A conspirator
At ID Branding, our brand persona is the Co-conspirator.
The brand persona is kind of a character that stands for all of the brand’s values. It gives people a way to imagine how to bring those values to life.
For us, it’s the Co-conspirator. Which means we not only want to work that way with each other, but with our clients.
In fact, if someone can’t be a good Co-conspirator here, they’re out of a job. And if a client can’t be a good Co-conspirator, well, eventually they’ll be out of an agency.
What this means on the inside is that we will not accept any grumbling or bad
Another conspirator
relations between disciplines (or within disciplines, either). And so we ask people, when some kind of conflict arises (as it always will), to go straight to the person they’ve got grumbles about and talk with them, explain the problem and how they feel, and then ask for a more co-conspiratorial relationship.
We were taught this interpersonal technique by the masterful Mr. Thom
Co-conspirators
Walters, who has my undying respect and admiration. And it works.
It’s actually the only thing that works. But it ain’t easy. I mean, in what way are a bunch of bright, assertive, and ambitious people going to find it natural to say “You know when you said that thing you said, well it made me feel this way.” Yeah, right. But they do. Or they try to. And they keep trying.
I’m the worst. Because, as one of the owners, I have my partners beside me and clear sky over my head. I report to no one. Or so I imagine. Actually, I have the whole damn agency over my head, They’re my bosses and I’m responsible to them. Either way, though, I can get a bit, um, impassioned. And impatient. And I need reminding that there’s nothing dictatorial about the Co-conspirator.
More co-conspirators
Why am I blathering about all this touchy-feely emotional stuff? Because, as someone I greatly respect once said, “the more intense the situation, the greater the stress, the more honest I become.”
We’re working to be this honest with our clients as well, in order to subvert the classic “Please me, I’m the client” relationship. Because, frankly, if we don’t operate at a higher level of integrity and courage than the usual agency-client relationship reaches, then
The funniest co-conspirators
we’ll never accomplish the far more aspirational task of building a brand culture together.
This is PhD level work we’re doing with our clients. It requires that high art be brought to how we work together, not just the work we produce together.
It’s pretty juicy stuff, but it’s not for everyone. Yet
The ultimate co-conspirators
we’re pulling off some amazing things with our clients, and with each other. And I am absolutely convinced we would not be able to do it if we weren’t operating like Co-conspirators.
So, a new model of branding requires a new model of working together, I suppose. And I thank both our employees and our clients for helping us invent this new way.
– Doug
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Finally! The tragical story of Saturn’s dastardly demise at the hands of GM is being told in the American pop press. Newsweek’s reciting of the tale (April 13, 2009 issue) will cause any reader to shed a tear – apart from perhaps the Japanese competition, who dodged a somewhat weakly-aimed bullet.
ID-ology 