Branding Canada eh?
The best part about blogging is that it can be about opinions, unconstrained by the lack of context or data, just pure opinion.
Last week I went to a breakfast session put on by the good folks at Leger Marketing. The talk was about branding a nation as opposed to a corporation. I was fascinated by the subject as I have long had a secret desire to take on branding Canada as my next career challenge. It’s unlikely to ever happen but it sure is fun to think about how brand to the country I love so much.
So here are my thoughts as a citizen on what elements we should brand as a country. I know I am oversimplifying but hopefully it will be food for thought.
First my simple criteria for selecting my three point brand focus:
- Branding a nation is difficult so our brand focus should leverage something that is already culturally grounded in our psyches. For example, if we are not a warlike people, we should not consider a brand association with aggression.
- Branding a nation is time consuming so it should align with a macro trend that will help us leverage our brand position into real economic benefits that strengthen over time as the trend or trends develop
- Branding a nation should be about something that will benefit the citizens themselves as well as the external audiences for our brand
- Branding a nation should take into account the realities of attributes about the nation that are not easily overcome, for example in our case we have a very large geography that is not easily changed
- A brand strategy should have a focus – we can’t be all things to all people. People can’t remember any more than 3 things at any one time, so let’s keep our brand focus at 3 things.
- Our brand strategy should support economic as well as social goals – for example, increase tourism, exports, inward investment, talent attraction and retention
So without further ado for brand element #1, I think our Canadian brand should be associated with Extraordinary Customer Service.
Why?
- We are already known as “nice and polite”, why haven’t we translated this brand equity into something tangible. We can leverage attributes that already exist in our psyches.
- As technology becomes more commoditized, It is clear that customer service will increasingly be “the” competitive differentiator. With the advent of social media the ability of each and every consumer to talk about customer service and influence your business has increased exponentially. We’ve already lost control of the message, why not ensure that every interaction with a Canadian is a positive one and let the people promote our brand for us. There is nothing people would rather talk about than how they feel about a product, service or company.
- And lastly, we’d all benefit. Just think how much better life would be if Rogers and Bell Mobility offered extraordinary service. What would we do with the extra time we’d have, the time that we wouldn’t have to spend on hold or arguing about how their service really isn’t working as it should be.
The only downside? What would we complain about?
So chip in here – what do you think we should be known for up here in Canada?
Written by Lynda Partner
September 28th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hey Linda. Thanks for the discussion starter. It’s a long-term buzz at the back of my brain as well. But I’ll whave to weigh in with some deep thoughts tomorrow (my kids will be up in a few short hours, so sleep is my big brand challenge right now).
But in the meantime, here’s a fantastic article from Marketing Magazine that you should take a look at on another man’s quest to answer the same Big Question:
http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/agency/article.jsp?content=20090313_103322_9828
Dennis Van Staalduinen
28 Sep 09 at 10:14 pm
As I mentioned last night, Place Branding and specifically branding Canada is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and even blogging a bit about it.
I think “Extraordinary Customer Service” – in the sense of being known as a polite and generally personable group of folks – captures something about us, and certainly that idea could form part of one of the pillars of Canada’s brand, but it’s not big enough to lead the charge.
What is big enough? Can’t say yet.
But it’s about doing a cold, hard reality check on where our own perceptions are out of line with outside expectations / perceptions, and what we can realistically agree on or change to, then narrowing down a bunch of ideas, themes, and associations that define us for 1) outside audiences, 2) ourselves, and 3) brand managers into a “Brand Platform”. Then working on top level themes that can tie them together.
Not being very specific I know, but here are two “Place Brands” that do it right (IMHO):
Switzerland. Check out their brilliant and comprehensive online manual:
http://www.image-switzerland.ch/index.php?id=488&L=1
Fresno California: My friend Travis Sheridan was involved with this.
http://travissheridan.blogspot.com/2009/07/authenticity-secret-of-place-branding.html
How do we get to the same point? Let’s talk!
Dennis Van Staalduinen
29 Sep 09 at 5:03 pm
Lynda check out
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/pb/journal/v4/n1/full/6000088a.html
I can also send you word document if you need it.
Jim Mintz
29 Sep 09 at 5:59 pm
Wow, what great comments! Much food for thought. I will reply in more detail shortly and continue this thinking in a Part 2.
Lynda Partner
30 Sep 09 at 4:46 pm
Having just been at an event in Seattle where the speaker (a Canadian) relied on cheap stereotypes (”we live in igloos”) to win the affections of the mostly American audience, this topic seems quite timely.
I struggle with your “excellent customer service” element for our brand. While I agree it’s relatively authentic, it’s also a position of submission; a weak position that will be hard to rally proud Canadians around. I think the characteristic you are looking for is a mix of engaging and empathetic, but not “service”.
Please allow me add my two cents;
Back in ‘03, I have the pleasure of working with a government minister on the topic of what “Made in Canada” stood for. It quickly became a question of our national brand. In our short, impromptu exercise we worked down to a powerful phrase that resonated with the group; “Canada makes the world a better place to live.”
