THE CRITERIA FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVICES BRANDS

Leslie de Chernatony
Professor of Brand Marketing
Birmingham University Business School
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Tel: Int. Code +44 121 414 2299
Fax: Int. Code +44 121 414 7791
e-mail: L.Dechernatony@bham.ac.uk
Author for correspondence

Susan Segal-Horn
Professor of International Strategy
University of Kent Business School
University of Kent
Canterbury
KENT CT2 7NZ
Tel: Int. Code +44 1227 827405
Fax: Int. Code +44 1227 761187
e-mail: S.L.Segal-Horn@ukc.ac.uk

November 2000

Paper submitted to European Journal of Marketing

 THE CRITERIA FOR SUCCESSFUL SERVICES BRANDS

Abstract

There are surprisingly few valuable services brands, which may be due to the lack of services

branding knowledge and the inappropriate use of product based branding advice. To

contribute to services branding knowledge we firstly undertook a review of the services

management and services branding literature, followed by depth interviews with 28 leading-

edge consultants. We found a need for ruthless clarity, not just about the positioning of the

services brand, but equally about the corporation’s genuinely felt values. Success is more
⼀点
likely when everyone internally believes in their brand’s values. When management

behaviour is based on genuine conviction, shared values are likely. Through shared values,

there is a greater likelihood of commitment, internal loyalty, clearer brand understanding, and

importantly, consistent brand delivery across all stakeholders.

Keywords

Services; brands; criteria for success

1
 1 Introduction

In the services sector it is common to see firms following a monolithic branding strategy

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terrors
(Free 1996). Yet, as services corporations extend their portfolios, they gain from the inherent

brand equity of awareness and possibly goodwill, but dilute the corporate associations and

raise expectations about their new offering, which may not be appropriate. This may be one

of the reasons why there are so few successful services brands (Kochan 1996). One can only

speculate since in this sector, which accounts for over two thirds of developed economies

GDP (Lovelock, Vandermerwe and Lewis 1999), there is a paucity of published advice. By

contrast, considerable guidance is available about strengthening product based brands (e.g.

Aaker 1996). While there is much published about the differences between products and

services (e.g. Cunningham, Young and Lee 1997), this is little of value when seeking to

successfully develop services brands.

总
Building on earlier work (XXXX, 2000), we seek to show factors critical to the success of a
Outline
services brand. The paper opens with a review of the relevant services management and
en
services branding literature to understand the problem of developing successful services

brands. It2then considers inferences about the development of successful services brands.
retro
We describe the research context of in-depth interviews with 28 services branding consultants

and report our findings derived from their perceptions of specific criteria that contribute to a

successful services brand.

3_
Their recommendations for successful services brands are

亠
discussed and the implications for the management of services brands are considered.

2
2 Literature Review

This brief literature review will discuss relevant insights from the services management and

services branding literatures.

2.1 Services Management

Many writers regard the ‘service encounter’, the moment of interaction between the customer

and the firm (Lovelock, 1988; also known as ‘the moment of truth’ see Normann, 1984)

representing the defining issue in the management of service firms. Bitner, Booms and

Tetreault (1990, p.71) argue that ‘the service encounter frequently is the service firm from the

customer’s point of view’. Yet often front-line employees are not trained to understand

customers and do not have discretion to ensure effective responses. Furthermore customer

facing staff may be relatively poorly paid, resulting in low levels of motivation and

responsibility (Bowen and Lawler, 1995). This can be disastrous for the services company

and its brands.

Products are easily copied by competitors; service is not. Since service depend on the culture

of the organisation and the training and attitudes of its employees, it is more difficult to build

and sustain successfully but is more difficult to copy (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985; Doyle,

1989). Indeed Doyle stated that “service is perhaps the most sustainable differential

advantage” (1989 p.87) in building successful brands.

Heskett (1987) argued that service management practice could be of interest to a much

broader audience. Some of the specific practices which he identified included: close co-

⼀
ordination of the marketing/operations relationship; an ability to direct the service vision not

3
⼼ stakeholders
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just toward consumers but to focus on staff responsible for delivering that vision; control of

quality by means of shared organisational values. He saw this as part of an iterative and self-

reinforcing process necessary to the successful management of services and service

organisations. The stages in this process are shown in Figure 1.

