CEOs need to carry the ball on brand building

This is a time of never … Never have businesses been as challenged as they are today; never have brands been as pressured as they are today.

Not at any time have margins been as depressed as we experience them currently; not once have communication agencies been as threatened as they are at the present time.

Never has creativity been as critical as it is today. Despite this confluence of “nevers”, the conversation between the C-Suite and their communication agency counterparts has, amazingly, never hit the low that is being seen today.

It is in the CEOs’ interest to back-pedal to times where their direct involvement and participation carried a lot of sway, influenced process and outcome.

The job of the CEO has never been an easy one, but perhaps — and more accurately — the job of the CEO has never been as difficult as it is today. With so much transformation, reset, and complexity, today’s C-level executive has to juggle a growing raft of topics and issues.

Every day, less experienced and junior people are increasingly making decisions that impact the revenue and reputation of brands. This is a dangerous practice that is backfiring on the brands — and on shareholder returns — in high stealth mode. Never have C-level executives needed to directly connect and engage with their communication agency counterparts than right now. Here are key underlying reasons CEOs would do well to heed:

Creatives are the people who have built up brands. Back in the day a picture was much simpler to see and analyse. Brands succeeded and failed because of many things, but communication played a critical role.

Good quality communication could never fix product failures, but they did get you goodwill. Bad quality communication prevented brands from delivering their revenue potential, and excellent quality communication brought big bucks.

Evolving tools

This formula has not changed, though the tools have greatly evolved and grown in complexity. CEOs seem to have forgotten this, and many allow this most sensitive of jobs, this most delicate of competencies, be placed into the hands of the inexperienced.

Communication proficiency is the product of an accumulation of knowledge and a lengthy apprenticeship. The ability to see an idea, to judge it, to recognise craft, and to know when to get out of the way, all to enable the development and production of great work.

Yet, decision-making is being left to the uninitiated or the inexperienced. It takes years of apprenticeship to learn, to acquire discipline, to make mistakes, recover and polish.

Such skill and a journey cannot be bottled, nor do they come with titles; they get earned.

Creative people know how to make people react. The practice of creativity produces attitudinal and behavioural changes. This is a skill, which can become a science, and this is certainly an art.

When properly sculpted and developed, such an ability can uncover insight, produce associations and deliver ideas that move people. C-level seniority cannot afford to ignore that or leave it to their juniors to take a call on.

However, this is happening. Although these juniors are hardworking and conscientious, they simply are not qualified to have the final say on decisions that require years of experience to make.

Creativity today has an even bigger role and importance. Life has progressed because of creativity. Whether it was an invention, in trade, medicine or communication, the foundation has been about lateral ideas that were off the beaten track.

Times of great challenges cannot be unlocked except through creativity, and for that, you need qualified people evaluating, developing, helping to grow and providing support. The greater the experience is, the better it is for a brand.

No matter how different the times are, no matter the influx of data and the rise of the business consultancy, it is the wild untried — at times scary — ideas that will unlock growth and bring about prosperity. It takes experience to judge it and confidence to make a call, as well as a great leap of faith. Brand and corporate communications are too important to leave in the hands of junior employees. The CEO needs to revisit communication discussions and participate in the decision-making.

The writer is executive regional managing director at Leo Burnett.