By N.D. Brown
The 5th Dimension told us – actually sang to us – that the funky years in the late 1960s and early 1970s were the Age of Aquarius. It was all peace and love. No one spoke of brands, or brand equity, or brand positioning.
Well, Aquarius has passed and we have entered the Age of the Brand. Hundreds of thousands of words are printed and read every year about all the mysteries of the word brand.
What does the word mean?
How important is it?
What’s my brand worth?
How do I make my brand important?
Wait a minute. Do I even have a brand?
I titled this article “O” because I think it is not only a brand but it is a perfect example of what a brand is, what it can represent, how important it can be, and what it can be worth.
“O” is Oprah Winfrey. There are those who love her, who are suspicious of her, and probably a good number who hate her and her brand. But no one can argue about her impact.
I have written before how American women suffer from lack of self respect. It is one of the many reasons there is a glass ceiling. “O” is a brand that addresses those issues.
If you work with female executives, are a female executive, or want to be a female executive, you should make the next book you buy and read “LEAN IN” by Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook. It is one of the best discussions of the American female struggle with self-respect that I have ever read. It is a subject I have been preaching and practicing how to overcome for years.
Oprah has built a brand around it, and we all know the success Oprah has had building that brand.
Oprah doesn’t make anything. Oprah doesn’t really sell anything. Yes, her name is headlined on many things: a magazine, a cable TV network, variety of self-help books…but all of it is written by or produced by others and all of it is under the umbrella “O”, her brand.
Oprah started as a small business and she really didn’t even mean to. She was just a talented young woman who wanted to be a success.
As her celebrity personality grew, she started to understand what her brand could do. How the Oprah brand could not only address the problem she saw with under confident women, but, it could help them work within themselves to become more fulfilled women.
Oprah’s TV network – OWN – produces two very different series which demonstrate how Oprah uses her brand.
One is called Master Class. Accomplished people talk to the camera and discuss how they mastered their craft. There is no interviewer to lead them; they casually discuss how they overcame their fears, found mentors, and succeeded.
The other is called Next Chapter. It’s more of a traditional celebrity interview similar to, but different than, Barbara Walters’ interviews. Oprah does interview each guest, but while Ms. Walters probes into the tabloid headlines, Ms. Winfrey probes into the self-worth of the guest.
The point to all this discussion is what is your brand and what can you learn from “O”.
Like many males, I was aware of the Oprah phenomenon but I had never actually watched the daytime Oprah Winfrey Show from start to finish. When a flu bug of huge intensity decided to take up residence in my body, I was forced to set aside my type ‘A’ personality work schedule and stay home to be cured.
I slurped the proverbial homemade chicken soup elixir while my wife ran her errands, folded clothes, took my temperature, set appointments, and cleaned the house, all the while ‘sharing’ her daytime TV shows with her patient.
Between sneezing and coughing fits, I watched the Oprah Winfrey Show from opening to final credits. I thought, perhaps, I was seeing a unique phenomenon. I watched woman after woman open up about how each felt about herself and her life. Some were sad. Some were joyous. All were from the heart.
My interest in the Oprah phenomenon was aroused and my flu bug needed another day to be exorcized. So I stayed home for another day and watched another show. The first one was not unique.
Oprah was selling her brand. I immediately knew this woman could sell anything because her brand was empathy. She let every woman know that if she watched the Oprah Winfrey Show, she would learn from someone who cared about her.
I became a believer.
As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I have been advising clients for years about the strength and importance of women. I explained that we had passed through the “Age of Aquarius” and had entered the “Age of Brand” and with it came the “Age of the Power of Women”!
Up until my Oprah exposure, my advice to my clients was mostly financial. I explained that women controlled household money; they controlled corporate money; and they were opening small businesses faster than men. Ignoring them was dangerous.
I learned there was more to the story.
My clients needed to make their brands mean more than dollars and cents. Their brands had to develop the empathy that Ms. Winfrey brought to her brand.
It isn’t easy but it isn’t hard either.
Answer these questions:
Do you think your brand exhibits that it cares? – Not saying but actually doing it?
Do your employees know that their job is to make sure every customer knows they care?
What have you done in the last few months to associate your brand with a cause that cares?
Do your employees and your customers know your story? – The story of you, as well as your company?
Are you honestly listening? – To employees and customers?
Do you have empathy?
____________________________________________________________
N.D. Brown is a Principal of Brownchild Ltd., Inc. that is located at 3754 Sunset Boulevard, Houston, TX. 77005. You can reach him by phone at 713-807-9000 – work or 713-822-8370 – mobile, by email at don.brown@brownchild.com, or on the web at www.brownchild.com.
