I look at it as a simple education process to deepen their understanding of a world that appears very foreign. That is the spirit in which these resources are shared. We would also appreciate your comments on the challenges you face, and success you have in building a more complete understanding about the social web in your organization.

An Executive Guide to Social Media: Business Week

How to use Twitter for Customer Service

A Journalist’s Guide to Twitter

Final Idea: Play this video to put the Social Web in context for your leaders.

Who would have known that my new favorite rock star would be sporting a sweater vest and tie, accessorized with a big laminated name-badge on a lanyard? Meet Ajay Bhatt, co-inventor of the USB and the star of Intel’s newest ad campaign dubbed “Sponsors of Tomorrow.”  He can make even the geekiest geek swoon with admiration and a touch of envy.

According to an article on Forbes.com, Intel’s newest campaign is also its biggest in nearly three years and is a first to spotlight the promotion of the Intel brand instead of a processor product. 

The Forbes article quotes Deborah Conrad, Intel Vice President and General Manager of the Corporate Marketing Group.  She says “For more than 40 years, Intel has been delivering tomorrow’s ‘normal’, and our new marketing campaign is a way for the world to be made aware of this fact.  We’re hoping to convey that we’re not just a microprocessor company, but a move-society-forward-by-quantum-leaps company.” 

In essence, this new campaign is one that reflects the culture of Intel – not simply a product.  Having worked with Intel on numerous projects and programs over the past four years, it’s refreshing to see the company break away from “speeds and feeds” to focus on what’s really fabulous and fascinating about the company – its people, their innovation, their willingness to take calculated risks in the effort to push our world forward. 

The Sponsors of Tomorrow campaign is actively leveraging Intel’s company culture to build the Intel brand – a key component of internal-external marketing alignment.  Your company culture is the channel through which you deliver your brand to the world. It’s your people who bring it to life for your customers. 

In the case of Intel, it’s people like Ajay Bhatt.  He may have very few opportunities to interact with Intel customers, but he is a powerful contributor and ambassador of Intel’s culture, which ultimately shapes the brand.

Who are the unseen rock stars that shape your brand?  How do they contribute to the culture within your company?  We’d love to hear from you.

A colleague of mine shared a recent story that I believe illustrates one of the new challenges companies face in managing their brands in the age of the social web.  It also points to the importance of building true internal-external marketing alignment in your organization.

Our tale begins at a recent large international tradeshow in Las Vegas where a leading US-based technology company had a major booth.  I am sure the executives who authorized the substantial cost to exhibit at the show viewed it as a fantastic opportunity to connect with customers and promote the many great technologies the company produces.

My colleague, who is a well regarded member of the industry, was touring the show floor and happened across the above company’s booth where she had a rather negative experience. She was treated in a very dismissive way, and she left the booth disappointed and a little irritated.

In the heat of the moment she communicated her disappointment and irritation in a rather sharply worded “tweet” on Twitter through her cell phone, then went on with her day without giving it another thought.

The next day she received several urgent voicemail messages from the Director of Marketing from this particular company, demanding a call back. When they finally connected she was admonished for daring to write a negative tweet about the company, threatened that this company could make her life difficult if she ever said another negative thing about them, and then made to feel guilty for putting the Director of Marketing’s job at risk.  Apparently the senior executives had been monitoring Twitter and were not happy with what they heard in the “tweet” about the experience in their booth.

In so many ways this experience did not surprise me. Many large companies have been able to manage their brand for decades by using their size and industry stature to intimidate and quickly stamp out potential damage to their brand.  These behaviors are often well entrenched in the culture of the organization and employees are encouraged to respond quickly to quiet dissention.  After all, isn’t that one of the benefits of being large?

The leveling quality of the social web has shifted the balance of power forever, yet many companies are still caught in old cultural models that no longer work. Customers and employees now have a variety of channels to communicate both positive and negative messages about the brands they come into contact with. Progressive companies are quickly finding ways to harness the power of the social web to create meaningful connections with customers and employees. They are also educating their teams on how to respond effectively to the comments that inevitably will get made in the social space.

How much more effective it would have been for the tech company in our story to engage my colleague about her comment in a transparent way in the social space. They could have thanked her for her feedback with a quick Twitter reply and worked to turn her negative experience into a positive in front of the social community. No company is perfect.  We all know that. But seeing a company walk the talk and work to truly listen to a customer is reassuring and allows the company to take the high road and further build the brand.

Here is the irony of the story. My colleague is a new member of Twitter with a very small current following, most of whom are family and friends.  Any “damage” done from her tweet was minimal.  But this same colleague has a blog that is read by thousands of industry members each week.  Hmmm, now that this major tech company has decided to use intimidation tactics over a small tweet, I wonder if they have a much bigger problem ahead from a fiery blog post.

The rules have changed and aligning your team behind what your brand stands for is more important than ever.

We read a lot of great stuff from really smart people on topics related to internal-external marketing alignment. As we find articles and posts that are useful in this discussion, we’ll post them regularly in our Focus Friday.

