CEO Today - June 2022

John Davis Photo: Wikicommons - Rajasekharan Parameswaran Leading the Way as Truly Radical Organisations Brands 5 What is a radical brand? In other books and articles, I have defined a brand as ‘the entire organisation as experienced by its stakeholders.’ In comparison, a radical brand is ‘an organisation that creates societal good as experienced by its stakeholders.’ The distinction ‘creates societal good’ is important because it means a brand must do more than just sell products and services people want. It must also positively impact society. You might argue that producing things people want is technically good for society since it satisfies a need. But that fails to recognise the adjacent impacts created by the development of those things. It’s important to understand this because the concept of brand has changed significantly in the 21st century. Traditionally, brands were products and services that gained awareness through a combination of ads, slogans, and logos. But that approach often obscured the underlying business practices used to create those products and services, many of which were destructive to the planet and people. I might love my new car and the image it helps me convey (inspired by decades of advertising and image cultivation) but its production activates a chain of connected inputs from suppliers of raw materials, technologies, parts, and logistics, whose respective production requirements initiate their own cycle of activities that contribute to negative environmental impacts.

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