I originally created this post two summers ago. I’ve updated it here following this week’s news of Steve Jobs stepping back from the CEO role at Apple. There has been tons of coverage and analysis about what this means for Apple. I thought it might be interesting to use this as a moment to reflect on your own brand. Does your brand have a frontman?

Certain bands are known for their frontman — the guy (or gal) who is most associated with the band. Think Mick Jagger, Pete Townsend, Bono, or Steven Tyler. These larger than life entertainers are most associated with their bands, even though the bands aren’t named for them. Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney would automatically be the frontmen because the band is named for them. Makes sense, right?

Image via Wikipedia

What about Van Halen? That’s a little different. David Lee Roth was the Van Halen frontman for the early 80s. (He also pwned MTV.) But then he didn’t. Establishing the rules for the frontman and the relationship that person has with a band and its audience is a little difficult. These people have such strong personalities that it’s often difficult to separate the person from the band — for good or bad. Now let’s talk about business.

Who is the frontman for your brand?

Who is so closely associated with your brand that the two become almost synonymous. Think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sir Richard Branson. None of the companies they are strongly associated with are named for them. Yet it seems impossible to separate one from the other. Just look at Apple. Mere rumors about health problems for the Apple frontman was enough to put the stock into play. And this week’s announcement that Steve Jobs is stepping out of the CEO role sent the stock into another tizzy. To paraphrase, the market said: “Mr. Cook, you sir are no Steve Jobs.”

I think that strong brand personalities are important. They should be cultivated and encouraged. But I also think that brand frontmen need some rules. They need to share the spotlight. They need to introduce the others in the brand. And they should probably avoid wearing the tight leather pants to formal corporate parties.

Lin Manuel Miranda, Neil Patrick Harris and Tommy Kail at the Tonys

I just finished watching the Tony Awards show where host Neil Patrick Harris ended the night, during the credits roll, by performing an outstanding recap in rap of the entire show — with images behind him on the screen racing to keep up.

His performance was amazing for a number of reasons: it hit all the highlights, it was funny, it was fast and no one could believe he was recapping everything so quickly in verse.

Turns out that he had equally amazing help. The rap was written by Lin Manuel Miranda, who wrote and starred in the Broadway musical In the Heights for which he won the Tony Award as composer and lyricist, and by Broadway director Thomas Kail.

But the rap did one thing more — it told a bigger story. Miranda and Harris used the rap to say that live performances eight times a week deserved our awe and praise. They’re right of course. And they used an awesome performance to drive home the message!

How about you? When you share your brand story or your presentation can you tell a bigger story in your recap?

My first “real” job was working for my Uncle Joe Lewinger, who owned Joe’s Photo in Glen Cove, NY. I worked there after school and weekends from my freshman year in high school through college graduation — whenever I was home on break, there was a job waiting for me.

Uncle Joe was a long-time resident of Glen Cove, had been the high school newspaper photographer, and was a natural to become the city’s most well-known photo shop owner. In addition to Joe’s prodigious knowledge of photography (Note to those under 25: we shot on film, it was processed with chemicals in dark rooms, sometimes it had to be sent away to be processed only to find out that the lens cap had been left on and there were no photos of the wedding!), he had incredible insight into what made a strong brand story. He was a great (and sometimes tough) boss, and a wonderful person. I miss him and think about him often when I work with customers.

Here is a little bit of what I learned about branding from Uncle Joe:

Be the brand. When your name is on the door, people expect to be able to talk to you.

Praise in public; criticize in private. You should tell someone’s supervisor about them when they do something great; tell the person directly when you’re dissatisfied.

Teach your team to be the brand also. You can’t be there 100 percent of the time, but if the team knows how to respond to customers when you’re not there, it won’t matter.

Your brand MUST add value. We sold Kodak film and processing. So did half a dozen others in the area. Joe taught me to load the film into the camera, check the batteries, clean the lens and make sure the customer had everything he or she might need to take pictures. That’s why they came to the store.

Tell the truth. Sometimes photos didn’t come out because the customer made a mistake. Sometimes photos didn’t come back to the store because the processor made a mistake. Sometimes film didn’t come out because I made a mistake. Joe taught me that everything was the same to the customer — he or she wasn’t going to see the anticipated photos. The truth is tough to tell, especially when someone is yelling at you. You have to tell it anyway.