TAKE IN FIGURE 1

The Process of Successful Services Management

Quinn and Paquette (1990) reported that such a self-reinforcing services management process

which was demonstrably dependent on employee commitment required that service

organisations be stood on their head, and the whole organisation needed to ‘work for’

customer contact staff, in order to help them make the most of their service encounters with

customers. Gilmore and Carson (1996) support this since they argued that a service

organisation relies more heavily on its customer service management than does a product

organisation. These arguments represent a development from Levitt’s (1972; 1976) argument

for a ‘production-line’ approach to service, stressing the need to increase productivity and

technical intensity in service organisations. More recent writers on service management

(Bowen and Lawler, 1995; Heskett, 1994; Bitner, Booms and Tetreault 1990) while

recognising the importance of services operational efficiency have shifted the emphasis

towards matching efficiencies with systems and procedures which enhance employee

effectiveness. For example Bowen and Lawler (1995) suggested that empowerment of front-

line staff is a more profitable approach than a production-line focus, because it emphasises

the equal importance of both operational procedures and employees’ state of mind. These

empowerment practices must include sufficient power, information and rewards. Lack of any

4
of these hinders empowerment since employees don’t have the necessary means for

exercising their discretion on the customer’s behalf.

In summary, a set of related issues relevant to this research can be highlighted. The centrality

of the service encounter; that the service vision is delivered to consumers by service

employees; the need for responsiveness in front-line staff; the mechanisms, such as

empowerment, by which such responsiveness may be attained and that effective service

organisations may fruitfully be regarded as reverse hierarchies. All these points have

relevance to services branding, as will be explained in the analysis of our findings.

2.2 Services Branding

A holistic brand image integrates entities such as values, colours, name, symbols, words and

slogans. Berry, Lefkowith and Clark (1988) argued that once an organisation establishes a

favourable brand image its main task is to ensure consistency. They further argued that since

service companies often follow a monolithic branding strategy, consumers mentally group all

the corporation’s portfolio together, expecting uniformity, thus management of brand

consistency is even more important.

⼆
Although there are differing interpretations of “brand”, it is not the definition which

distinguishes product branding from services branding, but the executional strategy (de

Chernatony and Dall’Olmo Riley 1999). The interpretation of brands as a promise has been

adopted by several writers (e.g. Ward, Light and Goldstine 1999; Ambler and Styles 1996)

and is particularly appropriate for services. Ambler and Styles (1996 p.10) define a brand as

“the promise of the bundle of attributes that someone buys ….. the attributes that make up a

5
brand may be real or illusory, rational or emotional, tangible or invisible” Although we can

continue to regard services brands as clusters of functional and emotional values,

nevertheless, because of their intangible nature, it is especially important to capitalise on

clues associated with their physical evidence in order to communicate their values (Onkvisit

and Shaw 1989; Zeithaml and Bitner, 1996).

When interpreting services brands as promises, marketers often draw heavily on the classical

product branding model, emphasising raising customer expectations through advertising.

Due to the dependence on staff, it is difficult to ensure consistent standards to meet raised

expectations, and quality shortfalls may frequently occur. Zeithaml and Bitner (1996)

identified five quality gaps and stressed that for these to be closed, a company-wide

perspective was necessary.

Classical product branding assumes an internal quality controlled value delivery system

unseen by consumers. By contrast the value delivery system for services brands is visible to

consumers, who are active participants.

Gronroos (1990) explained how this problem can be turned into an opportunity. He argued

that customers’ services quality perceptions consists of what they get (the technical outcome)

and how they get it (the service process). In some cases branding activity has concentrated

on the technical outcome (common in financial services), as opposed to those (e.g. The Body
运
Shop) who have focused on the service process, recruiting staff whose values concur with the

desired organisational culture and who are committed to behaving in a way associated with

the brand promise. Emphasis on the process (common in hotels, airlines) should encourage a

consumer-focused culture within which staff interaction with consumers may be the basis of

a strong services brand.

6
Although Levitt (1976) proposed greater industrialisation of services processes, replacing

human activities with technology, more recent research (Heskett 1994; Free 1999) argues

against the wholesale replacement of staff by technology, believing that competitive

advantage can be gained by staff being freed from routine tasks to concentrate on dealing

with non-routine problems. A mechanistic approach can demotivate good staff and attract

employees unable to respond to atypical customer requests. As Kotter and Heskett (1992)

reported, there is a likelihood of better performance where staff are aware of their

organisations’ values. Understanding these values, and recognising their roles, reduces

employee stress and increases commitment to delivering the service brand (Heskett 1987).

