Service Can be Branded so it is the Dominant Aspect of the Brand

Organizations that offer their staff's competency or behavior (consulting firms, accountancies, medical care, food services, entertainment, etc.) can make their service their brand. ^[5] When implementing this approach, the service brand needs to be defined in the same way that a product brand is defined: that is, the brand promises, brand values, personality, and so on. Businesses whose products are essentially commodities or ones with built-in deficits can also effectively use this approach.

Southwest Airlines is a good example of this type of branded customer service. Southwest's service is branded as fun and high-spirited, which Southwest staff deliver magnificently. Southwest's style is noted for its comedic and caring personalized attention. Combined with low fares, reliable and clean airplanes, and the ability to stay on time, Southwest covers rather notable deficits in other material aspects of its service, most of which enable the low pricing and the on-time records. You cannot reserve a seat at Southwest, for example, resulting in long lines at the gates. If you don't arrive early, there is a good chance you will occupy a middle seat at the back of the plane. Southwest offers no interline luggage transfers, so if you switch airlines on your trip, you have to transfer your own luggage. There is no first class. No meals are served; peanuts and pretzels are the best you will consume. And some seats are uncomfortably configured so you sit facing other passengers. This enables Southwest to carry six more passengers on such planes. Southwest makes no apologies for the decisions it has made about the quality of this aspect of its service.

Southwest has turned a commodity product (mass transportation) into a desired and successful brand through a consistent and pleasant delivery. We recently overheard two passengers discussing Southwest while flying on United. Both agreed they hated the no-assigned-seating approach of Southwest, but they entertained each other repeating magnificently funny lines delivered by Southwest flight attendants.

Southwest's leaders understand that their brand values can be delivered only by encouraging all their staff to make positive emotional connections with customers. On a recent flight that Paul took from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, he was first amused with the cabin announcement that greeted the passengers: "Buckle up, folks. We're off to lost wages." The authenticity of the cabin crew's interactions with individual customers was even more impressive. As a weary business traveler, Paul was treated quite differently from three young men opposite him weekending in Sin City. On-brand service was delivered in both cases, even though the needs around Southwest's brand values of "fun" and "love" were very different.

Southwest staff are told to be real and authentic, express their individuality, make good judgments, and apply common sense when situations do not fit a defined category. Flight crews frequently do this in a self-disparaging way that says to passengers, "Our secret is that we're all in this thing (uncomfortable air travel) together." It's very appealing.

Customers feel well taken care of because Southwest is extremely clear as to what it is delivering: reliability, low prices, and high-spirited, fun customer service. Southwest began with the idea of creating low-cost airfares for people who could not normally afford to fly. South-west's branded service has been so successful that it has extended its patronage way beyond that market. It now carries more passengers than any other airline in the United States. ^[6] Southwest not only is the world's most profitable airline, it also shares its wealth in a staff profit-sharing plan that is remarkably generous. For all these reasons, the airline is regularly listed as one of the best places to work.

Vodafone New Zealand, like many telecommunication companies today, believes that it can no longer maintain its competitive edge solely through product advances. The timeline on duplication of its mobile cell products by competitors shrank from two years to two months within the space of five years. Vodafone management has concluded that the only way it can create a sustainable point of differentiation is through a defined service experience. Since implementing this strategy, its market share has risen from 19 percent to 52 percent, which Vodafone largely attributes to its investment in service branding.

Nordstrom provides another such example. Basically, all department stores have access to the same goods, so defining the customers that the store wants to attract through product choice is critical. Nordstrom has made a name for itself by focusing on service delivery for upscale shoppers.

Nordstrom staff have also perfected the art of offering "every once in a while" outrageous service experiences that bind their customers to them. Their service delivery at times is so unusual that they are frequently written about in customer service books. There is an ongoing buzz in the marketplace about Nordstrom; an informal group of loyal shoppers even calls its members Nordies. As a result of its unusual delivery of service—every once in a while—and its famous no-hassles exchange policy, Nordstrom generally sells its merchandise at full price, getting by with a minimal number of sales to attract crowds. Nor is it forced to engage in as much advertising as Macy's.

on-brand

Las Vegas radio station Lite 100.5's breakfast announcer, Melanie, relayed a "wow" brand story right before Mother's Day. Melanie had delayed getting her mother a gift, so she called a Nordstrom store in the city where her mother lives and requested that a selected gift be sent. She then lamented that it was too late to have it arrive before Mother's Day. "No problem," said the clerk. "I live close by your mother. I'II drop it off on my way home." Melanie said, "I'm not shopping anyplace else, ever again," as heard all over Las Vegas.