Ask for a second chance; Give second chances. When we made a mistake, we asked for a second chance to make things right. Even if the fault didn’t lie with us — a lost set of photos, for example, Joe would ask forgiveness and provide a fresh roll of film at no charge. When I had neglected my responsibilities and been late to work a few times, Joe told me to take a week and consider whether I wanted to work for him. I did and he took me back.

Clean the toilets. It’s not all pretty prom pictures. Customers may want to visit the bathroom and they don’t want to see it a mess. When it’s your job to clean the toilets, that can be just as important as anything else you do to represent your brand.

One more thing I learned from Uncle Joe: Train your customers how to best work with you, your team and your brand.

This point was driven home one Christmas holiday. During the height of the season — just days before Christmas — the store was packed. As Joe patiently walked a customer through the intricacies of a new camera purchase another customer came in the store. I asked if I could help him and he replied that he wanted to speak with Joe. I let him know that Joe would be a while.  Half an hour and a dozen customers later I again asked the man if I could help him. This time he was brusk, responding that he had already told me he wanted to see Joe. I asked if I could let Joe know what he needed and he ignored my question.

When Joe finished with his customer, he smiled, welcomed the waiting customer and asked him how he could help. The customer handed Joe his camera and told him it had stopped working.

Without missing a beat, Joe turned, handed me the camera and asked me what I thought was the problem. The customer’s jaw went slack, wide open, as I quickly ran through the possible problems, finally realizing that the batteries were dead. I quickly replaced them, asked the customer what type of film he required, loaded, cleaned and returned his camera.

He thanked me, paid us, and hurried off. I was professional, friendly and didn’t get smug.

After he left, Joe said to me: “That’s why I pay you. You are fully capable of helping customers and you know when you need my help. Once someone sees that, they begin to get the idea that this is a business and not just me standing behind the counter.”

How about you? What did you learn about branding in your first job?

Is your marketing collateral a lot like that old Sesame Street game that went,

One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

I’ll bet that if you walked into a conference room with samples of your collateral — business cards, brochures, flyers, posters, eBooks, case studies — and placed them across the length of a table, you would discover that many things did not look like they belonged. And that is a problem. Your marketing collateral is a customer-facing representative of your brand story. Each piece needs to share a high level of consistency with every other piece. Otherwise, you are telling a fractured story.

This was evident to me during a recent trade show we attended where old and new business cards mixed with old and new brochures and banners — all in the same booth — over and over again. It is tough to let go of collateral, I understand, but if you are concerned about the environment, recycle the old materials that do not match — and stop printing so much stuff in the first place!

Because the worst thing that could happen is that prospects see your lack of consistency as a lack of focus or caring.

What do you think?

Image via Wikipedia

During a recent Men’s Bible study, I made a rather secular discovery. It turns out that the Bible can teach us a lot about rebranding.

We were reading and discussing the Book of Genesis — a real soap-opera filled with heroes and villains. As we read about Jacob, who stole the birthright from his older brother Esau, fled and then returned nearly 20 years later to beg his brother’s forgiveness, I was struck by the way Jacob’s story had changed.

He begins as a bit of a villain, stealing a blessing meant for his brother from his elderly, dying father. He then spends almost two decades working for his father-in-law in order to marry his youngest daughter Rachel. Jacob becomes a success, measured in cattle and servants. And he changes. He realizes that he must return to confront and beg forgiveness for his earlier actions.

It is at this pivotal point that the Bible says Jacob, whose name is said to mean “one who follows” then meets and wrestles with the Angel of the Lord. The Angel renames Jacob and says he will now be known as Israel, meaning “one who rules.” And that is the start of another epic story.

So, you may be wondering, what is my point?

My point is that Jacob has been rebranded! He is no longer a thief and a swindler, but a repentant man who shows courage and leadership. His brand story has changed and so has his brand name.

Think about what this means in our marketing world. How many times have we seen the same brand story take on a new company name with little thought of any actual change? A new logo with little change except the colors and identity?

Probably too many times.

But this Bible story highlights a number of things, one of which is this: if you are going to truly rebrand yourself, you had better do a lot of soul searching and make sure your brand story reflects the changes appropriately.

And it doesn’t hurt to have some sort of brand angel help you out.