Successful services brands also depend on good internal communication programmes

(Cleaver 1999) enabling greater consistency delivering the service experience, regardless of

the customer’s point of contact (Camp 1996). Having well designed induction and training

programmes, creates greater commitment, which is an important component in services

brands (Farnfield 1999).

Awareness of organisational culture and heritage helps managers identify principles that give

the brand a genuine basis for a customer valued positioning (Camp 1999). Managers

therefore need to identify organisational principles from which a credible cluster of services

brand values may emerge. Although consumers are beginning to understand some services

brands, especially those which encourage the formation of relationships (Cleaver 1999), the

absence of strong services brands, indicates these relationships are underdeveloped compared

to product brands (Fournier 1998).

It may be helpful to summarise the main points from the literature review of relevance to this

research. Brand consistency is particularly important due to the popularity of a monolithic

7
 branding strategy. Many services branding issues require a company-wide approach to their
⼀
solution and implementation. Such issues include: closing service quality gaps; a focus on

internal and external stakeholders, including staff; a need to monitor the whole service

delivery process and the role of strong organisational values in motivating staff to deliver the

services brand. Services brands remain under-developed.

3 Research Aim and Methodology

We investigated the views of services branding consultants in order to increase knowledge

器 __
about what makes a services brand successful. We focused on senior consultants advising

clients globally about services branding, since they are at the forefront of application, have

gained considerable knowledge and experience and are influencing tomorrow’s services

branding agenda. Our aim was to appreciate what senior branding consultants saw as being

critical for a services brand to be successful.

Our research was exploratory in nature, seeking to elicit consultants’ views within their

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frames of reference, without imposing our preconceptions. The most appropriate method to

achieve this was in-depth interviews (Goodyear 1990; Gilmore and Carson 1996). We

identified consultancies in brand, advertising, design, marketing/management and market

research, then either wrote to the Chairman/Managing Director where we did not know the

name of the most senior services branding consultant, or approached consultants directly.

Although based around London, the respondents specialised in advising national and

international clients on branding issues. Consultancies were selected for their high profile in

the services branding press, frequent presence at branding conferences, books or papers

written on the subject, or expert recommendation. We also interviewed a management

8
journalist recognised for his visionary ideas about brand management. Of these 28 interviews

(typically Chairman, Managing Directors or Directors), our sample consisted of 9 consultants

in advertising, 5 in design, 5 in marketing/management consultancies, 4 in brand

consultancies, 4 in market research agencies and a management journalist.

A topic guide was developed and each interview was around an hour. The interviews were

recorded, then transcribed. This paper discusses responses to the topic: “What are the

characteristics you associate with successful services brands?” Respondents were encouraged

to talk as much, or as little as they wished, only probing to seek clarification and to explore in

detail their comments.

Content analysis (Krippendorff 1980) was conducted independently by both authors. Within

the context of the aim and following Miles and Huberman’s (1994) framework, the two

authors noted patterns and themes in the data, drew links with previous literature and

identified categories relevant as criteria of success for services brands. The authors then

compared their independent analyses and the concurrence score was calculated at 91%. Inter-

research differences were resolved through discussion and reference back to the

transcriptions as suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994).

4 Findings

The most often raised criteria for succeeding with services brands is having a focussed

position, followed by consistency.

__
Recognising the limitations of tabulating qualitative

findings (Gordon and Langmaid 1988), Table 1 provides an overview of the broad multi-

mention themes.

9
 Take in Table 1

Table 1 Themes associated with successful services brands

4.1 Focused position

As Trout and Rivkin (1996) argued, societies have become over-communicated, with

consumers being overwhelmed with data. Differentiating, then choosing between competing

brands is becoming more challenging for consumers (Dibb and Simkin 1993; Shimp 1997).

To facilitate consumers’ choice processes, it has been argued that brands need to be

positioned in the minds of prospects so they can instantly associate specific attributes (Ries

and Trout 1986). This recommendation was echoed by several consultants. For example,

“Clarity is probably one of the key words in service brands --- about what the brand stands

__
for in terms of the minds of the people that are buying it” (design consultant). But the point

was made that the positioning should be understood by both consumers and staff, “Clarity

would be the first thing – a very clear view on the part of the owner, and therefore on the part

of the customer, or potential customer, what the thing is for” (brand consultant).

The seminal paper by Miller (1956) on limitations of people’s cognitive capabilities led to

recommendations for simple communications about brands. This was echoed by the

consultants who often used terms such as “clarity”, “absolute focus”, “few words”, “clear

interpretation” and “ruthlessly articulate”. However, consumers do not just interpret a

brand from advertisements and for successful services brands “every interface with that

organisation has delivered things in a very consistent way “(design consultant). This

necessitates staff fully understanding “what the brand is supposed to mean --- because it is so

easy for things to vary you can’t allow any tolerance” (advertising consultant).

