Guest Post Revisited 10 Years Later: ‘Live, Protect + Strengthen the Brand’

There are many forces that drive business growth and endgame equity. Here’s a guest post from Bill Carew, one of the smartest, hardest working business builders I’ve known, who along with business partner, Brian Driscoll, grew a 3-person business we first branded in 1995 (and rebranded 2 times since) into a major national player that’s been fully acquired. Read Bill’s thoughts, reposted here from an article that appeared in the former TMSC Journal, about how creating a strategic brand foundation and narrative has provided the means to live, strengthen, and grow a satisfying business and professional life. T-

Guest Post by Bill Carew, October 16, 2012; reposted October 26, 2022

I have always been infatuated with the power of strong brands.   Since we started this business 10 years ago, we tried to build an organization—and a brand—that reflected who we were as individuals and what we thought our customers valued the most:

– Integrity
– Service
– Creativity
– Commitment
– Innovation
– Excellence
– Positive Energy
– Passion
– Personality

Ovation Benefits Group - 10 Years of Innovation, Thomas Marketing Services Corp Journal

I learned to appreciate the power of the brand by working with branding guru Tom Lanen of Thomas Marketing Services Corporation (aka: ThomasBoston), who taught me about brand equity and the need to constantly and continuously protect and preserve and strengthen your brand.  “Protect it at all costs,” Tom said.  “Be true to yourself—and true to the brand. Always.”

Ovation Benefits Group Logo w/tag

At first, we focused on building the brand through traditional marketing.   We focused on the tools we use to tell our story, things like our name, logo, tag-line, website, collaterals, etc.  And we built a solid foundation.

But Tom also taught me that you build equity every day with every little decision you make along the way, which sounds simple and easy.  But if you are growing, how do you continuously protect and preserve and strengthen the brand when more and more people get involved?

That’s where brand becomes culture.

We are in the service business, and our brand is really our people.  We have built our brand by building our culture to attract the people who reflect our values and our priorities in the market: integrity, service, creativity, commitment, innovation, excellence, positive energy, and passion.

We have been very lucky to attract the right people.  But we’ve been purposeful as well.  It doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s been almost 10 years now, and I think we’ve done a pretty good job. When people think of Ovation, they think of these qualities.   And that makes me proud of our brand, and proud of our people.

Thanks, Tom.

Reposted with permission. Originally posted on the Ovation Nation Blog

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