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The Birth of a Brand
I penned this article for the current inaugural issue of ArtsMemphis Magazine. My client, ArtsMemphis (formerly Greater Memphis Arts Council) is good enough to let me publish it here for my blog readership. Thanks to Susan Schadt and ArtsMemphis for a memorable engagement and for an amazing brand launch!
Those who are interested in reading the announcement - as it appeared in the Commercial Appeal, Memphis' leading newspaper, can click here to read the story.
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These days, facelifts, remodels - even extreme makeovers - are common. Whether it is faces, houses, or relationships, people hanker to renew and improve things. It may come as a surprise, but this has been going on in business for as long as business has been going on. It’s called “re-branding”, and if it is done right, the changes extend far beyond an enhanced appearance. The winning game is all about working better and working smarter to achieve better results.
If you are reading this magazine, you have already gathered that the Greater Memphis Arts Council has re-branded. It has a new name, which is ArtsMemphis, a new look, and a renewed commitment to making both the arts and Memphis stronger than ever. Memphis’s Assisi Foundation has been a great friend in this effort by providing both moral and financial support. Jan Young, Assisi’s Executive Director, declares, “With this new brand identity they can step into the 21st century with style. This new name – ArtsMemphis – is more than a marquee name. It’s who they really are."
Why re-brand now?
Why in the world - after 45 years of successfully supporting the arts in Memphis - would the Greater Memphis Arts Council completely re-engineer its identity and change its name? As a natural-born skeptic myself, I understand why people with common sense roll their eyes and hide their wallets when another “flavor-of-the-month” business strategy comes along. If you read business books and magazines, you will find more branding stories in business publications than weevils in cotton. There is, however, a reason for all the hoopla. Branding is big because branding - done right - works. It works because it harnesses human nature.
When a brand refresh is comprehensively accomplished - especially in the arts and entertainment, which is our company’s specialty niche - the relationship between an organization and its audiences is re-invented and re-energized.
If you want to understand why branding is powerful, observe a child. When you give a young child a teddy bear, in a few days you will be told that its name is Hazel. A child doesn’t see that bear as cotton, rubber, nylon, and plastic, but rather loves that part of the bear that lives in her imagination. In human terms, organizations such as ArtsMemphis are just like Hazel the teddy bear. We endow them with human traits and, as is the case with people, likable organizations have more “friends” than their cold, aloof counterparts. This is an important lesson for both organizations and people to learn; you’re not loved because you’re important; you’re important because you are loved. So, one of the first things we set out to do in our work was to find out how people felt about the organization.
Contrary to popular belief, brand is perception-driven, and it lives in the hearts and minds of the people who know an organization. So, to understand your brand, it is essential to talk to people who know you, your product, and your organization. To this end, we conducted some 50 in-depth interviews with a variety of Memphians who each see and interact with the organization in unique ways. We interviewed arts company executives, audience members, donors, foundations, corporate executives, sponsors, educators, community leaders, elected officials, and directors from the boards of both the Arts Council and Memphis’s arts organizations.
We discovered that the organization was perceived as trustworthy, efficient, innovative, competent, and even “fun”. At the same time, some viewed it as aloof, insular, and elitist. Most importantly, we learned what it is that people want from the new ArtsMemphis, and out of this knowledge, the new brand strategy emerged. It will touch everything-- from publications and the web site, to office furnishings, to the fundraising messages being transmitted, and even to the “tone-of-voice” used to deliver these messages.
You don't have to be sick to get better.
In its close to a half century in operation, the Greater Memphis Arts Council can point to countless achievements. Though Memphis is only the 17th largest city in the United States, it boasts the nation’s sixth largest arts funding organization. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment, but it pales next to its “pass-through” rate. It is a fact that fully 95 cents of every dollar that the organization raises is directed to the Memphis arts organizations that it funds.
Compared to similar organizations with rates that are, on average, three to four times higher, ArtsMemphis’s efficiency is unparalleled. Plus, the organization has the highest average gift dollar amount of any united arts funding organization in the United States. It has one of the strongest boards in Memphis and, with their leadership and dedication, ArtsMemphis recently completed a successful capital campaign, Memphis for the Arts, which resulted in total commitments of more than $27 MM. With so much good work and a solid record under its belt, some people might question the need for re-branding the Arts Council.
CEO Susan Schadt recognized the need to build the number of donors contributing to the organization. For years, because the Arts Council had focused its efforts on major gifts campaigns, the organization garnered a hefty return of $3 million annually. It reached this goal, however, with only 1,300 donors. When compared to peer cities with donors numbering ten to twenty times that amount - mostly because of significant workplace-giving campaigns - Schadt saw an opportunity to build from strength. The organization had effectively tapped the top of the pyramid. The time was now right to expand the base, so she sought expertise to help her learn how to grow and what would be necessary to create success.
With the help of a nationally prominent arts research and strategy firm, she went on to learn that, despite a strong fundraising record, awareness levels of the organization’s name, programs, and services were low. The study also demonstrated that the organization’s acronym - GMAC - was frequently confused with an automotive financing company. Among other findings, it was recommended that the Arts Council strongly consider a name change.
What! Change your name?
When our firm was engaged, we approached the idea of changing the organization’s name with more than a little trepidation. Unless they are very carefully handled, name changes can confuse the public, with people left wondering whether a new entity is being created. We recognized that there were a lot of good memories and impressions associated with the Arts Council over the years that might be sacrificed with a name change.
