The (updated) FBI.
Twenty years or more ago, we developed a concept titled: ‘The Fantastic Big Idea’ (or FBI for short).
In simple terms, we noted that the best companies and organisations had an idea at their core which drove every aspect of their business.
For example:
Disney – Fun
BBC – Authority
Google – All information in one place
National Trust – Places for people, forever
Starbucks – Third place
Microsoft – Default, (the standard)
Pret – Healthy fast food (perhaps now taken by Leon)
Volvo – Safety
Amazon – Everything, now
Nike – Win more
This concept led to the development of a model that helped many leaders understand that whilst marketing communications can expand their brand/reputation, the impact tends to be small and short lived, whereas an idea, so long as it is Fantastic and Big, can last for decades if not forever, and have a huge consequence.
Recently, when creating a new Customer Experience model to be unveiled later this year (CX5.0), we revisited the FBI concept and have updated it, albeit the original version still forms 95%.
If you start from the outside and work inwards…
Communications broadly fall into two camps: Brand and Tactical. They both impact to some degree the brand/reputation and personality of an organisation.
However what really makes the biggest difference is the ongoing development, improvement and automation of the products/services and how they are delivered.
These improvements and advancements come about largely by internal communications, i.e. what the team/customers/suppliers talk about – and ideally this should be the FBI.
Now in the absence of an FBI the team will still meet and talk and decide things, but they could be about anything – which often leads to short-term tactics designed to boost sales/ share price, but with little longer term value and even damage in many cases.
Working from the inside out….
The organisation has an FBI that excites the team, customers and investors alike, who talk about it all the time leading to improved products, services and customer experience – this is what really builds the brand and enables great communications to amplify the audience for it.
The vast majority of businesses don’t have an FBI, which is why there are so few truly great organisations and companies, but just imagine what you could achieve once you’ve discovered your FBI.
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