Branding Update
October 7, 2013

Using the "Branding" Word

Employing the term branding in connection with managing a water or wastewater utility triggers a variety of reactions, ranging from very positive to very negative. The negative reactions are often rooted in the following sentiments:

• Utilities are monopolies and don't have competitors, so there is no need for branding
• Branding is spin, and is designed to fool people into buying products they don't need
• The public will react negatively to utilities spending money on branding programs

Here are some of the reasons why the branding term is appropriate:

Branding Brings Attention to Needed Change - The term gets people's attention, which can inspire utility managers to improve planning, communications, and making cases for investment.

Utilities are Being Branded - Public utilities are being branded whether they like it or not, which means they are being categorized in ways that affect public trust. An example is the often-heard claim that government organizations are inefficient.

The Need for Category and Audience Focus - Branding efforts strive to ensure that a target audience properly categorizes a product's value (safe car, leading energy drink, best smart phone), and ultimately decide to buy the product. Similarly, utilities need to focus on ensuring that policy makers and the influential public (the target audience) trust the utility's planning and investment proposals.

Good Brands are Genuine and Long-Lasting - This is a testament to the power of branding and demonstrates that competent branding is not spin. Utility brands must be true, helping people to accurately categorize the utility's roles and expertise.

The Brand Determines Price - Likewise, perceptions about the utility by policy makers and the influential public ultimately effect rates.

Branding is Powerful and Cost Effective - Utilities need to tap into the power and efficiency that comes with being brand focused. In fact, good branding is more cost effective than unfocused outreach efforts that often fail to make an impression on the "general public."

It's Wise to Use the Term Appropriately - Announcing to the community that you are undertaking an expensive branding program that focuses on logos, slogans, or advertising is asking for trouble. Good utility branding is the quiet process of clearly defining your value and important standards, providing great customer service, making compelling cases for investment, and building meaningful relationships with those who can influence policy decisions on rates and investment.

Branding Update
September 17, 2013

Standards, Brands, and Transparency

Standards are the Essence of a Brand - In past Branding Updates we have discussed the terms above. However, it is interesting to explore how they are related. It turns out that the foundation for a good brand is its standards. These standards can be broad, like Rolex focusing on producing luxury watches. They can be more detailed, like Starbucks making sure the coffee in its stores is a certain temperature or strength. In every case, the value embedded in a product or service is determined by standards. Related terms are specifications or requirements. Regulations are an imposed standard, and failing to comply is a negative branding moment.

Utility Branding and Standards - A utility’s mission and brand commitments are its fundamental standards, for example ensuring water-service reliability, water quality, or public health. However, within each of these categories there are multiple standards that drive activities and proposed investments (and add meaning to the value that the utility provides). For example, stating that a community’s water supply will be climate-change resilient qualifies and enhances the meaning of the water-service reliability commitment. Deciding that each customer-service interaction must create a positive impression triggers the need to define more detailed standards that ensure this occurs. This would almost certainly include a maximum hold time for customers who call to report a problem. Making sure all important standards are identified and meaningful is an essential element of effective strategic planning and communications.

Standards are the Key to Meaningful Transparency – It is easy to think that transparency means sharing everything. But if we ponder this idea for a moment we know it is not true. No utility would go out of its way to share specific dimensions from the drawing of a pump, or the chemical composition of the chlorine product it uses for disinfection. However, utilities share information all the time that is not very meaningful or transparent. Content tends to focus on facts and figures rather than the motivations or standards driving a decision or activity. So, when communicating with the public or policy makers about needed investments or rate increases, the utility needs to articulate the standards pertinent to the recommendations. This must include relevant planning and financial standards. Without this information, the value embedded in the proposal will not be clear or compelling, and there is arguably no real transparency.

Branding Update
August 14, 2013

Focusing on Staff Proficiency

In past Branding Updates we have discussed some of the intricacies of building public trust through a conscious branding effort, creating compelling arguments for investment, and building relationships with the influential public. In case it is not yet clear, this is all about forging relationships. The trust being sought is trust in the leaders and employees of the utility. To build this trust, senior managers and staff need to be well versed in branding and communication principles, and be capable of taking effective action. So, it is essential to think in terms of increasing the staff's proficiency in specific areas.

Key Principles - Understanding the application of branding principles to water and wastewater utilities

Mission and Vision - Fully grasping the difference between the brand, the mission statement, and vision

Transparency - Creating transparency that builds trust...by sharing information that emphasizes the logic behind important policy decisions and investment proposals

Planning - Developing a strategic plan is that is brief, based on the brand, empowers the staff, and communicates the significant standards influencing activities and proposed investments

Relationship with Governance - Understanding and meeting the needs of policy makers

Investment Proposals - Making a compelling argument for an investment or rate increase

Policy Briefings - Creating and adopting a "policy brief" that outlines the information necessary to create a compelling argument

The Need for Investment - Developing an investment imperative that becomes the foundation for connecting with community leaders

Community-Leader Relationships - Systematically building relationships with the influential public

Meaningful Information - Properly categorizing shared information, so people reading the utility's communication materials immediately know what they are reading and why it's important

Focused Outreach - Prioritizing and designing outreach efforts that support policy makers and sound policy decisions

Website Effectiveness - Designing a website architecture that reflects the brand, makes it easy for customers to solve problems, is not loaded with unnecessary information, and provides important facts about long-term planning, needed investment, and rates

Case Studies that Build Trust in Specific Areas - Drafting and sharing return-on-investment and efficiency case studies

Annual Report - Producing an annual report that articulates the "good deal" that the utility provides to the community, using language that conveys relevant facts and is not perceived as self promotion

Opinions about Public Employees - Crafting communication strategies that enhance perceptions of public employees, including their value, professionalism, and compensation

This journey can be described as "practicing principles to achieve proficiency." The good news is that the process of becoming proficient also builds the brand. The result is managers and staff members that are able to increase trust with customers and community leaders, and secure the financial resources needed to fulfill the utility's mission.