This week we’ve been spending a lot of time looking at how companies can leverage Twitter to build their brand. It’s a great tool for listening to and communicating with customers and employees, and it can go a long way toward helping you achieve internal-external marketing alignment.  Here are some interesting articles to get you thinking about Twitter and understanding how you can leverage its power to align your brand and grow your business:

From CoTweet.com:  Making Brands Human on Twitter

From Chris Brogan: 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

From Fortune: Twitter Means Business

From Mashable:  Finding the Right Brand Voice on Twitter

From PCWorld: Twitter Quitters Just Don’t Get It

Have you ever been disappointed that your usual white chocolate mocha from your favorite coffee shop was a little too cold or not sweet enough?  What about when you scored a reservation at a hot new restaurant that’s been getting rave reviews but you were really let down by poor service and bland food?  Maybe you called tech support for help with your home computer and had to deal with a rep who was clueless and a bit hostile. 

If this has ever happened to you, then you’ve experienced a brand gap. This is what happens when a customer has an expectation of a brand that has fallen short of reality. A brand gap can leave you feeling ripped off, let down, annoyed.  Your opinion of the brand probably just took a nose dive, and you might even blog or Twitter about your experience. 

In his book Zag, the #1 Strategy of High Performance Brands, Marty Neumeier defines a brand as a “person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.”  If his definition holds true, than how do brand gaps impact that gut feeling that you might have about a product, service, or company?

Your company has worked long hours to get your brand where it is today.  But it all comes down to what’s being delivered to your customers that counts.  If you’re not fulfilling on the promise of your brand to your customers, you’re out of alignment, and you’re putting your brand in jeopardy.

This is where internal-external marketing alignment becomes a powerful strategy in fulfilling your brand promise and avoiding the brand gaps.  It starts with creating a common vision of your brand that is supported by every function of your business, not just marketing.  Creating that common vision can begin by answering these three questions: 

1. What business are you in? This might seem like a simple question, but look deeper than the obvious. What business are you really in? It’s less about the specific product or service and more about the experience you create for your customers. What are you there to create for your customers?
2. What is your promise to your customer? Think about what your customers expect from you - not just the tangible, but the intangible. If your brand is a gut-feeling, as defined above by Neumeier, your business has an emotional deliverable. What do you want the gut-feeling to be?
3. Where are your brand gaps? Talk to your customers. Call your customer service line and pretend to be a customer. Perform an informal mystery shop. Listen to what people are saying about your brand in the social media world. Start to identify all the brand gaps that are currently in place and where you’re most vulnerable to new ones.

Once you’ve answered these questions, you have the foundation to begin leveraging the power of your brand in every corner of your business including marketing, sales, human resources, training, operations, administration, and more.  This is where internal-external marketing alignment begins.  This is where you have the power to truly build your brand, starting at the purest grassroots level within your company.

We’ll talk more in future posts about brand gaps and how to uncover where they’re happening in your company.  Tell us about any brand gaps you’ve experienced as a customer and how they’ve changed your gut feeling of a brand.

There’s been a lot of talk in the social media world over the past week about the Dominos incident. Two employees who thought they were being funny posted a video of themselves doing nasty things to some food they were preparing.   Nobody wants their brand raked over the social media coals like this. 

How can you prevent this type of incident from happening to your brand? Build a strong company culture where employees have pride in their workplace and in the brand they support. Yes these are just two fastfood workers in minimum wage jobs. With jobless rates higher nationwide than they’ve been in decades, there are plenty of people who would gladly step up and take these positions.

Here are some things you can do to start building a strong culture - even amongst fastfood workers:

Create Hiring Standards
Build standards within your company for how you hire and what qualities you demand. Put checks and balances in place to help all hiring managers know when the prospective employee they’re interviewing is worthy of representing your brand. Support your teams by creating tools for hiring that help identify someone’s character early in the process.

Build an On-Boarding Program
Then after you’ve hired, bring your new team members on-board with consistent messages about your brand, your culture, and your expectations around service. Find ways to test their knowledge and skills - not just about the tactical details of the job but around the cultural and brand details too. 

Provide Ongoing Coaching
After they’re brought on-board, keep the learning alive. Build in regular touchpoints for coaching with training material or personal mentorship.

Leverage the Power of Peer Pressure
A strong culture within your company also becomes a self-policing culture. When your employees truly have pride in your brand and workplace, you can leverage the power of peer pressure to keep an eye on things for you. This eases the burden on management and helps employees feel more accountable and empowered to support the brand.

As that old saying goes about an ounce of prevention - building a strong culture within your company can help prevent incidents like the one Domino’s faced recently. That doesn’t mean you won’t continue to have disgruntled employees who act out, but hopefully you will know how to identify and deal with them before disaster strikes.

Another blast of creativity from Nike for the viral world. One of their best yet. Nike does so many things right in creating a culture around their product and around their company that continues to foster creativity and risk taking. If you ever get a chance, visit one of the campuses in Beaverton, Oregon or in Hilversum, The Netherlands.  I simple visit to either campus for a meeting or project inspires my entire week. Great job Nike on continuing to invent your future in exciting ways and keeping us all interested.