Invisible Brand

How does the established service business make the consumer take a fresh look at its offering? How can it put blue water between itself and competitors in me-too markets? We explore how distinctive behaviour can make for distinctively successful brands.

In FMCG, there’s always a ‘New and Improved’ version to be promoted and sampled. In manufactured goods, there’s a gleaming new model to be unveiled and road-tested. But, for service industries, the fundamental model cannot always change that readily, even if there are continual refinements in delivery. Unfortunately for those of us in marketing communications, these rarely provide us with a story big enough to bait the creative hook and excite the prospective consumer.

In fact, service businesses do have a potentially powerful weapon of their own.

We call it Signature Behaviour. What we mean by this is a dramatised presentation of corporate ethos, of values and beliefs. If this behaviour is highly distinctive – and delivered reliably and consistently – it can reach the consumer very powerfully at both an emotional and a practical level.

Some of the best examples come from retailers, perhaps the most famous being Marks & Spencers’ readiness to exchange or refund goods without quibble. John Lewis is well known for being ‘never knowingly undersold’ and, more importantly, for being willing to put its money where its mouth is and refund the difference if more expensive. More recently, Iceland Foods struck a chord with consumers by being the first to take a stance against GM ingredients.

(Unfortunately their next move – to sell organic produce only – backfired because it also undermined their core proposition, which is all about price.)

In other markets, Virgin pioneered seatback TV throughout its planes, a gesture that was not just about entertainment but about the democratisation of flying. In the same market, easyJet’s value proposition is cleverly and memorably supported by an emphasis on what you don’t get (food, drinks, etc) because the price is so low.

Rail companies, utilities and financial services have generally been poor at considering – let alone responding positively and distinctively – to what really touches the psyche of their customers. A notable exception is First Direct. Few of their customers may actually want to pay a bill at 3am on Christmas Day. But there is no doubt that the existence of this facility has enormous emotional power to endorse the bank’s service commitment to all its customers.

So what criteria can be used to define true Signature Behaviour? We suggest there are three main tests.

First, is it (or does it have the potential to become) the one thing that everyone knows about your business? Second, what does it say about your brand? Does it reinforce your brand values? Is it the kind of thing that people would expect of you? Or could it begin push your brand in a fresh direction? Third, does it touch a nerve in your relationship with customers and prospects – is it about something that people actually care about?

To provide an example of the latter, Tesco has introduced a service, promoted at their checkouts, which says ‘Forgotten anything? Let us get it for you.’ This is certainly a nice touch and consistent with the concept of continual enhancements to delivery.

But it isn’t Signature Behaviour – it’s not a reason for customers to abandon other retailers in droves. By contrast, Body Shop’s ethical stance against animal testing of its products plays very strongly to the emotions of an environmentally aware, younger and predominantly female audience.

It’s not principally about the products themselves, or even how they’re sold in the shops. It’s about how the customers can feel about themselves for shopping there.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that the development of Signature Behaviour requires a more lateral approach to brand development than is currently the case with all service businesses. It requires vision, intuition, self-confidence and a degree of boldness. It also requires a willingness to address issues that are not necessarily those you can most easily or economically influence but those that matter most to your customers and prospects.

The prizes are well worth the effort. You will be able to provide your communications agencies with the raw ingredients to develop really memorable and exciting campaigns of genuine relevance to consumers.

This, in turn, could do a lot for your market share. And that’s the kind of behaviour to put a smile on the face of your shareholders.