10
A further implication of the limitation of people’s cognitive capabilities (Antonides and van

Raaij 1998) is the need to major on a low number of associations. A brand consultant used

the low number of associations as a criteria for brand success, ie “the consumer no longer

asks if Direct Line (UK telephone insurer) is cheap or whether First Direct (UK 24 hour

telephone banker) is available”. Another brand consultant was critical of services brands

“trying to be everything to everyone ----they have tried not to exclude any images and not to

exclude any features”. Yet, as Aaker and Shansby (1982) stated “the positioning decision

often means selecting those associations which are to be built upon and emphasised and those

associations which are to be removed or de-emphasised”, (p56).

Rossiter and Percy (1997) argued that crisp positioning statements should concentrate on

associating a brand with a benefit. This was reinforced by a brand consultant talking about

helping grow a hotel brand though re-defining its positioning amongst staff as “providing

away from home experiences”. Staff had earlier conceived their brand as being about

capacity management and the new positioning contributed to a new style of staff behaviour.

Three consultants spoke about positioning services brands inside the minds of staff. By

ensuring staff appreciate the unique advantages of their brand, they better understand how to

support this. As a brand consultant said “its much more important that the brand achieves

reality within the minds of the people delivering it because they are the brand in the service

domain”. An advertising consultant spoke about the importance of clarifying “what are we

here to deliver and what makes us special”, and interlacing this with a more strategic

perspective of what is the brand’s vision. Having completed such analysis and formulated a

strategy another advertising consultant spoke about implementation being dependent on the

clarity of internally communicating the positioning. As he observed “when you are talking to

11
thousands of people they have to be able to understand what it is you want them to do”. To

keep the staff message simple, his consultancy has a model consisting of a roof as the

positioning and ideally about four pillars that are the “broad themes the company is going to

follow to implement the roof”.

Doyle (1998) clarified a process moving from segmentation to targeting to positioning to

develop a focused strategy that might outperform competitors. Four consultants spoke about

successful services brands “having a clear idea about who your customers are and what their

needs are” (advertising consultant) so “you can focus on these needs” (management

consultant). A design consultant was cautious about taking segmentation data at face value

“as an individual has a variety of roles --- father one minute, DIY person another minute and

a leisure person another minute”. For him services brands thrive when they are able to

encompass a target market which exhibits a variety of lifestyles. Ultimately a powerful brand

positioning, argued a brand consultant, must “overcome inertia” to switch people from

competing brands.

As markets mature and competition grows, it becomes more difficult to identify attractive

brand positionings (Hooley, Saunders and Piercy 1998). Two consultancies had moved

beyond the concept of positioning. An advertising consultant spoke about philosophy as “a

bigger concept than the positioning of a brand”. Some service brands “represent a point of

view, or philosophy” that allows them to develop into other areas which are consistent with

that philosophy. Orange (international mobile telephony) stands for more than just a

positioning in mobile telephones, he argued. It has challenger qualities, a brightness and

newness associated with it that “would allow it to make a credible extension into banking or

other utility services” where it would offer a different, and welcomed view in a market of

12
complacent players. A marketing consultant drew the distinction between positioning and

revelation. Positioning depends on consumer research to identify attractive positioning,

however, he was critical about corporations’ superficial assessments about how capable they

are to deliver the positioning, in addition to the naivety in thinking Marketing Departments

could change firms’ internal structures and the behaviour of all staff. By contrast in

revelation, research is undertaken focusing on the “original genetics of the business” to

“ascertain what there is in your people in the way they behave, what it is about your

product/service you can use branding to make more apparent to your market place”. The

example was given of an established Dutch bank seeking to develop a brand identity. Its

history was that of a co-operative bank which helped farmers invest their capital after each

harvest. This origin gave rise to a culture of staff having time to serve and advise customers.

Having rediscovered this point of difference, work was undertaken to reinforce this culture

and a visual identity developed around the theme of having more time for customers.

While some authors stress the importance of brand building which majors on unique cultures

(eg Mitchell 1997, Ind 1998, de Chernatony 1999) the concept of revelation is but one

technique which places the emphasis on internal issues.