On its Web site, Nordstrom states its brand promise: "We remain committed to the simple idea our company was founded on, earning the trust of our customers, one at a time."

Albertsons, the grocery store, offers yet another such example. Again, a grocery store is basically a commodity business, but Albert-sons has created a strong brand through the service it provides to shoppers. This includes its material service, such as well-lighted, very clean stores and well-laid-out, well-stocked shelves. The stores have great hours. In addition, staff are friendly, they walk you to goods when you ask where something is located, they emphasize how much you saved by shopping with them, and they are also conscious about relieving the pressure of long queues at the checkout. Their brand differentiators are ease of shopping, best promotional offerings, freshness in produce and baked goods, health-care accessibility with a pharmacy, and the best consumer selections. Many of these differentiators are delivered behind the scenes, which is part of Albertsons' service success. And it shows in its customer service scores. The Albertsons in Summerlin, Las Vegas, recently conducted a customer survey and received the highest scores possible—from 100 percent of the customers surveyed! That's unheard of in the survey business.

Berrett-Koehler (BK), the publisher of this book, is also a good example of a developed service brand. While not as well known a name as Random House or Simon and Schuster, for those who know BK, it has a strong reputation as a publisher that lives the values of the books it publishes. Its books share a common theme: offering businesses competitive advantages while making them better places at which to work. BK's service brand is "walking the talk," intense attention, and partnership with authors. Its staff read all its published books, it lavishes personal attention on authors (through its unique author's day), and it encourages authors to have a voice in a variety of publishing decisions frequently denied by other publishers.

The deficits that Berrett-Koehler covers with this type of service and authentic personal relationships are not paying book advances; paying royalties only once a year (and they aren't the highest in the industry); having placements in bookstores that are not as extensive as, say, Random House's; and expecting that authors will be fully involved with marketing their own books. While not all authors like to work this way, big-name authors, nonetheless, line up to work with BK. The buzz among authors who are looking for a publisher is that an agreement with BK is a plum contract and a unique experience in the publishing world.

Berrett-Koehler is a striking example because it also demonstrates how branded customer service can act as an equalizer in the battle for brand recognition. For companies that do not have the resources or the appetite to advertise and market extensively, it is the means by which they can build their brand over time.

Pret a Manger, a UK fast-food sandwich shop, is another strong example of a company that has been able to create an enviable brand within its market segment with no advertising. Pret a Manger's chief executive, Andrew Rolfe, emphasizes that Pret's brand and its business are indistinguishable:

The minute you try and separate the brand from the business it becomes artificial. We're not concerned about having consistency of brand so much as about consistency of purpose that flows throughout the whole of the organization. It doesn't actually matter what we write on the napkins or say through advertising, all that matters is that when you go into a Pret shop you get that set of experiences that describes Pret. ^[7]

The message on Pret's bags is this: "We are passionate about food. We go to great lengths to ensure that the food we sell is fresh, healthy and of the highest quality. Please call about anything to do with our shops, our food or our hardworking wonderful people. The good, the bad and the ugly."

The last time we visited one of its shops and ate incredibly delicious and fresh sandwiches, we asked its "wonderful people," "What's it like to work here?" The response was a happy giggle, a big smile, and "It's great! We love it"—brand delivered.

^[5]The model of Wolff Olins, a UK branding company, suggests that brands manifest their central ideas through one of four means: product (e.g., automobiles); environment (e.g., luxury hotels or luxury shopping establishments); communication or competency (e.g., service organizations); or staff behavior (e.g., food services, public services). As cited in Leslie de Chernatony, Susan Segal-Horn, and S. Khan, "Characteristics of Successful Services Brands" (paper, Market Research Society Annual Conference, Brighton, UK, March 15–17, 2000).

^[6]The most recent statistics show Southwest carrying 9.8 percent of U.S. domestic traffic as of June 30, 2003. This is double its share from ten years ago. Southwest is now facing the challenge of competition from other low-cost carriers that are edging into its territory. Southwest is making changes that it describes as "tinkering with its model." Melanie Trottman, "Snack Attack: Slew of Competitors May Force Southwest to Shift Tactics," Las Vegas Review-journal, December 26, 2003.

^[7]As quoted in Andy Milligan and Shaun Smith, eds., Uncommon Practice (London: FT Prentice Hall, 2002), 54.