Image Trouble

The Berkshire Hathaway annual report, written by chairman and CEO Warren Buffett, is another character-expressing annual report. Investment guru Buffett gives his views of the market rather than states how wonderful his company is. (Also, Buffett, in adopting the policy of no stock splits, has created a wonderful character-expressing communication -- a share price that as of June 7 was $15,550.) In the University National Bank & Trust annual report, CEO Carl Schmitt uses his statement to teach his readers how to evaluate the performance of the bank, and he includes extra data, like average balance sheets, which he believes are important in determining bank performance. The report includes a bar chart, mixed in with the rest of the graphs, showing the number of pounds of Walla Walla sweet onions given away to the bank's customers each year. The 1991 annual report states, "As this onion reflects the pinnacle of excellence among sweet onions we seek to be the equal among banking and trust institutions." The unabashed expression of smart-as-a-fox eccentricity is a common attribute of character-expressing companies.

Companies that express character, ever on the lookout for opportunities to differentiate themselves, are more likely than other companies to integrate the various design disciplines (architecture, interior design, product design, document design, and interface design) deep into their company's performance. Traditionally, design has been applied as styling, to boost distinctiveness without improving function. Examples are the tail fins on Detroit's cars, opulent conference rooms that hinder group work, and fancy binders housing miserably organized documents.

A good example of performance-driven design was the Honda Civic, a car designed from scratch under cryptic instructions from management: "Man-maximum, machine-minimum." That direction ultimately led to a break from the conventional wisdom of cars with long, low styling. Honda adopted what it referred to as the Tall Boy concept, a design that resulted in a car short enough to park and tall enough to get into and out of easily, and one that also provided a much better view of the road.

In computer-interface design, a classic familiar example is the Apple Macintosh, created collaboratively by techies and graphic designers, and introduced in 1984. The desktop interface of Apple's operating system has given the company an almost decade-long product advantage in the fast-changing personal-computer industry. (IBM users are finally getting an approximation of Apple's advantages through Microsoft Windows.)

Image positioners can come to believe in the efficacy of seeming to be without truly being, and that can impede meaningful organizational change. Slogans can be mistaken for action and lip service for follow-through. The exaggeration of trivial product differences and wide gaps between image and reality become accepted. It's no wonder the patently sensible advice to pay close attention to one's customers is being touted as a "paradigm shift."

Patterns of behavior built on image positioning are difficult to see and hard to break. Image positioning becomes embedded in underlying assumptions, organization structures, and standard procedures. Consider a newly developed mission statement that declares, "We intend to become an oasis of superb service." Management Team A, made up of believers in image positioning, would use the statement as a slogan, repeating it at every opportunity in front of employees and customers. It would also hand the mission statement to the marketing department to provide the basis for image-positioning efforts. Finally, after a marketing campaign, it would test for customer perceptions that the company provided superior service. Positive results would be taken as evidence that the mission was being fulfilled.

Management Team B, made up of believers in character expression, would look at Team A's actions and realize that it was making little progress toward mission fulfillment, that repetition of a mission is merely a claim in disguise, and that to become a genuine oasis of superb service that team needed to fundamentally rethink how to provide the service.

Team B would make the mission known only within the company, so that image would not get out of line with reality. It would make sure that the mission was seen as an agent of substantive organizational change and would focus on such things as organizational structure, so that the ball wouldn't be dropped between departments. It would focus on the training, motivation, and empowerment of frontline personnel to ensure consistently superb service. As the reality fell into place, its expression would emerge naturally out of genuine enthusiasm and pride. Doing comes first. Public attention, often through the media's recognition of a company's newsworthiness, follows.

Character expression is hard to learn for those with faith in image positioning. However, it is a natural for young, nimble small companies. While the initial investment in developing character is significant, so are the long-term payoffs. Character instills pride in the organization and teaches employees how to behave when no one is looking over their shoulders. It delights customers, who refer new business, and journalists, who write good things about the company. Together, employees, suppliers, customers, and journalists become an unpaid but highly credible sales force, reducing a company's expenses for promoting itself.

Marketing through the expression of character not only builds trust but also provides protection to a business franchise, because unique character is difficult to emulate. Image-positioning competitors are tarred by comparison; they are not organized to deliver a higher standard of satisfaction; and they are blinded to new patterns of behavior by their inability to distinguish the making of image from the expression of character.

Peter Laundy is a principal with Laundy Rogers Design, a New York CityÑbased consulting firm specializing in designing marketing communications.

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