United We Brand
A brands’ higher purpose
We live in emotionally draining times. An endless spiral of divisiveness is encouraged not only by the shrill so-called “mainstream” media but the subsequent amplification of angst and fury in social media. The golden promise of citizen journalism has given way to the prosaic pseudo-activism of armchair outrage. Facebook has morphed into a virtual echo chamber that swings between righteous middle aged political complaint and soothing baby animal videos. This is a sad but necessary step as we move through our adolescent phase of ubiquitous connectivity. I am an optimist. We shall overcome.
In time, we will get bored, exhausted, or both. Time changes everything. Someone intelligent and qualified may ultimately win the US presidential election, Brexit negotiations might slow to not-really-possible-but-hey-we-tried, and yet the world will still not be perfect. And we will move on. We always do. Volatility will continue. We will get used to it, as has a younger generation who has known nothing but the continuous instability and fluidity and opportunity of hyperconnected life. We will discover, as they have, that it’s just more fun to spontaneously leap into one another’s everyday moments, that it’s more satisfying to share the everyday joys and sorrows than it is to sing bold and ultimately ineffective proclamations to the choir. This will be progress. Because real life is not an election or a trade negotiation — it is a series of small moments (and occasional big ones.) Sharing them, and sharing in them, is the most human and humane thing we can do.
Not that trade negotiations and politics don’t matter — of course they do. And it is indeed our hard-won right to participate in civic life in whatever way we can. Self-expression is a kind of participation. But let’s stop kidding ourselves. Action is better. Daily action. Daily practice. In all that we do.
The vast majority of us aren’t living privileged lives of leisure, so for most of us, most of all that we do, we do at work. This is not a bad thing. Indeed, there is meaning to be found in this basic fact. It is at work and by working that we enact much of our impact on the world. (By the way, I include parenting and caregiving in my working definition of work.) So work can indeed be a vehicle for broader social and environmental change and thus, work and by association business, can be a vehicle for good.
This is not to suggest that business by default is a force for good. But the source of the world’s problems can also be the most effective source of their solution. Business is not inherently bad, any more than humanity is inherently bad. As an optimist I am a resolute believer in the goodness of human beings. Business, ultimately, is human.
Still, our better nature tends to thrive when we have direction, inspiration, unity of purpose. Humans are social — we need a feeling of belonging to something as much as we need light, air and fuel. The problem these days is, the act of belonging itself is often by definition exclusive. No political leader or party can unite us all. They can barely unite their members. Religion — also a remarkable and perhaps essential human invention — has the same hardcoded limitations that politics has. Yes, there’s more space than many people realize for interfaith and ecumenical empathy, but by definition, both religious and non-religious identity require specificity of belief. So neither politics, nor religion, nor lack of religion — all of which play a role in our understanding of ourselves and our social bonds — are, as practices or entities, able to effectively reach broadly across diverse communities to unite us in common purpose.
Brands can. Especially those brands that have scale or long term legacies, that serve broad and varied segments of people, regardless of cultural, religious or political affiliation. Brands by definition are shorthands for reliability, trust and quality. Increasingly, the most valuable brands are signposts for values and beliefs that not only help them to stand out, but that serve to attract employees, partners, investors and customers. Those values and beliefs can manifest through driving social and environmental sustainability, taking an inclusive approach to hiring and promoting for diversity, or its leaders championing social justice.
This is core to our approach at Kodak as we drive an epic brand and business comeback. Indeed, Kodak’s brand is one of the company’s most valuable assets. The word Kodak and its red “K” logo continues to be one of the most famous, trusted and recognized brands in the world. As we’ve studied Kodak’s salience and reach, we’ve learned that despite the company’s setbacks years ago, the fame and the trust that the Kodak brand earned during more than a century of imaging and material science leadership continues to span countries, cultures and even age groups. This is an opportunity. And not only for the company — it is an opportunity to reinvigorate people’s engagement with Kodak and perhaps more importantly, with each other, by encouraging and empowering artistic expression, sustainability, literacy, and the ability to improve the world for all through science and creativity. Lofty words indeed, and ones that we at Kodak have chosen to live by.
Brands occupy a unique position in contemporary life. They can effectively transcend our differences in ways that other dimensions of society cannot. Great brands engender everyday commitment — after all, we pay for them, and subsequently live with, work with, bathe with, drive and consume and wear the brands we choose. I’m not suggesting brands become holier-than-thou. Brands can bring us together with a light sense of humor or a celebratory sense of occasion.
Taking the high road is nothing new. Consider the following: Go forth. Think different. Just do it. Connecting people. Belong anywhere. Every little helps. Impossible is nothing. Share moments, share life. Uplifting slogans are memorable, but when they drive every aspect of an organizational behavior, from sourcing, financing and logistics to product development and employee engagement, something altogether more powerful emerges. Business becomes a force for positive change, while the business’s brand becomes a north star — for all stakeholders.
Your brand is more than a marketing asset. Your brand can be a uniting beacon that inspires us all to find common ground.