4.1.1 Issues Arising From the Theme of Focused Position

The findings in section 4.1 suggests a number of issues in support of the importance of a

focused position. A focused position will be demonstrated by a short, concise statement

based on the brand being associated with a restricted number of benefits as, for example, in

the model of a roof (positioning) supported by four pillars (themes). The selected benefits

must be clearly communicated to both staff and consumers.

13
In terms of positioning, services brands must use clarity of focus to attract customers from

competitor brands. Indeed successful services brands often move beyond positioning to

encompass a philosophy which the service brand embodies. Such an underlying philosophy

must contain or reveal the genuine cultural attributes of the organisation (“revelation”) and

then be represented to both consumers and staff. Successful services brands thus evolve from

a unique culture which is revealed both in the brand and in the attitude and behaviour of staff

as they represent the brand to consumers.

4.2 Consistency

Consistency was seen as being almost as important as having a focused positioning in

successful services brands. As many others have observed (eg Lovelock, Vandermerwe and

Lewis, 1999) services marketing presents the challenge of variable quality through

dependency on staff. This was mentioned by eight consultants, and is summarised by an

advertising consultant: “The single most important and most difficult factor is achieving some

kind of consistency in the experience that consumers have of the brand.” Later we explore

themes for ensuring consistent staff behaviour, but it is worth considering the views of two

consultants. Both argued that consistency could be encouraged through systems. For

example, the way the UK telephone insurance company First Direct uses IT to get

representatives to ask, in almost a mechanical manner, a few questions to help locate the

caller’s details on their database. Once confirmed, the support of the database facilitates a

more personal interaction. When developing support systems for staff, the organisation needs

to consider how these can be implemented across all points of customer contact. The

example was given of a holiday company’s representatives who are well recruited, trained

14
and motivated, but within two weeks of arriving in a resort, their behaviour lapsed because

there was no support system.

Brands, succeed through a consistent approach across stakeholders, not just consumers

(Kapferer 1997). Related to this, an advertising consultant spoke about the values of a

successful mobile telephone brand and how these led to coherent sets of activities when

dealing with ecological, staff and consumer issues. By contrast a bank with its corporate

values was cited by an advertising consultant which had totally different styles of staff

behaviour between its overdraft services and mortgage services, even though consumers

perceived these as the same brand.

One of the service quality gaps (Zeithaml and Bitner 1996) is attributed to expectations from

communications not being met by staff’s behaviour. Six of the consultants spoke about the

need for greater consistency between communications about the services brand and staff

behaviour. As a market research consultant stated, “Their ability to deliver what they say

they are going to deliver ---------- that consistency is one of the attributes of a successful

services brand.” Walt Disney (American global media and leisure company) was cited as

being successful because of the way they “walk the talk” (advertising consultant). A design

consultant praised the communication-staff behaviour consistency of First Direct, noting “if

an envelope falls through the door, the feel, style and logo are all consistent and then you get

a consistency reinforced in the phone call”.

In an era of greater concern about integrated marketing communications (eg Duncan and

Moriarty 1997, Kendall 1999), two consultants spoke about the need for consistency within

the promotions mix. For example, a design consultant spoke about airline travellers picking

15
up messages about an airline through many points of contact and the need to ensure a

consistent brand narrative.

While the majority of comments about consistency related to internally managed aspects of

staff behaviour and communication, two consultants argued that successful services brands

have consistent perceptions amongst consumers. A market research consultant spoke about

“Critical mass -----sufficient people believing the same kind of things about the brand” and

another market research consultant spoke about “everyone has the same impression, so a

consistency of impressions about what the brand stands for”. Models exist to assess

consumers’ brand perceptions (eg Cowley 1991; Aaker 1996; Hart and Murphy 1998; Keller

1998) from which managers can devise strategies to enhance consistency.

4.2.1 Issues Arising From the Theme of Consistency

The discussion in section 4.2 suggests successful services brands depend heavily on

achieving consistency in all stakeholders’ perceptions and experiences of the brand. We

stress stakeholders, not just consumers, since the consumer’s experience is dependent upon

consistency of understanding throughout the whole chain of activities in the organisation. As

a result of this, successful services brands have systems designed to encourage consistency

between the brand’s values and staff behaviour, as well as consistency between external and

internal communication and staff behaviour.

