How to become a leading global brand

I looked at the list of the 2016 Best Global Brand Rankings, I could have guessed and gotten it right – Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel, BMW, Coca Cola, you know them. Quite an inspiring list. But I didn’t see an African company there. Was it an omission? Africa has great companies or don’t we? Well, may be and may be not considering the fact that we are talking about global brands here and not just a national or even continental thing. If it were Best National Brand Rankings, the likes of Zenith Bank, Dangote, MTN and Glo would have surely made it to that list. But then you know Google, Apple, Microsoft, Toyota, Coca Cola and BMW would have still been there. And that’s why they are called global brands. These are companies that command the respect of people around the world. The ones others want to be like.

So I thought what could be behind this great status of being a global voice? What makes a brand compelling globally? Considering the list it is not about the industry or evolution or country of origin because the brands all differ along this classification. The only remarkable thing was that none is of African origin. I don’t think there is any law somewhere written or unwritten that states, ‘no global brand shall rise from Africa.’ So ladies and gentlemen, we have a situation here and that is to put African and more specifically Nigerian brands on the list of globally respected brands.

So how do brands attain a global status and how can any company achieve that. What do global brands share in common? I will highlight them here:

They command employee loyalty

Loyalty is the force behind profitability and growth. You have to first command the loyalty of your people, your own employees before you can think of commanding the loyalty of customers locally or globally. If you consider the companies on the global best brands you will notice they also made it into the list of the best places to work. Now the list of the best places to work is based on feedback generated by employees. Leading brands take employee engagement very seriously. They create the atmosphere that makes it possible for their employees to make optimal input.

You can’t bully your people into submission to your brand. You don’t make them submissive to your brand by compelling them to wear your branded T-shirt and wrist band; neither can you achieve that by threatening to sack anyone who does not follow instructions. If you want to gain your employees loyalty, first you will have to genuinely respect them, respect their decision and even respect their right to make mistakes. Your people can’t produce their best in an environment of fear. If they are tolerating your leadership because you are the boss then you don’t have their loyalty. In a work environment dominated by suspicion, they will at best do what they can to keep the job and move on as soon as they can. You can’t build a loyal workforce that way.

Some business leaders believe that whatever they do to get the people to work is okay. After that they can use adverts to get people to buy from them. Well, your own results should show you how effective that ideology really is. If your own people do not submit to your brand how can you expect a market to do so? If they do not trust you, how can the market trust you? Your employees are your greatest business asset and your first obligation to them is to help them share in your vision. If they are going to work with you they need more than money. They need to feel respected, valued and trusted. They need to feel like people who are a part of something meaningful, something big and something that will outlast them. So if you are looking at becoming a global best brand you will have to secure the loyalty of your own people first.

Therefore before you air another advert on television, ask yourself this simple question: have I sold this to my employees really? If your answer is no or not absolutely sure, then it’s time to convene a board meeting and ask yourselves, are we truly loyal to our own brand or are we loyal to the money it can make us? If we are to do this business for free would we still go ahead? This is because chances are you don’t even believe in your own brand! And if you are not, you cannot expect anybody to. It’s like a company which makes shoes but the directors buy theirs from someone else and tell others to buy from them. That’s ridiculous!

And that leads me to something else every leading brand has.

They have a compelling vision

What is a brand without a vision? A brand is a vision in display. For leading brands, a vision is more than the desired future position of their company; it is the very spirit of their enterprise, the tie that binds them together. It is more than a traditional written statement; it is their only guide in the mucky waters of business.

Clearly all the leading global brands have compelling visions. None of them is centered on making money. They are in business to create value, value that lasts. It is to that value that people submit their loyalty. Google envisioned being a perfect search engine, so when they hire a staff it is to this vision they point at. This is what they want them to see. The loyalty of their staff to this vision makes the value they create possible. It is this value that commands the loyalty of the world and not otherwise. You can’t buy loyalty with money. The currency for loyalty is value. But to co-create value with others they need to see where you’re going to. Otherwise how can they follow?

 

Brian Reuben

Brian Reuben helps business leaders optimize performance and make more profit.

@brianoreuben