FreeThink: Kitchen07: Branding Through Story

FreeThink: a blog published by Maxwell PR

Kitchen07: Branding Through Story

I have to say straight-away that there's no way I'll be able to capture the spirit and enthusiasm of the On Your Feet team in this blog. Gary Hirsch and Julie Huffaker are two of the most engaging and energetic people I've ever met or heard speak at a conference, of any sort, and participating in their session was an inspirational treat.

The general aim of On Your Feet is to help companies figure out what they stand for and how they're gonna get that across - to everyone. But the cool part is the way Gary and Julie (and the rest of the On Your Feet-ers) have figured out how to pry these truth nuggets out of top level execs and help them create actual actionable plans and programs to make sure they know who they are, that what they're doing conveys who they are and that the stuff that contradicts who they say they are doesn't get swept under the rug. Oh, and did I mention that they do it through improvisation? Like, "Whose Line is it Anyway?" improvisation? I told you they were cool...

One of the activities they took our group through went like this:

1) Tell a story of fact about your organization that is often told and says something about who you are as a company.

2) Figure out what it says about who you are as a company.

3) Figure out some examples of things that happen in your organization that are contrary to who you say you are as a company.

4) Think about what you could do in the future to be more who you say you are as a company.

5) Think about what freaks you out about those things and figure out how to do them anyway.

All of the On Your Feet activities are designed to help companies BE more of what they SAY they're about. It sounds pretty simple but I imagine that in multi-national companies with leadership spread far and wide there can be a pretty big disconnect between what you say your company stands for (customer service, efficiency, innovative solutions etc.) and what you're actually doing (putting people on hold, taking forever, doing the same old thing for a billion years).

On Your Feet is onto something and they've developed processes to get people up, talking, laughing and, almost miraculously, hitting the nail on the head.

- Erica

posted on April 30, 2007

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	This spirited, open forum by Maxwell PR staff members, studio mates and colleagues features people who are, in our opinion, doing the right things to get people talking. You'll see us rave about organizations building communities and rant about those who are missing obvious opportunities. We sprinkle in a little marketing and PR rhetoric from time to time for extra vigor and enthusiasm, and will share observations and insight based on our own experience honing our craft every day.

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