So, what is it you really do?

In our most recent post we gave a list of 11 questions that could form the basis of what we call “Vision and Values” sessions. Unpacking these will always bring the unexpected to the surface, sometimes in a way that can change your own perception of the business you’re in. Let’s look at the first of these:

What do you do as a company? Not just what do you supply, but what do you really do!

This whole subject is hard to discuss without taking an example, so let’s use Apple as being a company we all know. What does Apple do?

One simple answer is that they manufacture and supply computers, another ‘mobile phones’ and then there are ipods, iTVs, laptops, tablets…but what else do they do?  Software, of course…and drilling down you may get, “we make hardware and software that’s easy to use” and that’s where the fun starts…

Let us explain:

Several months ago we talked about the need to consider and include IQ, EQ and SQ in everything we do to identify and promote our brand and our products, IQ being the facts, EQ being the emotional response to those facts and SQ being the moral and ethical foundation to both brand and product. We need to do the same when asking what we do. The IQ is that Apple makes computers etc., the EQ is that it’s easy to use, that it makes non-techy types look clever. Apple’s SQ under Steve Jobs was that you could somehow trust Apple whatever…

So, the simple question “What do you do as a company” has a myriad answers, and that’s just the start of it, because the answer will almost certainly differ depending on which of the eight potential groups of stakeholders we suggested last time that you’re asking.

With all that in mind why not spend a little time considering your own feelings about Apple, and how what you see them doing in terms of product / service / market positioning / advertising and general brand management fits in with your perception of what they actually do. Is there a match?

Then do the same for your own business and see how that match looks. Then call in Brand51!