Ib&cc chandradeep mitra

Winning Share-of-Heart :

Turning Employees

into Brand Advocates

Chandradeep (CD) Mitra

PipalMajik / IIM Calcutta

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What is Share-of-Heart Marketing?

Why is it important for us today?

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Recent Research proves that

almost all human decisions,

including Brand Choices,

are largely emotion-led

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With increasing clutter,

competitive choice & complexity,

brand choices are increasingly being

driven by emotional heuristics

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So today the only path to win

Share-of-Market,

Share-of-Wallet,

& Share-of-Mind

is through…

Share of Heart!

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This is even more important in the

Service & Experience economies!

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The not-so-secret

powerful weapon to

win Share-of-Heart is…

Your own employees!

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By turning employees


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Learnings from marketing guru

Sergio Zyman

Ex-CMO of Coca Cola

Author of ‘End of Marketing as we know it’

& ‘End of Advertising as we know it’

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“Everything Communicates.

Every brand contact with the customer.

Even what you don’t do and don’t say.”

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“Customer Service & Relationship Management

are becoming the biggest brand-building tools.”

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“How your employees behave with

your customers hugely impacts your brand.

And how you treat & train your employees

impacts their behaviour with customers.”

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A Few Relevant Questions

• What are the external benefits of having Employees as

Brand Advocates?

• What are the internal benefits of having Employees as

Brand Advocates?

• How do we convert Employees to Brand Advocates?

• Any real-life examples and learnings?

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The External Benefits of having

Employees as Brand Advocates

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“While many companies recognize the value of a

powerful brand, they often overlook the critical role

employees play in shaping relationships with customers

and instead focus solely on external communications

such as advertising, direct mail, and the like.”

Michael Dunn

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“Employees can make or break a

customer’s experience with your brand.”

Scott M. Davis

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“Focusing efforts on marketing communications alone

is failing to fully capitalize on the

knowledge & enthusiasm resident within organizations,

and also setting up for brand and business challenges

ranging from disenfranchised customers

to loss of shareholder value.”

Michael Dunn

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On-Brand Employee Behaviour

Meaningful Long-term Customer Relationships

Sustainable Organisational Profitability

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Employee Alignment vs.

Corporate Profitability

• Fortune article (2002) – high correlation between

employee alignment with Brand & company profitability

• Most of “Best companies to work for” enjoy stock returns

well above industry averages

• Companies like Apple, Harley Davidson, Lowe, Southwest

Airlines, Starbucks…

• University of Michigan study (2001) – annual loss to

McDonald’s due to demotivated employees poor service

customer defections = $ 750 Mn

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The Internal Benefits of having

Employees as Brand Advocates

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Employees as Brand Advocates –

Internal Benefits

• Provides tangible reasons for employees to believe in a

company, keeping them motivated and energized

• Shows each employee how he or she can help deliver

the brand promise to customers and their effect on

business goals

• Develops pride of fulfilling the brand’s promise

• Facilitates recruitment as well as retention

• Confirms that the customer & brand are the key focus

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How to turn Employees


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“Making the brand

the central focus of the organization

clarifies for any employee

what is ‘on-brand’

and what is ‘off-brand’.”

David Aaker

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• Not about creating short-term buzz

• Needs long-term top-level commitment

• You cannot ‘market’ false claims to your own employees

• Seniors have to ‘walk the talk’

• Genuine ongoing commitment to organization’s brand(s)

• Alignment with company’s vision, mission & values

• Organisational Culture has to reflect Brand Promise

Prerequisites for turning

Employees into Brand Advocates

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What is required to turn

Employees into Brand advocates? • Employees have to understand the brand meaning & its

translation into observable actionable behaviour

• Deeper brand understanding creates ownership & satisfaction

trickling down to customer experience

• They need to buy into, believe and own the Brand Promise

• Leverage the power of true stories

• Identify Brand Champions – recognize, motivate, empower them

• Need to ‘live’ the brand – every employee, every day

• Track & manage employees’ Brand Advocacy intent & behaviour

• Sustain & refresh drive for ongoing alignment with brand

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United Breaks Guitars!

• Super Hit song

• Crossed 5 million Youtube views in 1.5 months

• # 7 viral video of 2009

• No. 1 hit in iTunes within a week

• 2 free guitars from Taylor guitars

• Second super hit song

• HBR article

• Marketing case study

• 10% ($180Mn) loss of shareholder value!

• Dave Caroll : Country singer Customer Service Guru!

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