16
4.3 Values

The third most apparent theme about successful services brands is that they come from

organisations which have a clear view about their values, with a “culture which is focused on

doing the right things for the customer” (management journalist). It is well understood that

values drive behaviour (Reynolds and Gutman 1988; Buchanan and Huczynski 1997). The

consultants referred to values driving behaviour in two separate ways: first as a point of

⼀
difference, stimulating a unique style of staff behaviour; second as a source of motivation for

staff. However, while some spoke about developing values that excite staff to deliver “above

and beyond the call of duty stuff because they are passionate and believe in the organisation”

(design consultant), others were more cynical. For example, “a lot of stuff about living the

brand and values and culture is actually manipulative” (management journalist). Some (eg

de Chernatony 1999; Thomson 1998) have argued for more emphasis on in internal branding,

ie getting staff to understand and be committed to delivering their brands’ values. To succeed

though, it is important to have commitment throughout the organisation. As a management

journalist observed, often “the Board itself hasn’t adopted these ways. It’s not living the

brand, it’s expecting staff to live the brand. So it’s all phoney and of course people can see

through it immediately.”

Several routes were suggested for capitalising on brand values to motivate and encourage

consistent staff behaviour. An advertising consultant, who noted “there are problems with

this living the brand thing as it’s got a slight totalitarian edge – you know, you will think this,

your values will be this”, suggested “not to ask your staff to live the brand, but to act it”.

The Disney organisation was given as an example of this, where “one knows its honest

acting”. Such an approach has proved successful for several organisations, but building on

17
the comments about revelation in section 4.1, we believe that when another competitor

appears with values that are not superficially enacted, but are genuinely believed by staff, this

will undermine established players.

Two consultants provided further points negating the acting strategy. An advertising

consultant argued there are service brands “that have a genuine set of brand values and those

that have a set of brand guidelines.” Managers, he argued, need to spend time evaluating the

extent to which their brand values are superficial, since only by defining genuine, deep values

can behaviour, innovation and brand communication evolve. Another advertising consultant

argued that strong brands are based “not simply on good business principles, but a set of

personal convictions” (cf the comments in 4.1 from a different consultant concerning

“philosophy brands”). Echoing Collins and Poras (1996), he argued that businesses based on

convictions are more successful than those solely driven by profit.

An advertising consultant felt successful services brands are more likely when staff are

recruited who are passionate about service and join a culture where this passion is embedded.

In his opinion this is sufficiently important that “you need a passion first and then the

process – if you’ve got the process and no passion, you’re done for”. He and a management

journalist both felt that a driving passion from the founder or senior managers encourages

staff to reflect this in their behaviour.

What has emerged from the consultants is that staff are critical in services branding and by

recruiting staff whose values are broadly aligned with the brand, there is a greater likelihood

of succeeding. As a design consultant explained, sustaining a competitive advantage through

staff will necessitate strategies to encourage them to want to stay with the firm as “internal

loyalty will be a big issue for services brands in the future”.

18
4.3.1 Issues Arising From the Theme of Values

Successful services brands are characterised by organisations with core values which are

deeply embedded. When these values are enacted with conviction by the organisation’s

management, they are more likely to result in genuine staff conviction. Once again staff

attitudes and behaviour are shown to be critical for successful services brands. A deep, rather

than superficial, service culture is more likely to avoid the potential pitfalls of cynicism in

living the brand’s values.

4.4
sfnz.M.IS
Systems

The issue of systems was mentioned earlier when we considered the importance of

consistency. Not surprisingly therefore, the consultants’ comments about the broad theme of

systems are mainly concerned with insights into how they contribute to ensuring consistency.

Partly as a result of the significant growth in the services sector, many firms have systems

that once were suitable, but are now less appropriate (Hammer and Champy 1993; Mitchell

1997). One brand consultant argued that some firms are reluctant to change or even review

their systems. With their systems “being stuck in the mud”, their brands will be overtaken by

those more receptive to new business systems. As a management consultant argued,

“information technology has a huge role to play in services brands ……… unfortunately a lot

of people don’t understand how they can use IT”. Part of the problem, suggested an

advertising consultant, is that too few have “articulated a system that recognised what

matters and deliver on it”.

Good supporting systems which increase efficiency will soon be “hygiene factors” (market

research consultants), which are necessary simply to remain competitive. What will be a

differentiating factor is the extent to which staff understand the nature of their brand and
19
appreciate their role and the systems role in supporting it. This was made clear by a brand

consultant who indicated cases where emphasis had been placed not on the supporting

systems, but on enabling staff to appreciate the nature of their brand.

