Bill W’s 1000 Year Brand
June 5, 2008
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fascinating organization to study. Despite having no formal infrastructure, a main office, etc. it has become an amazing success story.
According to Ori Braffman and Rod Beckstrom, the authors of the “Starfish and the Spider”, the “secret” to AA’s success has been a core ideology shared by others - and strong spiritual leaders. The authors opined that this is also true with any successful organization.
Using some of the 12 Steps first defined by AA, there are lessons to learn related to marketing and branding:
- We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
This is understanding the reality of your brand - you are what people perceive you as. This doesn’t mean changing how you are perceived (like many companies try to do with advertising), but truly changing your core.
- Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
No sacrilege intended, but the “Higher Power” in branding is the customer. Today’s customer has the power to grow or kill your brand.
- Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
This is simply turning your business over to your customers whenever possible; surveys, product feedback, R & D, marketing, et al.
- Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
This means have a strong commitment to corporate integrity; being transparent and open. This includes your customers, employees, vendors, and other stakeholders.
- Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs (also applies to 6, 7, and 8).
If you screw up, admit it. Don’t hide behind a safely worded press release or some other form of corporate spin.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Through technology, we have the opportunity to have 1:1 relationships with 1000s of people - i.e. our customers. This means if we make a mistake or just want feedback, we have the tools to communicate directly.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
This is my favorite one. This means find your brand core and be true to it in every situation. It also means promoting not just your products or services, but the Simple Idea behind your organization.
These concepts dove-tail nicely with our premise that the key to a 1000 Year Brand starts with a strong vision and a sense of legacy. In fact, one of the foundation questions we ask when helping someone find their brand core is “If you/your business was a church, what is the ONE thing you must believe to be a member?” In addition, AA’s principles match our “3Rs” of branding: reality, reputation, and recognition.
Again, this analogy is not intended to trivialize alcoholism or the process of recovery. It is to learn from the simple brilliance of Bill W’s original idea - how it changed lives, grew with no direct over-sight … and above all things, stayed relevant.
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