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The Illusion of Simplicity

Can you capture the essence of a brand in a single word? A couple of days ago, a friend in Dallas raised this question, citing Southwest Airlines as a case in point. His perspective is that, early on, the leadership at Southwest seems to have landed on the idea that flying wasn’t very much fun, and they set out to change that. So, according to my friend, they chose fun as the essence of the brand, and the story just took off from there. (Pun, I suppose, intended.)

Of course fun, by itself, is not a story. Without conflict there is no story, and our experience is that without story there is no way to build an emotional relationship between the brand and its audience. Given that Southwest Airlines had, at least for the first couple of decades, a very unique and resonant relationship with its customers, I started thinking about where the conflict energy came from to power its story. The word that most frequently sits opposite fun in brand stories is responsible. And responsible versus fun certainly makes sense as the driving energy for the story of an airline because, no matter how much fun you have doing it, running an airline carries with it an immense weight of responsibility.

It is important to understand that Southwest could tell a compelling story, while seeming to put all its emphasis on fun, only because it powerfully cued its responsible energy at the same time, but in less overt ways. First, Southwest—even in its name but certainly through its actions—suggested an affinity for salt-of-the-earth values, plain dealing and equality that seemed highly responsible. In addition, a deep obligation to act responsibly is baked into the airline category. If Southwest had seemed blasé about safety or if its early safety record had been anything but sterling, its story would have collapsed. Instead, Southwest focused with pride on its flawless safety record and its young fleet of aircraft. So I think my friend was partly right. Southwest did get a lot of traction from using fun as a simple anchor for a lot of its actions and communications. But without the implicit conflict between fun and responsible, the brand story would have been shallow and would have gotten old quickly.

What Southwest did in air travel is similar to what Geico accomplished in insurance. While Geico may, on the surface, seem to be entirely playful, the brand story is actually powered by a conflict between serious and playful. Geico can get a lot of story energy from that conflict while projecting ridiculously playful behavior because the very idea of insurance carries so much of the serious energy. And just as the Southwest story would not have survived a casual attitude toward safety, Geico would lose traction quickly if it did not seem serious in the way it handles claims.

Both Geico and Southwest built their stories as challenger brands, and, in part, this is an illustration of the kind of story energy a challenger brand can get by playing against the conventions of its category. When a brand ignores or denies the conflict, however, and tries instead to focus on a single word, a lot of energy can drain out of the story. Consider Volvo during the decades when it worked hard to own safety. A car brand can certainly use the conflict of safety versus freedom to power a very compelling story. And starting in the 1960s, Volvo did have a compelling story built on the legendary slogan Drive it like you hate it. That story got a lot of additional traction because, during the decades following the Second World War, freedom was deeply baked into the idea of owning a car (See the USA in your Chevrolet). But by the 1980s, Volvo was using safety more as a single-pointed theme than as one side of a conflict. As a result, Volvo owned the position, but the brand felt kind of shallow, and its relationship with the car-buying audience didn’t have much emotional depth.

I understand how attractive it can be to try to organize a complex marketing effort around a single word. It can work, at least for the short term, because any clear organizing principle is better than none. But, at best, this kind of simplicity leaves a lot of value on the table, and, at worst, it can make the brand vulnerable when circumstances change. In fact, I think Southwest is currently suffering somewhat from its very success. It feels as if the brand is less certain about how to use fun now that Southwest is among the largest domestic carriers. To me, that suggests that the brand never really understood how to use its conflict in a strategic way.

If you can think of examples of other successful brands that generated powerful story energy by taking a strong, simple theme and smashing it against the prevailing energy of their category, I would love hear them.

“For B2B businesses, Character is a powerful tool. I have used Character three times in my leader marketing roles, 2x were in B2B businesses. The Character work was the foundation of a transformation in product innovation/commercialization, rebranding, M&A, sales growth, and employee engagement. Character’s work helped us take dead brands and make them relevant again and helped us establish lesser-known brands with high share in a B2B market. What’s so unique is that you don’t create something that the ‘marketing talking heads’ think the company needs, you use the history, culture and DNA that is already part of the company to bring out the true story that is unique to only your brand. The Character team is so special, genuine, and has the perfect mix of creative and business knowledge to lead cross-functional executives through this process. ”
—Melissa Minihan, Head of Digital Commerce & Marketing, Veritiv Corporation

“Character gets to the heart of what good storytelling is all about. They’ve helped Wendy’s focus on what makes us unique, different and special and that’s helped us to get people’s attention, keep their interest and keep the business growing. We compete with much larger brands, but by being overt about how we want to attack those differences, we’ve been able to have a lot of tension and conflict in the story that we are telling. That allows us to keep the story fresh and to fuel it. The more we do that the more positive attention we get as a brand and the more the brand continues to grow, which, in turn, builds our confidence in our storytelling and keeps the courage level high.”

—Kurt  Kane, President U.S. & Chief Commercial Officer, Wendy’s Corporation

“I’ve been through Character’s story framework process four times in my career, and it has always added extraordinary value. It was a central piece of Walmart’s rebranding effort in 2006, as we sought a new articulation of our brand narrative and our purpose. It’s an equally powerful tool for us now, as Walmart defines its place in a rapidly transforming retail environment. And we are currently using it to do the same for Sam’s Club.”

—Tony Rogers, Chief Marketing Officer, Walmart

“Character’s approach to brand building is unlike any other in the business. Jim and his team use the timeless truths of human storytelling to unlock story potential and connect deeply with brand audiences. I’ve worked with Character throughout my career, and my experience with Tabasco was as fascinating, inspiring, and productive as ever. 

Character worked with our team not only to help us re-examine and re-articulate the elemental truths of our iconic global brand but also to develop and apply practical tools that make the brand story framework user-friendly for our entire organization. 

I whole-heartedly recommend Character to any brand marketer who is looking to make intuitive and durable connections with their consumer.”

Lee Susen, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Tabasco / McIlhenny Company