Will your branding theodolite topple…or stand strong?

You’re driving along the highway. It’s hot, and there are puddles of mirage on the tarmac. Traffic slows. And your trip just got longer signalled by the orange warning signs in the shoulder.

Then you see her.

First the safety flagging, then the overalls and hard helmet. And then, her theodolite.

You know . . . theodolite? No? Ok, it’s what surveyors use to measure the horizontal and vertical angles between points. They combine the angle data with distances from a chain or tape measure, and this allows them to triangulate the location of any point using trigonometry. 

Ohhh, theodolite. Right. And we see them regularly on highways and byways. Now don’t you wish you’d tried harder in trigonometry?

Most notably, you see that the surveyor’s theodolite is on a grey tripod. It’s a pretty cool tripod, if we’re honest. The important thing is that the tripod holds it steady and straight. No tripod, no balance or stability, and no accurate measurement. Nor data. Nor results.

Remember the tripod.

Your brand stands on three legs. You need to tend to each one, and keep them in alignment.

Wait. What? I thought my brand was my logo. Well, that’s one tangent. But it’s so very much a whole lot more than that.

Incidentally, this is why I really don’t like the term “brand”. Really never have, anywhere outside my uncle’s ranch in the Qu’appelle Valley. It is often misleading and limiting, or even precious, because it’s bantered around like special sauce and rarely seen for what I it is. And it can be practical and powerful, and very accessible, if understood.

So for example, if I’m doing a logo, it’s part of a “visual identity” which is simply one part of another part of another part of my client’s brand. I never want them confused. I want them empowered and motivated. Their audiences will thank them for this.

Branding is actually big and comprehensive. But let’s not let that intimidate us. Heck, we know what a theodolite is. Our brand can actually become much more useful to us and more impactful in our corporate relationships if we understand it better.

So, here’s one way to think about your brand. What you do with this information is for another day’s discussion.

Your brand, like everyone’s favourite surveyor’s instrument, stands on a tripod. Its three legs are:

• Brand Offering

• Brand Experience

• Brand Communication

Brand Offering is what you do, what you create, what you offer, what you manage, what you do or sell to help or serve or make the world better.

Brand Experience is people's interactions with you, how it goes, what it's like, how it's felt, what you're like to deal with, how processes are executed, and how effective you are.

Brand Communication is what you say, show and express, the stories you tell, how you listen, how you inform, and how connections are enhanced.

Now do you see how comprehensive this is? It's also mightily powerful. Your aim is to tend to all three, and to keep them in alignment.

A logo is not a couch

The idea is this: a logo is not a couch. As in the living room furniture. Have we made that clear enough?

One might now say, thank you so much for that big steaming pile of illumination. But bear with me. It’s actually significant for organizations and businesses that a logo is not a couch.

The problem is that too many business make decisions about a new logo the same way they choose a new couch. They think that the measure of a logo is whether or not it’s comfortable and they “like” it.

But I have a Rule of Thirds about logos. It says:

A third of the people will probably like your logo.

A third of the people will probably dislike your logo.

And a third of the people really won't care either way.

Likes and dislikes are therefore an ineffective measure of your logo design. Does that make sense? A logo is not a couch.

Here’s what is actually helpful. You need more objective criteria for evaluating your logo design. So use measures like:

• personality

• presence

• tone and attitude

• symbol and metaphor

• relevance to your brand character diamond

• distinctiveness in your marketplace or sector

And then trust your designer to interpret this on your behalf, because this is also art, and art needs soul and unity, and committees don’t make good art. The committee’s role in the end is to create the sandbox for the creative exploration by providing the parameters. Ultimately, it’s a combination of relevance, design quality, and how you use it that provide pay off.

Write that down: how you use it. This matters the most in one year, in five years. And that means your people need to be reminded of how to use it. Keep watering the plant.

Beware the steamrollers.

One issue waiting in the wings that can really hamper your logo design process is when someone influential comes into the process mid-way through. Typically, they will offer their opinion as if they were choosing a couch. So you have to make sure that anyone and everyone who could influence your process is briefed up front on the same objective criteria. This could be the boss, an assistant, a spouse, a business partner. Don’t leave anyone out, because it could create a lot of frustration, extra time and expense.

Try out the Rule of Thirds some time with your people. Google some logos, even famous ones, and survey their likes and dislikes. You’ll find out just how useless a measure this is. But hey, it’s a fun game.

"Call me maybe" and the power of buy-in

I'll never forget the day Carly Rae Jepsen became my constant reminder of what makes for – and doesn't make for – great school district websites and all they represent.

I was standing by the desk of her dad, Larry, as he motioned to his computer screen and said to me quietly:

"Jeff, here, take a look at this."

His daughter, it appeared, was among the remaining three candidates in Canadian Idol. She was about to become a really famous pop singer with one of the top ten song choruses of all time.

Larry was a secondary school principal in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. It's a school like hundreds of others. And we were in his office preparing the release of his school website in the 'pilot' phase of our development roll-out for the whole district.

Larry was a Piloteer. A learner and a leader at the same time.

Powerful combo.

He basically launched his school district into a new frontier of parent engagement, staff involvement and public awareness. And behind Larry was a district administrator who got it, and who invested in something larger.

By Larry's measure, his school's website was a quiet success waiting to go public. Easy to publish and edit, it made sense to people, and he was committed to it. Important ingredients.

But these aren't the most important things Larry would contribute.

One week not long after, I was at a superintendent's meeting with all the administrators in the district. My job was to try and win their interest in a system of online interaction as well as corporate identity and other strategic stuff we hoped they'd embrace together.

I was slotted in to speak right after 'new budget procedures impacting schools' and 'innovative math curriculum for at-risk students'. Or something like that. Basically, things that mattered in their minds.

Gulp.

Who might even begin to care about anything I was going to say about building, selling, maintaining and achieving results through great websites?

Turns out I didn't need to worry much.

Whatever the crowd may have heard from my mouth, or miraculously recalled upon questioning (and I thought I was pretty compelling) was trolloped by the very few words Carly Rae's dad would say right after me.

The processes surrounding this revelation have remained key the pillars of our entire approach to staff and audience engagement, including rolling out new systems to teams of people. Larry showed how he understood what really mattered and that he was part of something larger – something they had to do together for it to be effective.

Larry stood up, straightened his tie, and delivered these words of experience and conviction to his peers:

"Guys, this thing works. Trust me. Just start using it."

This is the power of buy-in. One colleague becoming an advocate, even a champion, and instilling their vision and enthusiasm in others. Don’t even try to effect significant corporate change without it.