4.4.1 Issues Arising From the Theme of Systems

In the short term, successful services brands will be associated with firms that install

appropriate supporting systems for staff. However, that is a necessary but not a sufficient

condition for successful services brands. In the longer term success will come through staff

fully understanding the nature of their brand and being able to support it through consistent

styles of behaviour. Therefore whilst services brands need supporting systems, allowing staff

to rapidly communicate with each other, and which provide customer-facing staff with up-to-

date information, consistent delivery of the services brand also depends on understanding the

nature of their brand.

4.5 Other Themes

Several other themes emerged although at lower levels of frequency.

Some consultancies have models to help develop their clients’ services brands.

Unfortunately their details were withheld, due to their commercial value.

Having good internal and external communication was mentioned by some as important.

However, as a market research consultant stated “but it’s consistency which is the most

important thing” thus suggesting that consistency between internal and external

20
communication was the overriding consideration. The call to action was also made by a

management consultant, arguing “The business goes into some kind of misconception that

because it is talking about the brand and because it’s sort of understood the philosophy, that

it is finished and there’s no change required”. His point was that “there’s this apparent

illusion of activity, whereas beneath the surface nothing has changed”. Thus there is a need

to monitor the impact of communication on actual behavioural changes and help staff

recognise areas where change is sought.

Adding value through innovative ideas was seen as a way of strengthening services brands.

As the consultants noted, this did not have to be a quantum leap, but incremental

enhancements, eg “people holding an umbrella as you go to your car when it’s raining”

(management consultant), However, as a design consultant noted, to be effective the

innovation should also be accompanied by new forms of staff behaviour so that “by doing

something in a different way that is stimulating and enjoyable, they’ll start to think and throw

out different thoughts”. In this way staff contribute to the continuous cycle of services

innovation.

Three consultants spoke about the quality of the relationship between the brand and

consumers as being important. One specific theme emphasised by a management consultant

was the need for a continued relationship throughout the extended consumption chain of the

services brand (eg holiday, restaurant, flight) “managing the customer relationship through

both negative and positive experiences”. This multi-faceted perspective on relationships was

also discussed by the other two consultants. A brand consultant explained, “successful

services brands are a bit like your ship and they moor you to their quay with lots of rope -----

but if there are a number of bonds it’s more difficult for the competitor to cut one”. To his

21
mind, having a portfolio of brands offers more ways of developing relationships. An

advertising consultant argued “quality of relationship first and foremost because it is

intangible there is not a kind of product performance reinforcement going on”. Using a

current consulting project he spoke about how the services brand relationship is based on a

series of factors such as staff behaviour, the firm’s stance on certain issues and consumers’

perceptions of each.

Services brands were seen as no different to product brands when it comes to the importance

of having emotional characteristics, which “makes people feel good” (advertising

consultant). One contributor to brand success, argued a design consultant, is managing the

emotion evoked by the brand at each point of contact with consumers. This was echoed by

another advertising consultant who saw services brands as a blend of “what you do and how

you do it” characteristics, and that “successful brands have both worked out ‘how to do it’

and then trains, motivates and tells its staff how to do it”.

It is widely accepted that successful brands are based on a competitive advantage (de

Chernatony and McDonald 1998) and two consultants spoke about “some basis of

distinctiveness which is sustained over time and the brand can lever”. A new insight to

successful services brands is the idea of company-wide commitment. As a brand consultant

explained, it’s not just designing a logo, but rather gaining the commitment amongst all staff

to support the brand. Reinforcing this, a design consultant commented “the biggest

challenge is within the internal audience to believe in the purpose of this organisation to

deliver the attitude”.

22
4.5.1 Issues Arising From Other Themes

In these further themes it is noteworthy that staff contribution is mentioned in relation to each

element. In managing the link between internal and external communication; in contributing

to the continuous cycle of services innovation; in managing the relationship throughout the

extended consumption chain of the services brand; in managing the emotion evoked by the

brand at each point of contact with consumers; staff behaviour is paramount within each

element. Successful services brands are therefore characterised by a company-wide

commitment to ensuring that the emotional relationship across all points of consumer contact

is consistent. Company-wide commitment is needed to achieve consistency between the

communications for a successful services brand and the nature of the brand, with internal

communication explaining, encouraging and reinforcing appropriate staff behaviour.

5. Discussion and managerial implications

For services firms seeking to improve consumer perceptions of their brand’s and enhance the

successful management of services brands, this study has generated implications based upon

insights from leading-edge consultants. The key themes strongly reflect the major points

reviewed from the literature, in particular those points emphasised in the service management

literature concerning the service encounter, the motivation of staff and the

marketing/operations interface. This study has integrated this dispersed literature and shown

its application in services branding.