The logic was simple. Canada is a vast and varied natural landscape. We are proud of our contributions in science and culture, and equally inspired by other nations. We see our role more as peacekeepers than aggressors or defenders. I could go on, …the list of reasons we identified is long and wonderful. Unfortunately, elections being what they are, we never got to pursue this idea any further. The exercise, though, has stayed with me.
There is so much opportunity to bring Canadians together with a powerful national story, if only someone with the capacity to influence our collective vision would take the leadership to do so.
I look forward to Part 2.
Stephen Abbott
1 Oct 09 at 4:57 am
Actually, for fun and edification, I suggest gathering a few Canadian branders and we do a Twitter #brandjam on the topic. Start with qualities / values / perceptions abroad and work our way back to brainstorming about it – maybe do it over a few weeks with a different part of the puzzle. I’ll volunteer to host and compile the notes.
Dennis Van Staalduinen
2 Oct 09 at 4:42 pm
HI Lynda,
I do believe that the time is right for a Canadian Brand Czar, but am not sure Customer Service would be one of the top pillars. Maybe. Canada should be well know for politeness and other qualities that are necessary for excellent customer service, but how would the implementation work? Very difficult to successfully implement that particular attribute.
Rick Hobbs
12 Oct 09 at 1:12 pm
I have a qualitative research consultancy that focuses a fair bit of its time on doing research that creates emotional connections to brands. I accomplish this by leveraging training in psychotherapy. I focus on finding key metaphors that link consumers emotionally to brands.
You speak of creating a brand based on something that is deep in our psyche, and I agree. I would suggest that part of our psycho-cultural DNA is something along the lines of “To Keep”. Our history is largely about maintaining what we have – maintaining a union that is spread-out across a very large and diverse geography. It’s about keeping together a very diverse set of individuals in one country. It is about keeping our resources alive and the resultant wealth that comes from them.
I draw a direct link between the metaphor of “To Keep” and the fact that we are known as “peacekeepers”. To this extent, I am not so sure that we are a nation committed to “peace”, as much as we are to “keeping”. In order to keep-up our country, we need to be hearty, clever, resourceful, good at making and accepting concessions, and keeping our word.
Similarly, one of our national icons, David Suzuki is doing nothing more than trying to keep what we already have. Of course, we also implore that “God keep our land glorious and free”. I would argue that we are known to “keep our cool” (note the reference to climate as well) on the international stage – especially compared to our neighbours to the south.
I don’t think “To Keep” should be our brand statement, but I would argue that if we want to look for a brand, we simply look at what we keep and guard so dear.
Brian Baumal
13 Oct 09 at 7:48 pm
Brian, I love your thinking. Just imagine what a team of brains like these could do for Canada. Stephen Harper – we want to help – reach out, we’re here!
Lynda Partner
13 Oct 09 at 7:56 pm
hi Lynda:
I am sorry to be late jumping in to the conversation, and have to run to a meeting, but wanted to toss my hat into the conversation “ring”.
I am responsible for the Service Canada Brand, and am very interested in participating in this conversation… especially as “service” appears to be on the agenda!
a bientot – I’ll be back next week!
Lea Werthman, APR
23 Oct 09 at 3:01 pm
Well, good customer service as a National Brand… Is that reaching high enough?
I often think that Canada has the opportunity to be the national brand of Human Powered Compassion, and Creativity, harnessed to improving our relationship with our environment and our planet.
Martin
29 Oct 09 at 9:55 am
Lots of feedback on the intrinsic value associated with the term “excellent customer service” and its relationship to a national brand. Frankly, I’m a big fan of both the term and its usage in this specific context. I believe the discomfort exhibited by a few of our co-contributors with associating a “Canada” brand with “Customer Service” is a matter of vocabulary. If I look back at one of Lynda’s earlier Marketing Morceaux (”Dear Customer: We Really Don’t Value You” – posted August 13, 2009)I find a more detailed description of what “Excellent Customer Service” really means to her: “Training for great customer service is difficult because great customer service requires three key attributes: empathy, creativity and good judgment…”. I would only add integrity to the mix (and Martin’s suggestion of Compassion…good one!). Hmmmm….not a bad set of national values/attributes and certainly ones that most every Canadian should readily aspire to. Reasoning that a nation like Canada would benefit from a positive branding campaign implies that the world is our customer (what’s a brand without a customer??); ipso facto any such branding must include the first rule of keeping our customers happy as its goal, namely excellent customer service. If we simply contextualise the term within the broader and more identifiable description of our national identity, and apply it with a little panache, then we may have hit on a very clever value vector that points to our true North. When can I start selling…..
Brian S.
3 Nov 09 at 5:27 pm
I think this conversation is long overdue. I do a lot of work down under and Asia. We don’t really have a brand. People have some notion of Canada but it does not stand for much. When I ask people if they can name a Canadian product, the best they can do is, “maple syrup”. Why is it that a country of 34 million can not create consumer products with global appeal??? From a tourism perspective, people know you can ski here.
I lived in New Zealand where this work is well done. It is brands for tourism and business:
100% PURE New Zealand
New Zealand New Thinking
The concept work and investment behind these efforts is very good for a small country.
Saying this, I also know of Taxi CEO Paul Lavoie’s experience in trying to start this conversation…. let’s say he was frustrated.
ed bernacki
ed bernacki
22 Feb 10 at 4:14 pm