How CX leaders can help build a ‘brand stand’ to drive loyalty
Warren Kornblum’s consultancy is called Shadow Branding, but that came after a long time in the marketing spotlight.
As a CMO for Toys “R” Us and Serta Simmons Bedding, Kornblum had the opportunity to explore customer experience (CX) with consumers as well as other retail partners. His main takeaway is that every firm has a “brand stand” that embodies what it stands for – even when doing so is inconvenient or uncomfortable.
Kornbulm has distilled his reflections and learnings into a book, Notes from the Brand Stand: Thoughts on Emotional Branding from Someone Who Has Fought for Consumer Attention and Won , which was published earlier this year. He discussed the “brand stand” concept with 360 Magazine by phone. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Your career began before we saw a lot of the dedicated CX teams that are in place today. When did you first become aware of the value of customer centricity?
It comes from my late father, who was a salesperson in the furniture business. When I was quite young I would go out with him on Saturdays to visit Leon’s or wherever, and the I saw the relationships he had with his customers and how that drove the business. Then, in the advertising world, you know, you’re kind of one step removed. At the end of the day, marketing is about selling. Otherwise, what’s the point? But if you’re selling, the most important person in that process is the customer. We have to get out of our own way and think like a customer because if you don’t give them what they want and it’s not a fulfilling experience for them, it doesn’t matter how good your ads are.
Your book talks about the concept of the “brand stand” that represents what a company stands for. How much of that is developed intentionally by a company versus what develops organically based on its reputation with customers?
I’m a firm believer that if you kind of lose your way a little bit, leadership can come in and do the right thing to reinvigorate your brand. It’s not a static thing. I think it’s an evolving thing. But again, it all focuses on who are we trying to do business with, how do we do business and how do we deliver? When I talk about purpose, to me that implicitly means you’re making a promise to your customers on what you’re going to deliver, and you have to keep it. And keep circling back to it and having a keen sense of what your brand stand is today. It’s not a mission statement on the wall. It’s the DNA of the business.
What tends to contribute to a company’s brand stand breaking down or falling apart?
The ones that lost their way were often arrogant, and they basically said ‘We’ve been around doing this for whatever amount of time, and we’re No. 1 in terms of market share, and that’s going anywhere.’ Well, that’s not necessarily true. There’s another common thread, which that is things change and we have to change with them. For example, I was in the toy business, and Lego was a huge brand, but if you think about how the world’s gone digitally, you’d think they wouldn’t be where they are today. But they found a way to be relevant to today’s consumer, not just their parents or grandparents. You need to keep earning your place in the market every day, and someone needs to learn how to invite new customers in.
How did you envision the ideal customer experience when you were at Toys “R” Us?
When you’re in the physical retail store, the experience is based on the sales associates, the cleanliness, the ease of shopping in the store. I don’t think it’s any one magical thing. I think it’s an absolute relentless focus on who are the people that are coming in, what are their expectations and aspirations, and how do we fulfill them. Most importantly, in a retail environment, how do we empower the people who are dealing with the consumer to really elevate that experience and deliver on the promise of the organization?
We’re having this conversation at a time when AI hype is everywhere. What’s your outlook on its application in retail CX?
When you talk about it in the context of connection and developing affinity, machines are not humans, and they don’t have those abilities. I think that the organizations that are going to be successful and will focus on having an ability for exercising human judgment in combination with AI. Every organization has to be competent at AI, but if that’s the only competence you have, then it’s a sea of “same,” because everybody has the same tools. That the way you distinguish yourself is through human aspects.
How do you see marketing teams and CX teams coexisting in retail organizations?
I would say that organizations, large or small, that are extraordinarily siloed have a problem, and the problem is that the experience with their customer is not fluid. Earlier I talked about the purpose, and the marketing team is probably the biggest purveyor of purpose. But when you get to delivering on that promise, it obviously sits with customer service, right? If both functions aren’t presented in a way that feels fluid there’s this disconnect, and that disconnect is dangerous. It’s not about what goes on in the boardroom. It’s about the customer experience, and that’s why a customer experience team is critically important.