However, over the course of our numerous brand interviews, we repeatedly encountered confusion, misperceptions, and outright wrong-headed notions. Particularly troubling to many people was the word “Council” -- a word that led many to believe that the organization was a publicly-funded government agency which did not need private donations. This is a particularly problematic impression for an organization in the fundraising business; it implies “You don’t have to give because your taxes are already helping.”
When we presented our brand discovery findings to the staff and leadership of the Arts Council, we were obligated to raise the name issue. In debating the pros and cons, it became clear to everyone that we should test the idea further. After developing a white paper and presentation for the Board’s Marketing Committee, we came to a consensus that we were on the right track. AutoZone’s Senior Vice President for Marketing, Lisa Kranc, Memphis Grizzlies President of Business Operations, Andy Dolich, and Cummins’s Regional Marketing Head, Tom Owens, all agreed that a formal recommendation for a name change should be made to the Board of Directors.
Trow Gillespie, a long-time Arts Council Board Member and civic leader, recalls, "I approached the whole idea of a name change with skepticism. I thought there were far more effective ways for us to spend our time and money. But after hearing the presentation I concluded that it is a tremendous idea. Ultimately, it's a whole lot more than a name change. It will impact everything we're doing. It captures, in one word, the whole mission that we're about in Memphis. It will bring in new constituencies, galvanize the troops, build momentum, and give us a strong platform to launch a whole new set of initiatives.”
It is one thing to decide you’ve got a problematic name. It’s altogether something else to come up with a good name. If your organizational name is long and full of generic words, chances are that it’s hard to remember. If people have reduced your name to an acronym, as happened with the Greater Memphis Arts Council’s becoming GMAC, that’s another warning sign. To someone who doesn’t know you, an acronym is little more than letters floating in a bowl of alphabet soup. The ideal name, however, is a lot like a candy bar. It’s short, sweet, and sticky, and concocted so that you want more than one bite.
Some people think a name has a job, namely to describe what an organization does. If this strategy were effective, Victoria’s Secret would be called the Amalgamated Ladies Sexy Undergarment Retailer. Virgin would be called British Premier Airline and Music Company. Google would be named California Search Engine, Incorporated. The above examples illustrate pretty well why the Greater Memphis Arts Council has been renamed ArtsMemphis.
GMAC’s new-and-improved name takes two juicy and memorable words - arts and Memphis - and makes them one: ArtsMemphis. This seems so right, especially because Memphis has given the world so much great art and entertainment. Lisa Kranc of AutoZone and Chair of the Marketing Committee, said it best, “It’s hard to imagine the arts today without Memphis, and even harder to imagine Memphis without the arts.”
What about the cost?
ArtsMemphis carefully weighed the pros and cons of making a name change, especially with regard to issues of return-on-investment. With any brand refresh, a name change does not impact overall costs, since in any case the process involves re-thinking and re-designing all the organization’s communications vehicles, from soup to nuts. In the end, one name costs pretty much the same as another.
It was decided, however, that a name change, specifically to ArtsMemphis, would have a number of positive effects and would generate attention from the media, “buzz” among the city’s civic and corporate leaders, and a renewed sense of pride and ownership from the solid base of community support that had been built up over the years. As a result, it was agreed that not making the brand refresh big, bold, and broad in scope would probably wind up costing more. This meant that in ArtsMemphis’s case, a name change would likely be more cost-effective.
Expressing the brand.
If you’re out and about one day and run into a good friend - somebody you really like - chances are you will stop and connect for awhile. You know them by their face, personality, and by your shared history as friends. You would probably be surprised if you did not receive a warm greeting.
A brand expression is a lot like a friendship. First, the face has got to be recognizable, which in branding translates into a consistent look, feel, personality, and tone. Expressing the ArtsMemphis brand involved covering every conceivable design aspect: color, shape, pattern, typography, image treatments, and textures. What’s used and how much is used is a little bit like making a great barbecue sauce. Recipes are tasty because the proportions are right. Getting there is tricky, as any good cook knows from experience. Even when we were sure we had it right, we didn’t let it rest there. We used focus-group testing among various ArtsMemphis target audiences to learn whether we had “our sauce” made right.
As ArtsMemphis brand strategy consultant, I feel very positive about the results that the organization has worked long and hard to reach. At many points in the process, there were safer and easier choices that could have been made. Changing the name was risky, but it was the right move. Truth is, the artists, companies, institutions, and art schools who help make Memphis a great city-- - well they deserve the strongest champion possible in the new ArtsMemphis.
What’s good for ArtsMemphis will be good for the state of Memphis arts. Strengthening the identity of what most people have known as “the arts council” will both expand and broaden the base of financial and participative support for one of the most uniquely precious and outrageously “juicy” arts communities in the world.
Posted on September 16, 2007 12:44 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Great to see you back in the blogging saddle, Neill, and what a wonderful way to return - with another fantastic article! It's rare for someone with your breadth of knowledge to share so freely of the inner workings of these seemingly mysterious machinations.
This article takes the reader on a wonderful journey through the re-branding process in a way that is eloquent, entertaining and illuminating. You have a true talent. Thanks for sharing it as you do. Too many in the field style themselves as some sort of High Priests in possession of arcane and secret knowledge, bestowed only upon the annointed. You bring it all back down to earth, and make it real. Bravo!