Branding Update
July 12, 2013

Unique Aspects of the Brand

Previous Branding Updates have addressed common elements of the utility brand. However, each agency will have aspects of the brand that are somewhat unique. The unique elements will depend on the specific roles of the utility (its mission) and the distinctive aspects of the community the utility serves. For example, a wastewater utility that serves a small affluent community in the mountains with a pristine watershed will have a different brand than the city of Chicago. The smaller utility in the mountains will likely need to have a very strong environmental ethic, resulting in high standards for preventing sewer overflows and ensuring that water discharged into the river is high quality. A sewer overflow is bad anywhere, but it will arguably be viewed differently in Chicago than in Vail, Colorado. And the political issues facing as a large municipal utility are clearly different than the challenges in a small town. These unique qualities and roles must be considered when defining the brand.

Branding Applies to Small Utilities - As noted above, a distinctive quality of a utility is its size. Some may argue that a small utility cannot implement branding because they do not have the financial resources to fund a large outreach program or to even have a full-time communications person. It pays to remember that branding is not just about what you say, but who you are. Utilities, big and small, are being branded due to their customer service, policy decisions, and the way they interact with their communities. This is true whether or not the utility is "advertising" and independent of how many communication people are on staff. Utilities that serve small communities are not exempt from the challenge of building trust with the influential public and securing appropriate investment. In fact, branding may be more applicable in small communities because of the intimate nature of the relationships. Sewer spills can make the front page of the newspaper. A person can call and ask for the general manager of the utility and actually get to talk with him or her. Because of this intimacy, the brand (especially the personal characteristics of the staff) is very important in a small community.

Branding Update

July 1, 2013

Communications and Strategic Planning

Making Communications More Meaningful – Despite the fact that branding is much more than just communications, it is still important to communicate in ways that people can understand. Publicity programs, relationship-development efforts, public-outreach programs, and advertising are all forms of communications. Water and wastewater utilities have a tendency to talk about technologies, activities, and events without reminding the audience how these things relate to the value provided to the community. Making communications more meaningful is an important outcome of good branding. The principal rule is to never discuss an activity, decision, investment, technology, process, or milestone without connecting it to motivations. The motivation communicates value, and these motivations are often one or more elements of the brand. This is illustrated in the following examples:

“The North Fork Reservoir project plan has been approved by the City Council, which is a critical milestone in improving water reliability and drought resiliency in the region. This project will allow our region to weather multi-year droughts with little or no cutback in service.”

“Completion of the water-quality laboratory will allow us to meet our goal to improve water quality and increase our knowledge of water-quality issues.”

This may seem like Communications 101, but these examples make clear the motivations of the utility and the value created by the action or investment. Being able to “weather a multi-year drought with little or no cutback in service” is based on the utility’s reliability promise. It is also an unambiguous statement of value. Conflict is often rooted in misunderstandings about the reasons behind a decision or proposal. Utility managers should not make policy makers, customers, and influential community members guess at the utility’s motivations. Connecting decisions and activities to the commitments articulated in the brand is not dumbing things down. On the contrary, it makes things clear and reduces the likelihood of both confusion and conflict.

Communications and Strategic Planning – It turns out that the concept of meaningful communications is the foundation for a producing a good strategic plan. It is essential for the strategic plan to connect proposed actions and investments with the fundamental promises (the brand) of the organization, and other important standards driving investment decisions and influencing priorities. These other standards are major regulations like the Safe Drinking Water Act, or might be internally generated ethics like improving water quality or increasing knowledge about water-quality issues (as highlighted in the example above). So, the strategic-planning process needs to be as much about identifying and clarifying standards as it is listing proposed actions. This is not a trivial exercise, but it is well worth the effort. Connecting activities and investments with the pertinent brand promises and other motivations demonstrates integrity. It also provides the meaningful transparency necessary to build trust and make compelling arguments for investment.    

Have a Fun-Filled 4^th of July!

Branding Tasks and Brochure

Building the utility brand impacts all facets of the organization. It begins with understanding the power of branding and the brand elements that support sound policy decisions on rates and investment. The attached Resource Trends brochure briefly covers many of the tasks associated with defining the brand, and integrating it into planning and outreach efforts.

Resource Trends Brochure

Branding Update
May 20, 2013

Simple Concepts, Big Change

Although there are subtleties to branding and it takes experience to implement a competent branding program, the principles are fairly simple. After all, it’s not profound to say that a water utility should provide water reliability and protect public health, or that the utility’s staff needs to be trusted with respect to planning and finances. However, there is a big difference between these ideas being very familiar and successfully building trust with policy makers and the influential public. For example, you won’t build a reputation for efficiency unless you systematically share information about efficiency improvements with target audiences. Similarly, building a strong financial brand requires being transparent with respect to financial motivations, standards, and decision making.

Ultimately, the biggest challenge for utilities is that implementing a branding approach usually involves considerable change, typically with respect to the information they share and the community relationships they strive to create. Success requires an appreciation for the substantial benefits of branding, which in turn fuels a commitment to do things differently. The positive outcome is a sizeable change in how the utility and staff are perceived, and a more dependable process for securing investment and rate increases.