The most frequently mentioned theme associated with successful services brands is a focused

position with a well-specified, but limited number of selected benefits. Focused position was

23
strongly linked with communication, to ensure comprehension amongst both staff and

consumers. Clarity of focus can provide a key competitive tool to attract customers from

competitors’ brands. At its best, clarity of focus will move beyond simple positioning of the

services brand and perform in addition a ‘revelation’ function. Revelation of the genuine

cultural attributes of the organisation should be what the services brand is built upon. In this

way the brand captures the link between market position and organisational values. It is the

channel by which the genuine values and culture of the organisation are demonstrated

externally to consumers and internally to staff. The services brand should be the vehicle for

consistency between the external and the internal, as well as understandings shared by both

consumers and staff.

Consistency was the second most frequently mentioned critical theme. It must extend to

encompass the experience of the brand by all stakeholders not just consumers. There must be

common perceptions of the brand amongst all stakeholders. Staff are especially critical

stakeholders since brand consistency is dependent upon understanding of the brand

throughout the organisation. Successful services brands are more likely from organisations

whose systems are designed to encourage consistency between the brand’s values and staff

behaviour, as well as consistency between external and internal stakeholders.

Values was the third most frequently mentioned critical theme. Managers are encouraged to

avoid a cynical manipulation of organisational values but instead to represent core values in

their own behaviour. Other themes which emerged such as emotion and commitment,

reinforce the message that organisations with superficial core values cynically manipulated

by management are unlikely to encourage genuine staff conviction. Once again staff attitudes

and behaviour are shown to be critical for successful services brands. However the point that

24
is being stressed here is the responsibility of managers in creating an organisational culture

where management commitment precedes staff commitment.

The view that emerged was that systems were a necessary but not sufficient, condition for

success. Whilst systems that allow staff to rapidly communicate with each other, and provide

customer facing staff with up-to-date information are fundamental, systems alone will not

deliver successful services brands. That depends on consistent behaviour which in turn

depends upon shared understanding of the brand’s values.

In considering the remaining themes arising such as communication, relationships, emotion

and added value, staff contribution recurs as an important part of each theme as, for example,

in managing the link between internal and external communication.

To summarise a number of critical factors stand out. There is a need for ruthless clarity, not

just about the positioning of the brand, but equally about the genuine values within the

organisation that the brand represents. Such organisational values must be reflected in people

believing the same kinds of things about the brand. Shared values are more likely to arise

when management behaviour is based on genuine conviction which should result in

commitment, internal loyalty, a clearly understood internal brand and the ability to deliver a

consistent approach across stakeholders. It is clear that staff are crucial in services branding

and that staff commitment has to precede consumer commitment.

Other studies (Bitner et al, 1990) have emphasised the importance of staff knowledge for the

constructive interaction of staff and customers. Managers have the ability to influence the

level of knowledge available to customer-facing staff; therefore systems must be designed

primarily as staff enablers. Service staff have a disproportionate impact on consumers’

experiences of services brands. Managers in turn have a disproportionately large role in

25
ensuring that knowledge, training, systems and commitment are in place to enable staff to

deliver the services brand values to all the organisation’s stakeholders.

6. Conclusions

Our study deepens knowledge and understanding of the factors affecting successful services

brands. Unlike previous research that has concentrated on differences between product brands

and services brands, we specifically identified themes specific to services brands. Our results

surfaced three criteria of importance in the success of services brands: focused position,

consistency and values.

__
The results are theoretically fruitful in suggesting hypotheses that could be tested in future

research. For example, the relative importance of these three key success criteria could be

tested in a variety of service industries differing in their balance of service characteristics

such as the mix of tangible to intangible components. Different groupings of criteria are

likely to result for service industries such as professional services in which service

interactions along the chain of consumption are especially complex and long-term.

Another direction for future research would concentrate on the key theme of ‘consistency’

and identify more precisely the relationships between the human and non-human elements

involved in achieving consistency in support of services brands in different services contexts.

26
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Table 1: Themes associated with successful services brands
Theme Frequency of mention by
respondents

Focused position 18

凹
Consistency 15

Values 11

Systems 5

Models 5

Communication 4

Innovation 4

Relationships 3

Emotion 3

Added Value 2

Commitment 2

Competitive advantage 2

32
 FIGURE 1

The Process of Successful Services Management

(Adapted from Heskett, 1987)

Employee
satisfaction

Employee
motivation
Increased
sales
High service
quality

High customer
satisfaction

33