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The Woodies have a blog. It’s a kind of collective. Not sure we’re about to start a revolution baby, but we might kindle a small debate or two and perhaps raise a smile. Anyway, rather than just blogging corporate Woodreed by fielding our top Woodie (as so many other companies seem to do in a thinly veiled attempt at impressing with their profundity), we wanted all our individual voices to be heard. An agency’s most valuable assets are its people after all. Everyone’s got something to say here and with us everyone’s ideas and opinions matter.

Each week someone different will be blogging. It's mostly about stuff that rocks our world as well as the flipside – the things that just don't cut it with us. We'll blog about inside and outside – inside this glorious industry where we work and outside in the real world.
It's a bit of an experiment, so go with us on this one.

Hope you enjoy.

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Apple’s Core

There have been two seminal moments in the world this week. Firstly, Apple added a trophy to its cabinet by becoming the world’s most valuable brand, toppling Coke’s 13 year reign of Interbrand’s yearly Global Brands Report. The consequent rise in Apple’s stock price and press furore surrounding the result illustrate the importance of brand.

Secondly, this week marked my fourth week as a Graduate Trainee at Woodreed. My time here so far has been a master class on everything brand, focusing in particular upon Woodreed’s belief that getting the brand inside the company right is as important as outside.

A company finding their brand and making it clear to all people within is a great achievement. But one thing that has interested me is how important it is to have everyone within a company understanding and living the brand. When I say everyone I don’t mean just a couple of people from HR, but everyone from the CEO and Managing Directors to the mail boy and person who cleans the loos. And this is where I am worried about Apple. According to Interbrand Apple is clearly passing on its brand outside of the company, but what about the inside?

For the last couple of decades Apple stores have been synonymous with passionate staff, seeing them cheering and celebrating on launch days shows how much they are engaged with the brand. Further evidence of Apple’s past internal brand engagement is Steve Jobs’ Mission Statement for Apple from 20 Years ago, which read:

‘To make a contribution to the world by making tools for the mind that advance humankind.’

I N C R E D I B L E, no wonder Apple employees from the ground up were inspired with this kind of belief from the top.

But what about today? Well the in store staff’s belief in the Brand is currently so strong that they recently managed to sell the highest spec iPad to my notoriously frugal Father. But how about higher up within the company? Steve Forstall and his team with their unfinished map debacle last year-I’m not sure. CEO Tim Cook? Hmm, how about his Mission Statement for Apple?

‘Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.’

To me that is more like an Encyclopaedia description of the company, not the piece of inspirational writing from Jobs. So I advise the heads of Apple to have a 4 week training with Woodreed, read the thought pieces from Woodreed’s website and see the great effects having a full company of people singing to the same tune can have. Then they can prove that they are not just a tech company but once again a company making a contribution to the world that changes mankind.